Re: Edward Said - American Zionism (3) (fwd)

The conflict in the Middle East does not exist in a vacuum.  Israel exists
not only because the victors of WWII refused to except refugee Jewish
populations, but because one of these victors, namely the US, has opted to
establish and maintain Israel as its strategic outpost in the Middle East
region.  As has been pointed out on numerous occasions, the occupation of
Palestinian lands could not continue without continued US military and
diplomatic support.  Knowledge of that unwavering support is responsible
for the intransigent attitudes of Israelis who refused to deal squarely
with the Palestinians.  Israel, in the final analysis, is not a colony of
Worldwide Jewry, but just as much a Crusader state of the West.

It is true that Jews who live in and support Israel bear responsibility
for the just treatment of their Palestinian neighbors.  I have not seen
any polling of worldwide Jewry that suggests that a majority of it
supports continued construction of settlements and military occupation.  
In as far as it does so, it is betraying its spiritual heritage.
However, a spiritual heritage is not unique to Jews, and in fact those
who stress it speciality are rightly regarded as Zionists who believe
their own people are God's special gift to the world and are uniquely
qualified to act as its moral conscience.  Christians and Muslims also
have a spiritual heritage which requires them to bear witness to God, keep
His commandments until the coming of messiah.  In the case of some
Christians, adherence to a belief in the reestablishment of Israel is a
necessary precondition to the unfolding of struggle of the Last Days.
The support of Israel in this belief constitutes a violation of their
spiritual heritage.   Last time I checked, the majority of the US
population was not made up of Jews, and the decision-making bodies of the
US government was not controlled by Worldwide Jewry.  Jews constitute an
important, yet not overwhelming percentage of the US electorate, and
Jewish financial strength, while disproportionate to their population, is
not yet so overwhelming as to be able to dictate policy to the United
States.  Finally, while no major party speaks out consistently against
Israeli aggression in the press, there are countless other examples of
uncritical acceptance of US foreign policy.  Just off the top of my
head, there is no major party which has criticized the destructive
American propping up of gangster capitalism in Russia since 1991 (Steven
Cohen has a great article about the "journalistic malpractice", in which
essentially the whole of the US media been complicitous, in a recent
copy of _The Nation_.)  Much the same can be said about US policies in the
Gulf and the Balkans.  It is no accident that there was a complete absence
of debate on foreign policy between the major presidential candidates, and
it is an absence which cannot be attributed to the power of the Israel
lobby.  

In the final analysis, while Jews do bear the ultimate responsibility
of the just treatment of their neighbors, the ultimate responsibility for
US foreign policy, as well as American Zionism (what has been in question
here) rests with Americans, Jews and non-Jews alike.  Complaining that
fear of being labelled antisemitic for criticizing Israel keeps us from
criticizing Israel is morally equivalent it seems to me, to Israeli Jews
claiming that they need to expand settlements and maintain occupation
because their Arab neighbors have sworn to annihilate them. It does not
speak well for us to shunt the blame for American Zionism off on Worldwide
Jewry.

On Fri, 10 Nov 2000 wwagar@binghamton.edu wrote:

> 
>       The spiritual heritage of Judaism, as I understand it, is the
> mission of Jews worldwide to bear witness to God, uphold divine
> commandments requiring all men and women to behave justly and virtuously,
> and await the Messiah and the advent of the New Jerusalem.  Instead, the
> majority of the world's Jews have been complicit in the establishment of a
> quasi-theocratic state on lands owned and occupied chiefly by others,
> lands which they continue to colonize, inflicting misery, injustice,
> exile, and persecution on the non-Jewish former and present inhabitants of
> these lands.  The ultimate responsibility for this atrocity falls on the
> Jewish people themselves, although much blame also attaches to the victors
> of World War Two, who refused to allow the bulk of war-displaced Jews to
> emigrate to their countries.  The historical irony of the innocent victims
> of the world's greatest genocidal campaign immediately turning into
> terrorists and victimizers in their own right is little short of
> breath-taking, although I would never contend that the establishment of
> Israel came anywhere near the enormity and depravity of Nazi Germany's
> Final Solution.  
> 
>       Of course Israel is now a fact on the ground, just like Europe's
> occupation of North America in the 17th to 19th Centuries.  It cannot be
> undone.  But at the very least Israel should be held accountable for the
> harm it has done to the Arab people and required to vacate the West Bank
> and Gaza and recognize a Palestinian State.  As for the one Unspeakable
> Act, show me the major party in American politics whose spokespersons have
> ever been able to defy the pro-Israel lobby in Congress and the American
> press.  If at least half the leaders of the American Jewish community were
> to champion the cause of justice for Palestine, in keeping with what I
> understand to be the Jewish spiritual heritage--or in keeping with a
> secular faith in human rights--, then American politicians of all faiths
> would be free to think for themselves.  Such is not the case.
> 
>       Warren Wagar
> 
>       
> On Thu, 9 Nov 2000, Boris Stremlin wrote:
> 
> > Since this discussion has apparently been going on on several lists at
> > once, and my response did not make it onto WSN, I'm forwarding it.
> > 
> > >Although I appreciate some of Khaldoun's efforts, and I agree that the
> > >media coverage of the Middle East is certainly highly biased toward
> > >Israel, I have to object to some of the essentialized "analyses" of
> > >what lies behind this bias.  With all due respect to Professor Wagar, what
> > >exactly does he see as the "Jewish spiritual heritage" which "the Jews
> > >worldwide" have betrayed, on what basis does Professor Wagar conclude that
> > >the majority of Jews worldwide have betrayed this heritage, and for what
> > >reason does he imply that it is this betrayal by worldwide Jewry that
> > >constitutes the primary (sole?) reason making the confrontation of
> > >"Zionist imperialism and colonialism...the one Unthinkable Act remaining
> > >in American political discourse"?
> > 
> > Since I am reposting this, I guess I could add the claim that the
> > uncritical defence of Israel is the only remaining sacred cow in American
> > political discourse to the already long list of contentions which is,
> > let's say, far from self-evident.
> > 
> > >On Wed, 8 Nov 2000, Warren Wagar wrote:
> > >
> > >> Dear Khaldoun and Friends,
> > >>
> > >>         I have been abroad and incommunicado for some time, but I would
> > >> like to take this opportunity to applaud Khaldoun Samman for his
> > >> initiatives and in particular for sharing with us this brilliantly
> > >> incisive article by Said.
> > >>
> > >>         Squarely confronting Zionist imperialism and colonialism is
> > >> indeed the one Unthinkable Act remaining in American political discourse,
> > >> well illustrated by the contemptibly cowardly campaign of the new 
>standard
> > >> bearer of the U.S. Democratic Party, Senator-elect Clinton.  But she had
> > >> no choice.  Although hundreds of thousands of liberal Jews and many
> > >> devoutly religious Jews decry Zionist imperialism and colonialism, the
> > >> plain fact of the matter is that the majority of Jews worldwide have
> > >> betrayed their spiritual heritage in order to identify with a rancid
> > >> nationalism no less hateful and self-defeating than all the other
> > >> segmental and idolatrous nationalisms in world history.  The irony of 
>this
> > >> betrayal is lost on no one with half a sense of the futility of
> > >> ethnic/racial/national egoism.
> > >>
> > >>         All I hope for us at this juncture is that some day Palestinians
> > >> will enjoy the same opportunity to screw up, and that they will also have
> > >> the world-historical wisdom NOT to do so!
> > >>
> > >>         In comradeship,
> > >>
> > >>         Warren
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> W. Warren Wagar
> > >> Department of History
> > >> SUNY Binghamton
> > >>
> > >
> > >--
> > >Boris Stremlin
> > >bc70219@binghamton.edu
> > >
> > 
> > 
> 
> 

-- 
Boris Stremlin
bc70219@binghamton.edu