Zionism and anti-Semitism - for Dummies

Zionism and anti-Semitism - for Dummies
Ali Wasti·Saturday, 30 April
Because today even people on the left are confused and disoriented by this topic, I present.....
Zionism and anti-Semitism - for Dummies

1. Is being anti-Zionist, racist?

Zionism is not a race or ethnic group. It is a political ideology. There are anti-Zionist Jews and Zionist non-Jews. Being anti-Zionist is not a racist position.
If most Germans were Nazis at some point, does that make opposing Nazism 'anti-German'? Does opposing British bombing of Syria or Iraq make you an anti-British racist? Does opposing the Saudi regime make you an Islamophobe?

2. Isn't Zionism the voice of the Jewish people?

Zionism does not represent all Jews - any more than Republicanism represents all Americans, or Toryism all British. And worse, unlike the Republicans and Tories, no one voted for the self-appointed Zionists who claim to speak 'on behalf of all Jews'.

3. Yes, but aren't all Jews Zionists?

Zionism was a tiny current within the Jewish diaspora before the Holocaust. More Jews supported socialist currents, like the Bund. Today there are large numbers of Jews disavowing support for Israel and its politicians: For example, Jewish Voice for Peace in the US has been growing rapidly, in opposition to the Zionist AIPAC.

4. Isn't Zionism just the national liberation movement of Jews?

A liberation movement was one that traditionally sought to expel foreign occupiers. Zionism was, on the contrary, a movement that sought to expel the native Palestinians and to colonize Palestine. It is more like the European colonization of Africa, North America and Australia, than anything to do with liberation. Furthermore, as a movement it had no interest in fighting anti-Semitism. In fact the German Zionists saw the rise of the Nazi party as an opportunity.

5. Oh, so now you're just saying Zionism=Nazism?

No, it clearly doesn't. However, both ideologies have common roots: 19th century notions of 'race'; the belief that different races could not live together; the desire to have states and laws based on ethnic identity; the belief that colonization was acceptable. In Nazi Germany, both movements shared a common goal: get Jews out of Europe. That's why there was a symbiotic relationship between the Zionist movement and the Nazis. Goebbels even had a medal minted with the Swastika on one side and the star of David on the other.

6. But isn't Zionism just a response to anti-Semitism?

Yes, its a response. But one that counterposes fighting anti-Semitism to colonizing Palestine. Its the wrong response. In the West today, there is rampant Islamophobia. Does that mean Islamic fundamentalism must be supported? Or maybe socialists should encourage Muslims to give up the fight against racism and flee to the safety of Muslim countries? Its a response to Islamophobia, after all. English people suffering under years of Tory austerity can respond in two ways: join the Labour party and vote for Corbyn, or they can join the fascist EDL. Both are not equally laudable as responses to economic deprivation. Zionism was a right-wing, reactionary response to anti-Semitism.

7. Isn't it unfair to pick on Israel all the time? Isn't that a reflection of your latent anti-Semitism?

Israel IS getting special treatment - but not because it is singled out by anti-Semites.
* It is never attacked for violating UN resolutions - 66 in total.
* It is not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and, according to Wikipedia, it has somewhere between 75-400 nuclear weapons - and yet that is never discussed in polite company or by politicians. Compare that to the pressure put on Iran, which doesn't have even one.
*It s leaders have never been tried for war crimes - despite the wars on Gazan civilians, the use of human shields, white phosphorus or the massacres stretching from Dier Yassin to Sabra and Chatilla.
* It receives between $3 and $4 billion in 'aid' from the US, despite having the 16th highest per capita income in the world. And it gets another $1 to $1.5 billion in private donations which are tax deductible - a privilege given to no other nation.
*It even got paid to NOT join in the war against Saddam Hussain.

8. Doesn't Israel have a right to exist?

Not in its current racist form. The South African state and the Rhodesian state also didn't have the right to exist. Current Israeli citizens, however, should be free to live in a non-racial state in Palestine - just like Whites continued to live in post-apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia.

9. Doesn't Israel's legitimacy derive from the UN mandate that created it?

Yes, that's what Israel claims. The truth is that the creation of Israel was a typical act of imperial high handedness. Once the British Mandate ended, Palestine should have become a self-governed state. Instead, the UN, decreed the creation of 2 states, despite many member states at the time arguing that the UN had no legal authority to do so.
That was resolution 181. One year later, resolution 194 was also passed. We don't hear much about it, even though it is reaffirmed ever year since 1949 by the UN. It called for "“refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.”
Multiple subsequent resolutions from the United Nations have reaffirmed the right of return, including General Assembly Resolution 169 (1980), and Security Council Resolution 237 (1967).
Israel has ignored every UN resolution since 181, the one that it claims gives it legal authority. And yet, there are never any threats, no wars, no sanctions. So, yes, Israel is singled out for special treatment.

10. But why do you call Israel racist? Shouldn't Jews have a homeland too?

In order to create an everlasting Jewish majority, Israel has to implement racist laws, and - a demand becoming increasingly vocal in Israel - move to the expulsion of the remaining non-Jews. Any state based on ethnic identity is structurally racist. It has to be. That was true of Nazi Germany, that was true of Apartheid South Africa and its true of Israel. The states that Israel likes to compare itself to, in Europe and the US, are democratic, secular states by and large. Citizenship is generally based on residence, not ethnic identity.
To put the issue starkly, imagine if you took the immigration, housing, welfare and citizenship laws of Israel and changed it from Jewish and non-Jewish to White and non-white. Imagine a state where anyone who was White - from anywhere in the world - had an automatic right to citizenship. And anyone who was nt white had no such right, by law - indeed was actively discriminated against. Would you call it racist?

11. But surely, most Jews want to live in Israel?

Not according to the numbers. By some estimates there are as many Jews living in the US (a democratic, secular state) as in Israel. The majority of Jews today vote with their feet and choose to live outside of Israel.

12. But the holocaust, the pogroms, the eternal persecution of the Jews means they deserve a safe haven, don't they?

The idea that anti-Semitism is eternal, is baked into the DNA of gentiles, is itself a deeply anti-Semitic idea and propounded by Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism: "In Paris... I achieved a freer attitude toward anti-Semitism, which I now began to understand historically and to pardon. Above all, I recognized the emptiness and futility of trying to 'combat' anti-Semitism."
Because if it were true, you'd have to ask the question, Why? Why does everyone through all of time hate Jews? IF its indeed eternal,inevitable and uncontrollable, then the obvious conclusion would be it must be the fault of the Jews. But its not true.
It is ahistorical nonsense to say that anti-Semitism has always existed or is inevitable or that it has always taken the same form. Today, Jews outside of Israel are well integrated in most countries. No politician in the USA, however rabidly racist they are towards Muslims and Mexicans, dares to utter an anti-Semitic word. And Jews in the USA and Europe today are a minority, but not an *oppressed* minority - by any socio-economic indicators. Even the fascists oozing out of the pores of European society have largely turned their attention to Muslims and Arabs and, at least in public, downplayed the anti-Semitism.
Israel, far from being a 'safe haven' for Jews, is probably the most dangerous place on earth for Jews to live. You can't live in peace when your presence demands continuous discrimination and oppression of the native population. Indeed the rhetoric and politics in Israel are moving ever rightwards. With genuinely fascist groups appearing. Israel is today and for evermore condemned to be an armed fortress in a hostile region. And the propagandist claim by Zionists that Zionism = Judaism does nothing but spread anti-Semitism around the world. It is ironic while Muslims are encouraged to distance themselves from the actions of fundamentalist extremists, Zionists are lauded for attempting to associate all Jews with the actions of Israel. Small wonder then, that some people accept that at face value and blame all Jews for the actions of Israel.
Only true democracy, one person, one vote and a single democratic state of Palestine, with equal rights for all, will bring peace to Jews in Israel. And that demands the destruction of Zionism.