John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF A COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PHILLIP WEISS IN MONDOWEISS
‘Jewish ethno-nationalism is a poison’
My view is that re-created Israel has never made a great deal of sense, no matter which perspective you use - ethnicity, religion, history, etc. Jews live better, much better, in many other places, and they do so without harming others.
I think it fair to say that 1948 was a mistake, born, of course, out of horrendous realities and fears and painful emotions, but still a mistake, one today, with Israel carrying on just as it has been, which serves little good purpose and indeed creates almost endless conflict.
Conflict generated as Israel tries desperately to make sense of itself, pushing others to accept terms and definitions which often are meaningless or, worse, sometimes are contrary to the entire Western history of human and democratic rights. This last we see in the many ongoing efforts by Israel to promote laws in Western countries which go against free speech and peaceful protest, laws making criticism of Israel illegal and laws making advocacy of peaceful boycott illegal.
As for meaningless terms and definitions, we have the ongoing pressure for others to accept Israel as "the Jewish state." Sounds simple enough for a few seconds, but with any reflection, you will understand the many ways in which those words make no sense, starting with the simple fact that, overwhelmingly, most Jews do not even live in Israel and likely never will.
And what of the millions of non-Jews now living under the control of Israel? What is to be their fate in a legally-defined (by international treaty rather than just a self-conferred epithet) “Jewish state?”
And how do you enter negotiations with anyone when you have a non-negotiable demand up-front, expecting those with whom you negotiate to accept it, much as though, say, in the 1950s, the Soviets in some negotiation with the United States were told up-front, they must first recognize America as “the land of the free with liberty and justice for all.”
How far would such a negotiation go? I think we all know. So, it is not clear just what Israel intends by its incessant and unreasonable demand. Does it just want to keep what it has and effectively end all efforts at negotiation without explicitly saying so? Or is it really that unreasoning that it cannot understand what it is demanding? Ideology does make people blind to truth.
So, too, do excessive privilege and freedom from rules of the kind Israel has enjoyed under American patronage since its founding. Stories about spoiled brats in rich families are part of our everyday cultural awareness. It is no different with countries. We are still dealing with human behavior.
Still, I think we can all accept Israel, even if we regard its re-creation as having been a mistake, if only it can live as a nation which follows the rule of law.
Israel simply does not do so, and in dozens of different ways. That is unacceptable, as is its constant violent bullying. It simply ignores laws and rules and practices everyone else on the planet is expected to honor.
You cannot continue indefinitely claiming special privilege and exemption from the rule of law owing to events your forebears experienced three-quarters of a century ago on another continent. This is especially true when your present activities themselves bring misery to millions of others who, in fact, had nothing to do with the dark history in Europe.
I have thought about this matter a good deal over the years and written some analysis readers may find interesting:
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/the-paradoxes-of-israel/
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/cutting-the-middle-easts-gordian-knot-why-israel-cannot-survive-in-its-present-form/
