Zionism Will Never Be a Solution to Antisemitism

JVL Introduction

Ben Lorber and Shane Burley look at the origins of Zionism as a reaction to the brutality and dehumanisation of the pogroms of Eastern Europe and Russia. They identify both the Zionists’ desire to build a stronger Jew who could resist torment but also their seeking of the patronage of antisemites who shared their aim of Jewish exile from Europe.

Both these features continue into the present. Israeli politicians continue to set the image of the heroic Israeli Jew against the subservient Jew of the diaspora. Israel’s leaders and right-wing leadership organisations of the diaspora continue to seek the support of antisemitic European ethnonationalist leaders and American antisemitic right-wing agitators.

These alliances undermine any assertions that the creation of the Israeli state is either a moral endeavour or promises long-term safety for Jews. The dominance of Zionist ideology blocks creative thinking about how to combat antisemitism and ensure Jewish security wherever they live.

MC

This article was originally published by Truthout on Thu 16 May 2024. Read the original here.