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Is Anti-Zionism Hate?

[Los Angeles Times] Judea Pearl - Anti-Zionism rejects the very notion that Jews are a nation - a collective bonded by a common history - and, accordingly, denies Jews the right to self-determination in their historical birthplace. It seeks the dismantling of the Jewish nation-state: Israel. Anti-Zionism earns its discriminatory character by denying the Jewish people what it grants to other historically bonded collectives (e.g., French, Spanish, Palestinians), namely, the right to nationhood, self-determination and legitimate coexistence with other indigenous claimants. Anti-Semitism rejects Jews as equal members of the human race; anti-Zionism rejects Israel as an equal member in the family of nations. Are Jews a nation? The unshaken conviction in their eventual repatriation to the birthplace of their history has been the engine behind Jewish endurance and hopes throughout their turbulent journey that started with the Roman expulsion in AD 70. More important, shared history, not religion, is today the primary uniting force behind the secular, multiethnic society of Israel. The vital tissues of Jewish identity today feed on Jewish history and its natural derivatives - the State of Israel, its struggle for survival, its cultural and scientific achievements, and its relentless drive for peace. Anti-Zionism disguises itself in the cloak of political debate to attack the most cherished symbol of Jewish identity. It is anti-Zionism, not anti-Semitism, that poses a more dangerous threat to lives, historical justice and the prospects of peace in the Middle East. The writer is a professor at UCLA and president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation.
2009-03-16 06:00:00
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