Do you sense that anti-Zionism is being normalized? I do. I hear the word and more more frequently these days, in a neutral manner. It's been separated at last from the smear, that it is anti-semitic, thru the refusal of many critics to be intimidated. Here is more evidence: Tony Judt's frankly post-Zionist obituary in the New York Review of Books for his friend Amos Elon (1926-2009), who died in Italy after a long career in Israeli letters.
Judt wisely connects Elon's exile to all the other disaffected Israelis living abroad. Also note the nice treatment of Israeli history. Before 1948, Jews could blame Palestinians for hardheartedness. And since 1967? Excerpt:
In all his writings, notably an influential 1996 New York Review
essay entitled "Israel and the End of Zionism," he was distinctly
evenhanded in acknowledging the errors of both sides. But the historic
mistakes of the Palestinians had come primarily before 1948, whereas
Israel was overwhelmingly responsible for the disastrous missteps that
followed its great victory in 1967.
Zionism, as Amos came to realize, had outlived its usefulness. "As a
measure of…'affirmative action,' Zionism was useful during the
formative years. Today it has become redundant." What had once been the nationalist ideology of a stateless people has
undergone a tragic transition. It has, for a growing number of
Israelis, been corrupted into an uncompromising ethno-religious real
estate pact with a partisan God, a pact that justifies any and all
actions against real or imagined threats, critics, and enemies. The
Zionist project, a doctrine dating to the state-building nationalisms
of the late nineteenth century, has long since lost its way. It can
mean little—though it can do much harm—in an established democratic
state with aspirations to normality. In any case it has been hijacked
by ultras. Herzl's dream of a "normal" Jewish country has become an
exclusivist sectarian nightmare, a development that Amos illustrated by
slightly misquoting Keats: "Fanatics have a dream by which they weave a
paradise for a sect."..
This growing inability—in America above all, but in Israel too—to
distinguish between Jews and Israel, Israel and Zionism, Zionism and
fanatical theological exclusivism, helps explain why an Israeli like
Amos Elon would in his later years find himself living in Tuscany
(where he died on May 25). Many Israelis, especially younger and
better-educated men and women, today live outside their country,
attracted by the cosmopolitan cities of Europe and the US. A few of
them have chosen exile rather than serve in an army of occupation. But
for a man of Elon's generation, already adult when his country came
into being and utterly committed to the necessity and success of
Zionism, the decision to sell his home in Jerusalem and settle
permanently abroad was far more wrenching and carries profound
implications. A moral exile in his own land, Amos—the consummate
Israeli in so many ways—was once again rootless; or at any rate rooted
only in his defiant cosmopolitanism.
It is not that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitic, it is. It is just that more people could care less, since it carries less and less stigma to be an anti-Semite these days. Antisemitism cloaked as anti-Zionism has become normalized. Such is the product of those living in a fantasy bubble, where right is wrong, and wrong is right. Irrational Israel bashing is a bizarre cottage industry of hatred, which carries the fundamental flaw of ignoring any reality that weakens your ugly little cause.
Americans are fundamentally good people and far more sophisticated than useful idiots like Elon give them credit for. The "growing inability" to distinguish between Jew hatred and Israel hatred is nothing more than good people using common sense. Most Americans are not experts on the Middle East, but they can smell rancid garbage when deceivers like Judt open their mouths to speak.
Zionism needs to remain, but it needs to be transformed, from a permanent frontier expansion, to enough.
In any case it has been hijacked by ultras. Herzl's dream of a "normal" Jewish country has become an exclusivist sectarian nightmare Post-Zionist indeed. When did the hijack happen, and who did it ? I thought it was an exclusivist sectarian nightmare from the start, but I guess I missed a step at some point. Can someone help me ?
Judt hedges his bets: Amos was perfectly well aware that the present Middle Eastern imbroglio was the achievement of all sides. His sympathy for the "stateless, dispossessed, and dispersed Palestinians" did not blind him to the ineptness of their leaders. In order not to seem biased he blames the "inept" leadership of the Palestinians. Hamas is anything but inept. They are the reason we're even discussing this.
Oh, and he calls it an "imbroglio". Typical snot-nose Brit "intellectual". Imbroglio, my ass!
Affirmative action has its blow-back over the long run; the reasons why it's so hard to ignite a revolution are the same reasons it's so hard to end the next status quo. Witness the US Supreme Court candidate and her fellow affirmative action President supporter–they can't stop themselves–the mote in their eyes is resentment despite the pudding proof; they never see they have become the principled enemy. Today the US Supreme Court is supposed to deliver an opinion in the Boston firefighters case. And soon, apparently by the end of the year, Obama will deliver an opinion more globally on forty plus years of affirmative action in the larger world sector, the key one, the Middle East.
So Archie Bunker is now AIPAC? A settler? Hillary is now the Gold Star mothers? The one who camped out near Shrub's ranch? Meathead is now North Korea? The indies fight Hollywood?
The main thing is to look to people who grew up on the lower end of the oppressor class. No? Then what do you suggest?
I guess the first thing any American or Israeli should do is analyze how have I been born privileged, and not? This is a very hard job if you are from the working or lower to middle-middle class socio-economically.
You are absolutely right about that.
Zionism has a bad rep now. A lot of their mumbo jumbo has come back to haunt them…..'the right of jews to self determination, the right of jews to return to their homeland', the right of jews, the right of jews, blah,blah,blah. Now that the public has seen what Israel has done/is doing to Palestines they don't have any use for the zionist crapola. Yea, things are changing. Due to people as Phil says that refused to be cowed by slurs and sabotage. Does anyone think that Obama, despite his popularity, would shatter the Israeli third rail in congress and foreign policy if he didn't know that the public would accept it and even approve it?
The Jewish Establishment has LONG been Archie Bunker.
Yes, some people refuse to be cowed by the truth. Weiss for one.
"…at any rate rooted only in his defiant cosmopolitanism." Yep. Defiant cosmopolitanism, a great example to both Jews and Gentiles. Elon is a very good Jew. To my mind, the very best type of Jew, a first class man. One we can all admire as a credit to his culture.
When Zionism is seen for what it is , a quasi-fascist ideology – than we've made progress ( I see it as a outright fascist ideology but include "quasi" for those who dispute over the definition of 'fascism'…)
People like you keep the American people solidly with israel. Thanks! You're the best!
As long as you're willing to say the same of Palestinian nationalism, fine. You're obviously not, so no deal.