November 02, 2004

Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism

I was just googling (as you do) when I stumbled on this. I think it's the same as Wikipedia. It has a passable definition and history of Zionism, but, more to the point here, of anti-Zionism. Here's a passage from it, though I don't agree entirely:

* First, while many, indeed most, self-declared anti-Semites today use the rhetoric of anti-Zionism, historically some anti-Semites were pro-Zionist. In pre-war Germany and Poland, for example, some anti-Semitic politicians advocated the emigration or expulsion of the Jews to Palestine as a solution to the "Jewish question."
* Second, some Jews are anti-Zionists. Jewish anti-Zionism exists mainly among socialist or radical Jewish intellectuals outside Israel. There is also a minority among Orthodox Jews, both inside and outside Israel, who reject Zionism as contrary to the will of God. It is true that both these groups are small and are unrepresentative of Jews [how do they know that?], but the existence of even a small minority of anti-Zionist Jews is sufficient to show that there is no necessary identification between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.

I'm posting this now intending to return it to it at some point, as there seems to be much to discuss about Zionism. Of course most Zionist condemnation of anti-Zionism is plain dishonesty and misrepresentation but there are many uncommitted people who shy away from the whole Palestine question because they find it too perplexing. As I said, to be continued....

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