Thornberry: Criticising Israel is Anti Semitic .. ITS NOT

Emily Thornberry couldn't be more wrong

Criticising a country is NOT criticising their religion. Labour just another elitist party.

Emily Thornberry has insisted anti-Semites will be "drummed out" of Labour - as she admitted the ongoing controversy over the issue had cost the party votes at the general election.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary also condemned "bigoted" critics of Israel and pledged that a future Labour government will always defend the Jewish state's right to exist.

Her comments are a clear attempt by the party's hierarchy to draw a line under the anti-Semitism rows which have dogged Labour under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

In a speech to a Labour Friends of Israel event in London, Ms Thornberry said: "Jewish voters at the last election, on the doorstep or in the street, told me: 'I agree with your policies, and I don't like the Tories, but I can't vote Labour, as long as your party allows anti-Semitism to go unchecked'. 

"And there is only one answer to that: We will not. There can be no place in our party for anyone who holds anti-Semitic views or who denies the right of Israel to exist, and any people who hold those views must and will be drummed out of our party.

Source

Is anti Zionism anti semitism? 

NOPE is the simple answer. 

Is it Anti Semitic to boycot Israel over their war crimes? 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the movement to boycott Israel or disinvest from those doing business in the occupied territories as “anti-Semitic.” Similarly, Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who recently presided over a meeting that raised more than $20 million to fight this movement, referred to it as “anti-Semitic.” Whether one agrees with this movement or not, and many Jews are leading participants, the fact is that it is in no way “anti-Semitic.”

Judaism is a religion of universal values. Israel is a sovereign state. It has violated international law by occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The boycott movement is a nonviolent effort to show opposition to this occupation, similar, its advocates argue, to the sanctions movement against South Africa to show opposition to apartheid. Hatred of Judaism or Jews, which is what constitutes anti-Semitism, appears to be absent from these boycott efforts.

Only by redefining “anti-Semitism” to mean criticism of Israel can such a charge be sustained. Israel’s policies in the occupied territories should be debated on their merits, and defenders of the occupation should not hide behind false charges of “anti-Semitism.”

Sources
http://www.truetorahjews.org/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/boycotting-israel-is-not-anti-semitism/2015/06/15/625d1176-123d-11e5-a0fe-dccfea4653ee_story.html