JOURNALfor the STUDYof ANTISEMITISM

270 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM [ VOL. 3:267
der holding the world in its web, or a grotesque Jewish capitalist squeezing
blood out of the world. As if to reinforce the impression, the next paragraph
in the Routledge version states that “the ramifications of the Zionist behemoth
is by no means confined to the US political oligarchy. Indeed its tentacles
are globalized, notably in all the major EU countries.” (Here, the
Routledge version omits Clairmont’s details of how “the grip” of “the operational
fifth column . . . is vastly magnified by the stranglehold on the major
media outlets notably on the Middle East.”)
Perhaps Clairmont’s peer reviewers were seduced by the relative
absence of the word “Jew” from their actual version of the article. After all,
Jews (by name) appear only in the article’s conclusion:
. . . the preparations for the obliteration of Iran has gathered speed . . .
The vote in Congress was galvanised amongst others by the American
Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and acclaimed by all the major
American Jewish organizations.
The upsurge of Zionism, as Petras notes is a virulent form of identity
linked to a foreign power. Its overwhelmingly successful hegemonic
inroads have been abetted by the abject capitulation of the US ruling
class. The US political complex and successive administrations with no
exception have become part of the interlaced web of Zionist power that
extends into every nook and cranny of all sectors of American capitalism.
There is no distancing here of Jews from this “interlaced web of Zionist
power” that holds the “US ruling class” in “abject capitulation.” It is “all
the major American Jewish organizations” that are either in the conspiracy
or cheering from the sidelines.
This sudden introduction of “all the major American Jewish organisations”
into the closing section of Clairmont’s polemic really lets the
antisemitic cat out of the bag. The only surprise is that whoever airbrushed
Jews from the original article failed to spot this mention of them. Or, perhaps
more likely, the antisemitic cat had been squirming so furiously in the
anti-Zionist bag that it finally, inevitably, escaped.
*Mark Gardner is director of communications, CST (Community Security Trust),
http://www.thecst.org.uk/, and regularly publishes articles on antisemitism. Gardner
was awarded a police commendation for his work during the 1999 neo-Nazi
nail bombing campaign, and in 2006 he represented the Jewish community and
CST during the Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism. He assists with several
police advisory committees.