Justice for Tony Greenstein

Ken Loach, award-winning British socialist film director

“I have known Tony Greenstein for nearly 40 years. Tony is a remarkable man. He has devoted a large part of his life to exposing racism, hypocrisy, and oppression.

Tony tells the truth about the present, informed by evidence from the past. His research is thorough and rigorous, and I have always found it to be reliable. For some, these are inconvenient truths. His careful research may be ignored and his well-founded conclusions unacknowledged.

But that does not invalidate them. As time passes, it will be shown that Tony stands on the right side of history. Tony’s work remains valid and his passion for truth, justice and human rights for all people is authentic.

Tony Greenstein is a man of integrity, and he commands our respect.”

Moshé Machover, Emeritus Professor at the University of London, Israeli anti-Zionist and socialist activist

“I have known Tony Greenstein for very many years as a staunch and fearless defender of freedom of thought and speech, and fighter against racism of all varieties, including antisemitism. He is a resolute campaigner for the rights of the oppressed Palestinian people and against Israel’s genocidal war waged on them.”

Ghada Karmi, eminent Palestinian-British doctor, academic, author and activist

“Tony Greenstein is one of the most honest and principled people I know. He has always fought for justice for oppressed people. That this moral campaigner for justice should be persecuted for his beliefs is an outrage.”

Haim Bresheeth, filmmaker, photographer and retired Professor from the University of East London, Jewish anti-Zionist and socialist activist

“Tony Greenstein, a leading Jewish anti-Zionist activist and author of the ground-breaking monograph about the historical links between Zionism and the Nazi regime, Zionism During the Holocaust: The weaponisation of memory in the service of state and nation, is facing charges under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The idea that Tony, a principled anti-racist supporter of the human and political rights of the Palestinians, and a political opponent of Zionism, can be charged in this manner is a legal outrage, exposing the moral, cultural and juridical decline of the British state under Keir Starmer, who has supported Israel and its crimes ‘without qualifications’.”

Jonathan Cook, author of Disappearing Palestine and winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism

“We are in the midst of a wave of political persecution of any activism in support of the Palestinian people. Why? Because the UK is so evidently abetting Israel’s horrendous crimes in Gaza. The prosecution of Tony Greenstein is a show trial, designed to send a warning to others to keep their heads down and stay silent in the face of genocide.”

Graham Bash, Political Officer, Jewish Voice For Liberation

“I have known Tony Greenstein for well over 40 years. Throughout this time, he has been a consistent supporter of Palestinian rights. He has always backed up his arguments with carefully researched data and evidence.

He has strongly insisted on the distinction between antisemitism – which he has rigorously fought – and anti-Zionism.

As a fellow Jewish supporter of the Palestinian people, I have found Tony’s body of work to be an invaluable source of information.”

Avi Shlaim, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and Fellow of the British Academy

“I have known Tony Greenstein for over twenty years, and I greatly admire him for his integrity, scholarship, political activism, and personal courage.

Tony has a most impressive track record as an anti-Zionist and as a campaigner for Palestinian rights. His critique of Zionism is grounded in deep and original research. In 2023 he published Zionism During the Holocaust. The book demonstrates the tendency of the Zionist movement since the beginning to collaborate with fascist and ant-semitic regimes. In 2018 Tony was expelled from the Labour Party on preposterous charges of antisemitism. This decision was only made possible by conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Antisemitism is the hatred of Jews because they are Jews. It must not be confused with legitimate, evidence-based criticism of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians of the kind advanced by Tony.

Tony comes from an orthodox Jewish home, and he personifies the Jewish values of altruism, truth, justice, and peace. The present Israeli government is the antithesis of these core Jewish values. The essence of Judaism is non-violence. The government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu is the most violent, overtly racist, Jewish-supremacist government in Israel’s history. To be Jewish means to be on the side of the underdog.

Tony is charged with ‘inviting support’ for a proscribed organisation, Hamas, under the 2000 Terrorism Act. Tony, however, is not a supporter of Hamas but of the Palestinian right to resist the illegal, 58-year-old Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories – the most prolonged and brutal military occupation of modern times. Tony’s support of the Palestinian right to resist has nothing to do with terrorism. The charges against him are therefore fundamentally flawed. Terrorism is the use of violence against civilians for political ends. Under this definition, Israel’s never-ending attacks on the people of Gaza are acts of state-terrorism. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Despite this ruling, the British government continues to sell arms to Israel and to provide it with intelligence support in the genocidal campaign in Gaza. Tony Greenstein’s Jewish faith gives added weight to his critique of Israel and to his principled support for Palestinian rights.

The British government is not just complicit in the destruction of Gaza; it is an active partner in this horrendous exercise of state terrorism against a defenceless people. By any objective measure, it is not Tony but the British government who ought to be in the dock.”

Ilan Pappé, Professor at the University of Exeter, leading Israeli historian and political scientist, Jewish anti-Zionist and socialist activist

“I have known Tony Greenstein for more than a decade. We shared much in common: we are both Jewish and we have devoted our active life to the struggle against injustice and in particular against racism. This is why you will find Tony and myself sharing platforms in the fight against fascism, Islamophobia and antisemitism. Equally we devoted our active life in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The crimes committed against them are done in our name and hence our particular role in the solidarity movement with the Palestinians.

In all this activity, Tony’s kindness, humanity and humility has shown through. He is very direct and does not spare criticism from friend and foes alike, but this honesty is what makes him a true and loyal friend. In particular no one seems to be able to match his commitment to the struggle against injustice. Tony is a man of peace and all his actions are non-violent and like me he would have preferred the world to interfere and end the oppression of the Palestinians, but while that is not happening, we both feel we cannot deny the Palestinians’ right to defend themselves (within the boundaries of international law and the UN charter).

As a son to German Jews who lost most of their families in the Holocaust, Tony’s last book Zionism during the Holocaust was an eyeopener and invaluable source to help me understand what happened to my family and the role Zionism played in it. We are proud Jews, but we will not allow any ideology to use our collective identity for committing crimes against other people and will stand by every human being who is committed to the struggle against fascism, racism and colonialism (of which Zionism today is a prime example).”

Rania Khalek, award-winning Lebanese-American journalist and host of Dispatches on Breakthrough News

“Tony Greenstein is one of the bravest anti-Zionist voices of our time. He has been unwavering in his commitment to equality and justice for all people, including Palestinians. When Tony says “never again,” he means never again for everyone.

That principled stance is precisely why he is being targeted by the UK, a government complicit in the genocide in Gaza. As an anti-Zionist Jew, Tony’s work exposing those who cynically weaponize the memory of the Holocaust to erase Palestinian suffering is both vital and threatening to power. So threatening, that they now seek to imprison him.

This must not be allowed to happen.”

Alexei Sayle, award-winning English stand-up comedian, actor, author, and former recording artist

“Tony Greenstein is a pugnacious and indefatigable campaigner for justice with a terrible taste in T-shirts.

Anti-Zionist Jews such as Tony are primary targets because they give the lie to the idea that Israel speaks for all Jews which it very much doesn’t.”