There are so many reasons to be interested in Marilyn Garson’s writing. She has worked in Afghanistan and Palestine, and has written a book about her experiences in Gaza during the 2014 bombardment.

She describes the mission she gave herself as aiming to ‘rehumanize’ the people of Gaza. I love that focus. It brings strong emotions I really won’t attempt to describe after this last year, when events have overtaken us and for millions across the world, it was the endless videos of people in Gaza being horribly killed that did that job.

“Everything we need is so breakable”

— Marilyn Garson, Jewish not Zionist

Of course, top of the list is the urgency of forcing the political world into action to protect the people of Gaza and the West Bank but Marilyn’s latest work is also a personal story, eloquent, evocative and intriguing of itself; a window into a Jewish life in New Zealand, particularly eye-catching for those of us who were following events around the recent Maori gathering.

 On Jewishness: “Advocates for Israel do not define it, grant it or revoke it, and it most assuredly is not rooted in Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. It is mine, and I come from a line of strong-willed Jewish women.”

Marilyn Garson, Jewish not Zionist

For people like me, who are not Jewish, the book brings welcome assistance in the struggle to make sense of and to distinguish between Jewish race, religion and culture, and, when looking at ‘Judaism’ and ‘Zionism’ to distinguish the religious and the political. It shouldn’t be that hard but it is because – well, if you’re a regular reader of my blog posts, you’ll know why.

For those who need a reminder: I sure found out which of my comrades were Jewish when I joined a particularly lefty branch of the UK Labour Party. It was a dead give-away – you couldn’t be around them for more than a meeting or two before you heard them say, “well I’m Jewish and I don’t think that’s antisemitic.”  What was really disconcerting was that it was usually said in response to an accusation coming down the line from centrist or right-wing Party members who sometimes were, and sometimes weren’t Jewish themselves.

Well I know now, and you probably do, as you read this, all that confusion (and a heap of very real distress) was caused by the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Or perhaps by vexatious interpretations of it.

“Beneath the surface, my enraged opponents were not trying to counter. We were not using language the same way. When fact meets insult or disinformation—when reality is met by unreality—the unreality is not really trying to persuade. … They want to divide our identity from theirs, to undermine any common language in which we might all live together.”

Marilyn Garson, Jewish not Zionist

The dreadful thing is, knowing that doesn’t end the confusion. It left a lot of ex-Labour Party members feeling clumsy around Jewish people, not knowing what might offend, not knowing what to say, so saying nothing. I’m sure there are still people who think we’d gone down with a new variety of ‘white fragility’ but we hadn’t, we were trying desperately to hold things together to open a way for a genuinely socialist, Labour government — a government that would care for everyone — and we knew darned well that if we put one foot wrong, we’d be kicked out of the Party for antisemitism.

It’s extraordinary looking back now, to remember how hard it would have been to ask the necessary questions during the Corbyn years in the UK, and how painful it was, being left unable to communicate in some quarters.

 “The method of the IHRAWDA seeks to prevent criticism of Israel by capturing the machinery of regulation. It removes antisemitism from the domestic public policy arena, and instead imports a non-negotiable, international governance regime. This method can be replicated by anyone with enough influence and a desire to limit political, protest or dissenting speech.”

Marilyn Garson, Jewish not Zionist

If you’re still feeling that way, add it to the reasons I heartily recommend Marilyn Garson’s latest book, Jewish not Zionist. It would be a wild under-statment to say that Garson, being a pro-Palestinian, practising Jewish woman, seeking a sociable pluralism in a small community, is better placed than most to understand the stresses I describe above.

Those are some of the reasons why, with the kind permission of author Marilyn Garson, and New Zealand publisher Left of the Equator, Circaidy Gregory Press will be issuing a UK edition of Jewish not Zionist early in 2025.

Even better, and this is the wonderful opportunity I mentioned — I’m delighted to tell you I have a few boxes of Jewish not Zionist to offer to friends and comrades in the UK. If you’d like one now, rather than waiting for the UK edition, hit that buy button…

Please note, the new UK edition is now available to buy. Click here for details and buy button.