The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) gives a platform to Steve Bannon and Stephen Adelson at its annual gala this Sunday night, November 20th in New York City. For anyone familiar with Zionist history and current alliances, this should not come as a surprise but a confirmation. Zionists have always leveraged reactionary, racist, colonial and anti-semitic governments, regimes and organizations – from Russian Tzars to the Nazis to Mussolini to the colonial British Empire to the Christian Right (Christian Zionists). Their embracing of Trump and renown reactionary political strategist Steve Bannon is no exception. Bannon is chair of Breitbart News, a platform widely known for its white nationalism and anti-Semitism. It is also fervently Zionist.
News platforms such as the Huffington Post and the Jewish Forward ask whether its possible to be antisemitic and Zionist and have concluded, yes. For IJAN, the alignment of reactionary Zionist organizations (i.e. ZOA), Zionist billionaire funders that attack progressive movements (i.e. Sheldon Adelson), the reactionary, racist president-elect Trump and his political strategist Bannon, is a confirmation of the nature of Zionist ideology and the Zionist movement. It is a movement and ideology that relies on racism against Palestinians and Arabs, demonization of Islam and Muslims, ethnic cleansing and justification of colonization. That is why Zionism is an insult to the history of Jewish struggles against antisemitism and Jewish participation in collective struggles for labor rights, civil rights and human rights and against racism and repression.
Israel has made itself useful to brutal dictators and regimes across time and place – selling weapons and nuclear missile knowledge to and continuing trade with the South African apartheid government during a global boycott, collaborating with the CIA on training mercenary forces in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Guatemala, Chile and even to Argentina during the junta that targeted Jewish people amongst many others. In the United States, Israel trains local and federal police, emergency response, intelligence and military forces and provides surveillance tools and consultation that targets Black communities, immigrants, queer and transgender people and activists. Across the globe, Israel exports over 60% of all drones.
So, the fact that the ZOA and other reactionary Zionist organizations, political figures and billionaires would support Trump, is not a surprise. What is surprising is that organizations like the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Community Relations Council, groups that constantly target Arab, Muslim, Black, Chicano and other progressive organizations who criticize Israel and groups that frequently equate criticism of Israel with antisemitism, would take issue with the ZOA’s support for Trump.
Zionism and Israel rely on antisemitism to justify blatant colonization of Palestine, ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, support for anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism, collaboration in US wars, attacks on anti-racist organizations in the United States, training of repressive police and military forces and an economy that relies heavily on surveillance and weapons trade. So, its natural allies are, reactionary, racist, repressive governments, elected officials, regimes, movements, religious and political organizations and people of wealth.
And, the ZOA’s validation of Bannon on Sunday night confirms what Palestinians and other anti-Zionists, including anti-Zionist Jews, have always known: Zionism does not equal Jewish, rather it is rooted in antisemitism; support for Israel does not reflect a commitment to the humanity of Jewish people; Zionism is racist and to be anti-racist one has to be anti-Zionist.
“Zionists have always leveraged reactionary, racist, colonial and anti-semitic governments, regimes and organizations – from Russian Tzars to the Nazis to Mussolini to the colonial British Empire to the Christian Right (Christian Zionists).”
Nice to see you linking Ralph Schoenman’s “The Hidden History of Zionism,” which I have referenced in the past and have been criticized for doing so.
The dangerous association between two devious and aggressive entities. Their common target of course would be Muslims. They have much in common than we would know, and it’s influence in lands you may never dream of. In this case it is making a pact with another devil.
it’s baffling to me why this equation is so hard to understand in america. it makes the kkk less anti-semitic (insofar as that’s a useful term) than BDS activists. seems trump is bringing more light on the fact that right-wing zionism (/evangelical zionism in america) is many times more dangerous to life, liberty & pursuit of happiness than a humanitarian call to non-violent resistance could ever be.
to the authors: bravo for laying out the case so succinctly.
its also no surprise that by the middle of the first paragraph the ‘jewish anti-zionist network’ proves exactly why they are looked upon in such a negative light by those who support israel, zionism and the existence of the only nation for jews in a neighborhood of some 20 other nations for muslims where jews are tolerated and christians are often only recognized as dhimmis as well.
the so-called ‘jewish anti-zionist network’ reminds me of those persistent yet widely ridiculed members of the neo-nazi movement in the US who are usually met with 3-4x as many counter-protesters who drown out their calls with louder calls of their own. I think this actually happened in the NYC diamond district a year or so back. but-its a free country and jewish ant-zionists are free to ponder why pro-israel people and zionists don’t condemn bannon as an anti-semite while they may or may not support some of the other views expressed on breitbart.
i read an interesting opinion today (i think it was hrrtz) about liberals traditionally believing that they alone are more open and tolerant while conservative people are closed and less tolerant. that in itself is an presumptive and arrogant joke.
this election has exposed that cliche for the sham it always has been. liberal anti-zionists are most definitely intolerant as much as members of right wing fringe groups. and this is why latuffs cartoon completely fails in communicating either humour or irony except to the very small group it is targeted at.
as for bannon and breitbart…rember the time the NYT published an op-ed questioning wether israel even had a right to exist and MW people whole heartedly cheered it. that was absolutely no different then any article by horowitz or geller.
Bannon didn’t turn up at the ZOA dinner. He is Mr Psy Ops