Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Apartheid exists Now

A great discussion of the UN report shelved last week.  

In the comments I learned about Rabbi Elmer Berger, an early American anti-Zionist.  (I have previously written about the many early 20th century anti-Zionist rabbis in Europe and their dire forecasts for the future of a premature* Jewish State, forecasts that seem to following course as to now.  The tragedy of Israel subjugating Palestine is as likely as anything to foster even greater anti-Semitism in the future.)

(*Zionism as per Herzog is a secular nationalist doctrine.  Religious Judaism prior to the Holocaust had tough conditions intended to ultimately lead to a proper Jewish national return to Israel; it would happen when the conditions were met--sometime in the perhaps distant future--without requiring compromising 'deals' with secular powers, not to mention terrorist acts or state terrorism.  Zionism was more lets just do it now--the end justifies the means--and Herzog was especially denounced by European rabbis.)

There is some filling in about the anti-Zionist arguments against JVP, who ultimately couldn't decide what to do about the word Zionism and ultimately shut down a discussion about it.  And against Chomsky, who does not accept the arguments of BDS promoters (he hopes for an ultimate 2 state solution, for one thing, and retains respect for the fundamental idea of Zionism, a Jewish State, if achieved through means respecting the rights of all).  Though it was not mentioned in defense of Chomsky that Chomsky has long called the practices of Israel to be Apartheid (or--worse), the initial topic of this thread.

I think I've supported JVP in the past, but no more.  Chomsky is still as worth reading as ever, with the caveat that he does have a somewhat romantic view in at least one area (despite co-authoring book with Pappe and so on).

From time to time in the past I've had membership in Rabbi Michael Lerner's Tikkun.  I have never seen Lerner as anti-Zionist, in that regards he might well be further from that than Chomsky.  And with an even more romantic view, which I have sometimes enjoyed reading.

And the disgrace of Princeton, under pressure from JVP (and others--of course--as commenter fails to mention) turning away Miko Peled (he came to a university near me and I bought his book).

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