I am surprised and disappointed to see that Bob from Brockley - a normally sensible left-wing blogger - appears to have embraced the one state solution. The reasons he offers are the following:
Many of my friends on the anti-anti-Zionist left think that the one state solution is essentially equivalent to the genocidal destruction of the Jewish nation. They argue that the Arabs (who have demography on their side, and formidable military allies in the form of the Saudis, Iran and so on) have proven themselves unable to share space with Jews. I reject this fatalistic view, and having recently been in Northern Ireland am more confident than ever that we can forge our own futures if we unshackle our imaginations. It feels to me that the idea of the two state solution [I think this must be a typo and that he means “one state solution”. Otherwise the rest of the text makes no sense] is steadily gaining ground, not just among the hardcore advocates of a “free Palestine”, but among younger Jews in both Israel and the diaspora. This slow awakening comes with a growing sense that another Zionism is possible, and a recovery of the memory of pre-1948 Zionism, the Zionism of Ahad Ha’am, Martin Buber, Gershom Scholem, Joseph Trumpledor, AD Gordon and Judah Magnes, which called for a “national home” for the Jews and not necessarily a nation-state. By the way, I have at various other times in my life called for a one state solution also for South Africa, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Ireland and Cyprus.
Continue reading ‘Bob From Brockley Goes One State’
1. Over at Good Jew Central Dimi Reider is displeased that a number of his compatriots in uniform cheer, holler and show every sign of being pleased by the destruction of a number of buildings in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.
Continue reading ‘Good Jew Central, Warfare And Nazi Germany’
Over at The Tablet and in the context of the attempt to bomb synagogues in Chicago Lee Smith writes:
Terror, violence, and bloodshed against Jews now come pre-packaged with a sanctimonious justification. It’s not seen as crazy, sick, irrational violence. It’s political violence. Terrorist violence is irrational and incomprehensible-unless the victims are Jewish. Why do terrorists bomb America, bomb London, bomb Madrid, bomb Casablanca, burn Mumbai? Because they’re crazy, that’s why. With the Jews, well, there’s the occupation. There’s Israel. There’s America’s support for Israel. Terrorism may be abhorrent, but when it comes to the Jews the terrorists themselves have a lot to be angry about. Accordingly, we’re supposed to regard these acts with both horror and reason at the same time-”sure, it’s not pretty, but we get it.” In other words, terror against Jews may produce violence and bloodshed, but not moral revulsion.
Continue reading ‘Chicago Synagogues And Good Jews’
1. In a discussion over at Engage in which he offers arguments in support of a boycott of Israel and only Israel, Ran Greenstein says,
Third, any diminishing of the capacity of the Israeli state to continue with its exclusionary and abusive practices is a blow against anti-semitism, because it relieves Jews of the burden of having to pay a price for Israeli policies they do not support and have nothing to do with them.
Continue reading ‘Gurvitz-Goldman, Greenstein And Good Jews’
Just a line to recommend this conversation between Haim Watzman and his friend Frank (a disciple of Professor Dwight Geist?) in which they compare the state of democracy in Israel and the United States.
Continue reading ‘The Indigent In India And Unemployment In Um al-Fahm’
My Gurvitz-Goldman and Gurvitz posts generated a lot of debate but they’ve now slipped off the first page of the blog so readers would be unlikely to see two valuable comments that arrived last night from Judy. You can follow the links to see them where she submitted them or just read the extracts I copy below. If anyone has anything further to contribute would they please do so here rather than on the original comment threads.
Continue reading ‘Gurvitz and Goldman: A Coda’
There’s a school of thought, if I may so dignify it, that holds that there’s nothing racist or fundamentally objectionable about anti-Zionism because opposing Zionism just means being opposed to a political system. The collapse of the Soviet Union is often proferred in this context as an example of one political system being replaced by another. “So what’s the problem?” they say, “After Zionism is defeated all the people currently resident in what is now Israel and the Palestinian Territories will be able to live together in peace and equality”.
Continue reading ‘Ahmadinejad: An Honest Anti-Zionist’
