May, 2010 to Jeffrey Goldberg (emphasis added in both quotes):
I’m not asking Israel to be Utopian. I’m not asking it to allow Palestinians who were forced out (or fled) in 1948 to return to their homes. I’m not even asking it to allow full, equal citizenship to Arab Israelis, since that would require Israel no longer being a Jewish state. I’m actually pretty willing to compromise my liberalism for Israel’s security and for its status as a Jewish state.
March, 2012 on the Daily Beast:
Zion Square’s mission is to launch a conversation not just about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not just about the specter of war with Iran, not just about the relationship between Israel and diaspora Jews, not just about Jewish theology and culture, but about the struggle to confront the ethical responsibilities of a world in which Jewish fortunes have radically changed. My own deeply held belief is that that struggle should be guided by the principles of Israel’s declaration of independence, which envisions a Jewish state that ensures “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex.” I believe that such a state can only be achieved through a new commitment to full citizenship for those Palestinians who live within the green line, and through the creation of a Palestinian state beyond it.
A work in progress. How long before Beinart reconsiders his thoughts on the right of return? Or the idea of a Jewish state all together?
I think his evolution is substantial, most of all in that he seems to have clear sense of fairness–often absent in other two state advocates. Not sure he will go the extra step on ROR– I’m not sure I would either, if I were emotionally any kind of Zionist. But if a two state solution is achievable–a big if, of course, but still more achievable than any other kind of solution–it would be such a quantum leap forward in justice for all Palestinians. Of course the two state horse may be out of the barn– and if that becomes obvious, not sure what happens to Beinart.
But his passion and polemical skill are a huge net plus I think for most of us.
“A work in progress.” indeed
There is a phenomena that I have noticed happening amongst progressive Jews involved in this fight of ideas who seem to just wake up one day and realize on a very personal basis that they themselves have become a threat to Zionism – it seems to be a kind of guilt or ‘buyer’s remorse’ when they realize that they themselves are becoming a threat to Zionism and they are perhaps losing more than they ever realized they had signed up for
Examples I am thinking of include Goldstone with his ‘I was just kidding’ attempt to sabotage and even recant his report), Finklestein with his recent emotionally charged attack on BDS, and even just today with Bradley Burston’s article in today’s Haaretz. It is as if they were basking in a kind of intellectual dream of being such noble independents and freethinkers but then an emotional realization dawns upon them of what they are losing and what they have already done and that just really shakes them to the core.
I think for them it’s kind of a psychological loss that they don’t find themselves equipped to deal with other than returning closer to the fold, ‘mothers’, tribe, safety, etc
I don’t think this happens in a vacuum but rather is a result of the ostracization and intense pressure and guilt unleashed upon them by the tribe and their family members still members of the tribe in good Zionist standing (they must get the hate-mail treatment by AIPAC, etc by the ton) – but they seem to really have personal and emotional backlash to their previous work rather than going the final 9 yards and just ‘getting over Zionism’.
That last hump of leaving it behind for good and burning all the bridges seems to be quite a challenge – but isn’t it always?
Here’s to hoping that Beinart catches the Glenn Greenwald, Mondoweiss, Silverstein–fever and just breaks free of the tyranny of socialized prison of Zionism for good. There is nothing good about Zionist Apartheid – nothing…
It’s a big deal and and I think a real personal catharsis for people making this transcendence – probably quite a bit bigger than coming out as gay in 2012 America, loss of a family member, etc.
It’s a shaking of their whole reality when they realize that it’s not just a game anymore and the Israel as we know it is over and they have had a hand in it, even if accepting that is actually experienced as a traumatic shock to them
Beinart is younger and less of an ideological zionist than the rest of the jewish establishment, I would certainly expect nothing less from him since he grew up with some sort of american values, wait that last line is starting to sound ridiculous even to me.
just because he is from a younger generation nothing to do with any national values.
why do jews of all people want a state that belongs only to one race of people?
special rights only for themselves. Hell they don’t seem to be supporters of muslim countries wanting to be only for muslims.
no africans no hispanics or orientals or others too many to mention, no other religions permitted either?
just us and no others allowed, the he man women haters club a la the little rascals.
why are jews so inclusive in the west but so exclusive when it comes to israel?
Adam, I can’t resist to return for a little defamation:
Adam Horowitz: How long before Beinart reconsiders his thoughts on the right of return? Or the idea of a Jewish state all together?
Lea Nitwit: as soon as the powers that pay well signal it’s koscher; and that may well be never.
Wasn’t Beinhart an Iraq war supporter? Some kind of Euston manifesto liberal. Only liberals fight the good fights?