|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
Jewish identity, Zionism and PalestineBy Gilad Atzmon*1 July 2005 Gilad Atzmon considers the different types of Jewish identity, from that which evolves around Judaism, to that for which being Jewish is incidental and marginal, to that for which Jewishness is the centrepiece of identity, over and above all other traits. He focuses on the third category, which he says is "the essence of Zionism", and argues that, according to this definition, many Jews are in fact Zionists, even if they deny it. He concludes that Jewish people who fall into this third category tend to act in harmony, protecting one another and operating as a global Zionist body shield. As far as self-perception is concerned, those who call themselves Jews can be divided into three main categories:
Obviously, the first two categories consist of a harmless group of people. We do tend to respect religious people, as they are generally expected to live in accordance with their beliefs and are expected to abide by some sort of a higher spiritual code. Needless to say, we have no problem with the second category either. One cannot choose one's origin. We agree that people must be respected and treated equally regardless of their origin or their racial and ethnic belonging. However, the third category is largely problematic. Clearly, its definition may sound inflammatory to some. And yet, bizarrely enough, it is a general formulation of Chaim Weizmann's view of the Jewish identity as expressed in his famous address at the First Jewish Congress: "There are no English, French, German or American Jews, but only Jews living in England, France, Germany or America."(1) According to Weizmann, a prominent Zionist figure, Jewishness is a primary quality. You may be a Jew who dwells in England, a Jew who plays the violin or even a Jew against Zionism. But, above all else, you are a Jew. And this is exactly the idea conveyed by the 3rd category. It is all about viewing Jewishness as the key element in one's being. Any other quality is secondary. This is exactly the message the early Zionists were interested in promulgating. For Weizmann, Jewishness is a unique quality that stops the Jew from assimilating into the nation of which he is a citizen. He will always remain an alien. This very line of thinking was more than apparent in most early Zionist writings. Vladimir Jabotinsky, the founder of right-wing Zionism, takes it even further. He is more than firm that assimilation is impossible due to some biological conditioning. Here is what he had to say about the German Jew:
The reader may notice that these outrageous racist ideas predate Nazism. Jabotinsky wasn't alone. Even the Marxist Ber Borochov, who attributes the Jewish condition to some historical and material circumstances, suggests a remedy that is particular to Jewish people, i.e. Jewish nationalism, in which Jews will practice some proletarian activity, namely production. As it seems, Borochov considers Jews as separate from the international proletarian revolution. Why does he do this? Just because Jews are uniquely Jewish or at least the Zionists tend to believe they are. However, one may rightly ask whether it was the Zionists who invented this 3rd category? In fact, it is not that way at all. Seemingly, Shakespeare had noticed this very pattern 300 years earlier. Shylock, the famous moneylender from Venice, was a proper 3rd category Jew. He clearly admits that, more than anything else, he is a Jew who possesses many human features. "I am a Jew," says Shylock, "Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?" And yet Shylock insists that he shares many human features: "Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is." Shylock claims to be essentially similar to the entire humanity: "If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?... "(2) Noticeably, according to Shylock the Jew is as vulnerable as any ordinary human being and yet he is primarily Jewish. This is, indeed, the essence of Zionism, The Zionist is first and foremost a Jew. He cannot be just an ordinary British citizen who happens to be of Jewish descent. He is rather a Jew who dwells in Britain. He is a Jew who speaks English, he is a Jew who gets his health services from the NHS, he is a Jew who happens to drive on the left side of the road. He is the ultimate Other. Generally speaking, 3rd category Jews are the ultimate Others simply because they are always somewhere at the margins of, or apart from, any given human condition or human landscape. Zionist agentsAs it seems, Shylock was a Zionist, he fitted perfectly into Weizmann's model. He was a 3rd category Jew. However, Shylock did not make it to Palestine. He did not engage himself in confiscating Palestinian land. He was not even an Israeli soldier. In fact, the 3rd category Jew does not have to move to Palestine. Apparently, dwelling in Zion is merely just one possible practice within the Zionist philosophy. In order to become a proper Zionist, you do not have to wander. Sometimes it is actually better if you stay exactly wherever you are. Let us read what Victor Ostrovsky, a former Mossad agent, tells us about 3rd category Jews.
I assume that it must be clear that sayanim are basically 3rd category Jews. They are people who regard themselves primarily as Jews. The sayan is a man who would betray the nation in which he is a citizen just to satisfy a bizarre notion of a clannish brotherhood. Zionism, an international networkWe are now starting to realize that Zionism should not be seen merely as a nationalist movement with a clear geographical aspiration. It is not exactly a colonial movement with an interest in Palestine. Zionism appears to be an international movement that is fuelled by the solidarity of 3rd category subjects. To be a Zionist means simply to accept that, more than anything else, you are primarily a Jew. Ostrovsky continues:
Ostrovsky is talking here about "racial solidarity". But, in fact, Jews are far from being a single race. As funny as it may sound, most Palestinians are more racially Jewish than Ashkenazi Jews. So, if it is not a racial solidarity, what is it that leads the sayan to run the risk of years of imprisonment? What did Jonathan Pollard have in his mind when he clearly betrayed his country? What do those 2,000 sayanim here in London have in their minds when they betray their Queen? I assume that we are left here with one possibility: the solidarity of the 3rd category Jews. It is namely a solidarity of the people who regard themselves primarily as Jews. I tend to regard Ostrovsky's testimony as a very reliable report. As we know, at the time the Israeli government was using every possible means to stop the publication of his books. In fact, this strange Israeli activity was more than an affirmation that Ostrovsky was indeed a Mossad agent and that the story that he is telling is rather genuine. In a radio interview, Joseph Lapid, at the time a senior Israeli columnist, opened his heart and told the world what he thought of Ostrovsky: "Ostrovsky is the most treacherous Jew in modern Jewish history. And he has no right to live, except if he's prepared to return to Israel and stand trial."(5) Valerie Pringle, the journalist on the other side of the line, asked Lapid: "Do you feel it's a responsible statement to say what you've said?" Lapid: "Oh yes, I fully believe in that. And, unfortunately, the Mossad cannot do it because we cannot endanger our relations with Canada. But I hope there will be a decent Jew in Canada who does it for us." Pringle: "You hope this. You could live with his blood on your hands?" Lapid: "Oh no. It's to ... only it will not be his blood on my hands. It will be justice to a man who does the most horrible thing that any Jew can think of, and that is that he's selling out the Jewish state and the Jewish people for money to our enemies. There is absolutely nothing worse that a human being, if he can be called a human being, can do." Lapid, who later became a member of Ariel Sharon's cabinet, makes it more than clear: to be a Jew is a deep commitment that goes far beyond any legal or moral order. It is far more essential than any universal ethical perception. Clearly, for Lapid, Jewishness is not a spiritual stand, it is a political commitment. It is a world view that applies to the very last Jew on this planet. As he says, the Mossad can't really kill Ostrovsky, thus, it is down to a "decent Canadian Jew" to do the job. As is evident, a Zionist journalist is expressing here the most outrageous of views. He encourages a fellow Jew to commit a murder in the name of the Jewish brotherhood. In short, not only does Lapid affirm Ostrovsky's report about the world of sayanim, he also confirms Weizmann's view that, from a Zionist point of view, there are no Canadian Jews but only Jews who live in Canada. I think that the above leaves us with enough room to conclude that, at least in the Zionists' eyes, Jewishness is basically an international network operation. Ostrovsky calls it "racial solidarity", I call it 3rd category brotherhood and Weizmann calls it Zionism. But it all means the very same thing. It is all about commitment, a global agenda that pools more and more Jews into an obscure, dangerous fellowship. Apparently, Zionism is not about Israel. Israel is just a colony, a territorial asset violently maintained by a mission force composed of 3rd category Jews. In fact, there is no geographical centre to the Zionist endeavour. It is hard to determine where the centre of Zionist decision making is. Is it in Jerusalem? In the Knesset? In Sharon's cabinet? In the Mossad? Or maybe in the Anti-Defamation League offices in America? It might as well be somewhere in Wall Street. Who knows. But then, it is of course more than possible that there is no decision making process at all. The beauty of a network operative system is that not a single operator within the network is fully familiar with the network but is only aware of his personal role within it. This is probably the biggest strength of the Zionist movement. Looking at Zionism as a global network operation would determine a major shift in our perspective of current world affairs. The Palestinians, for instance, are not just the victims of the Israeli occupation. Rather, they are the victims of 3rd category Jews who decided to transform Palestine into a Jewish national bunker. The Iraqis are better seen as the victims of the those 3rd category Jews who decided to transform the American army into a Jewish mission force. The Muslim world should be seen as subject to some neo-conservative 3rd category tendency to make Anatoly "Natan" Sharansky's "democratic" ideology into the new American bible for the Third World. It is pretty depressing indeed. The Jewish humanistThe Palestinian activist Reem Abdelhadi, when asked for her opinion about Jewish anti-Zionist campaigners, said sarcastically: "They are very nice, all 15 of them..." We must admit that there are not many Jews fighting against Zionism. However, among those few who engage themselves in this battle we find some people who insist upon doing so under the Jewish banner, e.g. Jews Against Zionism, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, etc. While writing this paper, I have started to ask myself what category those Jewish leftist groups belong to. Clearly, they do not fit into the 1st category. The Jewish left is a "religious" atheist tendency. They really do not like to involve God in politics or in anything else. In most cases, they are hostile to Judaism and even to those Orthodox Jews who happen to stand up to Zionism. But it is not only Judaism that they dislike. They are not fond of Islam or Christianity either. Those of them who endorse the idea of a one state solution do insist that the future Palestine must be a "secular" and a democratic state. Not that I am in any position to suggest what the future Palestine should be, but I would propose that it must be down to the citizens of this future state to decide what type of country they prefer to live in. Anyway, those Jewish leftists also fail to fit into the 2nd category. They do not regard themselves as ordinary humanists who happen to be of Jewish descent. If they did, they would simply join the Palestine solidarity movement like other Jews who prefer to act mainly as humanists. But then, rather than joining the solidarity movement, they form some exclusive political cells that allow them to operate under a Jewish banner. Consequently, we must admit that they all belong to the 3rd category. In fact, they prefer to regard themselves as "Jews who hold some leftist views". Clearly, among those groups you will find some wonderful people who genuinely believe that Zionism is wrong, that Zionism is racist and nationalist. But in fact these people are themselves operating as 3rd category Jews. They all act politically under a Jewish banner. In practical terms, they all follow Weizmann's school. Rather than being humanists who happen to be Jewish (2nd category), they are Jews who happen to be humanists. But then, since acting politically under a Jewish banner is in fact the very definition of Zionism, it is reasonable to deduce that all Jewish left activity is in practice no more than a form of left Zionism. One may ask whether it is really possible to be a left Zionist? Is there left and right in a network group that is set primarily on a racial category and clannish brotherhood? The answer is no. There is no left and right within Zionism but rather different right-wing political apparatuses. Some Zionist political calls adopt the shape of left discourse. I had noticed, for instance, that Jewish Marxists insist upon calling each other comrade. In fact, they are mainly engaged in Marxist verbal rituals. But, apparently, this is not enough. Ideology is more than a mere language game. In reality, those Jewish left clubs are operating as the body shield of the 3rd category identity. This may explain the fact that, as far as the Palestine solidarity movement is concerned, those groups are primarily engaged in guarding some 3rd category Jewish interests that have very little to do with the Palestinians and their daily misery. To be more precise, those Jewish left groups are engaged mainly in searching for "anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers and Jew haters. Somehow, they always find them among the most active and devoted 2nd category Jews. As it seems (to me at least), for these scattered Jewish cells Palestinian solidarity is just another instrument to draw attention to the myth of Jewish humanism. I will try to be very clear and transparent here. There is no secular Jewish humanism. No doubt many humanists happen to be Jewish and yet there is not a single Jewish secular humanist theory or text.(6) This is mainly because Jewish secularity is not a philosophical position. It is rather a complete abandonment of God. Jewish secularity is a form of ethnicity based merely on some exclusive tendencies and a vague collective memory of some ritual heritage. So, is there a Jewish conspiracy to run the world? Not really. First, it must be clear that 1st and 2nd category Jews have nothing to do with all of the above. For 1st category Jews, being Jewish means practising Judaism -. following a spiritual call and obeying God's law. As we know, Zionism is still far from being popular among ultra-orthodox rabbis. However, I must admit, some would rightly argue that, following the teaching of the Talmudic law, many religious Jews do regard themselves as a chosen category. For me, this simply means that they fall into the 3rd category rather than the 1st one. This probably applies to the orthodox sects that allied themselves with Zionism throughout the course of time. The 2nd category Jews have no intention of taking part in any global Jewish networking. They regard themselves as a ordinary and liberated human beings with no special privilege. Among the 2nd category Jews, we find the most enlightened and emancipated humanists, those very great intellectuals who contributed to 20th-century liberal and humanist thinking. As we all know, hardly any of them came from Israel or a Zionist faction. When it comes to the 3rd category, we are faced with a slight problem. I tend to believe that the 3rd category Jews are mutually acting together. But then, whether they are fully aware of it or not is a big question. Throughout the years, they have formed a network that operates as a global Zionist body shield. They simply act in harmony, they protect each other. Even when they fight against one another, they depict an image of pluralism. I think that this is the essence of Zionism's miraculous success. A week ago I read a brilliant insight by Rowan Berkeley on the Peacepalestine blog. Rowan, a Londoner whom I know vaguely, had been flirting in the past with the idea of becoming a Jew. In the following comment he tries to explain the common Jewish take on Zionism. In fact, without realizing it, he describes the 3rd category tactic:
Yes, I do believe that Rowan's insight hits the nail right on the head. He is absolutely correct. But then, unlike Rowan, I do believe that Jews Against Zionism are genuine. They simply fight Zionism without realizing that they themselves are Zionists. Without realizing that they are the most orthodox followers of Weizmann's school. If they are really interested in bringing Zionism down, their tactics are obviously wrong. I have written to some of them about the subject before, and I have seen some discussion about my views in many different Jewish left circles. Yet, I have never come across any rational response from any of those scattered exclusive groups. Rather than viewing my thoughts as a challenge, they solely engage in labelling. I have already been called "a self-hating Jew", "a Christian fundamentalist", "a Holocaust denier", "an apologist for Holocaust deniers", "a neo-Nazi", "a Stalinist", "a Zionist agent", "an anti-Semite" and much more. Two weeks ago, a small group of Jewish leftists staged a picket against me in front of a Marxist bookshop. I wrote to them arguing that, if Palestine is on top of one's agenda, a protest in front of the Israeli embassy or any other 3rd category Jewish institution would be far more effective. They dismissed my call. I am fully aware of the fact that crucifying me and burning my books is no doubt a standard 3rd category practice but, unfortunately, it is not going to help the Palestinian at the checkpoint. It is not going to help the millions of refugees who have been living for almost six decades without elementary rights. Israel is an inhuman political setup and we, therefore, must fight it as human beings rather than as scattered ethnic or religious groups. Notes1. Chaim Weizmann, First Zionist Congress, 1897.2. William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. 3. Victor Ostrovsky, By Way of Deception, (St Martin's, 1990) pp. 86-7. 4. Ibid. p. 87. 5. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. 6. If anything, Zionism in its early days was aiming towards the establishment of such a philosophy, a form of Jewish secular ethics. Obviously, such an attempt was doomed to failure simply because Zionism is unethical by definition, being that it engages in the continual ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian people. 7. Peacepalestine. *Gilad Atzmon is an Israeli-born musician and writer, and a proponent of a secular and democratic one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which the two peoples live in one state as citizens with equal rights and responsibilities. Copyright © Redress Information & Analysis. All rights reserved. |
|