The latest Israeli atrocities in Gaza brought sharply into focus a phenomenon that has come to be known as the ” Jewish Grass Roots”. This expression had barely been heard prior to Gaza 2014, now it is on everyone’s lips.
The grass roots rose to prominence in consequence of a perceived unwillingness or inability of the Zionist establishment to adequately fight Israel’s corner in face of the reaction to the Gaza obscenity last summer.
The grass roots is made up of kahanist type ultra right wing Jewish ” activists” ( and some not so Jewish ) that went for the throats of the mainstream organisations so ferociously that something had to be done. This something largely consisted of waving money in front of their noses. This was in a sense effective but in another sense counter productive. The smell of ” funding ” immediately caused the number of grass roots organisations springing up to go through the roof. Every obscure Zionist warrior wanted a slice of the pie. The consequence is that the whole thing is proving more expensive than originally anticipated, and also more wearing in time and nervous energy.
Another problem is that the whole thing operates rather like Danegeld. The grass roots pocket the welfare hand outs without so much as a thank you, lay off for a while, and then come snarling back.
The JLC are handling the situation with the self confidence you would expect but the Board of Deputies are living in a state of abject terror. They hurriedly tweaked their web site to redefine THEMSELVES as a grass roots org , and emphasised the point by changing Steven Jaffe’s job title from Community Engagement Consultant to Grass Roots Consultant.
Eventually they got the whole thing onto a firmer footing by making their handouts dependent upon the grass roots orgs signing up to a code of conduct that would preclude further attacks on The Board, its Deputies and constituent bodies.
Nonetheless the ride continues to be very bumpy.
Tir Tairngire 