For some reason I get emails on an almost daily basis from a guy named Ted Belman who writes for Israpundit, a right-wing pro-Israeli site. Most of the time I find his stuff loathsome, but he sent me an article today which is at least worthy of a read.
Because I am not Jewish, I don’t have an opinion on some of the finer points of what it means to be a Jew or what obligations a Jew has to his or her people, etc. I have no opinion on the proper interpretation of tikkun olam. But I do have an opinion on whether anti-Zionism is antisemitic. I think that is a ridiculous assertion. I also think it is possible to reject the philosophical and ethno-religious underpinnings of Zionism and still see the creation of Israeli as a fait accompli. I don’t recognize any right for the Jewish people to live in a state in their historic homeland, but I do recognize Israel as a state and recognize their right to exist on their original borders in peace and security.
Likewise, I do not recognize any right for Kurds to have a state in their historic homeland, but if they managed to create one and get international recognition for it, I would accept that state as legitimate and the defense of that state as likewise legitimate.
Of course, debates about Israel’s behavior rarely revolve around the legitimacy of their state or their right to defend it. Israel has been occupying land not granted to them for longer than I’ve been alive. The question is whether they have a right to basically permanently annex land that does not belong to them and to keep the populations of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in a perpetual state of non-citizenship.
In any case, I thought this particular Belman article was interesting enough to offer an avenue for constructive conversation. I disagree with the vast majority of his argument. But there are points where I have some sympathy. For example, criticism of Israel for being and wishing to continue as a Jewish state is legitimately debatable, but often comes without much consideration of the status of religious minorities (particularly Jews) in much of the surrounding Muslim world.
Anyway, there’s plenty to discuss.
