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Spreading the Insidious Virus of Anti-Semitism
(Telegraph-UK) Ephraim Mirvis - It is astonishing to see British political figures claim that Zionism is separate from Judaism as a faith; that it is purely political; that it is expansionist, colonialist and imperialist. Their claims are a willful distortion of a noble and integral part of Judaism. Zionism is a belief in the right to Jewish self-determination in a land that has been at the center of the Jewish world for more than 3,000 years. One can no more separate it from Judaism than separate the City of London from Great Britain. Open a Jewish daily prayer book used in any part of the world and Zionism will leap out at you. The innumerable references to the Land of Israel are inescapable. Throughout our collective history we have yearned for a chance to determine our own future, to revive an ancient language and return to rejoice in our love for this tiny sliver of land. The writer is the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth.