Astounding Facts Most People Don’t Know About Israel 22
Most antiZionists have no idea – and don’t wish to know – what Zionism is
“Whatever it is, I’m against it!” declared Groucho Marx in the film Horse Feathers. Many antiZionists would hate being compared to that great Jewish comic genius but it sums up their uncompromising hostility to Zionism in all its forms.
Here are a couple of typical examples.
“Zionism is a racist and settler colonialist movement, which opportunistically co-opts aspects of Judaism in an attempt to justify its criminal practices of apartheid and genocide of indigenous Palestinians…Both antisemites and Zionists construct Jews as a biological race, which needs to be segregated as part of a utopia of global apartheid.”
Yoav Litvin [1], Israeli-American psychologist
“Since the establishment of Israel, Zionism has commonly been understood to mean the assertion of the right of this state to exist as a Jewish state, requiring the maintenance of a Jewish majority and privileging the rights of Jewish citizens above those of non-Jewish citizens, including the 20% of Israeli citizens who are Palestinian.”
UK Palestine Solidarity Campaign [2]
It’s not difficult to establish the mendacity of such assertions (provided you avoid Wikipedia that’s been repeatedly hacked by anti-Israeli “editors”). Yet it seems that few people who shout from the rooftops about the supposed evils of Zionism know – or display any curiosity to find out – what the term actually means. But let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that sheer ignorance rather than malice lies at the heart of antiZionist rhetoric. Whenever I encounter a devoted member of the anti-Israel tribe, I try to explain two things: what Zionism isn’t and what it is. I don’t usually get very far, but more of that later.
What are the common misrepresentations of Zionism, and by extension, Israel? These are so numerous that it’s hard to know where to start. Zionism is said to be: a colonialist European import to the Middle East that dispossessed the indigenous Palestinian people from their homes; a racist political or religious ideology that holds non-Jews in contempt and privileges Israeli Jews over Arabs in an apartheid political system; an aggressively militaristic movement hell-bent on expansionism and imperialism across the Middle East; and a toxic creed that is responsible, directly or indirectly, for the world’s worst violations of human rights. In short, Zionism is the antithesis of all that’s decent and good in the world. It can only be overcome by its total and permanent extirpation from the geopolitical landscape. In plain English, that means the destruction of the state of Israel.
As I described in an earlier blog, these notions are not just untrue, they are so divorced from reality that they may reasonably be described as psychotic. That doesn’t mean we should shrug them off as the delusional fantasies of an unimportant fringe group. Many of them have entered mainstream political and media discourse and have serious consequences for Israel, her neighbours and, of course, Jews everywhere.
What, then, is Zionism? At its simplest, it’s a movement that seeks self-determination (a universal human right enshrined in the UN charter) for the Jewish people. Historically, there have been multiple variants on this theme [3] – religious, secular, socialist, revisionist – but such heterogeneity is of secondary importance as all share a common vision: to re-establish self-determination for Jews in their historical homeland. Because that goal was achieved in 1948, some argue that Zionism in now an irrelevance and we live in a post-Zionist era. That argument doesn’t bear scrutiny for two reasons, one internal and the other external.
Within Israel and the wider Jewish world, the contemporary role of Zionism remains hotly debated. For most Jews, it delivers two implicit, interconnected promises – survival and freedom. The latter is impossible without the former: only once physical survival is guaranteed can the Jewish people fulfil the Zionist vision of self-determination in the fullest sense. The existential necessity of a Jewish state is recognised by the vast majority of Jews. Even the original doubters (e.g. Charedi and Reform Jews) are slowly coming round to acceptance. Where there remain significant divisions, they are focused on the present and the future – what does a Jewish state mean, in terms of its culture, values and creativity, and how can its long-term well-being and security be assured? In seeking answers to such questions, Zionism continues to play a key role.
While this collective Jewish introspection continues, the external threat to Zionism remains all too tangible. It’s an extraordinary and shameful reality that Israel is the only country whose right to exist is contested not merely by several of her more intransigent neighbours but by a global alliance of fanatical anti-Israel (“pro-Palestinian”) campaigners and faux-progressive politicians who seek to turn the clock back to the 1940s. They are unlikely to succeed because they are up against a resolute adversary. Nevertheless, a motley crew of activists comprising both old-fashioned antisemites and naïve idealists are rallying to the antiZionist cause in alarmingly increasing numbers. They immerse themselves in an obsessively single minded but intellectually vacuous swamp of hatred in which most of their comrades, whatever their politics, don’t have the faintest idea what Zionism is.
As with all extremist mass movements, antiZionism thrives on the ignorance and credulousness of its followers. Its leaders, who are more knowledgeable than the rank-and file, have cleverly crafted the alibi of “criticism of Israel” into a powerful weapon for attacking Jews. Any lingering doubts about the antisemitic nature of such anger were dispelled in the wake of Israel’s defensive operation against Hamas in May 2021. The global upsurge in blatantly racist violence, verbal and physical, amply demonstrated that opposition to Israeli policies or actions is, for many, merely a pretext for Jew-hatred. The baying mobs calling for the spilling of Jewish blood and the rape of Jewish women [4] have no interest in engaging with the real and complex issues driving the conflict between Israel and her adversaries. They know enough – Israel is a Jewish state and that is sufficient reason to regard her as an alien, illegitimate and irredeemably repugnant entity. In this they are aided and abetted by a perverted political narrative that is willingly reinforced by what used to be called civil society (including parliamentarians, NGOs, trade unions, churches, academics) and amplified by an equally ignorant, lazy or biased media.
The defamatory narrative about Zionism is potentially lethal not only for diaspora Jews but also for Israelis – and ultimately her regional enemies. If Israel’s existence is predicated on Zionism, and Zionism is the epitome of evil, then logic dictates that Israel can have no future among the family of nations. The UN and its agencies already spend more time condemning alleged Israeli crimes than in discussing the problems of all other countries combined. If this diplomatic poison spreads unchecked throughout the system of international relations and leads to punitive sanctions against the world’s only Jewish state, the prospects for achieving a peaceful settlement of the dispute between Israel and her neighbours will evaporate and pave the way for further endless conflict and suffering on all sides.
How can we prevent the world from sleepwalking its way into such a tragic scenario? I propose a threefold counterstrategy. First, we need to educate those who are merely uninformed about Zionism while excluding the Jew-haters from the conversation. Second, we must call the bigots to account via the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance [5] working definition of antisemitism that explicitly defines most expressions of antiZionism as a form of racism. Third, we must confront antiZionists robustly and relentlessly by all available legal means until they are defeated as a potent political force. Will such an approach work? There’s no guarantee but we have to try as the alternative – that the hatemongers get their way – is unconscionable.
The educational challenge may prove to be the most formidable obstacle to progress. Three centuries ago, Jonathan Swift warned us that “It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.” Karl Popper, the scientific philosopher who had first-hand experience of the dangers of intractable prejudice in 20th century Vienna, offers us an insight that is especially apposite today: “True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the refusal to acquire it.”
1 Litvin, Y. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/1/9/the-zionist-fallacy-of-jewish-supremacy/
2 UK Palestine Solidarity Campaign. https://www.palestinecampaign.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/Evidence-from-PSC-to-Chakrabarti-inquiry-final-June-2016.pdf
3 Troy G. The Zionist Ideas. Philadelphia, Jewish Publication Society, 2018
4 London Evening Standard, 21 May 2021. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/rabbi-antisemitism-rise-london-jewish-community-cst-b936325.html
5 International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
