Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators outside the constituency office of Labour Party leader Keir Starmer on November 18, 2023 in London, United Kingdom, calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. (Mark Kerrison / Getty)
Gabe Ende – They’re even Demanding to Appoint Hillel Directors
The late George Steiner, a celebrated European Jewish thinker, was an anti-Zionist with whom I nonetheless felt a sense of kinship. He was opposed to the establishment of a Jewish state because he believed that sovereignty would bring out the worst in us, as has generally been the case all over the world. The Jews’ historic position “on the periphery of society”, he claimed, has safeguarded us from a subconscious attachment to dubious national traditions and prejudices, enabling us to identify expressions of racism and injustice that eluded the national radar. We developed a sensitivity to iniquities that the more deeply-rooted “Indigenous population” considered innocuous, similar to the reactions of many men upon hearing zesty sexist jokes. This was, he concluded, the major factor that produced so many Jewish social critics and revolutionaries—not “the values of the Jewish tradition”.
But shortly after the Six-day War, he flew to Israel to express his support, explaining that “I still feel that the establishment of the state was a mistake, but this doesn’t mean that I want to see Jews killed”. He added that he would gladly accept a situation in which Israel would voluntarily decide to disappear and facilitate the peaceful migration of her citizens to lands eager to embrace them– but not the belligerent destruction of the Jewish state by its enemies.
I frequently cited quotes from Steiner’s writings and addresses in my ( Israeli) classes, summarizing that the ultimate challenge for Zionists is for Israel—and Israelis– to prove by their actions that in our case his analysis is faulty.
The anti-Zionism of George Steiner and other advocates of “diasporism” is a legitimate Jewish ideological position. So is strong criticism of specific Israeli policies from a standpoint of Jewish values. But rabid “anti-Zionism”, insensitive to the fate of the nearly eight million Jews living in Israel, is an indisputably anti-Jewish ideology. Despite the inane disclaimers of the “from the river to the sea” crowd, their position invariably promotes a situation that would produce a bloodbath. It reeks with acceptance of the high probability of Jewish genocide– not the conceptual sleight of hand so much in vogue in progressive circles which transforms every military struggle involving Israel into an exercise in “genocide” but The Real Thing. The use of misleading slogans such as “voice of peace” is a shameless ruse.
The “progressives”, however, are the strident Voice of Authority on liberal campuses and it takes great courage for a Jewish student to say “Hey, let me figure this out for myself. Let me critically examine the position that you insist upon with others from my community before I agree to place many of my people—and many Palestinians as well– in mortal danger”. The grim results speak for themselves…
And what can the organized Jewish community do to cope with this phenomenon?
There is much to do, but I want to restrict myself to suggesting something that we dare not do. We dare not accept proponents of the “Israel- means -apartheid -and -genocide” crowd as Jewish educational facilitators or as candidates for Jewish leadership. They insist upon being counselors in Jewish educational camps, teachers in community schools, students in rabbinical seminaries, and even Hillel directors. Let them create their own institutions. Our message must be clear: Those who consciously –directly or indirectly–support the annihilation of many of their fellow Jews have crossed the line and are thus not fit to be Jewish leaders or mentors. Let them act out their grossly oversimplified Palestinian Passion Play under other auspices.
