Never Again? Zionism and the Holocaust

a Jew I believe the creation of Israel to have been an absolute necessity. a Marxist committed to the struggle for human liberation-that is, as a human being-I am convinced that the creation of Israel is among the cruel and oppressive acts of the incredibly cruel twentieth century. As a Jew, As a Marxist-such moral and political double-shuffling is the way one would prefer to talk. But the desired consistency of a single voice eludes me if I write and speak honestly today. I cannot help identifying myself in some way with Israel in my heart of hearts much as I grieve and rage over what its creation has meant to the Palestinian people. I have tried to detach myself, but in doing so turned my Marxism into ideology, abstract and rhetorical. I have identified with the Palestinians against the Israelis, for long periods, only to see that identification break down. During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, when, for a moment, it seemed that Israel itself might be threatened, I was awakened by fear and panic I had never before known. To such an extent that I behaved unaccustomedly: I contributed money to an Israeli emergency medical relief fund which while not for military purposes could not, in wartime, be anything but help for one of the belligerents. Indeed, help for what had become the wrong side by the canons of national liberation and anti-imperialism which were and are part of my very political and cultural breathing space. I admit this neither with pride nor shame, merely as a fact which emphasizes the internal tension and apparent moral inconsistency Israel's existence imposes on so many. I insist on the word moral. Indeed this essay will be an exploration of the Israeli moral position in relation to the Holocaust. Marxists frequently pretend to be unconcerned with issues of political morality, but in doing so are obfuscating their own deepest commitments. Indeed, perhaps more than others Marxists constantly pass moral judgments on political events, even if cloaking them with the claim to merely evaluate facts and tendencies. Marxism reflects our commitment to the oppressed against the oppressors, both nurtures and structures our determination to reverse domination and exploitation. It does so by seeing such struggles as the moving force of history, and by providing us with keys to understand both the larger process and its details. It is, finally, both science and morality, guide to understanding, judging, and acting. such, whether explicitly or not, it treats as central questions of political morality such as the rightness of Israeli Jewish and Palestinian Arab claims

Ancient history · Palestine · Political science · The Holocaust · Zionism · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law

• Zionist Philanthropy and Palestinian Erasure

  Open Access•Miles Howe•State Crime Journal•2024

  Add to list