Zionism is not the same as Judaism
Zionism has created 'rivers of blood ' in Palestine from 1920 to today.
Although Judaism and Zionism are two distinct terms often intertwined, in reality, they represent rather distinct concepts with different historical, cultural, and most importantly, political implications.
The main founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, was an assimilated Austrian Jew. Jews in Western Europe had been emancipated and given the rights of other citizens, so that they no longer lived in ghettos, unlike those in Russia and Eastern Europe. But anti-Semitism spread to Western Europe because of the influx of refugees from Eastern Europe, just as in our times Islamophobia has been spreading as a result of the influx of desperate Muslim refugees. It was the same kind of reaction, and in both cases on fertile soil, where there were already traditions of anti-Semitism and now of Islamophobia.
Ethical precepts lie at the heart of Judaism: pursue justice, love the stranger, love your neighbor, and repair the world. Obviously, all of these ethical precepts are violated by Zionist policy toward Palestinians. And so, what happens when Judaism is married to (or hijacked by) Zionism is that the protection of the Jewish people, the physical survival of the Jewish people, takes precedence over the religion’s ethical teachings.
Israel has recently passed a new Basic Law, with the force of a constitutional building block, saying that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people and of the Jewish people alone and that Palestinians have no right to self-determination there. That’s really what Zionism is and does — i.e., elevate Jews over non-Jews. Zionism grew up in the late 19th century as a quest for safety. It was first a response to the pogroms — state-sanctioned anti-Jewish riots — that were happening in Russia and Eastern Europe.
From the beginning, Zionism was really another version of a settler colonial movement, as Herzl’s pamphlet clearly shows. Just like our pilgrim fathers came to the U.S. to escape persecution in Britain and to go to a place where they could practice their religion as they wished without ever giving a thought to having to displace, dispossess, and kill Native Americans in the process, the same is true of Zionism.
Initially, Herzl thought of Argentina and Uganda as places where a Jewish state could be founded — a fact that reveals the settler-colonial underpinnings of Zionism — but he realized that in order to interest the Jewish masses in the project, it would have to be Palestine. Until the rise of Nazism, however, Zionism remained very much a minority movement, and also very much tied to both colonialist ideology and the imperial powers, in particular Britain, to provide access to Palestine and to help the project along.
Two common religious grounds are typically given for anti-Zionism. One is that today’s Zionism is a secular Zionism, packed with non-Jewish influences, and lacking key features like Mashiach and the rebuilt Temple. Adherents to this position are more on the non-Zionist, rather than anti-Zionist, side. The other reason is that the Talmud (Meseches Kesuvos, 111a), as part of a discussion of certain Torah verses mentioning oaths, states that when Israel went into the second exile, there were three vows between Heaven and Earth:
Israel would not “go up like a wall” [conquer Eretz Yisrael by massive force].
God made Israel swear that they would not rebel against the nations of the world [would obey the governments in exile].
God made the non-Jews swear not to oppress Israel “too much” [translation of phrase your midai].
Groups accepting these positions are more on the anti-Zionist side.
Christians should not be supporting [Zionist Jews]. Justice, Peace, and love of mankind should reflect our actions in life. Our God of love and righteousness is our guide in the world for all things.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2016/03/08/israels-religiously-divided-society/
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/anti-zionism-among-jews
https://www.tbsnews.net/features/panorama/exploring-difference-between-judaism-and-zionism-734718
https://truthout.org/articles/zionism-violates-the-principles-at-the-heart-of-judaism/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA04arBhAkEiwAuNOsIj6Fr8O06cojAWqE7QI7yA9DqBN6eJxBn0w8R0KTw6zvvd9dae1RbRoC3DEQAvD_BwE
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9780470758014.ch26
https://cfoic.com/what-is-zionism/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA04arBhAkEiwAuNOsIjMrNjifT5u_yh231zxA2ZO5phgHkvxrFkva7grZZVme3aKmVebrUhoC5-AQAvD_BwE
Posts
