By IRNA,
London : The founding charter of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) was launched in London Friday night to give voice to the “growing number of Jewish people worldwide who refuse to allow the Israeli state to act in their name.” “We are an international network of Jews who are uncompromisingly committed to struggles for human emancipation, of which the liberation of the Palestinian people and land is an indispensable part,” IJAN said.
“Our commitment is to the dismantling of Israeli apartheid, the return of Palestinian refugees, and the ending of the Israeli colonization of historic Palestine,” it said.
Speakers at the London launch included Professor Emeritus Moshe Machover, co-founder in 1962 of the Jewish Israeli & Palestinian Matzpen, the Socialist Organisation of Israel, which was active until the 1980s.
Others were Palestinian academic and author Ghada Karmi, Mike Berry from Nottingham University, who co-authored Bad News from Israel and Yael Kahn, co-founder Women’s Organization for Political Prisoners among others.
Similar launches of the network’s founding charter are taking place in continental Europe, India , Israel , Latin America, Morocco, the US and Canada.
The London meeting considered how the charter is relevant to different sectors of people to promote anti-Zionist and other organisations, and what we can do collectively to advance the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
This week, backbench Labour MP John McDonnell urged the British parliament to follow his lead and support the launch of the network for anti-Zionist Jews.
McDonnell, who unsuccessfully challenged Gordon Brown to replace former prime minister Tony Blair last year, said that by speaking out, the organization “discredits Israel’s attempts to suppress criticism with false accusations of anti-Semitism.”
In Britain, IJAN has already started working in partnership with the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Jewish Boycott of Israeli Goods and Global Women’s Strike.