On Nov. 10, 1975, the United Nations adopted a resolution in which it declared, “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.” The United States staunchly opposed the resolution, with then-Ambassador to the United Nations (and future Democratic Senator) Daniel Patrick Moynihan noting before the vote, “The United Nations is about to make anti-Semitism international law.” The resolution was ultimately repealed about 16 years later.
Last week, during a protest outside the Brown/RISD Hillel in response to Sgt. Benjamin Anthony’s talk on his experiences in the Israel Defense Forces — a protest that was completely legitimate, and conducted in a peaceful and appropriate manner — I saw signs that read, “Zionism is racism.”
As I sit back and read The Herald and observe the recent events on campus surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I have noticed a recurring theme among those who reject Israel’s legitimacy as a nation amongst the community of nations. These voices suggest that the idea of Jewish self-determination, which is the very existence of a Jewish state, is inherently racist and therefore illegitimate.
It is this alarming notion that compelled me to write this column. I have no intention of suggesting that Jewish self-determination should be used as a veil to cover crimes against the Palestinian people. In fact, many members of the “pro-Israel” community, especially at Brown, are vocal about certain policies implemented by the Israeli government that undermine efforts to achieve peace. But to suggest that Jewish-self determination is illegitimate is to deny the Jewish people the right to self-determination that appears in Article 1 of the United Nations charter.
In a recent column, David Katzevich ’16 suggests that he yearns to love Israel, but cannot due to Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people. He suggests a single state between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea would alleviate this oppression. Yet this state would undoubtedly not be a Jewish one, nor would it be called “Israel.” By definition, Israel is a state with a Jewish character. Thus, it frustrated me that Katzevich purports to want to love Israel yet opposes the very aspect of Israel — its Jewishness — that makes Israel the Jewish homeland.
First and foremost, contrary to what Katzevich suggests, Israel was not formed because of the Holocaust. Zionism dates back to the late 1800s, and the 1917 Balfour Declaration from the British government that acknowledged the right to establish a Jewish homeland in the region. In 1937, the Peel Commission recommended dividing historic Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. All of this occurred before the final solution was developed at Wannasee or before the majority of European Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.
Irresponsibly and dangerously, Katzevich argues that because Jews in America can live successfully, this “should serve as a lesson to Israel” that there is no need for a Jewish state. While I am thankful that I can live without fear of anti-Semitism in the United States, Katzevich has clearly not observed nations around the world. Europe is an increasingly unsafe place for Jews. Thousands gather in French cities chanting anti-Semitic slogans. In March 2012, four Jews were killed in a shooting at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France. To think that Jews live safely around the world not only is inaccurate, but resembles exactly what the well-assimilated Jews of Germany thought to themselves in the 1930s.
It seems that those who consider Zionism inherently racist do not understand what Zionism is. This thinking implies that Judaism is a race. Jews in Israel are of all different races, descending from areas from Eastern Europe to Yemen to Ethiopia. While I do believe certain Israeli policies have adverse affects on certain races, suggesting that “Zionism is racism” ignores that the Jewish people are a nation. There are Arab ministers in government, members of Parliament and even justices on the Israeli Supreme Court. I do not write this to excuse some of the policies pursued by the Israeli government that many disagree with. Rather, I want to make clear that Zionism — self-determination for the Jewish people — is not illegitimate. While self-determination for every other people is accepted as unquestionable, self-determination for the Jewish people is considered racist. Why is Israel condemned as “ethnocentric,” as Katzevich puts it, but self-determination for other groups is okay?
This is not to say that Zionism precludes non-Jews from living in Israel, but to say that Israel’s existence as a Jewish state is the realization of a millenia-old dream that began after Jews were expelled by the Romans in 70 A.D. As the Jewish holiday of Passover begins, I want to remind everyone that the Seder, the ritual meal, typically ends with the phrase “next year in Jerusalem.” We have been saying that sentence for hundreds of years, long before the pogroms in Russia, long before the Holocaust and long before 1948. Jews have always yearned for self-determination, and that will never cease. Terrible bouts of anti-Semitism are simply constant reminders about what happens when that right to self-determination is abridged.
Zach Ingber ’15 can be reached for comment at zachary_ingber@brown.edu.
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