Opinion

If you believe Zionism is racist– get ready for your close up!

The news has rarely been so bad for anti-Zionism as it is today. Jeremy Corbyn’s resounding defeat in Britain is being broadcast by Israel’s friends as a sign that any politician who espouses Palestinian solidarity is endangered. Michael Oren writes on twitter:

May Corbyn’s defeat send a message to anti-Semites everywhere. Your hatred comes back to haunt you.

And then there’s Trump’s executive order defining anti-Zionism on campus as antisemitism, and a form of discrimination barred under the civil rights act. The order treats Jews as a nationality and so denying “the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavor” is a form of antisemitism. So is analogizing Israeli conduct to Nazis.

The executive order has been heralded by alarmist claims about the experiences of Zionists on campus. They are bullied and harassed and terrorized. The New York Times’ news coverage of the order says so right at the top:

In recent years, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions — or B.D.S. — movement against Israel has roiled some campuses, leaving some Jewish students feeling unwelcome or attacked.

Jared Kushner echoes that assertion in an op-ed for the Times: Anti-Zionism is antisemitism, he declares.

Anti-Semites have grown increasingly brazen in claiming that attacks on Israel — and even on Jewish students who may or may not support Israel — are not anti-Semitic. It has become fashionable among Jew haters to characterize any discriminatory behavior — no matter how loathsome — not as criticism of Jews, but of Israel. This is a lie. Especially on college campuses, where discrimination, harassment and intimidation of Jewish students has become commonplace and is routinely, but wrongly, justified.

Bari Weiss of the New York Times described this supposed atmosphere in her recent book:

I meet such people in every Jewish community I speak to… They tend to wait until late in the evening, after the crowd has thinned out or after they’ve had a few glasses of wine, to make their confession. But the confession is always the same: I’m in the closet. It’s not their sexuality or gender expression they are closeting. It is their Jewishness and their Zionism.”

It seems to me that American solidarity activists’ job has never been more important. These propagandists for Israel are making an argument about the American discourse, and it shows that the fight against Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions has gone to the highest level, the White House and the Congress and the New York Times. The battle is on because the Israel side is losing  important segments of the discourse: the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, the left grassroots, college campuses. The creeping delegitimization of Israel is rightly terrifying to the pro-Israel establishment, so they are taking measures to fight it. Just this week the Democratic Party pushed legislation to affirm America’s lavish military aid to Israel, $3.8 billion a year, as “ironclad,” saying that opposition to that aid is a mere “splinter” of the party. And a few months ago the Democrats overwhelmingly passed a McCarthyite resolution saying that BDS is antisemitic, and the Dems were aided by liberal Zionist groups like J Street.

Let’s be clear about something. This is the fight we always wanted. In fact, this battle was inevitable, if you believe that: Ethnic cleansing is wrong and ethnocracy shouldn’t be supported. Or that the United States is the crucial support for the idea of a Jewish state. Or that the Israel lobby is crucial to that American support. Or that the two-state solution is over/a cruel charade.

If you thought these things it was always going to come to this, a battle for hearts and minds inside the U.S. establishment. A few years ago the esteemed scholar Norman Finkelstein said that Americans wouldn’t argue about Zionism because they didn’t know what it was, it might as well be a hairspray. I honor Norman, but he was dead wrong about this. Zionism is being propounded at the very highest levels of our society as the idea of a Jewish state faces delegitimization and as the two-state paradigm completely crumbles.

Israel is facing delegitimization for obvious reasons. What it is doing in the occupied territories is completely unsupportable even to liberal Zionists and there is no sign that that regime will ever end, and even inside the ’48 borders Israel’s official policies are Jim Crow, first and second class citizens based on racial distinctions. While Israel moves to a third election in a year in some measure because “racism cripples its democracy,” per Juan Cole.

My side argues that these conditions exist because of the animating ideology of Israel, Zionism. Here, for instance, is what Michael Koplow, a very smart liberal guy, says about rightwing Jewish Zionist belief:

people who deeply believe in Israel’s natural, historical, and in some cases, divine right to control the biblical Land of Israel [espouse a] perfectly legitimate and understandable position

That’s really what it comes down to, folks. Do you think that such beliefs are “perfectly legitimate” in the 21st century, in a land that is half non-Jewish?

I don’t think that such beliefs are perfectly legitimate. They are the cause of enormous suffering and ought to be questioned harshly and marginalized the way that communities marginalize other opinions that breed intolerance. So some people’s feelings get hurt on campus! This is an important struggle. Jared Kushner fired me 12 years ago for good reason.

I always say, I would have been a Zionist 100 years ago in Europe. I would have been caught up in the movement given my ethnocentrism, my sense of being an outsider and my compassion for people being persecuted. But Zionism has failed utterly and completely. It is subjugating non-Jews in Palestine and pushing them out of their homes. It has done so for decades and will do so again tomorrow.

The last thing the Zionists want is for you to look into what is actually happening in Gaza or the West Bank. They want you to notice what some one may have said to a Zionist student advocate on the way to Economics 101 class.

Our movement to keep the focus on conditions in Palestine, and demand action against those conditions, is broad and strong. That is why it is getting the attention that it has. Just today I received Ian Lustick’s new book saying the two state paradigm is kaput, the battle is now for equal rights in Palestine, Israelis themselves use the Nazi analogy in criticizing the country’s conduct; and P.S. the Israel lobby has a “hammerlock” on U.S. policy.

This is the struggle we always wanted. Are you ready for it or not?

Thanks to James North and Donald Johnson and Scott Roth.

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I second the motion on Ian Lustick’s book “Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality” – after you read this you’ll see that the “two-state” solution is a fantasy. From the Amazon review:

Lustick shows how the combination of Zionism’s partially successful Iron Wall strategy for dealing with Arabs, an Israeli political culture saturated with what the author calls “Holocaustia,” and the Israel lobby’s dominant influence on American policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict scuttled efforts to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Yet, he demonstrates, it has also unintentionally set the stage for new struggles and “better problems” for both Israel and the Palestinians. Drawing on the history of scientific ideas that once seemed certain but were ultimately discarded, Lustick encourages shifting attention from two-state blueprints that provide no map for realistic action to the democratizing competition that arises when different subgroups, forced to be part of the same polity, redefine their interests and form new alliances to pursue them.

Thx Philip!
Zionism is fighting very mean, but not because “mean” is inherent to Zionism, but because its a death struggle! Hasbara is failing, as will the antisemitism-smear in some time.

PHIL- “This is the struggle we always wanted. Are you ready for it or not?”

I will probably be vilified for saying this but I have come to the conclusion that Chomsky was right and that BDS has been very counter productive both for the Palestinians who have gotten no relief from the Gaza “lawn mowing,” etc, and for the rest of us in the West who have suffered the consequences of the Zionist counter offensive against anti-Zionists which has provided the opportunity to attack free speech (fighting anti-Semitism) even as it caused increased Zionist internal solidarity. Perhaps that was the hidden agenda all along. Also, the American corporate/financial empire has become Zionist to the core. This goes way beyond AIPAC and campaign contributions. Sorry, gang, but that is how I see it.

Philip, I understand why you say that Zionism has failed. But you understand, I’m sure, that your perspective is–if not idiosyncratic–at least not the predominant one. Most people would observe Zionism doing very well, controlling facts on the ground in Palestine and the narrative in the halls of power in the U.S., Europe, and much of the world.

I’ve always thought it ironic that George Bush the Elder was instrumental in getting the UN to cancel its resolution describing Zionism as racism. He was trying to do a good thing. He wanted a peace conference. Israel complained about that, and Zionists here criticized Bush. Israel said it wouldn’t go to the conference unless the resolution was withdrawn, so Bush worked to accomplish that. Of course, Bush was conned. In the end, the Palesinians weren’t better off. The occupation and oppression and expropriation continued, with the support of the United States.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly_Resolution_3379

Zionism on the world stage:

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-s-shameful-role-in-myanmar-s-genocidal-campaign-against-the-rohingya-1.8256822

“Israel’s Shameful Role in Myanmar’s Genocidal Campaign Against the Rohingya”
Haaretz, Dec. 11/19 by Charles Dunst.

“Peace icon turned pariah Aung San Suu Kyi is in The Hague defending Myanmar from genocide charges. Israel gave Myanmar’s military regime the tools and diplomatic space to carry out those atrocities.”

“The Israeli embassy in Myanmar’s former capital of Yangon sits just outside the city center off Inya Lake, protected by automatic weapon-bearing local guards and thick unscalable walls.

“I visited in December 2018 to interview Israel’s envoy Ronen Gilor about Myanmar’s dwindling Jewish community. But when I brought up the Myanmar military’s widely-reported persecution of the Rohingya Muslims – an issue relevant to anyone’s relationship with Myanmar – and of Israeli arms sales to that same force, Ambassador Gilor pushed back and refused to answer my questions.

“When we spoke, Gilor extended an ‘open invitation to visit Israel’ to Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a peace icon turned pariah for her inaction during and apathy towards the military’s continued crimes.

“Last week, Gilor on Twitter wished Suu Kyi ‘encouragement for a good decision and good luck’ as she traveled to The Hague to personally defend Myanmar from International Criminal Court (ICJ) charges of Rohingya genocide. Gilor deleted the tweet; Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had been written ‘in error.’

“Israeli arms and military technology sales to Myanmar have earned Jerusalem scorn. But after Gilor’s tweet, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs surprisingly condemned ‘the atrocities that took place in the Rakhine region against the Rohingya.’ Israel previously refused to use the term ‘Rohingya’ seemingly in deference to the Myanmar government that rejects the term and does not recognize the Rohingya as citizens, instead considering them ‘Bengalis.’

“But this new Israeli statement is still too passive. Most glaringly, it fails to note who committed these ‘atrocities.’

“Now, as Myanmar faces charges for the world’s worst crime – and India, another Israeli ally, passes legislation paving the way towards similar exclusion and violence – it is more necessary than ever that Israeli leaders ensure that the Jewish state and people never facilitate, or even tacitly tolerate, genocide.

“In 2016, the Myanmar military intensified its decades-long persecution of the Rohingya, setting fire to their villages, throwing their babies into fires, raping their women, and decapitating their boys. Over a million Rohingya fled; thousands were killed. As the head of the U.N.’s fact-finding mission for Myanmar told U.S. officials in late October: ‘It is an ongoing genocide that is taking place at the moment.’

“But Israel’s government remained quiet up until this past week, seemingly thanks to its relationship with Myanmar which dates back to the Southeast Asian nation’s Burmese days.

“Both countries secured independence in 1948. Burma’s first prime minister U Nu had a ‘soft spot for Israel,’ was close with David Ben-Gurion, and was the first premier to visit Israel. The Israel-Burma relationship was important, as Gilor told me last year, because the former provided the latter proximity to China and India – countries with whom Israel had limited relations.

“Most Burmese are not aware of Judaism, but as Sammy Samuels, the de facto head of Myanmar’s Jewish community, told me in Yangon’s sole sweltering synagogue: ‘They fully respect Israel.’

“Israel reciprocated this courtesy, giving a green light to Israeli weapons manufacturers to arm Myanmar’s military through the fall of 2017, even after accusations of anti-Rohingya violence surfaced, and both the European Union and the United States placed Myanmar under an arms embargo and sanctions.

“After a late 2017 High Court challenge, Israel claimed to have stopped selling advanced weaponry to Myanmar’s military. But public relations dust-ups – Myanmar’s Israeli envoy later said Israel was still selling his country weapons; Burmese officials were in June 2019 spotted at a Tel Aviv weapons expo – have undermined Israel’s position and credibility.

“Gilor’s endorsements of Suu Kyi to Myanmar’s media aren’t helping.

“‘Suu Kyi now is a leader of a country. She is not any more a human rights activist. She is a leader and, as a leader, she has to take care of many things,’ Gilor said of the Rohingya crisis last December. ‘For example, the relationship with the Myanmar military, which is very important.’

“The word ‘Rohingya’ never appears in the article; Gilor instead calls them ‘the Rakhine people.’ That refers to the Bangladesh-bordering Myanmar state whose north the Rohingya once called home, and from which the Myanmar military terror drove them. Gilor is again here toeing the Myanmar state line on preferred terminology.

“Israel’s apparent acquiescence to these atrocities seems to stem from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s traditionally pragmatic-opportunistic pursuit of relations with any country amenable to diplomatic relations, no matter if they are helmed by unsavory leaders like Chadian despot Idriss Déby, Azerbaijani autocrat Ilham Aliyev, or Rwandan tyrant Paul Kagame, among others.

“There is some realist merit to Israel, indeed isolated in its own backyard, extending its diplomatic arms as far as possible. But tolerating and enabling Myanmar’s genocide is an obvious step too far.

“The Israeli government’s recent criticism of Myanmar, while a step in the right direction, still lets the country’s criminal actors off the hook. Gilor’s support of Suu Kyi remains more reflective of Israel’s general Myanmar policy: a largely unconditional backing, even when Myanmar, mirroring the Nazi playbook for otherizing and then murdering Jews, disowned and otherized the Rohingya to normalize the subsequent commission of genocidal horrors against them.

“Indeed, as Abubacarr Tambadou of Gambia, which brought the Rohingya genocide case to the ICJ, cited philosopher Edmund Burke’s forceful words while standing in the trial chamber just feet from Suu Kyi: ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.’

“‘Every day of inaction means that more people are being killed, more women are being ravaged and more children are being burnt alive,’ Tambadou added. ‘For what crime? Only because they were born different.’

“The international community’s laconic approach and deprioritization of protecting a victimized minority let Europe’s Jews die during the Holocaust; Israel’s similar equanimity gave Myanmar the tools and space to carry out atrocities against the Rohingya. It is a sad subversion of the post-World War II ‘Never again!’ rallying cry.

“Israel, founded in the embers of the Jewish people’s genocide, failed to live up to that ideal.

“With human rights groups now warning of potential genocide in India, another Israeli ally, Jerusalem must conduct some soul-searching and adjust its calculations to never again replicate Israel’s grave Myanmar errors. Never again should the Jewish State enable any country, particularly one of its allies, to carry out a genocide.

“We, of all peoples, should know better.”

Charles Dunst is an M.Sc. candidate in International Relations at the London School of Economics, and a journalist whose reporting from Southeast Asia has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications.