SOAS academic labels Israel a ‘Western virus’ in the Middle East

At a two-hour long discussion organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) earlier this month, which included a contribution from the charity’s chair Massoud Shadjareh, Dr Haim Bresheeth from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London called Israel a “Western Virus.”

Bresheeth, an associate member at the Centre for Palestine Studies and a professorial research associate at the Centre of Global Media and Communication at SOAS University of London, claimed the Holocaust is being used as a “clincher argument to support Israel’s right over Palestinians.” At the debate, Dr. Bresheeth claimed that “Zionism was riding on the latent Islamophobia inherent in Christian society since the Crusades”.

He argued: “This form of Islamophobia has never disappeared from the West and explains the great centrality of Zionism to Western regimes.

“Israeli presumed rights over Palestine are seen as, within Zionism, as exclusive and religious-based with the Holocaust deals at the clincher argument. This is very useful because no one seems to be able to say anything about this combination of, you know, Judeo-Christian and Holocaust arguments.”

The academic added that Zionism was “the creation of Western Christians at the end of the nineteenth century, who used it to exert control over the Middle East. The West had conceived of Zionism as the bulwark of Western capitalism against Islam and the Arab world and used it to open the Middle East for western interests, and this is continuing. Exactly along the lines developed by Herzl over a century ago.

“In this way Israel became the Western virus in the region during the Cold War, developing its political outlook as a Western/US outpost in the near east – an agenda gradually adopted by the US, UK, Canada, Australia, apartheid South Africa, and most importantly the EU.”

Alongwith with Dr. Bresheeth, the IHRC event was joined by the likes of Mick Napier, the former leader of the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and Dr Marwa Osma, a Lebanese commentator who condemned the normalisation of Israel within the Middle East and called for support for “armed resistance” coupled with “international pressure” against “Zionist aggression.

Dr Bresheeth told The London Tab: “Why would criticism of a state – Israel or any other – qualify as antisemitism? Why are people not allowed to criticise Israeli war crimes?” Bresheeth explains that he is an Israeli Jew himself and doesn’t need “lessons on anti semitism”. “My whole extended family was murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust, so have a thought before you barge in with nonsense accusations. Israel is a state like many others, and we have a right to criticise its behaviour when it roughshod over UN Resolution, the Geneva Conventions, and international law. My recent book, An Army Like No Other, Published by Verso in August 2020, takes this debate to the British public with well corroborated academic research of the Israeli Miltarised settler colonial state since its inception.

“To point out the role of Israel in the Middle East as an agency of the west is just saying the obvious – not to mention that Herzl himself has described the Zionist project in these terms. You may agree or disagree with the project, but to describe it is a matter of facts. To point out that Israel uses the Holocaust politically is stating the obvious – see Norman Filkelstein’s book on the topic. The fact that some Zionists find such criticism offensive is neither proof that it is antisemitic, nor treason to silence it. Antisemitism is the hatred and prejudice against Jews – a form of racism I have written and spoken about throughout my life.

A SOAS spokesperson told The London Tab: “Dr Haim Bresheeth is affiliated to SOAS as a Research Associate. This particular event was not a SOAS organised event and we are not responsible for its content. Views that are expressed at such events by individuals are not views expressed on behalf of SOAS itself.

“One of SOAS’s core values is Freedom of Speech and we encourage the SOAS community to express themselves openly, with mutual tolerance and intellectual freedom. However, freedom of expression may not be exercised as hate speech or to threaten the safety or freedom of expression of others.

“We have a clear and explicit zero-tolerance policy in relation to anti-semitism and all forms of racism.”