Aping the masters
The central flaw in the Zionist case is the anti-Semitic argument that Jews and gentiles cannot live together, writes Robin Hirsch*
Is anti-Zionism the same as anti- Semitism? Many Zionists seem to think so. After each Israeli atrocity anyone who dares to criticise is denounced as racist, a Jew-hater or, in my case, a self-hater. Jews who speak out against Israel policies -- just think of the prominent scientist Dr Steven Rose -- are subject to a vile torrent of abuse from Zionists. Here is a sample, posted on the web: "Since you are not accomplished enough to be known for your professional activities, perhaps you have decided that you can make your mark as a gauleiter for the new Nazis of radical Islam. When the fascists you champion come for you, as they certainly will, maybe we will take our sweet time with the rescue."
I forget exactly what a gauleiter is, but this is clearly nasty stuff.
It is worth noting that before 1890 the Zionist project had no significance within Jewish thought, remaining a minority current until the superpowers backed the Jewish state after the Second World War. And as the persecution of Palestinians intensifies, some Jews (like the British Labour Party's spokesman Gerald Kaufman), previously been uncritical of Israel, are now voicing their disquiet. The Israeli refusniks who courageously defy orders to protect illegal settlements, are part of this growing criticism.
The central flaw in the Zionist case is the acceptance of the anti-Semitic argument that Jews and gentiles cannot live together. Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, wrote: "In Paris I achieved a freer attitude towards anti-Semitism, which I began to understand historically and pardon. Above all, I recognised the emptiness and futility of trying to combat anti- Semitism" (The Diaries of Theodor Herzl, ed. Marvin Lowenthal ed, New York: 1956).
The Holocaust massively reinforced this argument and remains one of the principal justifications for the state and policies of Israel. Amongst all the horrors of the 20th century, the Holocaust remains a unique case of violent racism and modern industrial methods of annihilation. The Holocaust proved to many Zionists that the coexistence of Jews and gentiles is impossible. Even in their darkest hour, while many Jews fought heroically against the Nazis, Zionists were attempting to find an accommodation with Hitler. The Zionist Federation of Germany sent Hitler the following memorandum: "May we therefore be permitted to present our views which, in our opinion, make possible a solution in keeping with the principles of the new German State of National Awakening, and which at the same time might signify for Jews a new ordering of the conditions of their existence. Zionism has no illusions about the difficulty of the Jewish condition, which consists above all in an abnormal occupational pattern, and in the fault of an intellectual and moral posture not rooted in one's own tradition. An answer to the Jewish question truly satisfying to the national state can be brought about only with the collaboration of the Jewish movement that aims at a social, cultural and moral renewal of Jewry. A rebirth of national life, such as is occurring in German life through adhesion to Christian and national values, must also take place in the Jewish national group. On the foundation of the new state, which has established the principle of race, we wish to fit our community into the total structure so that for us too, in the sphere assigned to us, fruitful activity for the fatherland is possible. Our acknowledgment of Jewish nationality provides for a clear and sincere relationship to the German people, and its national and racial realities. Precisely because we do not wish to falsify these fundamentals, because we too are against mixed marriage and are for maintaining the purity of the Jewish group. For its practical aims, Zionism hopes to be able to win the collaboration even of a government fundamentally hostile to Jews." (Zionism in the Age of Dictators, Lenni Brenner, Beckenham, 1983).
I was reminded of this repugnant aping of Nazism when a friend of mine recently visited the old town in Nablus where Jewish settlers had inscribed the Star of David on the doors of the Palestinian inhabitants.
In response to these policies of despair we must remember that Jews, Muslims and Christians lived peacefully together throughout the region for a millennium. When the Jews were expelled from Andalusia at the end of the 15th Century they were accommodated in North Africa and in the Middle East. I fervently believe that the only solution to the Israel Palestine crisis will be the creation of a new, secular state with equal rights for people of all religions and also for people of no religion. But Israel's strategic role for the US means that anti- Zionism has to be part of the anti- Imperialist movement.
For me, and I think for a growing number of Jews, the oppression that Jews have suffered is no excuse for treating Palestinians as subhuman: quite the opposite, it makes it even worse.
* The writer is senior lecturer in logic and computer science at University College, London. His grandparents fled Germany in 1933.
