October 16, 2006

Over the last week, several media reports highlighted the support of Christian Zionists for Israel. Examples include al-Reuters piece, “Devout Christians march for Zionism in Jerusalem”, Jpost’s “1/3 of US tourists Evangelicals” and INN’s “ICEJ Announces Assistance to the 100,000th New Immigrant”.  As I read these articles, I was reminded of the obverse - Jewish anti-Zionist agitation - as presented in a recently-published book, “A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism”.

The object of this post is to summarize some of the major points raised in this book.

1. Why bother?

“A Threat from Within - A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism” is authored by Yakov M Rabkin and published by the British outfit, Zed Books Ltd. The book examines such anti-Zionist/anti-Israel groups that exist within the Reform movement and Jewish Haredim. Of course, not all those who subscribe to these movements are anti-Zionists, and the author notes, furthermore, that many differences exist within and between the various anti-Zionist groups. These points should be borne in mind when reviewing the generalizations presented below.

In the following text, notations such as “(p. 15)”, which follow quotations, indicate the page number in Rabkin’s book, from which a given quotation was taken.

At the beginning of his work, Rabkin asserts that “The number of opponents to Zionism has remained relatively small, perhaps no more than a few hundred thousands” (p. 15), which raises the question as to whether examining such a marginal phenomenon as “Jewish opposition to Zionism” is a worthwhile investment of time. There are, however, two overriding considerations as to why reading Rabkin’s tome is worthwhile.

First, in terms of “know thine enemy”, it is useful to examine the actual arguments raised against Zionism and Israel; the convergence between the “Jewish opposition to Zionism” and the anti-Semitic propaganda machine is striking.

Second, Rabkin may be correct when he contends that the Jewish anti-Zionist clout is on the ascent. Rabkin states, for example, that

“In reaction to the violent images that have become a part of the second Intifada, anti-Zionist rabbis have redoubled their efforts to dissociate Judaism - and Jews in general - from the actions of the Israeli armed forces. They have purchased advertising space in English-language publications in Europe and North America to denounce the violence, which they unambiguously attribute to the ambitions of the Zionists in creating and perpetuating the State of Israel.

Despite their rather modest numbers, the anti-Zionist activists have been successful in transmitting their message of reconciliation with the Palestinians and of condemnation of Israeli military operations to a huge Arab and Muslim audience. They have given interviews to the al- Jazeera network, which are broadcast throughout the Arab-speaking world, on Iranian television and to innumerable newspapers and magazines. “ (p. 128).

Similarly,

“[T]he leaders of the Satmar Hasidic movement… publish paid advertisements in the world’s leading daily newspapers to publicize their opposition to the very idea of a State of Israel. “ (p. 146);

and

“Of late, some anti-Zionist Haredim have made efforts to adopt a more modern, more accessible language. Articles discussing Judaic anti-Zionism have been published in political studies journals… In their efforts to reach a wider public, the critics of Zionism have learned to use modern media and, despite their limited resources, have organized protest campaigns, including televized opportunities to denounce the very existence of Israel… Several Haredi anti-Zionists…have intensified their contacts with Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims. The various anti-Zionist groups have learned to spread their message with surprising efficiency… Hasidic representatives have contrived to break into the general media through interviews or by purchasing advertisements in the leading newspapers of various countries… The discourse of the Judaic critics of Zionism is also present on the Internet. Aside from several highly specialized sites, echoes can be found on the sites of several international left-wing movements and on Arab and Christian sites.” (pp. 202-3). And “The administrators of anti-Zionist websites have likewise noted that public interest, reflected in the number of hits registered, has been on the upswing since the beginning ofthe Intifada in 2000″ (p. 207)

Rabkin notes, furthermore, that “From within Reform Judaism, voices questioning the existence of a Zionist state and accusing American Zionists of hypocrisy are also being heard. “ (p.129)

2. Anti-Zionist arguments

According to Rabkin, the main points of contention between Zionists and Jewish anti-Zionists include the following:

2.1. The spirit of Zionism runs counter to the spirit of Judaism, “The Torah… requires the Jew to be bashful, merciful and charitable. Other laudable qualities include humility, introspection and the capacity for self-doubt and for self-correction. ..Tradition likewise instructs Jews to be mindful of the impression they create upon others, even upon those who have persecuted Jews in the past… In a deliberate break with Jewish tradition, the Zionist educational system has, from its inception, promoted the qualities of strength, self-affirmation and combativeness. It teaches young people to disregard the impression that they, and the state that they defend, create on the rest of the world. Ben-Gurion reportedly used to say: ‘What matters is what the Jews do, not what the goyim think.’ “ (P.40)

2.2 Zionism emphasizes force rather than faith. “[T]he Hebrew term bitahon was borrowed from the rabbinical literature, where it meant, “trust in divine providence.” A Judaic concept was thus taken over by the modern language and given an opposing meaning: rather than putting his trust in Providence, the new Hebrew would henceforth rely on the force of arms.” (P. 113)

2.3. In-gathering of the exiles by Zionists contradicts Judaism. “Concentrated in one place, the Jewish people are vulnerable. This is why the collective return to Israel should not take place before the arrival of the Messiah. “ (p. 98)

2.4. Israel is a danger to all Jews. “Against dominant opinion, the anti-Zionist Haredim perceived the danger as emanating from the Zionists and the State of Israel itself: the five Arab armies that were marching on the young state were nothing more than the emissaries of divine anger awakened, in their view, by the insolence of impious Jews who had taken themselves for masters of the world.” (P. 118- 119) In the same vein, “According to “the Lubavitch Rebbe, the survival of the Jews could only be assured by patience and by “sweetness of soul.” Physical inferiority must be seen as a source of strength and tenacity” (p. 126).

2.5. Zionism, because it is fundamentally secular, is a danger to all Jews. “The Torah stipulates that if the impious persist in their errors and do not return to the Torah after the third or fourth generation, their descendants will be punished for all of the sins that have accumulated since the first generation. From this point of view, Palestinian terrorism is a punishment meted out for the continued transgressions of the Zionists.” (p. 132).

“For many of Zionism’s opponents the problem… is less the secular character of the state than the fact of establishing one in the first place. When people usurp a messianic prerogative, they commit a grave transgression against divine will. This rabbinical dictum should be seen as a reaction to the Zionist program for the ingathering and national self-determination of the Jews in Israel, with no regard for either their way of life or their relationship with the Torah.”(p. 163) In the same vein, “Zionism, by its very nature, rejects the concept of a divinely imposed exile. In addition, it has been consistently indifferent to the sufferings and dangers to which it and its embodiment, the State of Israel, have inflicted upon Jew and Gentile. Zionism represents a total and radical break with the beliefs and practices of the Jewish people throughout history ….” (P. 207)

2.6 Zionism is responsible for the Holocaust. “Rabbinical criticism of the intransigence and the defiance of Jewish organizations toward Nazi Germany, was frequent throughout the 1930s. They accused these organizations - linked primarily to the Zionist movement - of dangerous and irresponsible behavior following the adoption of anti-Jewish measures in National-Socialist Germany. Wasserman reminds his readers that ‘the Jews must not combat their adversaries: … the Torah and prayer are our only weapons’… For several rabbinical authorities, in fact, the sin that led to the Shoah was Zionism itself. The Zionists, they insisted, had provoked “the nations” by their arrogance, had disturbed the quietude of the Jews of the Diaspora and had interfered with negotiations to save the Jews during World War II. The Zionists had, in their view, declared war on Hitler and his country well before the outbreak of hostilities. They had called for an economic boycott of Germany and thus provoked the dictator’s rage.” (p. 176).
Rabkin deals with this central theme in detail; examples of relevant quotation are the following: “Another critic of the use of force, Rabbi Elhanan Wasserman, who perished in the Nazi camps, accused Zionism and the affront to the world that it represented, of being the direct cause of the Shoah” (p. 118). More specifically, “For Wasserman the Nazi persecutions, of which he was soon to become a victim, were the direct consequence of Zionism. Of all the “isms” to which Wasserman had been a contemporary witness, he accused Jewish nationalism for fomenting war between the Jewish people and the heavenly kingdom. For him, the goal of Jewish nationalism was to banish God from the hearts of the children of Israel. As long as the Zionist leaders refused to foreswear their actions and did not repent of their sins,
there could be no salvation.” (P. 169)

“Ben-Gurion and his circle hindered attempts to save the European Jewish communities from extermination. The Zionist leadership… did its utmost to subordinate rescue efforts to their primary objective, which was the creation of a New Hebrew people and the establishment of a Jewish state. It treated human beings as “human material,” reducing the survival and the death of millions to a matter of political expediency” (p. 181)

2.7 Israel is not an answer to the Holocaust, it is the continuation of the Holocaust. “The conviction that the State of Israel may be just another link in the chain of destruction and violence inaugurated by the Shoah is a frequent motif in Haredi anti-Zionist thought. The same motif, though formulated differently, is likewise present in the anti-Zionist literature produced by the Reform Jews. “ (p. 191)

3. Accusations hurled by the anti-Zionist camp against Zionism and Israel

Apart from anti-Zionist arguments, as illustrated above, Rabkin also presents a voluminous catalogue of charges against Zionist organizations, Zionist ideology and Israel. Some of the charges are listed by Rabkin as having come from anti-Zionist circles, others seem to have the author’s endorsement. Examples include:

3.1. Zionist censorship. ”Threats of reprisal are commonplace for those who refuse to display their solidarity with the State of Israel. Arguments that call into question either Zionism or the State of Israel touch off hostile reactions… Since the end of the nineteenth century, accusations have been made that Jewish media have come under Zionist control… These accusations are not exaggerated.” (P. 16).
Similarly, Rabkin opines that “media based in Zionist-controlled Jewish communities have stifled anti-Zionist speech” (p. 202). Considering the daily tsunami of anti-Zionist/anti-Israel propaganda, one has to wonder how a scholarly book can lend credence to such a charge. Furthermore, Rabkin himself records the century-old campaign of harassment launched by the anti-Zionists; Rabkin provides this example:

“In the early twentieth century, the principal of the yeshiva of Slobodka, one of the empire’s most prestigious, severely reprimanded his students for attending a lecture promoting a synthesis between Judaism and Zionism. He threatened to expel any student who associated with the Zionist movement and to revoke the rabbinical ordination of any student who had alreadyreceived it” (p. 66)

In another memorable passage, Rabkin reports:

“Opposition to all forms of cooperation with the Zionists was particularly strong in Germany at the turn of the twentieth century. It should be remembered that German Jews refused to allow the first Zionist congress to be held in their country and that it was finally transferred toSwitzerland.” (P. 143)

3.2. The 1967 War is Israel’s doing. “Who can forget the darkness of the six days [in 1967] when, under the pretext of the [closing of the] Straight of Tiran, the Zionists arose, surveyed the earth, and declared war …. And in the end they conquered all of Eretz Israel from the Arabs… The Satmar Rebbe likewise condemned the Six Day War, reminding his followers that the Zionists had sacrificed thousands of lives on the altar of the state that he considered to be the source of all violence in the region.” (p. 119). More generally, “the anti-Zionist Haredim attributed the Israeli victories to the work of Satan. For them, it was inconceivable that God could have aided those they consider to be idolaters” (p. 123).

3.3 Israel and Zionism give Jews a bad name for which all Jews will pay dearly. “[T]he State of Israel has become “the Jew among nations” and a dangerous country for a Jew. In an era of increased mobility and communication, the conflict engendered by the founding of the State of Israel now projects an increasingly greater threat of violence upon the Jewish communities of the Diaspora. .. Israel’s assertive policies and their defense in the name of all Jews by the Zionist organizations may thus be seen as an extraordinary source of danger.”(P. 192) Similarly, “the State of Israel can be nothing but an obstacle on the path to redemption. By this same logic, to concentrate millions of Jews in such a dangerous place is suicidal folly.” (P. 196)

“Judaic critics also object to the campaigns that demand reparations from the Swiss banks and other third parties. The aggressiveness of the Jewish attorneys who lead these campaigns worries the Haredim, who reject pride and pugnacity and fear that a massive affirmation of “Jewish interests” might touch off a backlash against the Jews. “ (p. 191)

“ Once guilt over the Shoah has been neutralized by critical assessment of the activities of the IDF, the rabbis warn, the anger of the nations roused by the violence emanating from Israel may well be directed at all Jews, who could otherwise live in peace in their countries. Jews may be accused of working to further the interests ofIsrael, often to the detriment of the countries of which they are citizens. A recent indictment of American Jewish lobbyists for passing classified information to Israel (Abramson), as well as the case of Pollard, an Israeli spy who had channelled American military secrets to Israel, strengthens this premonition… Israel can be held responsible for having exacerbated hatred of the United States and its allies among the world’s Muslims, a hatred that is at the root of the current terrorist wave in Western countries.” (P. 211)

3.4 In its practice, Zionism has caused Jews grave damage. “Israeli experts, most with Zionist credentials, have confirmed many of these accusations: the kidnapping of Yemeni children, the indifference of the Zionist leadership toward the victims ofthe Shoah, the anti-Semitic provocations carried out by Zionist agents in Morocco and elsewhere, the measures put in place by the Zionists to separate the immigrants, and particularly the youth, from the heritage of the Torah. “ (p. 205)

3.5 The Zionists’ attempt to equate Jews with Israel is a potential disaster. “The unconditional defense of Israel by Jewish leaders has intensified anti-Semitism, which in turn, reinforces Zionism and makes the State of Israel indispensable as an insurance policy. The policy is a suicidal one for the future of the Diaspora, assert numerous Haredi and Reform rabbis in New York as well as in Jerusalem.” (213)

Similarly, “Political Zionism teaches Dual Loyalty and, in this dual loyalty, when the occasion arises, greater loyalty to the State of Israel than to the country of one’s birth or adoption. Political Zionism is thus not only not consistent with good citizenship, but has in it most fertile seeds for proliferation of anti-Semitism …The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, written as the Zionist movement was expanding, appear today to be coming true.” (P. 214)

4. Concluding notes

Rabkin’s book brings the occasional merry moment, especially when the author states the absurd with a straight face. The following passages are examples :

“Yasser Arafat appointed Rabbi Moshe Hirsch of Neturei Karta as Minister of Jewish Affairs in the government of the Palestinian Authority. Rabbi Helbrans has attempted to set up a Jewish Embassy that could represent Jews opposed to Zionism and would offer an alternative to the pro-Zionist positions of the majority of Jewish organizations. The embassy would negotiate with
Arab representatives to bring about a peaceful transformation of the State ofIsrael into a state of all its citizens” (p. 146)

“Agudat Israel, the veteran Haredi party, recognizes the State ofIsrael, but with significant reservations… Aguda has participated in several Israeli governments; its members hold key positions in the administrative machinery all the while projecting the image of non-participation by their refusal to accept ministerial portfolios. In fact, when an Aguda member is promoted to ministerial rank in Israel, a legal fiction is employed. The Prime Minister appoints the Aguda member as deputy minister, while leaving the ministerial position vacant.” (P. 157)

“Before the end of his life, Rabbi Amram Blau of Neturei Karta requested a meeting with President Nixon in an attempt to ensure anti-Zionist Jews with the protection of any other country than Israel… The attempt proved fruitless; the anti-Zionists lacked the know-how, the means and the cultural affinity with the Western governments they hoped to convince to support of their cause. (P. 163)

As a scholarly work, Rabkin’s book suffers from severe deficiencies, three of which are spelled out here.

First, most of the book’s statements and quotations refer to secondary sources. For example, Rabkin states that “David Ben-Gurion … was an admirer of Lenin and the Communist takeover in Russia” (p. 9), but as corroboration the author cites a work by Barnavi, a secondary source, not a primary source such as a text by Ben Gurion himself (Barnavi is a historian and former Israeli ambassador to Paris).

Another problem with this work is the repetitiveness of most motives. For example, the assertion that “the theoreticians of rabbinical anti-Zionism insist that both the Shoah and the very existence of the State of Israel are part of the same process of destruction” (p. 196) appears numerous times throughout the book (see Paragraph 2.6 above), a repetition that has no good reason.

A third criticism concerns the author’s thinly-veiled bias in favour of the anti-Zionist factions. As a consequence, it is often difficult to ascertain whether statements made in the book reflect Rabkin’s personal views, views of the anti-Zionists he is presenting, or both. At times, the author’s bias surfaces in such bizarre passages as the following:

“Religious Jews, including the Haredim, have been dying just like everyone else in the wave of violence that is currently sweeping the Holy Land. A full busload was blown up as it returned from the Wailing Wall, claiming more than twenty victims. Many Israelis were struck by the dignity and the humility with which the Haredim reacted to the tragedy. Instead of cries of hatred and revenge, the Haredim meditated aloud upon what had been their sin.” (P. 224).

Quite frankly, when victims of terrorism “meditated aloud upon what had been their sin”, I can hardly refrain from vomiting.

In conclusion, reading Rabkin’s book is a useful investment of time but it can hardly qualify as pleasant reading..