Anti-Zionism: So what are you making a big fuss? posted by Richard Seymour

I wrote to Emmanuele Ottelenghi following his astonishingly ill-judged diatribe for The Guardian and demanded he pull his socks up some months ago now:

Sir,

Your astonishing article for today's Guardian merits a swift response.
I will therefore be as concise as I
possible can be:

"It is one thing to object to the consequences of Zionism ... But
this is not anti-Zionism... Zionism comprises
a belief that Jews are a nation, and as such are entitled to self-determination
as all other nations are.

It could be suggested that nationalism is a pernicious force. In which
case one should oppose Palestinian
nationalism as well."

The difference is surely transparent. Zionism entailed occupying and hegemonising
another land, whereas
Arab nationalism entails nothing more than repelling all invaders from
their homeland - European or
otherwise.

"But negating Zionism, by claiming that Zionism equals racism, goes
further and denies the Jews the right to
identify, understand and imagine themselves."

By negating Zionism, by claiming that it has always been coextensive with
imperialism and colonialism,
regardless of its official rhetoric, one does not deny "the Jews"
anything. The interesting thing about this,
characteristic of Zionist arguments, is that it portrays "the Jews"
just as monochrome and hermetically
sealed a group as anti-semitic propaganda. What does one say to anti-Zionist
Jews like Norman Finkelstein,
John Rose, or the late Ygael Gluckstein? You can't be Jewish because you
oppose the idea of a Jewish State?
You must be a "self-hating Jew" if you don't align yourself to
Jewish nationalism?

"Were you outraged when Golda Meir claimed there were no Palestinians?
You should be equally outraged at
the insinuation that Jews are not a nation."

Pardon me? Is it or is it not the case that Arabs lived on a land mass
called Palestine before it became
Israel? Now, prior to the fruition of the Zionist project, where did Jews
live? Europe, America and
Palestine, by and large. The vast majority, of course, in Europe and America.
If there is a Jewish nation, it
is by design - Palestinian nationalism, by contrast, is a function of expropriation
and oppression.

The oddness of comparing the nationalism of an oppressed group with that
of a triumphant occupier ought
to be obvious - one would not equate white nationalism with black nationalism,
notwithstanding the idea
that nationalism is a potentially pernicious idea.

"Anti-Zionists are prepared to treat Jews equally and fight anti-semitic
prejudice only if Jews give up their
distinctiveness as a nation: Jews as a nation deserve no sympathy and no
rights, Jews as individuals are
worthy of both."

This is both untrue and slanderous. My opposition to anti-semitism does
not depend on all Jewish people
doing what I consider to be the right thing. This is a transparent fiction
on your part.

"Louis de Bernières wrote in the Independent that "Israel has
been adopting tactics which are reminiscent
of the Nazis". This equation between victims and murderers denies
the Holocaust."

There is no such equation implicit here, unless you really mean to claim
that Israel is now the victim - is that
what you are arguing? In an era when everyone from Serb nationalists to
Ba'athists are "adopting tactics
which are reminiscent of the Nazis" is it so absolutely unfair to
make similar claims about Israel?

At any rate, Zionism has not always been entirely incommensurable with
anti-semitism, bearing in mind the
attitude of the Zionist Federation of Germany, appealing to Adolf Hitler
to help them set up a homeland.
Jabotinsky, we remember, was an admirer of Mussolini, and the Zionist movement
has never been free of its
far right.

"Denouncing Israel becomes a passport to full integration."

In case you've missed it, the one thing criticism of Israel doesn't get
you is "full integration" - either into
mainstream US politics, or mainstream Jewish culture.

"Zionist Jews earn no respect, sympathy or protection. It is their
expression of Jewish identity through
identification with Israel that is under attack."

You have my respect as a human being, my sympathy as such, but what sort
of protection would you like?
The sort that shields your political views from criticism? The sort that
will withold an opinion on Jewish
nationalism for fear that some Jews may take it to be an example of anti-semitism?
Israel is what is under
attack, and in my view justly so. South African apartheid was once singled
out for special treatment, you
will recall, as one of the last bastions of European colonialism and racism
in Africa. Israel, I'm afraid, cuts a
similar figure in the Middle East.

Yours faithfully,

Having received no reply, I noted that he had replied to others who had written to him with contempt and a heartily dismissive attitude that gives condescension a bad name. I wrote again:

Dear Sir,

How is it that I don't merit a nasty and dismissive response, and some twerp on the Medialens message board does? I think it's important, if you're going to insinuate that those who disagree with you are antisemitic, to make the charge consistently and with similar force.

I'd appreciate some vitriol ASAP, please.

Yours,

This prompted, after some waiting, the following literary classic:

Then wait in line. I have about 400 messages to answer to before yours gets what it deserves. Sorry, patience is the virtue of the wise.

EO

He then blocked his e-mail to me, and I haven't had the chance to experience his brusque wit or elegant expatiations on why it is anti-semitic to oppose Zionism. Poor me.