T H E B A T O N
SNAPPY SMACKDOWNS OF ANTISEMITISM AND ANTI-ZIONISM
FROM A PUNCHY PROGRESSIVE PERSPECTIVE
ZIONISM WITH NO APOLOGIES.
ABOUT THE BATON
THE BATON is a fresh voice for Zionism and against anti-Jewish racism -- from a punchy progressive perspective.
We are Zionists with NO APOLOGIES.
We are progressives who PULL NO PUNCHES.
Until around 1967, Zionism -- the simple idea that Jewish people have the right to self-determination -- was a core tenet of progressive and leftist movements.
Since then, increasingly, the left has been highjacked by extreme voices that have largely abandoned Jews, Israel -- and OUR OWN VALUES.
Based on a misguided David-versus-Goliath mythology, too many progressives have made common cause with the most misogynistic, regressive, oppressive, anti-gay, violent and autocratic forces on earth. The irrationality of this strange bedfellowship obviously causes cognitive dissonance, so the narrative has had to adapt to this by depicting Israel as somehow the embodiment of all evil.
Though Israel is a relatively new country, its depiction as evil incarnate is an echo from the past. That narrative, infused with ancient and modern assumptions and prejudices about Jewish people, is overwhelmingly false, unbalanced and deliberately destructive.
In these pages, you will find news, opinion, commentary and discussion that will help balance your understanding of these issues.
For genuinely progressive people who believe in human rights, feminism, LGBTQ+ equality, multiculturalism, free collective bargaining, peace and coexistence, there is only one place to stand: With Israel.
BUT LET'S GET THIS STRAIGHT: We do not need to choose between standing with Israelis and Jews or standing with Palestinians.
Zionism was founded on and remains committed to the idea that Jews can live self-determined lives in peace with their neighbours.
Genuine pro-Palestinians, however rare they may be, support coexistence.
The prevailing "pro-Palestinian" narrative is not pro-Palestinian at all. It encourages Palestinians and their leaders to reject compromise. It rewards violence. It spits on coexistence. Western progressives who engage in performative "allyship" with Palestinians are in fact perpetuating their dispossession and oppression by Hamas and Fatah.
An independent Palestine will come only when Palestinian people and their leaders are willing to live in peace, compromising to welcome their own self-determination alongside a self-determined Jewish state of Israel.
Anything that does not advance coexistence does not advance the Palestinian cause. The venomous, hateful and often racist anti-Israel rhetoric does nothing to promote peace and coexistence -- and those are the only two things that will ever lead to an independent Palestine.
Being genuinely pro-Palestinian means being pro-Israel. Peace -- and Palestinian self-determination -- will come only when both sides are willing to live together.
Israelis have offered olive branch after olive branch. Palestinian leaders have slapped them away -- because peace and coexistence is not their end goal.
And, for decades, Western progressives have rewarded and encouraged this violent, rejectionist behaviour.
It's time that leftists and progressives stopped promoting intolerance and violence. It's time to be pro-Palestinian AND pro-Israel.
Welcome to THE BATON. We're passing it to YOU!
