"I fear that the Zionist dream is doomed"
“The Zionist revolution has always rested on two pillars: a just path and an ethical leadership. Neither of these is operative any longer. The Israeli nation today rests on a scaffolding of corruption, and on foundations of oppression and injustice. As such, the end of the Zionist enterprise is already on our doorstep. There is a real chance that ours will be the last Zionist generation. There may yet be a Jewish state here, but it will be a different sort, strange and ugly.” —Avraham Burg
It’s interesting that the Telegraph would choose now to reprint Burg’s seven-month-old editorial calling for a more enlightened Zionism.
Interesting, too, that they chose to print the Guardian version, which had excised the paragraph (see original Forward translation) emphasizing that the problem as Burg saw it was with Israel’s leaders and their policies, not with Zionism itself (But there is no prime minister in Jerusalem. The disease eating away at the body of Zionism has already attacked the head. David Ben-Gurion sometimes erred, but he remained straight as an arrow, etc.)
At least they didn’t stoop so low as to reproduce the Guardian’s misleading headline, which went in the same direction as their edit — to falsely construe Burg’s piece as equating Zionism with racism. In all cases, it’s worth reading Burg’s follow-up (A Letter to My Palestinian Friends), in which he continues the dialogue he started with the first Ma’ariv->Forward->Guardian->Telegraph piece. Who knows — maybe the Telegraph will print that one in seven months, too. On the other hand, the Guardian never did…
Seven month old? Seven hundred months old? Please.
Truth knows no expiration date, nor do editorials. Zionism has been bastardised, and it’s up to the youth of the present Left to rebuild it.
.rob adams
Seven month old? Seven hundred months old? Please. Truth knows no expiration date, nor do editorials. Grin: is that a brass band I hear stirring the background? Faith and begorrah, it is. Onward, Truth!
Zionism has been bastardised, and it’s up to the youth of the present Left to rebuild it. Uh huh…
Interesting that the comments come from an Israeli politician whose party was thrown out in the biggest landslide election Israel has ever had.
Israel is a free country and he is entitled to his views. It is important to note that the majority of Israelis do not agree with him.