(JNS) Those who advocate for Israel’s destruction shouldn’t be given the time of day, let alone four speaking slots at the U.K.’s biggest festival of Jewish learning. So why was Samer Sinijlawi, a Fatah operative and outspoken anti-Israel advocate, given four slots at Limmud 2022?
Sinijlawi regurgitates all the usual cliches used by those who support BDS and label Israel an “apartheid” state. What’s more concerning is that he is also a self-described Fatah activist, meaning he is affiliated with and supports a Palestinian paramilitary organization with a long history of violence against Jews in Israel and the Diaspora.
Fatah’s Black September Organization carried out the Munich Massacre in Sept. 1972, killing 11 Israeli athletes. Fatah and its former leader Yasser Arafat were the main instigators of the second intifada, which claimed the lives of over 1,000 Israelis. Today, the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority incentivizes the murder of Jews through its so-called “pay-to-slay” stipends to Palestinian terrorists and their families.
Notwithstanding these facts, Gershon Baskin, director of the anti-Israel Holy Land Bond, together with the left-wing U.K. organization Yachad, appeared to be excited about showing off their Fatah friend at Limmud. Groups like Yachad, it seems, are becoming increasingly comfortable with those who hate the Jewish state.
There’s a reason for that. In leftist circles, Zionism is slandered as an evil, colonialist, racist enterprise that is wholly illegitimate. According to these anti-Zionists, nothing short of the complete dismantling of Israel and the erasure of its Jewish character will satisfy their interminable crusade for “justice.”
Perhaps that’s how Sinijlawi could so nonchalantly declare that “the two-state solution is dead,” which was seconded by Baskin during their discussion “Beyond the Failed Two-State Paradigm.”
Sinijlawi never bothered to spell out the unspoken corollary to this assertion: A “one-state solution” instead of a “two-state solution” would likely render Jews a minority in their own state, thus negating the Jewish people’s right to national self-determination.
Then again, Sinijlawi will say anything to get his 15 minutes of fame. In his articles, TV appearances and social media posts, he’s taken a series of confused and conflicting stances. He’s criticized Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas, defended the P.A. against Hamas and advocated for treating Hamas as a legitimate political operator. At times, he has supported the two-state solution, at other times the one-state solution, but not yet the “no-state solution.” The one thing he is consistent about is his disdain for Israel.
Sinijlawi also seems willing to defend Hamas terror against his own organization. Only someone given to such dissonance could unironically dismiss an exchange of gunfire between Hamas and Fatah members at Burj al-Shemali, Lebanon as, “An automatic gun fell down from one of Hamas’ activists, and then one of (the) Fatah people there shot and killed three people.”
Sinijlawi is a useful prop for leftist groups like Yachad, who cherry-pick talking heads to propagate its anti-Israel bent. In the process, it legitimizes the views and rhetoric of those who would gladly see Israel’s demise, and makes a farce of its slogan “Together for Israel, Together for Peace.”
Heath Sloane is the press and marketing manager of the National Jewish Assembly. Follow the NJA on Twitter at @NJA_UK and Facebook at @NJAUK, and Heath Sloane on Twitter at @HeathSloane.