Filed under Opinion Editorials, Anti-Zionist Jews - on Monday, March 31, 2008 -
Ami Isseroff is director of MidEastWeb for Coexistence www.mideastweb.org and creator and webmaster of www.zionism-israel.com. He has a D.Sc. degree in Behavioral Biology from the Israel Technical Institute (Technion) Medical School. and has been a senior researcher at the Weizmann institute, software enginner, systems analyst and free lance software consultant and technical writer. He lives in Rehovot, Israel.MidEastWeb - Middle East
Zionism-Israel
Anti-Zionist Jews and those whose views amount to anti-Zionism are an unpleasant fact of life. This article was not written to condemn them, or to refute their ideas in detail, but rather to point out that they will eventually find themselves isolated by the people whose cause they are championing. This is already happening.
Anti-Zionist Jews are among the most vociferous, visible and effective opponents of the existence of the state of Israel today. Who has done more to advance the myth of Zionist "ethnic cleansing" than Ilan Pappe? Who has done more to combat the "Holocaust Myth" by his subtle and effective "Holocaust Industry" campaign than Norman Finkelstein?? Who has been at the forefront at spreading the libel of "Apartheid Israel," if not Jeff Halper? Who has made hatred of Israel respectable in US Academia if not Joel Beinin? Who has done more to advance the image of Israel as a tool of the colonialist imperialist warmongers than Noam Chomsky? Who has been the ideological soul of the British boycott campaigns, if not Jacqueline Rose? Who has done more to discredit the IDF and demoralize Israeli youth than Dorothy Naor with her "New Profile" movement? It is the Golden Age of anti-Zionist and anti-Israel Jews. All over the world, the watchword is "Just Peace in Palestine." Jews are leading the fight to brainwash the world into thinking that genocide is justice. Anti-Semitism was abandoned by the respectable right; now it is the Jews who must lead the anti-Zionist fight, the struggle to deny the rights of the Jewish people. Surely it is absurd that Jews lead the anti-Zionist movement!
This development, which may seem bizarre, can be predictable from the classical Zionist analysis of history. Jews have always been pioneers, going where nobody else wanted to go or could go, and developing fields of endeavor that were neglected by others for lack of motivation or qualifications.
In many lands, as the Middle Ages waned, Jews were the only people who had the education to engage in commerce, and the motivation to do it because they were barred from other occupations. Baruch Espinoza pioneered aspects of modern philosophy that other Europeans could not dare to touch. He was only excommunicated. Christians who dabbled in these matters would have been burned at the stake. In comparatively large numbers, Jews engaged in obscure and nonlucrative pursuits such as theoretical physics, and in the USA, Jews took advantage of the new and risky field opened by the invention of motion pictures. Jews have been at the forefront of movements of social change as well, places where imaginative and bold leaders could gain an audience, while they were shut out of the respectable political movements by non-Jews. Jews, likewise, were at the forefront of the US civil rights movement and the South African anti-apartheid movement. Not surprisingly, Jews took up the Palestinian Arab cause.
Jews bring a special "qualification" to the business of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. Only Jews, after all, can advocate the destruction of the Jewish state in liberal circles without risking the charge of racism and advocating genocide. Only Jews can spread nonsense about the "Holocaust industry" without being labeled anti-Semites and neo-Nazis. Jews, and Israeli Jews at that, are best situated to offer credible but inaccurate information about Zionist "atrocities." Only Jews can recycle the tired Nazi accusation that the Jews control the media and the governments of the world without risking the anger of "liberals."
A very significant portion of advocacy for the Arab Palestinian anti-Israel movement is led not by Palestinian Arabs or anti-Semites, but by Jews. Halper, Beinin, Rose, Pappe, Chomsky and Finkelstein, rather than Alloush, Abunimah, Fayyad Husseini, Qaukji and abu Youssef, are the intellectual mainstays of the movement to wipe out the Jewish state. Their English is much better, and they can cast their ideas in slogans acceptable to western culture. "Secular Democratic State" sounds so much better than "Drive the Jews into the Sea" to a good progressive, doesn't it? It is difficult to label them as "anti-Semites" convincingly. It is hard to discredit their lies. If a Jew and an Israeli says that Zionists commit war crimes, people tend to believe it must be true.Their appearances and their books and articles are lauded in the Arab world, and reprinted in Al-Ahram and Roz el Youssef, alongside the latest "proofs" of the authenticity of the blood libel and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Not since al-Andalus (Moorish Spain) have Jews enjoyed such a Golden Age.
Alas for the anti-Zionist Jews, their fate is sealed, like that of the Jews of Spain and Germany. As Zionist analysis can help us understand the rise of anti-Zionist Jews, and the rise of Jews in Poland or Germany, and as it could predict the downfall of the Jews in Germany and Poland, so Zionist analysis can equally well predict the denouement of Jewish anti-Zionism.
Anti-Zionist Jews are among the most vociferous, visible and effective opponents of the existence of the state of Israel today. Who has done more to advance the myth of Zionist "ethnic cleansing" than Ilan Pappe? Who has done more to combat the "Holocaust Myth" by his subtle and effective "Holocaust Industry" campaign than Norman Finkelstein?? Who has been at the forefront at spreading the libel of "Apartheid Israel," if not Jeff Halper? Who has made hatred of Israel respectable in US Academia if not Joel Beinin? Who has done more to advance the image of Israel as a tool of the colonialist imperialist warmongers than Noam Chomsky? Who has been the ideological soul of the British boycott campaigns, if not Jacqueline Rose? Who has done more to discredit the IDF and demoralize Israeli youth than Dorothy Naor with her "New Profile" movement? It is the Golden Age of anti-Zionist and anti-Israel Jews. All over the world, the watchword is "Just Peace in Palestine." Jews are leading the fight to brainwash the world into thinking that genocide is justice. Anti-Semitism was abandoned by the respectable right; now it is the Jews who must lead the anti-Zionist fight, the struggle to deny the rights of the Jewish people. Surely it is absurd that Jews lead the anti-Zionist movement!
This development, which may seem bizarre, can be predictable from the classical Zionist analysis of history. Jews have always been pioneers, going where nobody else wanted to go or could go, and developing fields of endeavor that were neglected by others for lack of motivation or qualifications.
In many lands, as the Middle Ages waned, Jews were the only people who had the education to engage in commerce, and the motivation to do it because they were barred from other occupations. Baruch Espinoza pioneered aspects of modern philosophy that other Europeans could not dare to touch. He was only excommunicated. Christians who dabbled in these matters would have been burned at the stake. In comparatively large numbers, Jews engaged in obscure and nonlucrative pursuits such as theoretical physics, and in the USA, Jews took advantage of the new and risky field opened by the invention of motion pictures. Jews have been at the forefront of movements of social change as well, places where imaginative and bold leaders could gain an audience, while they were shut out of the respectable political movements by non-Jews. Jews, likewise, were at the forefront of the US civil rights movement and the South African anti-apartheid movement. Not surprisingly, Jews took up the Palestinian Arab cause.
Jews bring a special "qualification" to the business of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. Only Jews, after all, can advocate the destruction of the Jewish state in liberal circles without risking the charge of racism and advocating genocide. Only Jews can spread nonsense about the "Holocaust industry" without being labeled anti-Semites and neo-Nazis. Jews, and Israeli Jews at that, are best situated to offer credible but inaccurate information about Zionist "atrocities." Only Jews can recycle the tired Nazi accusation that the Jews control the media and the governments of the world without risking the anger of "liberals."
A very significant portion of advocacy for the Arab Palestinian anti-Israel movement is led not by Palestinian Arabs or anti-Semites, but by Jews. Halper, Beinin, Rose, Pappe, Chomsky and Finkelstein, rather than Alloush, Abunimah, Fayyad Husseini, Qaukji and abu Youssef, are the intellectual mainstays of the movement to wipe out the Jewish state. Their English is much better, and they can cast their ideas in slogans acceptable to western culture. "Secular Democratic State" sounds so much better than "Drive the Jews into the Sea" to a good progressive, doesn't it? It is difficult to label them as "anti-Semites" convincingly. It is hard to discredit their lies. If a Jew and an Israeli says that Zionists commit war crimes, people tend to believe it must be true.Their appearances and their books and articles are lauded in the Arab world, and reprinted in Al-Ahram and Roz el Youssef, alongside the latest "proofs" of the authenticity of the blood libel and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Not since al-Andalus (Moorish Spain) have Jews enjoyed such a Golden Age.
Alas for the anti-Zionist Jews, their fate is sealed, like that of the Jews of Spain and Germany. As Zionist analysis can help us understand the rise of anti-Zionist Jews, and the rise of Jews in Poland or Germany, and as it could predict the downfall of the Jews in Germany and Poland, so Zionist analysis can equally well predict the denouement of Jewish anti-Zionism.
The same drama has been enacted many times before. The father of Marxist Zionism, Ber Borochov called it a "Stychic process," a process that was natural, impartial and inevitable. Eventually, the new field pioneered by Jews becomes a success. It becomes attractive to non-Jews. The Jews are forced out of commerce or the Communist party of the Soviet Union, or the US civil rights movement or whatever other field they have pioneered. The Jewish department stores and the Jewish industries are "Aryanized." Lenin and Stalin take over from Trotsky and Kaganovich, and Farrakhan and Obama take over from Jewish civil rights advocates and martyrs Spingarn and Goodman.
In the case of the Palestinian quest to destroy Israel, there is a special intrinsic problem with Jewish leadership, especially Israeli Jewish leadership. As Marxists would possibly phrase it, there is a contradiction between the means of social organization (Jews) , and the goals (wiping out Jews). The goal of the Palestinian movement, as was made quite clear by its founder, Grand Mufti Hajj Amin al Husseini, was the physical annihilation of the Jews of Palestine, as his mentor, Adolf Hitler, had accomplished regarding the Jews of Europe. Under the influence of Soviet mentors, this goal was modified slightly by the PLO, which originally planned that the "Secular Democratic State" would "only" expel those Jews who had arrived after 1917.
From that point of view, the Halpers and the other Jewish helpers constitute a subversive fifth column. In their mad delusion, they think that the Palestinian Arabs are only against "those other Jews." They seriously intend that the Secular Democratic State will give rights to Jews and allow Jews to live in "Palestine." Of course, there would be no point to the Palestinian "struggle" if that is how it ends, as the Hamas make abundantly clear. Still worse, perhaps, are those Jews who insist that there should be two states, one Palestinian Arab, and the other "Secular Democratic."
Perhaps Jeff Halper, or Ilan Pappe or Dorothy Naor even have the dangerous illusion that they might hold some government post in the Palestinian utopia, as they are so central to the movement right now. After all, they see themselves as part of the "revolution." They are not like those other Jews. If they ever achieve their goal of destroying the Jewish state, it is clear that their fate will be the same as that of the Left Poalei Tzion and the Yevsektzia who were purged by Stalin, of Pfeffer and Mayakovsky and all the leading lights of the Soviet Revolution. For Jews, as the Hamas Charternotes, have always been trouble makers. Dorothy Naor and Tali Fahima will no doubt protest against polygamy, wife beating, female circumcision or honor killings, and the 'democratic' Hamas will do to them what the 'democratic' Hamas must do to all troublesome agitators. Perhaps, on the other hand, they will meet their fate believing in the revolution to the bitter end.
In the case of the Palestinian quest to destroy Israel, there is a special intrinsic problem with Jewish leadership, especially Israeli Jewish leadership. As Marxists would possibly phrase it, there is a contradiction between the means of social organization (Jews) , and the goals (wiping out Jews). The goal of the Palestinian movement, as was made quite clear by its founder, Grand Mufti Hajj Amin al Husseini, was the physical annihilation of the Jews of Palestine, as his mentor, Adolf Hitler, had accomplished regarding the Jews of Europe. Under the influence of Soviet mentors, this goal was modified slightly by the PLO, which originally planned that the "Secular Democratic State" would "only" expel those Jews who had arrived after 1917.
From that point of view, the Halpers and the other Jewish helpers constitute a subversive fifth column. In their mad delusion, they think that the Palestinian Arabs are only against "those other Jews." They seriously intend that the Secular Democratic State will give rights to Jews and allow Jews to live in "Palestine." Of course, there would be no point to the Palestinian "struggle" if that is how it ends, as the Hamas make abundantly clear. Still worse, perhaps, are those Jews who insist that there should be two states, one Palestinian Arab, and the other "Secular Democratic."
Perhaps Jeff Halper, or Ilan Pappe or Dorothy Naor even have the dangerous illusion that they might hold some government post in the Palestinian utopia, as they are so central to the movement right now. After all, they see themselves as part of the "revolution." They are not like those other Jews. If they ever achieve their goal of destroying the Jewish state, it is clear that their fate will be the same as that of the Left Poalei Tzion and the Yevsektzia who were purged by Stalin, of Pfeffer and Mayakovsky and all the leading lights of the Soviet Revolution. For Jews, as the Hamas Charternotes, have always been trouble makers. Dorothy Naor and Tali Fahima will no doubt protest against polygamy, wife beating, female circumcision or honor killings, and the 'democratic' Hamas will do to them what the 'democratic' Hamas must do to all troublesome agitators. Perhaps, on the other hand, they will meet their fate believing in the revolution to the bitter end.
The end is already in sight. The stalwart Ibrahim Alloush, who has the courage to say what other Arabs only think, has spelled it out (see freearabvoice.org/articles/SolidarityfromPro-PalestinianJewsRevisited.htm):
There are plenty of people out there who claim to be 'pro-Palestinian', or to support 'Palestinian rights'...
Nevertheless, not everyone who claims to support us is actually a supporter. Many such supporters actually oppose some of the most crucial things we stand for, except they dislike some of the human rights violations that the Zionists are visiting upon us. That is, they: 1) recognize the right of "Israel" to exist and the alleged right of Jews to settle in Palestine, 2) they oppose our strategy to liberate Palestine, and 3) they especially oppose the armed struggle of Palestinian organizations. Such 'supporters' are not actually supporting us, but simply trying to make themselves feel better...
In some cases, you find Jews claiming to support the Palestinian cause. But when you scrutinize carefully what they stand for, you'll find they simply want what amounts to a 'nice occupation', as opposed to a brutal one. In reality they just wish there could be an occupation without administrative detentions, targeted assassinations, land confiscations, house demolitions, and all the rest. Otherwise, those same 'supporters' try as hard as they could to convince Palestinians to present their case 'in a civilized manner' without resorting to human bombs and military operations, especially against what they call "Israeli civilians". One such Jewish 'supporter' is Noam Chomsky who says that it would be immoral for Palestinians to target even an off-duty "Israeli" soldier!
This makes one wonder whether these Jewish "supporters" are just trying to whitewash the occupation with their own professed guilt, as Jews, or whether they're simply out to present another 'positive' side of Zionism!
"Not everyone who claims to support us is really a supporter," writes Alloush. As Joe Stalin noted, one must always be vigilant. There are right-deviationists and left-deviationists and subversives hiding everywhere in our midst. Agents of imperialist reaction in sheep's clothing - rootless cosmopolitans.
Alloush is not the only sign of disaffection. Benny Morris, whose not quite objective history of the Palestinian refugee exodus was used as a major weapon in the war against Israel, was criticized by Finkelstein, and by Khalidi and others, because he "didn't go far enough." Eventually, it was discovered that Morris is a Zionist in pro-Palestinian clothing, and he admitted unambiguously that he believes the blame for the exodus of Palestinian Arab refugees lies solely with the Palestinian Arabs. When the campaign against the alleged "Israel Lobby" gathered momentum under the inspiration of professors Walt and Mearsheimer, Noam Chomsky was discovered to be a left-deviationist, who put the blame for American foreign policy on Americans, rather than the nefarious "Israel lobby." The writings of Simha Flapan are widely quoted by anti-Zionists to "prove" that Zionism is a racist movement. But surely, some ambitious person will also one day discover and quote Flapan's advocacy in the Zionist idea.
Presently, it will be discovered that Dorothy Naor, who agitates for refusing service in the IDF, is unwilling to wear the Dhimmi star after the Arabs have duly conquered "Filasteen." It will be understood that Noam Chomsky actually was, as he freely admits, a Zionist, a card-carrying member of the international Zionist conspiracy. Likewise, it will be revealed that Joel Beinin, leader of the anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist camp as former head of MESA (Middle East Studies Association) was likewise a card-carrying Zionist, and that even now, he most subversively advocates some solution that provides at least some rights to the Jews of Israel, such as a truly democratic and secular state, and innocent believes in the possibility of achieving this utopia. Perhaps all these people are still agents of the Mossad, who have infiltrated and subverted the Arab Palestinian movement? After all, the Elders of Zion are clever. They must have a contingency for every exigency. If they can't control the Palestinians one way, they will do it another way. If the "Jew Zionists" cannot control the American government, they will put forward the Jewish anti-Zionists to do it instead.
There is no getting around the problem: anti-Zionist Jews are still Jews. What is the point of getting rid of one type of Jew, if at the end of the day, the Arab Palestinians are to be controlled by a different type of Jew? The problem is highlighted by the rise (or rather the recrudescence) of Islamist ideology among Arab Palestinians. There is no place for Jewish leadership in an Islamic Republic. As the Hadith observes, before the end of days, the Muslims will kill all the Jews. It doesn't exempt anti-Zionist Jews. A Jew is a Jew and remains a Jew. A Jew is liable to support outlandish and evil notions like the right of Jews to settle in Palestine, or to oppose time honored customs like wife beating or honorable pursuits like suicide bombing. The Jews will try to hide behind trees as the Hadith states. But if the state of Israel is really destroyed, no tree will shelter Tali Fahima or Ilan Pappe or Jeff Halper.
Alloush is an extremist, in the vanguard of the Arab Palestinian movement. He is a Holocaustdenier, but no more so than say, Norman Finkelstein, or the Neturei Karteh Jews. Alloush dares to say what others are only thinking. His ideas will achieve popularity first with the "anti-Zionists" like the Stormfront people, but inevitably, they must percolate down to every Arab Palestinian and every anti-Semite who rightly feels that the Jews have not only dispossessed the Arabs from Palestine, but have now dispossessed them from their own genocidal movement. The leaders of a genocidal movement cannot be those who were targeted for elimination. It wouldn't do at all if Eichmann or Himmler or Heydrich had been Jewish.
The Jewish anti-Zionist movement must inevitably fall victim to the nemesis of of the historical dialectic. If the Arab Palestinian movement to destroy Israel succeeds, the Jews who are leading it now will certainly be redundant and undesirable. What use will Tali Fahima or Ilan Pappe or Jeff Halper be in an Arab Palestinian state? If it fails, they will be blamed for its failure.
There is no getting around the problem: anti-Zionist Jews are still Jews. What is the point of getting rid of one type of Jew, if at the end of the day, the Arab Palestinians are to be controlled by a different type of Jew? The problem is highlighted by the rise (or rather the recrudescence) of Islamist ideology among Arab Palestinians. There is no place for Jewish leadership in an Islamic Republic. As the Hadith observes, before the end of days, the Muslims will kill all the Jews. It doesn't exempt anti-Zionist Jews. A Jew is a Jew and remains a Jew. A Jew is liable to support outlandish and evil notions like the right of Jews to settle in Palestine, or to oppose time honored customs like wife beating or honorable pursuits like suicide bombing. The Jews will try to hide behind trees as the Hadith states. But if the state of Israel is really destroyed, no tree will shelter Tali Fahima or Ilan Pappe or Jeff Halper.
Alloush is an extremist, in the vanguard of the Arab Palestinian movement. He is a Holocaustdenier, but no more so than say, Norman Finkelstein, or the Neturei Karteh Jews. Alloush dares to say what others are only thinking. His ideas will achieve popularity first with the "anti-Zionists" like the Stormfront people, but inevitably, they must percolate down to every Arab Palestinian and every anti-Semite who rightly feels that the Jews have not only dispossessed the Arabs from Palestine, but have now dispossessed them from their own genocidal movement. The leaders of a genocidal movement cannot be those who were targeted for elimination. It wouldn't do at all if Eichmann or Himmler or Heydrich had been Jewish.
The Jewish anti-Zionist movement must inevitably fall victim to the nemesis of of the historical dialectic. If the Arab Palestinian movement to destroy Israel succeeds, the Jews who are leading it now will certainly be redundant and undesirable. What use will Tali Fahima or Ilan Pappe or Jeff Halper be in an Arab Palestinian state? If it fails, they will be blamed for its failure.
A specter is haunting over the anti-Zionist movement. It is the specter of anti-Semitism. As day follows night, the logical and social contradictions of the Jewish pro-Palestinian movement must lead to the exclusion, if not the annihilation, of the anti-Zionist Jews. It is far better for them, and for all of us, if it happens sooner, rather than later.
Hat Tip: Ber Borochov
Hat Tip: Ber Borochov
Based on the article The future of Jewish anti-Zionism - a Zionist analysis, published by Zionism & Israel Center.
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