Zionism & the Politics of Assassination
“Just like South Africa shed apartheid, Israel must shed Zionism and become a country for people of all religions rather than a country for and by Jews. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (including the right of refugees to return) provides the most logical road map to peace. The American public can no longer afford to allow our government to keep supporting violence and war against the will of the international community. Only then will we begin to rectify historic injustices and bring peace at home and abroad.”
Remember kids—just cuz I post something, doesn’t mean I wholeheartedly agree with it.
I have no other option but to remain stunned in the face of this journalists utter bigotry. Not only is his history skewed to appropriate Jewish nationalism as the bedfellow with the Europe that deemed the Jews primitive, unassimilable, and ultimately not worth the air. We are reaching another pinnacle of Jewish isolation. Will this be the intellectual fascism that causes our third exile?
um, Jewish nationalism is a fundamentally European and modernist phenomenon. It developed in the 19th century along with all of the other nationalisms.
It would take too long to explain why I believe that Zionism is not racism, but I was amazed by the idea of a book on antisemitism written partly by Alexander Cockburn, the Pat Buchanan of the left, when it comes to anything about Jews and Israel.
the politics of antisemitism, despite having its vitriolic moments, is an incredibly good book which demonstrates quite succinctly the use of the charge of antisemitsm as a weapon to silence critics of israel. some parts pissed me off, but for the most part, it was an exceptionally informative and dare i say, enlightening read.
Jewish nationalism is a fundamentally European and modernist phenomenon. It developed in the 19th century along with all of the other nationalisms. Er, yes. But saying that Iran, Israel, Japan, Libya, or the Charter of the United Nations are fundamentally “European and modernist” doesn’t really get us very far except, maybe, to take a leisurely look at what kind of world we’re living in.
demonstrates quite succinctly the use of the charge of antisemitsm as a weapon to silence critics of israel. Really? I leafed through the book in the store, but it looked like the same old boring straw men. So let me play cynic for a bit: whose criticisms of Israel have been silenced through the “charge of antisemitism”, exactly?
uh–i’m sorry, have you been living under a rock? anytime any non-jew says anything critical of israel they’re charged as antisemites, and jews are charged as self-hating.
alexander cockburn for one, is a person who’s been accused of being an antisemite for criticizing israel. noam chomsky, a jew, same deal. edward said. sari nusseibeh. norman finkelstein, another jew. the entire anti-war movement. shall i go on?
I’m not going to claim this doesn’t happen. But, I for one know I’m very judicial about who I consider to be an antisemite. But just because people are being accused falsely, doesn’t mean antisemitism no longer exists. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a book that’s selling very well right now, is antisemitic, not anti-Zionist or anti-Israel. Lending creedence to the book by, say, putting it on display as a part of a collection of Jewish texts in one of the worlds oldest libraries. Of course, many people confuse antisemite and asshole who doesn’t like Israel.
alexander cockburn for one, is a person who’s been accused of being an antisemite for criticizing israel. noam chomsky, a jew, same deal. edward said. sari nusseibeh. norman finkelstein, another jew. the entire anti-war movement. shall i go on?
You’ve lost me. Which of these people has been silenced? If anything, charges of “antisemitism” or “self-hating Jew” are brandished as
a) “proof” that the false characterization of the debate as between Israel-is-always-right and down-with-Israel is somehow accurate (oh you know those Zionists, they’re pro-Israel and worship Arik unconditionally); and
b) a badge of authenticity: I must be really right now, I’ve pissed off those hysterical, unable-to-think-on-their-own Zionists who go around censoring everyone!
Neither argument impresses me, needless to say. Charges of racism and antisemitism being flung around willy-nilly without any rhyme or reason? Countercharges that these charges are stifling and censorship and forbidding anyone from saying anything at all? Yup; that ain’t new, nor particularly restricted to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Do these charges of antisemitism actually stifle legitimate criticism of Israeli policies? Well, didn’t exactly work for the Passion, now did it? As for the authors you listed, I’m pretty sure I’ve read their stuff; I’d be curious to know what it is they would have liked to say but couldn’t.
Do these charges of antisemitism actually stifle legitimate criticism of Israeli policies? Well, didn’t exactly work for the Passion, now did it? Obviously meant to say: well, charges of antisemitism didn’t exactly stifle The Passion. Obvious corollary: no, The Passion isn’t a film about contemporary Middle Eastern politics.
the accusations of anti-semitism are intended to make people stop listening with an open mind, not to actually shut the speaker up
It’s anti-Semitic to single out Israel (read: the Jews) for doing something the rest of the world does. Being loose with such an accusation is unacceptable, but ignoring the truth of some accusations is blind and ignorant.
my point was that there is nothing particularly “Jewish” about the origins of Zionism, and that it’s not strange bedfellows with Europe as the first poster thought. Reactionary movements always end up appropriating part of what they hate. To escape Europe, Herzl brought Europe to Palestine. Europe persecuted Jews, but Jews in Palestine would bring European civilization. It goes on this way.
I specified “reactionary movements.” A clarification. I mean, quite literally, movements in reaction to things. It doesn’t matter if the second aliyah was a bunch of socialists. They were operating in a fundamentally nationalist European framework, rather than a Jewish religious one. So, reaction against Europe/imitation of Europe is the paradigm, which the State of Israel continues to model to this day.
To escape Europe, Herzl brought Europe to Palestine. Europe persecuted Jews, but Jews in Palestine would bring European civilization. It goes on this way.
Well, you’re part-way there. Herzl didn’t need to bring Europe to the Middle East; it was already there. Still is. I mean, did you really think that post-Enlightenment state nationalism in the Middle East is somehow confined to Israel? Think of pan-Arabism, Ba’athism, the Arab League, the nationalist-v-Islamist politics of every dictatorial OIS members, and on and on.
Hell, there were no “Arabs” until modern-day Arabs created this identity in their reading of European nationalism. Youssef Choueiri and Adeed Daweesha both have good English-language histories, from rather different perspectives.
So, when you say that they were operating in a fundamentally nationalist European framework, rather than a Jewish religious one, the point is that, yes, of course they were; so was, and is, everybody else, from African and North African “liberation movements” to the United Nations and creation of international law itself — all one giant colonizing project to wrap the world in the mantle of European statecraft.
The problem is, it worked pretty well, turning the question not how to identify it (not so hard) but how to move out of it (harder). The answer seems to be: incrementally, and democratically — not by imposing solutions on others.
(aargh.)
that’s a really questionable idea that jewish nationalism didn’t exist on the the 19th century… the songs and liturgy yearn for a return to Zion land goes back… a long time. Isn’t that what the bible was about? the story of how it didn’t work the first time. The english word zealot refers intially to the militant jewish nationalists under Rome who refused to compromise at all in defense of their country and people.
This is not just zionist propaganda. The modern zionist movement certainly exploited this yearning for their purposes, but shit, we all know those reggae/gospel songs. We’ve been singing about repatriation for a long time.