A rare stroll into Zionism.

A few months ago I found myself at a proIsrael rally in Trafalgar square. An odd place for me to be. I'm not the worlds strongest Zionist and this was a rally to support Israel in the midst of it's latest Gaza incursion. (it was supposedly propreace in the same way Bernard Mathews prohealthy eating). I'd read a particularly asinine article by Naomi Klein saying how one should boycott Israel rather than America, as Israel was smaller and more vulnerable. Sounded like bullying and that wasn't something I approved of (well except for Chimpanzee they always seem to do it in an amusingly cannibalistic way). So I turned up and was unimpressed. We seemed (we being the officials of the Anglo Jewish community) to be shrill, humourless. We seemed to be missing something, but what?

This was reinforced for me when the Board of Deputies (of British Jews) seemed to put a lot of effort into getting Jewdas (a radical group) arrested for circulating a false email claiming the march was called off. A stupid prank, Board seemed quite humourlessly to want to turn into prison time. What was up?

Then a few months later Caryl Churchill released “7 Jewish children” A rather partial, but brilliant account of the history of Israel through the experiences of 7 generations of one family. And in response from somewhere (not within the community came “7 Other Children”. A play in response that was bad in the same way that popping out for a fag on the Hindenberg was bad.

This play told the story of 7 generations of Palestinian families. Their stories seemed to be suicide bombing, spitting (lots of spitting - might I recommend Bob Carolgees for a future performance?) and at one point either bigging up the Bader Meinhoff or the Nazis? I' m not sure but then, I suspect, neither was the playwright.

Why was this unfortunate play pointing at these people shouting "you’re as bad if not worse than us." Pointing at them as they sit in their unfortunate ghettos. It seemed wrong? And still something was missing? But what?

The answer is that we've given up our narrative. At some point we seem to have stopped telling our story. Israel's story is a great and noble one, filled with moments of courage and moments of regret. Listen to our representatives and you hear the same lifeless recitation of fact and history.

Why can't we talk about the Sephardim and the Ethiopians who fled persecution? Why can't we talk about the surreal evacuation of Gaza where protestor and policeman stage managed riots and prayed together?

We are obsessed with winning the factual argument and ignore the emotional one. But it's the emotional one that will decide whether people boycott or vote, and all those other things we so fear.

Maybe if we told the story of expulsion and Diaspora people might understand just how hard it will be for Jews to take Jews’ homes from them.

Otherwise we are in real danger of reducing our story to: got picked on, suffered the Holocaust, got a country, built a wall around it.

We are a nation not a property program.