What is the relationship between Zionism and the far right?

Tommy Robinson’s rally on 13 September (Picture: Guy Smallman)

Over two years of escalating genocide in Gaza we have witnessed a historic mass movement in solidarity with Palestine.

But we have also witnessed the unprecedented rise of the far right. Most recently, Nazi Tommy Robinson mobilised over 100,000 fascists and racists onto the streets of London on 13 September.

There is clearly a convergence of interests between Robinson, the US fascist Steve Bannon, and Israeli far right ministers such as Ben Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich and Benjamin Netanyahu. As Stand Up To Racism points out, they all support the genocide and incite Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism.

So, Israel’s so-called Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, has invited Robinson to Israel as “a courageous leader on the front line against radical Islam”.

Robinson and the far right also detest the mass Palestine solidarity movement and anti-Palestinian racism has been a feature of their demonstrations.

And the far right takes inspiration from a state committing genocide in plain view.

On Armistice Day in November 2023 Robinson’s fascist thugs ran riot on the pretext of “protecting” the cenotaph. They were boosted by then home secretary, Tory Suella Braverman, who called for a ban on the 800,000-strong Palestine demonstration.

More recently, a high point of the march on 13 September was the shredding of the Palestinian flag.

However, it would be a mistake to conclude that support for Israel or Zionism is a starting point or an essential feature of the fascist movement in Britain.

The global rise of the far right is rooted in the crisis of the system and the inability of mainstream politicians to put forward any solutions. It has grown out of almost two decades of crisis—the devastation of the 2008 financial crash, the Covid pandemic and catastrophic consequences of imperialist wars.

The far right has benefited from the mainstream ramping up anti-migrant racism and Islamophobia. Such features have their parallels in the rise of previous fascist movements. 

The fascists are a serious threat to the Palestine movement but it is a mistake to see Robinson as a “stooge” of Israel or the Zionist lobby, used to “divert” the movement. This misjudges the threat we face both from the far right and the British state itself.

Robinson will take funds from where he can get them. But he is not beholden to them, and building his fascist street movement is not dependent on financial backing from pro-Zionist funders.

The driving ideology of Robinson and fellow fascists is the antisemitic Great Replacement conspiracy theory. This claims a “globalist elite”—code for Jews—is seeking to undermine national identity by engineering migrant “invasions”. They say this undermines the family by promoting “gender ideology” and encouraging “left wing” and “communist” traitors.

Just look at how Robinson’s introduction to his “manifesto” begins. “For decades the political class have openly planned to replace the indigenous people of Europe,” he writes. “The 1 percent knowingly plan to bring about another global conflict and, in the aftermath, they will end up in control of the world’s resources and financial systems.”

This is reflected in Robinson’s antisemitic tirade last week against the hard-line Zionists of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which attacked Chikli’s invitation.

Robinson seized on the opportunity, condemning the Board as “liberal”, “left wing”, “woke” Jews. He said it was responsible for flooding Britain with migrants and Muslims, and appeasing Britain’s “jihadist” foes.

He retweeted a post accusing the Board of being “proto-communist” and laced his attack with sexual obscenity, evoking an image of both degenerate Jews and Muslims.

The fascists’ and far right’s support for Israel is conditional. In the US divisions have opened up in the Make America Great Again (Maga) movement. There’s a split between those like Robinson who proclaim support for Israel, and proponents of “America First” and white supremacists.

They see Israel as a centre of “Jewish power” in world affairs, threatening to drag the US into more “forever wars”.

Both wings openly share the premise of “Great Replacement” and promote “remigration”. And above all, they seek to mobilise mass violence against the left, social movements and working class organisation.

Understanding the positioning of the far right and fascists towards Israel and Zionism is important.

This is because we have a double task. We have to build the mass movement for Palestinian freedom, giving no quarter to the charge of antisemitism.

And we have to build a mass anti-racist, anti-fascist movement that embraces opposition to Islamophobia, anti-migrant racism, anti-Palestinian racism, anti LGBT+ hate and antisemitism.