Alfred Lilienthal, a leading anti-Zionist writer, died last week. Here's his obit from the Washington Post:
Author, and Middle East expert, Alfred
M. Lilienthal, Age 94, died peacefully Monday, October 6, at his home
in Washington, DC. Born in New York City, December 25, 1913. He is
survived by a niece Maria Maravillas Lilienthal Ortells of Madrid,
Spain. A service of remembrance is being planned.
Jack Ross writes:
My first serious introduction to Jewish anti-Zionist thought was at the
age of 16 when I discovered sitting on my grandparents' bookshelf a
copy of Lilienthal's first book, What Price Israel?, written in 1953. These were followed by There Goes The Middle East in 1957 and The Zionist Connection in 1978.
Lilienthal became active in the Washington chapter of the American Council for Judaism in the 1940s as a young State Department lawyer and began his rise to national prominence with his article "Israel's flag is not mine" in Readers' Digest in 1949. By the mid-50s however he began to part ways with the ACJ over what was perceived as his sensationalism and unabashed pro-Arab partisanship.
From what I have heard from many who knew him, both these charges were quite fair and possibly even understated, as some even believed him to be seriously mentally ill. But perhaps this was necessary for him to speak out for decades with his unpopular but prophetic views. Reflecting on all this the day after Yom Kippur, it is a powerful reminder of the human condition.
Though honored on his 90th birthday at the height of the Second Intifada with a dinner thrown by the Jewish peace leaders Jeff Halper and Josh Reubner, Lilienthal was probably most analogous to the surviving Spanish anarchists after the death of Franco - completely lost in a world that passed him by once he was finally vindicated. Even so, he should not be forgotten.
Lilienthal became active in the Washington chapter of the American Council for Judaism in the 1940s as a young State Department lawyer and began his rise to national prominence with his article "Israel's flag is not mine" in Readers' Digest in 1949. By the mid-50s however he began to part ways with the ACJ over what was perceived as his sensationalism and unabashed pro-Arab partisanship.
From what I have heard from many who knew him, both these charges were quite fair and possibly even understated, as some even believed him to be seriously mentally ill. But perhaps this was necessary for him to speak out for decades with his unpopular but prophetic views. Reflecting on all this the day after Yom Kippur, it is a powerful reminder of the human condition.
Though honored on his 90th birthday at the height of the Second Intifada with a dinner thrown by the Jewish peace leaders Jeff Halper and Josh Reubner, Lilienthal was probably most analogous to the surviving Spanish anarchists after the death of Franco - completely lost in a world that passed him by once he was finally vindicated. Even so, he should not be forgotten.
Is it not possible that he was believed to
be mentally ill as a means of marginalizing
his opposition to tribalistic attitudes and
behavior?
Stalin knows.
I see that he is survived by a niece. That is to say , he has left no direct biological legacy that he could impart his assimilationist views on. Well, I have a friend here in Israel, an immigrant from the old USSR whose grandfather was a high-ranking officer in Stalin's NKVD. Yes, someone who, like Lilienthal, felt that his Jewish destiny was to disappear into the "worker's paradise" of the USSR, just as Lilienthal wanted to assimilated into the US. Well, this NKVD man's grandson is an Orthodox/religious right-winger who is pro-settlement. I also know of another fellow, a "graduate" of the beatings of Mayor Daley's police at the Democratic Convention in 1968 who came to Israel, also became Orthodox/religious, lives as as "settler" in Judea/Samaria, has 10 children, all of whom are Orthodox/religious and most of the grown, married ones also live as settlers as Judea/Samaria. Years from now, Lilienthal will be forgotten. The reality is being determined on the ground, not in the ravings of some Jew ashamed of his birth identity.
I had never heard of Alfred Lilienthal, even though I am reasonably well-informed on Palestine/Israel. Yet another reason why I love this blog. James North
A great icon of the struggle has been lost.
I read the "Zionist Connection" in 2007, only aware of it because my sister was in the used book business and had a copy. It is brilliantly and clearly written. I do not think anyone can understand the Middle East and related conflicts, including todays terrorism without reading it. Mr. Lilienthal is on my list of Jews I most admire, and will definely be remembered.
The reality is being determined on the ground, not in the ravings of some Jew ashamed of his birth identity.
Posted by: bar_kochba132
Haahahahahah
Such nonsense as this is what Lilienthal was working to dispel. Birth identity? We are born human, live human, and die human. Are you a racist, bar_kockbal132? (strictly a rhetorical question. . .)
More here. He also had a website with what appear to be great links. Unfortunately they've all gone cold. I wish his site could be reactivated & the links restored.
I've read parts of one of his books online. It's most interesting. I hope his voice is not silenced.
Alfred Lilienthal was one man trying to rell the truth against an entire establishment. He failed in his lifetime but the truth he struggled to reveal is finally coming out. He should always be remembered. He was an honest and fiercely dedicated man.
THE INSEMINATION AND EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT OF ZIONISM
There is altogether too much writing and discussion on the present of Zionism. Oceans of ink are spilled on the latest atrocity, invasion of a neighboring country, peace discussions and photo finish elections, etc. This is called by media blabbermouths “keeping the public informed”. It is nothing of the kind. It is simply treating the present as the reality of the problem.
The reality of the problem lies deep in the past. That does not mean that it goes back thousands of years, as many suppose. That view is equally uninformed. In reality, from the death of Mehmet Ali and his son Ibrahim, in 1840, peace prevailed in Palestine from that year until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 (actually, until Enver Pasha brought Turkey into the war against England in 1915). No organized violence of any kind in Palestine occurred during these years. When, then, did the problems begin? They
began about the time of the assassination of Czar Alexander Two in Russia in 1881. Actually, we can go back fifteen years to approximately 1865. Around this time Russian Jews began to conceive the idea of a “return” to Palestine. One of the first early works proposing this idea was Moses Hess book “Rome and Jerusalem” published in 1862. The Russian Jews were unhappy under the Czars and developed the idea that since there was no future for the Jews under the Czars; the solution was to migrate either to Palestine, England, Argentina or the United States. These ideas had been gestating in Russia for some time before Theodore Herzl formally developed them into the doctrine of Zionism in Vienna. Among the Russian Jews attracted to this novel idea were Leon Pinsker in his “Auto Emancipation”, Nachman Syrkin, Dov Ber Borochov and Moishe Usshiskin, who all promoted the idea of the “return” in various ways, usually from a Marxist perspective. This Marxist Zionism came to a head following the assassination of the Czar in 1881. The Russian monarchy passed its infamous “May Day” laws, a precursor of Adolf Hitler’s Nuremberg laws, excluding the Jews from participating in large segments of the economy and “confining” them in a large area of western Russia known as the Pale of Settlement.
Following the assassination of the Czar the Jews began their first “aliyah” to Palestine. Jewish agricultural colonies were planted in Arab Palestine beginning in 1878 with Petak Tikvah, Rishon-Le-Zion and others. Contrary to what they later pretended, the Zionist pioneers quickly discovered that Palestine was full of Arabs, most of them farmers, plowing the land with oxen. The coast cities were already fully populated with Arabs and Arab olive trees; orchards, vineyards, wheat fields and soap factories already dotted the land. The Arabs were extremely apprehensive regarding the Jewish colonies from inception. Arab newspapers in Egypt, Syria and Palestine regularly discussed the threat that the colonies represented to Arab interests. Arab delegates to the Turkish parliament in Constantinople were always bringing up the Jewish colonies and demanding action against them. Nothing meaningful was done and by the outbreak of war in 1915 there were 600,000 Arabs and 100,000 Jews in Palestine, most of them Russian and Eastern European Zionists of recent arrival.
There is no need in this essay to go into the history of Lord Balfour’s declaration and the subsequent history of the British Mandate. That has been done in previous essays. The relevant point here is that the beginnings of Zionism originated in conditions of Russia extraneous to conditions in Palestine. The Arabs were not responsible for conditions in Eastern Europe. Neither were they responsible for the later policies of Adolf Hitler. To review the gestative stages of Zionism is to realize immediately that Zionist claims to Palestine have always rested on sheer presumption. The presumption has been, from day one, that the Arabs of Palestine should be pushed aside to solve Jewish problems in Europe. So long as that presumption prevails, as it still does, there shall be no resolution to the crisis in Palestine.