(Mail & Guardian-South Africa) David Hoffman - * Is Israel a "settler-colonial undertaking," implying that its primary intent is the exploitation of another people and its land, or is Israel rather Jewry's great historic opportunity for collective affirmative action in a world where nation states still predominate? * The fundamental fact is that the Jews in both Islamic and Christian civilization were a despised and oppressed people and the reconstitution of their national sovereignty was and is absolutely necessary for overcoming that legacy of anti-Semitism. * It is important how one understands the Jewish claim to the Land of Israel: historic right and affirmative action for an ancient people or the greed of an arrogant "chosen" people. If the Jews are the only people who are to be denied their right to a nation state, then anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. * As to the Palestinian refugees from the War of Independence and their descendants: seeing that the Arabs wished to deny the Jews even a small state, what happened in that war is not systematic criminal expropriation and expulsion of another people, but self-defense. * Anti-Semitism is a 2,000-year-old cultural legacy with deep roots. The starting point for healing the wounds is taking the Jews, who just lost six million in an apathetic and uncaring world, and saying, unequivocally, you are entitled to have a state and security within it. I am not advocating divine right here, but merely historic right and justice. Rabbi David Hoffman is a member of the Cape Town Progressive Jewish Congregation.
2005-07-01 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive