Arguing the 'Z' Word and Israel's 'Original Sin'

During a recent email conversation among a group of left political activists, among whom I am routinely included, I felt motivated to respond; I refer here to another participant  anonymously as "D."  D is deserving of our respect for her tireless efforts, as an Israeli, to assist Palestinians navigate the nightmare of obstacles to normal life imposed by Israel's occupation of the West Bank. But this has so embittered her that she's become an outspoken foe of Zionism, the historical national movement and philosophical underpinning for the Jewish state to which she immigrated decades ago.

Lenni Brenner

I think of Zionism as a vestige of history because it is mostly defined by its enemies nowadays; the World Zionist Organization -- the vehicle for national liberation of the Jewish people founded by Theodore Herzl 115 years ago -- is a shadow of its pre-State self. No less a Zionist icon than Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, had even suggested that the Zionist movement declare victory and retire itself.

Extreme anti-Zionists, such as Lenni Brenner (a fringe propagandist applauded by D.), ignore the fact that Zionism has always included a wide spectrum of political factions and ideologies. For example, Brenner harps upon the efforts of the Lehi underground (the Stern Gang) to ally themselves with the Nazis early in WW2; the Lehi commanded the allegiance of about ten percent of the Revisionist movement --- which in itself amounted to a ten percent minority of Israel's pre-State Jewish population.

And (if I'm not mistaken) Brenner also refers scathingly to Zionist emissaries negotiating with Nazis at various times in order to save Jewish lives. One such effort, the "Transfer Agreement," saved about 60,000 German Jews by ransoming them to Palestine.  Another was by Rudolph Kastner or Kasztner, head of a Zionist rescue committee who failed to get a deal with Eichmann to save the Jews of Hungary; he did succeed in saving one trainload of over 1600 (ironically including a future Rebbe of the anti-Zionist Satmar Hasidic sect). Since those rescued included his own family, he was hounded by Revisionists in Israel as a "Nazi collaborator" and assassinated in 1957.

As Ahmadinejad Rages at UN, Baskin Offers Hope

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Jews have no historical roots in the Middle East and that the existence of Israel is just a passing phase. 

The tireless peace activist Gershon Baskin suggests in his Jerusalem Post column that "There is a way out." His article concludes as follows:

One of the options on the table is the Conference on the Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone. This may not be the mechanism that has the power to prevent an Iranian bomb, but it is a global international effort at reaching toward what should be an Israeli goal for security of itself and the region: a zone free of weapons of mass destruction. This will not happen overnight and will not happen as the result of a conference in December 2012, but it is part of a process that Israel must be part of.

Thomas Friedman on Muslim Extremism

Friedman (Josh Haner/The New York Times)

I am sending out word of this article by Thomas Friedman from the NY Times because I so agree with Friedman's position.  I only hope that the various schools of thought of Islam will sooner, rather than later, develop a more nuanced response to books, articles or  art works that they perceive as insulting to their religion.  We know that Christianity and Judaism have their fundamentalists too.  And I am sure that Friedman would object to a violent eruption by them as well.  Right now it is happening in the Arab world.  Right now is a time for all of us to reflect on the use of religion to justify violence.  Something about this does not appear reasonable in the 21st century.--Lilly

A Martian view of Gaza

Jeannette Catsoulis, a reviewer for the NY Times, wrote "Brief Lives, Violently Extinguished" on a  documentary film about the terrible human toll of Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip in Dec. 2008-Jan. 2009. This is most of her short article, published Sept. 19:    

Filmmaker Lokkeberg

A brutally uncompromising blast of outrage, Vibeke Lokkeberg’s “Tears of Gaza” is less a documentary than a collage of suffering. Dropping us smack in the middle of the Israeli attacks on Gaza in the winter of 2008-9, the film tramples politics beneath the raw weight of civilian testimony. Woven together, these monologues of bereavement and confusion, illustrated with images so terrible they repel rational explanation, form a tapestry of human misery that’s impossible to shake off.
.... Postcarnage interviews allow the stunned reactions of three surviving children to shape a quiet meditation on lives irretrievably altered.
Unwaveringly committed to a method that spits on context, “Tears of Gaza” forces us to ask a single, electric question: Amid this much horror, does context even matter?

My own review at The Forward's Arty Semite blog does not dispute the brutal facts of Israel's "Operation Cast Lead"; I am repelled by the human cost of this military action and feel nothing but compassion for the three Palestinian children depicted in the film. Still, I disagree entirely with the contempt for context displayed by the filmmaker and endorsed by the NY Times reviewer.

ALL ABOUT BEINART (A Catch-up Post)

I don't think Peter Beinart needs P.R. from me, but in the event you missed these articles about him, and his book, here are the links.  I liked Perlsten's take in the Rolling Stone, the most.  I watched Beinart and Gordis in their infamous debate which was streamed.  Though I have little patience for Gordis, (I find his self-righteousness so off-putting that I stopped reading his emails) but in the context of the debate he appeared to win a few points; I think it is because he speaks from the point of view of someone living in Israel which gives him an advantage.

But that is precisely what Beinart does so well, point out the differences with those of us in the American Jewish community who are called upon to rubber stamp whatever policy Netanyahu is pushing.  Beinart has opened up the discourse among American Jews, and that is why the established mainstream Jewish community is fighting him with all its might.--Lilly

Politics: My Crisis of Zionism - and Ours by Rick Perlstein

Beinart, Gordis Debate In Front of Packed House by Dan Klein

 Defending Israel (and Waiting for a Miracle) by Eric Alterman  

Peter Beinart's False Prophecy by Bret Stephens

Wishing You a Sweet & Peaceful New Year

All of us at Partners for Progressive Israel -- officers, board, and staff -- send you heartfelt greetings for this New Year 5773. May the New Year bring you health and happiness and may it bring us all -- our brothers and sisters in Israel and throughout the world, and our neighbors in Palestine and everywhere -- peace, shalom, salaam.

Meretz Alone Represents Israel at Socialist Int'l.

See what happens when you decide not to attend a conference? My problem with Shelly Yacimovich (Labor party head) has been her exclusive focus on domestic social issues, ignoring the prickly Occupation issue. You have to be multi-faceted, Shelly.-- Lilly

Israel's Labor Party snubs Socialist International, leaving Palestinians to dominate [and] Meretz to forestall a decision naming Israel an apartheid state.

MK Shelly Yacimovich

Avshlom Vilan attended for Meretz

For years on end, as a founding member, the Israeli Labor party was an active player at the Socialist International conventions. Those days have passed. Not only did party leader MK Shelly Yacimovich not send a representative to the weekend meeting in South Africa, she went as far as to instruct former MK Colette Avital not to fly to Cape Town, despite Avital's willingness to cover her own expenses.

Due to Labor's absence, Meretz remained the only Israeli representatives at the convention, and could do little to soften a resolution highly critical of Israel's policies. [Not so little actually; read on.]

The Socialist International is an organization uniting parties with similar platforms such as the British Labor Party, the French Socialist Party, the German SPD, and other western social democratic parties. This year's convention in Cape Town was attended by 120 parties from 80 states.

2 states no longer possible? Are we 'confederates' now?

Carlo Strenger

It's been suggested in an email discussion group I belong to, that now, since a growing number of Israeli journalists see the two-state solution as dead, this settles the matter. Carlo Strenger is the latest to make such a pronouncement. (See his article, "We've lost: It’s time to think about one state.")

In the meantime, one of Strenger's colleagues at Haaretz, Akiva Eldar, writes caustically of this growing trend among his fellow Israeli doves, decrying "The Defeatism of the Left":

The desperate leftists propose joining together two hostile communities with a bloodly feud between them and endless prejudices about each other. ...
.... A binational state is not a solution, but rather a flight from reality and a recipe for perpetuating a duel between two nations. ... 

I have enormous respect for Strenger, but I agree with Eldar; I see Strenger's position as one of exasperation rather than practicality. We know how two states would work, if only we were to get there. We have no idea how one state for two warring peoples could possibly work, other than by mutual hostility and one dominating the other. 

But notice that Strenger is hedging. He isn't endorsing one unitary state, he's speaking wistfully of a "confederation":

Oh Jerusalem: If I forget thee, it's not election time

In a controversial scene at the Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made a questionable call on his third try for a two-thirds approval to amend the Democratic party platform to add a recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.  The following capsule summaries of (and Web links to) commentaries by J Street's Jeremy Ben-Ami and Israeli journalist Gershom Gorenberg are taken from J Street's daily News Roundup email:

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

At the Democratic National Convention, J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami imagines what Bill Clinton would have said, writing “of course, Jerusalem will be the capital of the state of Israel,” and “Palestinians too [will have] a capital in their neighborhoods of Jerusalem...It’s time for everyone to stop pouring fuel on the fires of the Middle East while trying to score political points. And it's time to start putting pursuit of American interests and the interests of Israel and the people of the region ahead of narrow partisan gain.”

Gershom Gorenberg asks “how many Americans will vote based on what the Democratic platform says about the Jerusalem? You can count them on your thumbs...Most American Jews will vote for Obama. If they are worried about Israel, they will notice that Obama has upped funding for Israeli missile defense, vetoed U.N. resolutions criticizing Israel, and kept Benjamin Netanyahu from launching a disastrous attack on Iran. The minority of Jews who support Romney don't care if the Democrats put the entire Israeli national anthem in their platform, in Hebrew.”

Non-lethal Crowd Control Literally Stinks

I still call it "the occupation," although I am hearing that the word is seldom used by the general Israeli public.  I will be going to Israel in October [with the Partners' Israel Symposium] and will report back in November on what I learn; but meanwhile, better a "skunk" repellent than a bullet repellent--although clearly this is about controlling the Palestinians.--Lilly

Israeli "skunk" fouls West Bank protests

NABI SALEH, West Bank (Reuters) - Imagine taking a chunk of rotting corpse from a stagnant sewer, placing it in a blender and spraying the filthy liquid in your face. Your gag reflex goes off the charts and you can't escape, because the nauseating stench persists for days.

This is "skunk", a fearsome but non-lethal tool in Israel's arsenal of weapons for crowd control. It comes in armored tanker trucks fitted with a cannon that can spray a jet of stinking fluid over crowds who know how to cope with plain old tear gas.

While the army calls skunk an attempt to minimize casualties, rights groups dismiss it as a fig-leaf for the use of deadlier force against protesters in the occupied West Bank.

For although recent years have been among the quietest of the 45-year-old occupation, Israel has been unable to stop an epidemic of local grassroots demonstrations that often turn into clashes.

Skunk is certainly a repellent, but not a complete deterrent. ...

Headlines Show Iran and Israel at Crossroads

UN chief denounces threats to destroy Israel, Holocaust denial
At the Non Aligned Summit in Tehran, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said "I strongly reject threats by any member state to destroy another or outrageous attempts to deny historical facts such as the Holocaust...Claiming that Israel does not have the right to exist or describing it in racist terms is not only wrong but undermines the very principle we all have pledged to uphold.”

Report on Iran Nuclear Work Puts Israel in a Box
JERUSALEM — For Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday offered findings validating his longstanding position that while harsh economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation may have hurt Iran, they have failed to slow Tehran’s nuclear program. If anything, the program is speeding up.
    •    Document: International Atomic Energy Agency Report on Iran
    •    Inspectors Confirm New Work by Iran at Secure Nuclear Site (August 31, 2012)
But the agency’s report has also put Israel in a corner, documenting that Iran is close to crossing what Israel has long said is its red line: the capability to produce nuclear weapons in a location invulnerable to Israeli attack.

Iranian Warns Tehran: Stop 'Warmongering'

At last a relatively moderate voice from Iran! Not that this individual is exactly Israel's friend, judging from how he speaks of the "Zionist regime." This is part of a news item from Haaretz, Aug. 21, "Leading Iranian cleric calls on regime to avoid war with Israel":

AP photo of Iranian military parade.

Ayatollah Yousef Sanei, a vocal opponent of Ahmadinejad, warns regime not to provoke Israel by 'acting as warmongers;' two former ministers call on supreme leader to set up new ruling council.
A prominent Iranian cleric has called on the Islamic Republic's leadership to avoid war with Israel. In a sermon marking the end of Ramadan, Ayatollah Yousef Sanei, a vocal opponent of the Ahmadinejad regime, urged the leadership to avoid provoking Israel and "acting as warmongers." "We must do everything to prevent a Zionist attack on Iran, because if that happens, Iran will be severely damaged, even if the Zionist regime is damaged even more....
.... "We must not act as warmongers in our country and encourage war. The country is currently facing a unique situation, and the most important thing to do is to shut the mouth of the Zionist regime with our thoughts, our pens and an effort to take the right actions."Sanei, 75, is considered a role model to millions of Shi'ites, and a pillar of the pro-reform Green Revolution. From time to time, he uses his public status as a platform to preach in favor of civil rights and gender equality, and against suicide attacks. ...

On the same day, it's Israel that is reportedly being warned by another leading Iranian figure, "Top Iran official: If Israel attacks, it will bring about its own 'annihilation'":

Dialogue on Mahmoud Abbas as partner for peace

Gary Rosenblatt

I regularly monitor The NY Jewish Week for the New York City chapter of J Street.  This column by Gary Rosenblatt, the moderate editor/publisher of NY's Jewish Week, points out some troubling and unhelpful attitudes from the Palestinian Authority and others in the Arab and Muslim worlds: "Denying Reality Won't Make It Go Away."  One may want to disagree (or not) with Rosenblatt's conclusion that the US needs to credibly threaten Iran with military action, but what he says about Abbas is disturbing.  Aside from mentioning his 1984 Soviet doctoral dissertation on "Zionist complicity" in the Holocaust (a very old story), Rosenblatt indicates the following:

... Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ... continues to deny a Jewish historical connection to the land of Israel. In a speech the other day he referred, as he has before, to the “the alleged Temple” in Jerusalem and pledged that the Holy City will “forever be Arabic, Islamic and Christian.” ...

I know Rosenblatt slightly and feel that he honestly supports a negotiated two-state solution (as does most of the American Jewish community--and most Israelis), but there is a strong belief that the Palestinians can't be trusted.  The following is an edited version of my email discussion with our colleague and fellow blogger, Hillel Schenker, the Israeli co-editor of the Palestine-Israel Journal:

Hi Ralph,

Hillel Schenker

       The title of his editorial could easily be referring to Prime Minister Netanyahu.  He denies the Palestinian connection and right to East Jerusalem, and the fact that no one in the Arab and Moslem world, or the Vatican for that matter, would agree to a solution based upon a United Jerusalem under Israeli control.