[DEBATE] : The politics of anti-Zionism

[Ran Greenstein]

The crucial dividing lines are between those who oppose the occupation and those who 
support it, those who support the Gaza war and those who oppose it, those who call for 
retention/extension of settlements and those who call for their removal, those who support 
equal rights to all and those who oppose that call. It is true that the majority of Zionists in 
Israel have supported the post-1967 governments policies vis-a-vis Palestinians, but a 
minority has not. Sometimes it is a small minority (regarding Gaza) and sometimes it is a 
bigger one (especially when policies are clearly unsuccessful as in Lebanon wars in 1982 
and 2006). It is not useful to use adherence to Zionist ideology or self-definition as Zionists 
as the yardstick by which to separate the 'good' from the 'bad'. It is the concrete position with 
regard to concrete events/policies that matter. A Zionist woman who participates in the 
activities of Mahsom Watch (monitoring military road blocks to prevent harassment of 
Palestinians) - and most activists there are Zionist women - is doing much more valuable 
work than an anti-Zionist blogger or ideological critic... 

We must also ask ourselves, what really lies behind policies such as thoseof Hamas, that 
are bound to drive dissident Zionists into the arms of the government and in support of the 
war, but that's another long debate.


On 21 Jan 2009 at 2:45, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:

> On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 1:50 AM, Ran Greenstein <rangreen at sn.apc.org> wrote:
> > Making all 'Zionists' the enemy
> > pushes these people into the arms of the Israeli government and its policies.
> <snip>
> > Every concrete struggle within Israel - for human rights, against military
> > operations, against settlements and the occupation, and so on - brings dissident Zionists
> > together with non- and anti-Zionists.
> 
> A majority of Palestinians, including Hamas, would settle for a two
> state solution -- which means living with Zionism -- if only the
> Israeli power elite let them.  So would most Israeli citizens, I
> think.  The problem is that none of the major Israeli political
> parties intends to allow a Palestinian state.  One would have to go
> all the way left to Hadash and the Arab parties (which together make
> up barely 10% <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Israel#Latest_elections>)
> to find parties that are actually committed to a two state solution.
> Operation Cast Lead really brought it home to more people than before,
> since even Meretz* called for military action before it.
> 
> Shortly before Israel's Gaza massacres, Jeff Halper said: "The Israeli
> public, for many reasons I will not go into here, has taken itself out
> of the political equation: it is apathetic vis-à-vis the Palestinians
> and refuses to take responsibility (indeed, Netanyahu will likely come
> back as Prime Minister in February).  The focus of ICAHD's advocacy,
> then, is international, towards peace and human rights groups, trade
> unions, universities, churches, Jewish peace groups, and other
> grassroots constituencies, as well as towards government officials and
> parliamentarians (Americans being the most influential and the most
> difficult to reach)" (at
> <http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/halper121208.html>).  Perhaps
> Halper's judgment is too pessimistic, but those Israeli Jewish
> leftists -- mainly communists, anarchists, and other far-leftists --
> who opposed the Gaza offensive indeed found themselves greatly
> marginalized.
> 
> The Israeli Communists say: "The concerted campaign by the Israeli
> government and Zionist political parties from the 'left-wing' Meretz
> to the far right has succeeded, however, in creating a local and
> international illusion that there exists no opposition to the military
> attacks within Israel" (at
> <http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/cpi190109.html>).   It is this "local
> and international illusion" of unanimity created by "the Israeli
> government and Zionist political parties" that mainly fuel such
> anti-Zionism as exists today.
Ran Greenstein
Johannesburg, South Africa