WHY I AM AN ANTI-ANTI ZIONIST

by Gil Troy

The Canadian Jewish News, 31 May 2001, p. 11

In honor of Yom Ha'atzmaut this year, I wrote an essay for the Montreal Gazette titled "Why I am a Zionist." The article sought to return to basics during this difficult passage in Israel's existence. To our non-Jewish friends, I tried to explain why Zionism, which is Jewish nationalism, is no more racist than any other form of nationalism. And to my fellow Jews, I tried to emphasize the big picture beyond the messy and depressing complexities of 2001. "A century ago, Zionism revived pride in the label 'Jew,'" I wrote. "Today, Jews must revive pride in the label Zionist."

Throughout this essay, I was very careful to avoid addressing the Palestinian question at all, beyond ending with a hope that just as in the 20th century Israel made the Jewish dream of restoring a homeland a reality, that in the 21st century Israel would figure out how to reconcile with the Arab world and make the dream of living in peace with her neighbors a reality.

Nevertheless, some respondents caricatured my essay in subsequent op-eds and in the "letters to the editor" section as an attack on Palestinians and as a racist piece. These reactions made it very clear. Far too many of Israel's enemies see any affirmation of any kind of Zionism as an act of aggression against them.

Even more disturbing were some of the responses the Gazette chose not to publish. One pro-Palestinian organization defines itself as "Anti-Zionist, Anti-Capitalist, Anti-racism, Anti-US global hegemony, Anti-globalization!!" and "Pro-Hamas, Pro-Taliban, Pro-all Islamic resistance movements fighting occupation and oppression. AND MOST OF ALL PRO-ISLAM." The organization's Web site posted a letter sent to the Gazette saying "'Why I'm a Zionist' reminds me of other possible scenarios. Why I'm a KKK member. To be proud repressing others, feeling superior and a chosen people who deserve to kill, maim and torture.... God help us when we can allow people to stand up and say 'Why I'm [a] Terrorist, "Why I kill children,' 'Why I'm a Nazi,' 'Why I agree with State sponsored Terrorism,' 'Why I bulldoze families home.'" [sic]

Perhaps most depressing was the letter from a Canadian man who began with the by now knee-jerk (if conceptually paradoxical) free association of Zionism "with Bolshevism, Nazism and racism of the worst order." The man equated "the language the Nazis used to describe the Jews in Germany in the 1930s and 40s and the language now being used by the Ashkenazi Jews to describe the natives of Palestine: snakes, sub-human, foreigners living on the land God gave us, etc."

As so many anti-Zionists do, the man then naturally segued into the ugliest forms of anti-Semitism, saying "I understand why Herr Hitler rose to power and why the Jewish holocaust - a harsh reaction to the Jewish misdeeds - took place." Calling the "last Jewish holocaust" an "act of 'divine justice,'" he concluded, "You have, without realising [sic] it, given in your article 14 reasons why the next holocaust is bound to occur.... Your article tends to support the view that I have heard about as a child that a Jew is born without a soul; he has no sympathy for anyone unless his own interest is involved in it."

These days, you do not need a Ph.D. to recognize that the Middle East is a very confusing place. And I would never do what my critics have done and tar all critics with the same brush. There is a lot of room for honest and critical debate about Israeli policy toward the Palestinians yesterday and today, and not everyone who questions any Israeli action in any realm is necessarily an Israel-hater or an anti-Zionist.

Nevertheless, I wish to thank my critics for imposing a certain conceptual clarity on the conflict. All Jews, all Canadians, all people of good conscience throughout the world, should rise up and strike down this anti-Zionist venom that has seeped into daily political discourse. As the above examples indicate, such new-fangled anti-Zionism is often hard to distinguish from old-fashioned Jew hatred - no matter how many "man-bite-dog" op-ed essays the few but loud anti-Zionist Jews may publish. We have seen anti-Semitism blur with anti-Zionism in the Syrian president's ugly anti-Jewish remarks when greeting the Pope; we have seen anti-Zionism blur into anti-Semitism with the steep rise in attacks on Jews in Canada and throughout the world since September.

It is tragic and ironic that this resurgence of anti-Zionism comes almost a decade after Oslo, when, polls show, a majority of Israelis and a majority of Jews throughout the world began to acknowledge Palestinian nationalism. It is tragic and pathetic that these blood libels, new and old, come after Ehud Barak offered a sweeping set of concessions at Camp David last summer, almost 97 percent of the territories. It is tragic and demonic that these attacks on the right of Israel to exist are being heard throughout the world and covering up many Palestinians' resort to violence instead of peaceful negotiations.

We in the Jewish community need to focus on these fundamental issues, on the right of Israel to exist, and on many Palestinians' violent repudiation of attempts at peace, even as we struggle with the political, strategic, moral, and existential challenges of today. We must not get so bogged down in apologias and defensiveness that we ignore the bigger picture. A quarter of a century ago, America's ambassador to the United Nations, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, rejected the infamous UN "Zionism is racism" resolution as "an obscene act." Moynihan later explained that he recognized more than "uninformed bigotry" at play, "it is conscious politics.... It is not merely that our adversaries have commenced an effort to destroy the legitimacy of a kindred democracy through the incessant repetition of the Zionist-racist lie. It is that others can come to believe it also."

The poisonous seeds Moynihan saw sown in the mid-1970s are bearing deadly fruit today. We cannot sit by idly and let these libels fester. We must as Jews and as proud citizens of a great democracy stand up and fight. In Montreal, 105 Jewish organizations from across the political and religious spectrum have banded together in Project Solidarity to affirm the Jewish community's support for the state of Israel and the people of Israel. People are wearing blue and white ribbons to demonstrate their support. Beyond this symbol, the project hopes to raise one hundred thousand dollars -- representing one dollar for each Jew in the community -- to support trauma facilities Israelis so badly need at this time.

We cannot afford today to be blase. We cannot keep on with business as usual. Israel needs our help in fighting this war of headlines and propaganda -- which distorts the truth and feeds real violence in the Middle East. Jews in Montreal should be vying for the honor to contribute to this project and raising many times more than the one hundred thousand dollar goal. And Jews throughout the world should follow this example. Not a wedding should occur, not a bar or bat mitzvah should be celebrated, in which a donation is not made -- by both hosts and guests. Not a Jewish organization should meet, nor a Jewish festivity be held, in which some affirmation of solidarity with Israel, pecuniary and otherwise, is not made. The money will be well-spent and the message will come through loud and clear: whatever our differences, whatever our confusions, we reject the anti-Zionist libels, we support the right of Israel to exist, and pray desperately for a real peace, that satisfies as many people as possible as soon as possible.

Gil Troy is professor of history at McGill University.