In Defense of Zionism
Do Israeli Actions in Gaza Justify an Anti-Zionist Stance?
“We are a people. One people.”
Thedore Herzl, Der Judenstaat
Among those protesting the IDF’s retaliatory invasion of Gaza there are many who characterize themselves as anti-Zionist. Some demand an end to Israel’s “ethno-religious apartheid”; others chant: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will free!”, while some decry the continuance of the settler-colonial enterprise that is modern Israel.
Okay, so why is settler-colonialism not in quotation marks?
Because it is indubitably correct. Israel began its existence as a settler-colonial enterprise. Yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine) leader and first prime minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion, sought to remove as many Palestinian Arabs from both the UN partition zone granted the Jews and regions later seized during the War of Independence.
Well, when you start a war, maintains the standard Zionist position, if you don’t win, you are going to lose land. Witness Germany…
No doubt. The Arabs did start the war, and they did lose.
Today Likud—and to a lesser extent, Labor—continue policies in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem that have…
