The crass Zionist vs. the refined Arab is a familiar trope in the writing of British officials in Mandatory Palestine. We find it e.g. in Charles Ashbee's Palestine Notebook, in his disdain to the modernist workers-rep Zionist compared with the elegant Aarb aristocrat >>
Why is this interesting? Because it shows the racial ambiguities in European perceptions of Palestine; the confusing view of Zionists as not-quite-white settlers, and the class entanglements of this all. And it is the last point that is most relevant to Corbyn's comments >>
Generally speaking, British officials in Palestine - even when they implemented pro-Zionist policies - found it easier to relate to the sophisticated, well educated, Arab aristocracy and upper middle class, and often viewed the Zionist as rude and aggressive upstarts >>
This instinctive class-based sympathy usually was of little actual benefit to Arab Palestinians in political terms, and almost always came with a patronising perspective, and an utterly racist view of Arabs of more humble backgrounds. >>
I think Corbyn's comments were actually about class distinction. "English sense of irony" is here a code for middle-class habitus, which Amb. Hassassian clearly has, but the die-hard pro-Israel activists (who typically come across as working class) don't. >>
Some die-hard activists can be unpleasant and thuggish - I've seen it - and they do so in very British manner. But rather than present it as a class conflict (which is, I think, an unspoken part of the Palestine/Israel debate in the UK) >>
Corbyn's comments displaced this class contrast onto an ethnic/racialised difference - people born and bred in the UK but still can't get "Englishness" as it should be.
JC's comments betrayed a prdjudiced view of (some) Jews as "not really English". Should remember that people of colour/Muslims get this v often and casual racism from UK politicians is often worse (from Blunkett's "asylum seekers swamping the UK" to Borris's Burka comments) >>
beyond this n-th episode of JC and Jews I think the question of racialisation of Jews/Zionists is crucial if we want to understand how Palestine-Israel is understood and discussed in the UK (and the West).
