Israel In Palestine: Jewish Rejection of Zionism by Prof. Yakov Rabkin

Prof. Yakov M. Rabkin has been Professor of History at the Université de Montréal since 1973.

Preface to the book is by Charles W. Freeman, Jr. who has served in the United States Foreign Service, the State and Defense Departments. Amb. Freeman was U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1989 to 1992, past president of the Middle East Policy Council, co-chair of the U.S. China Policy Foundation, and a Lifetime Director of the Atlantic Council.

Origins of Zionism

Zionism is movement for Political Homeland for the Jews in Israel. This was first started by the Protestant Christians in 17th century. Jews only got involved in Zionism in 19th century. Both secular and religious Jews opposed it and many still oppose it.

"The idea of gathering the world's Jews in their mythical homeland was advanced by evangelical Christians centuries before it was taken up by secular Jews."

"Their aim was to hasten the Second Coming of Christ and convert Jews to Christianity. This deep affinity with evangelical Protestant beliefs helps explain the massive support the State of Israel enjoys today in the United States and other countries, where evangelical Protestants number in the hundreds of millions and are a formidable pro-Israel force."

"Israel is still widely viewed as a bulwark of Western influence and geopolitical interests in the Middle East."

Zionism seeked to join Jews all over the World. The two primary groups of Jews were Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews. Ashkenazi Jews were from Central and Eastern Europe who lived in poverty and were oppressed via various pogroms. Sephardic Jews were from Spain, Portugal and North Africa. They were better off and integrated with locals. There were Jews in other countries as well including Palestine.

"Although they lived in the Holy Land, Jews understood themselves to be in exile—a central concept in Judaism. "

Aims of Zionism

Zionism was (is) a revolutionary philosophy with 4 main objectives:

"to transform the transnational Jewish identity centred on the Torah into a national identity modeled after other European nations;"

"to develop a new vernacular, a national language [Hebrew], based on biblical and rabbinic Hebrew;" Yiddish is the language of the Ashkenazi Jews only.

"to relocate Jews from their homelands to Palestine;"

"to establish political and economic control over Palestine."

There is more to Zionism than just Israel. Zionism objective is "redefining Jewish identity, language and geography".

Zionism and East Europe

Zionism found acceptance in Jews of East Europe because of rising discrimination and persecution, and declining economic conditions there.

"The oppression of Jews in Tsarist Russia was, indeed, more severe than elsewhere in 19th century Europe. Most Jews were confined to a Pale of Settlement, ethnically non-Russian lands along the western borders of the empire, where they faced legal restrictions, social exclusion and economic hardship. Their economic situation deteriorated even further as industrialization accelerated in the 1860s. "

Zionism today

It is important to look beyond the manufactured news. We live in a morally complex world. Care should be taken before passing judgement on others without deeper understanding of history and context.

"the primary motive for elimination is not race, religion, ethnicity, or level of civilization, but access to land."

"Israel's technologies are in high demand among the governments in both Western countries and the Global South. The unprecedented gap between the wealthy minority and the impoverished majority that can be observed across the globe makes Israel a strategically valuable partner. Its military and surveillance industries offer sophisticated tools for population control, tools that have been tested and refined over decades of use on Palestinians."


This is an excellent and short 128 page book on history and context around Zionism, Israel, and events in the Middle East.






Tweet

Related articles

The Making of Modern Zionism: The Intellectual Origins of the Jewish State by Shlomo Avineri

Israel: A History by Anita Shapira

External Links