If You Say You Support the Palestinians You Can’t be Neutral on the Racist Ideology that led to the Creation of the Israeli State
Formed
in 1996 Jewish
Voice for Peace has become the largest single Jewish
group advocating for the Palestinians in the world. Indeed it is the largest
pro-Palestinian organisation in the United States. Where it has led others,
like Ifnnotnow have followed.
JVP
has over 70 chapters, hundreds of thousands of online supporters and over
100,000 Jewish signatories. One theme has run through all their actions – what Israel
does to the Palestinians is Not in my
Name. The Jewish state is not, despite its claims, a State of the Jews.
JVP
did not start off as an anti-Zionist organisation. To have done so would have cut
it off from an American Jewish community of some 5 million people. Unlike in
Britain, the vast majority of American Jews are Liberal, Masorti or
Conservative as opposed to Orthodox. Although historically the American Jewish community
was the most liberal section of the White community in the USA, supporting the
civil rights struggle of Black people, it also supported Israel and turned a
blind eye to things which, if they’d occurred in America and to them, they would have been
the first to condemn.
Unlike Britain there is a Growing
Divorce Between the American Jewish Community and Israel
JVP
was the first to raise the question of the American Jewish community’s loyalty
to Israel. As in Britain Jews have historically been silenced by memes such as ‘You don’t live in Israel you have no right
to criticise what it does’ and of course the classic argument of Zionism that if
anti-Semitism ever rears its ugly head then Israel will provide a refuge.
These
arguments carry less weight today. If Israel claims to be a state of the Jews,
all Jews wherever they live, then it can hardly claim immunity from criticism by Jews.
This argument, that people who don’t live in Israel can’t criticise it would
not be given the time of day if it had been applied to Apartheid South Africa or Nazi Germany.
Israel
has become a topic of both discussion and dissension within America Jewry.
Partly this is because of Israel’s own desire for Jewish racial purity. In a
state based on race then someone must be the guardian of who is and who is not
a member of the chosen race. There must be some ‘objective’ criteria for deciding
who does and does not fit in.
Liberal
and Conservative Jews are not recognised as fully Jewish and therefore most American
Jews live in a no man’s land. All personal matters – birth, marriage, divorce
and death – in Israel are controlled by the Orthodox rabbinate. American Jews are Jewish
for the purposes of the Law of Return but not for personal matters.
When
a neo-Nazi gunman Robert Bowers murdered 11 Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue
in Pittsburgh last October Israel’s Chief Rabbi David Lau refused to even
recognise that this was a synagogue. Lau called
it ‘a place with a
profound Jewish flavour’ as if it was a form of chewing gum.
Robert
Bowers had targeted this particular synagogue because
they worked together with HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant
Aid Society which helped refugees in the United States. ‘You like to bring in hostile invaders to dwell among us’ This was at the same time as when Donald Trump’s racist invective was at its height attacking the refugee caravan during the Congressional elections. Trump created
the atmosphere in which Bowers did his murderous deeds.
It
was no therefore surprise that Pittsburgh Jews told Trump to stay away and not to visit them and when he came anyway they demonstrated against his
presence. Who accompanied
Trump? The Israeli Ambassador Ronald Dermer. Who flew to the USA to defend
Trump? The arch-racist Israeli Education
Minister Naftali Bennett.
Shalom
Lipner, a former adviser to several Israeli prime ministers, was reported
as saying that Bennett’s actions were
‘misguided + irresponsible this is: an Israeli
minister coming to Pittsburgh and hitting the campaign trail for Trump one week
before the midterms. Israel is already enough of a partisan football in
America; why would Bennett want to make the problem worse?’
Liberal
Zionist columnist Peter Beinart tweeted,
“Yes, antisemites don’t ask if you’re
Orthodox, Conservative or Reform. How about the Israeli government?”
This
is the atmosphere in which JVP organises. There is severe disagreement in the
American Jewish community over its relations with Israel. Netanyahu is reported
to have written
off the American Jewish community altogether.
Two years ago JVP set up a working party to
draw up a statement on Zionism. They have now reported and issued a statement. They declare that:
‘Jewish Voice for Peace is guided by a vision of
justice, equality and freedom for all people. We unequivocally oppose Zionism
because it is counter to those ideals.’
‘JVP made a conscious choice as an organization to abstain
from taking a position on Zionism, because we felt it closed off conversation
in the Jewish community.’
JVP’s
decision to now describe itself as anti-Zionist is an important one. It should serve as an example to British Jewish groups such as Jews for Justice for Palestinians which has
steadfastly refused to adopt any position on Zionism and has instead stuck to
an outdated and incoherent 2 State position that accepts a racist Israeli state.
Jewish Voice
for Labour, although most of its members are anti-Zionist has likewise adopted a
position that says it will take no position on Zionism. Palestine Solidarity Campaign although formally anti-Zionist in practice
says nothing at all about Zionism.
Why the Question of Zionism is
important
There is one
thing that Zionists hate above all and that is discussing Zionism. The Jewish Labour Movement campaigned
against what it saw as the use of the term Zionism as a word of abuse. A
position endorsed by the Labour Party’s Chakrabarti
Report.
Why then is
it important to understand and to oppose Zionism? First and foremost because
Zionism is the political movement that gave birth to the Israeli State. Zionism
is the ideology of the Israeli state.
If you don’t
understand Zionism then you won’t understand why Israel is a uniquely ethno nationalist state. You won't understand why it behaves as it does. Instead of dealing with the Israeli state
as a political problem Israel will be seen as amenable to a 'peace process' and diplomacy.
Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians will be seen as primarily one of human
rights and not a consequence of settler colonialism.
If you don’t
understand and oppose Zionism and see how it is antipathetic to Jewish people
and how it internalised everything anti-Semitism said about Jews then people will
see Israel as a normal bourgeois democratic state that has gone off the rails. Without
an understanding of Zionism people see Israel as a Jewish state no different
from Britain as a Christian state. From there it is but one step to seeing
Israel as the embodiment of Jewishness, which is the approach of anti-Semites
like Gilad Atzmon.
Anti-Zionism is the cure for Anti-Semitism
Anti-Zionism, contrary to what is alleged, is the cure for anti-Semitism. Instead of blaming Israel on the Jews, anti-Zionism enables people to understand the racist and imperial roots of Zionist colonisation
and settler colonialism. Israel is seen as a state that does the bidding of
western imperialism rather than a Jewish collectivity.
That is why
the Zionist cliché that anti-Zionism = anti-Semitism is an Orwellian lie that
doesn’t become true by repetition. When world leaders such as Justin
Trudea or Emmanuel
Macron repeat this lie it is because they wish to demonise opposition to western
imperialism.
When people
don’t have an understanding of where Israel has come from and why, then they
look to conspiracy theories about Jewish power or the Rothschild bankers. It is
the demonization of anti-Zionism that leads to anti-Semitism. Today as
yesterday, virtually all anti-Semites are also supporters of Zionism. From
Christian Zionists to White Supremacists there is wall to wall agreement on
support for Zionism. As Orly Azoulay put
it in Israel’s YNet
‘The Jewish right in America and
in Israel is no longer afraid of the ‘old anti-Semitism,’ yet progressive Jews
are being defined as accomplices of Israel’s haters. As a result, Israel’s
relationship with America’s Jews is becoming increasingly explosive.’
For
example the Zionist Organisation of America invited Trump’s anti-Semitic
adviser Steve Bannon as a guest
speaker at its annual gala dinner in 2017 and 2018.
John Hagee, the President of the million strong Christian United for
Israel, who preached
that Hitler was god’s agent sent to drive the Jews to Israel, presided at the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
JVP
have recognised that if you are going to support the Palestinians then you have
to take a position, not merely on this or that aspect of Israeli policies but
on the nature of the state itself and the movement that gave birth to it.
I
have disagreements with aspects of the statement. For example I think they are
wrong to talk about different strands of Zionism and equate ‘Cultural Zionism’
(which was confined to about a dozen supporters) with Political Zionism and
also not to see that Religious Zionism was an offshoot of the latter. I note
that they don’t even mention Labour or Socialist Zionism, quite correctly in my
opinion.
Also I think JVP are wrong not to openly come out and say that Zionism is a form of racism. I
also think JVP are wrong to describe
Zionism as ‘a form of Jewish nationalism’.
This presupposes that the Jews are a nation, an anti-Semitic idea. Zionism was
a nationalist movement, amongst Jews and non-Jews. In much the same way as
Nazism and similar racist movements in Poland, Romania and Hungary were nationalist. However Zionism
wasn’t a movement of a Jewish nation. I
make a sharp difference between nationalism and a nationalist movement.
I
disagree with the formulation that
‘“Anti-Zionism”
is a loose term referring to criticism of the current policies of the Israeli
state, and/or moral, ethical, or religious criticism of the idea of a Jewish
nation-state.’
Anti-Zionism
is a critique, not of particular policies of the Israeli government but the State
itself. A Jewish State is inherently racist in a settler colonial context. But
these are mere quibbles. JVP accepts that Israel is a settler colonial state
and an Apartheid State. More importantly than both it describes itself as
anti-Zionist. All I can say to this is Mazel Tov. Let us hope that British
Jewish groups in support of the Palestinians have the courage of their
convictions and realise that temporising will not gain them either support or
friends. Below is the JVP statement:
Tony Greenstein
What is Zionism?
Where did it come from?
Zionism is a form of Jewish nationalism, and is the primary ideology that
drove the establishment of Israel. Zionism began in the late 19th century in
the context of a set of huge changes in political, cultural, social landscape
of Jewish life in Europe, along with the general rise of nationalist movements
and nation-state political forms. For Jews in Europe, this meant a sharp rise
in violent antisemitism. Jewish people – even though they had lived in Europe
for centuries – were fundamentally excluded from the ways European nations
defined themselves. This resulted in violent, targeted, anti-Jewish massacres
in Russia, known as pogroms; the development of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories
like Protocols of the Elders of Zion; and the re-emergence of older antisemitic
tropes, like blood libels, which claim that Jewish people use the blood of
Christian children in rituals.
Some Jewish people responded to this antisemitism by attempting to
assimilate into the European countries they lived in; this often proved impossible.
Many Jewish people – over 2.5 million – left as refugees, coming to the United
States or other parts of Europe. Others, most famously the Bund, rejected the
concept of nationalism altogether or turned to revolutionary socialism. And
some, notably Theodore Herzl, often seen as the founder of Zionism, thought
that Jews themselves constituted a separate people, and should therefore have a
state of their own. Herzl and other early Zionist thinkers were also very
influenced by European settler colonial thinking, often explicitly making the
case that a Jewish state in Palestine would be a European colony similar to the
British presence in India.
It is important to note that people who consider themselves Zionist have
different interpretations of what that label means in the present political
moment, to them personally, and historically. Moreover, over time, multiple
strains of Zionism have emerged, including political Zionism, religious
Zionism, and cultural Zionism.
- Political: When people refer to “Zionism” today, this is often
what they mean. Founded by 19th Century thinker Theodore Herzl, it sees
the “Jewish problem” as having a solution in a “Jewish state.” As
nationalism rose in Europe, many, including Herzl, saw Jews as outsiders
to the nation, unable or unwilling to assimilate or be fully accepted as
members of the nation-state. According to Herzl, this “problem” should be
solved by a community of nations by establishing a Jewish state in
Palestine.
- Religious: Many, but not all, forms of Zionism have their roots in
theological interpretations. It is important to note that this form of
Zionism is not exclusive to Jewish religious traditions. For example, some
evangelical Christian denominations believe that in order to facilitate
the second coming of Christ, Jews must “gather” in Israel as part of
Biblical prophecy.
- Cultural: Most often attributed to Herzl’s contemporary, Ahad
Ha’am (Asher Ginsberg), this form of Zionism called for a spiritual and
cultural center for Jewish people in Palestine, but not for a “Jewish
state” in the same way Herzl did. Instead, this form of Zionism calls for
Jews to share a national language and culture.
The political ideology of Zionism, regardless of which strain, has
resulted in the establishment of a Jewish nation-state in the land of historic
Palestine. In 1948, 750,000 Palestinians were
expelled as part of that process, their homes and property confiscated. Despite recognition of their rights by the United Nations,
their rights to return and be compensated have long been denied by the US and
Israel. In 1967, Israel occupied what is now known as the Occupied Palestinian
Territories, putting millions of people under military rule. Longstanding systemic
inequalities privilege Jews over Palestinians inside Israel and in the Occupied
Territories.
For more, please see this speech by former JVP Deputy Director Cecilie
Surasky, “Settler
colonialism, white supremacy, and the ‘special relationship’ between the U.S.
and Israel”
What is anti-Zionism?
“Anti-Zionism” is a loose term referring to criticism
of the current policies of the Israeli state, and/or moral, ethical, or
religious criticism of the idea of a Jewish nation-state. There has been
debate, criticism and opposition to Zionism within Jewish thought for as long
as it has existed. Jewish anti-Zionists span a political and religious
spectrum, from religious and secular progressives who view opposition to
Zionism as an anti-racist praxis, to ultra-Orthodox Jews who oppose Jewish
dominion until the time of the Messiah, to anarchist Jews who oppose the very
concept of nation-states, Jewish or otherwise. There are also many non-Jewish
anti-Zionists whose perspectives may be informed by moral criticism of the
policies of the Israeli government, problems with the impact of Zionist
thinking in Israel on non-Jewish residents, and/or a criticism of
ethno-nationalism more broadly. Many Palestinians take anti-Zionist positions
or identify as anti-Zionist because of the current and historical practices of
the Israeli state.
Criticism of Zionism is not to be conflated with antisemitism. States such as Israel
and the United States are openly criticized in public life, and their political
beliefs and policies are subject to critical debate, in accord with our basic
First Amendment rights.
For more on the history of Jewish alternatives to
Zionism, please see this blog post by former JVP staffer Ben
Lorber.
For more on the problems of conflating antisemitism
with anti-Zionism, please see this op-ed by NY Times columnist
Michelle Goldberg.
For more on criticisms of Zionism, please see these excerpts from “Zionism from the
Standpoint of its Victims” by Edward Said.
Why and how did we clarify our position on Zionism?
At its founding, JVP made a conscious choice as an organization to
abstain from taking a position on Zionism, because we felt it closed off
conversation in the Jewish community. Palestinian partners had long theorized
Zionism as the root cause of the Palestinian condition, and more and more of
our members not only agreed, but understood Zionism as damaging to Jewish
identity and spiritual life. In 2014, it became clear that we needed to clarify
our position in order to effectively continue doing our work.
We started by creating a committee through an application process that
was purposely designed to represent the breadth of JVP membership. This group
of staff, members and board met regularly over the course of two years to
design a curriculum on Zionism. Over 700 members attended the webinars
presenting the curriculum, and throughout the process, chapters met and
discussed the ways JVP’s approach to Zionism impacted their work locally and
nationally.
In addition, we held conversations about Zionism at the 2017 National
Member Meeting, surveyed individuals who attended the webinars, and had our
constituency groups – including Rabbis, artists, and students – hold
independent discussions on Zionism, notes of which were shared with the JVP
board.
We also gathered feedback from JVP staff, Palestinian members, activists
and thinkers, along with feedback from Jewish people of color and Sephardi
& Mizrahi Jews.
The board met over the summer and fall of 2018 to draft and finalize this
statement.
What do you see as the harms of
Zionism against Jewish people? Isn’t Zionism a movement for Jewish
self-determination?
While Zionism is often referred to as a movement of
“Jewish self-determination,” the Zionist movement defined this term in a narrow
political sense, rejecting the diaspora as inherently toxic and unhealthy for
Jews. The Classical Zionist concept known as shlilat hagalut
(“negation of the diaspora”), demeaned centuries of a rich Jewish spiritual and
cultural history – often to the point of using anti-Semitic imagery. For
instance, famed Zionist journalist/ writer Micah Josef Berdichevsky claimed diaspora Jews were “not a
nation, not a people and not human.” Hebrew literary icon Yosef Hayyim Brenner called them “gypsies, filthy
dogs and inhuman,” while Labor Zionist AD Gordon referred to diaspora Jews as “a
parasitic people.”
Zionism, as a political ideology and as a movement,
has always hierarchized Jews based on ethnicity and race, and has not equally
benefited or been liberatory for all Jewish people in Israel. Zionism is and
was an Ashkenazi-led movement that othered, marginalized and discriminated
against Jews from across the Middle East and North Africa that it termed
Mizrahim (the ‘Eastern Ones’).
In the early 1950s, starting two years after the Nakba,
the Israeli government facilitated a mass immigration of Mizrahim. Unlike their
Ashkenazi counterparts, the new Mizrahi immigrants were not permitted to settle
in the central cities or live in housing they could eventually come to own.
Instead, the Israeli police were deployed to compel Mizrahi immigrants to
remain in the transient camps and later development towns in Israel’s
periphery, as a means to expand the state territory and prevent Palestinian
return. During the 1950s Mizrahi immigrants were also subject to medical experimentation facilitated or performed
by the Israeli government, and several thousand babies and toddlers were forcibly taken from their parents by the Israeli
government. These children, two thirds Yemeni and a third from Tunisian,
Moroccan, Libyan, Iraqi and Balkan families, were taken by physicians and
social workers and given up for adoption by Ashkenazi families.
From the first waves of immigration in the 1980s,
Ethiopian Jews have experienced racism on the part of the
government and the Israeli public, exclusion from the public sphere,
discrimination in education and employment, and exposure to physical and verbal
violence. They also remain unrecognized as Jews by the Israeli religious
establishment and religious councils because of racial prejudice. Ethiopian
mobilization for racial justice consolidated since 2015 has called for an end
to institutional discrimination, police harassment, arrests without cause,
false accusations and indictments about assaulting police officers, and the
denial of due process, all of which have long been experienced by the Ethiopian
community.
For more, please see “Zionism from the Standpoint of its
Jewish Victims” by Ella Shohat, and “They didn’t want Ethiopian Jews in
Israel, either” by Efrat Yerday.
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