zionism

[Forstater, Mathew]

i believe zionism is a significant part of American Jewish ideology, and
the fact that American Jews don't all move to Israel is just one of the
contradictions. I remember seeing a plaque given to a relative from a
synogogue for a kind of "lifetime achievement award" and the plaque
explicity cites the recipients "commitment to Liberalism and
Zionism"--and liberalism here does not mean modern american 'liberal'
views--it means classical Liberalism.  it is probably from earlier part
of the 1930s-50s period.

-----Original Message-----
From: Max Sawicky [mailto:sawicky at bellatlantic.net]
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2001 12:55 PM
To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
Subject: RE: zionism

no absolutely not.

While Zionism may not have been 'popular' among
American Jews, Israel was widely viewed as a
necessary reaction to 1930-1950.  

I think Finkelstein is onto something in the
sense that enthusiasm for Israel takes big
leaps with the military conflicts between
Israel and Arab countries.  I also agree
that the Holocaust has been exploited for
invidious political purposes, all with
some connivance by U.S. capital.  At
the same time, U.S. zionist organizations
get larger and meaner, with respect to
Jews who weren't going with the program.

The christian-fundamentalist idealization of
Israeli jews is much later, post-1985 I would say.

But the Holocaust and associated events, including
the situation of Jews in what became the Warsaw
Pact countries, was without doubt the key to Jewish
support for Israel.  The mental framework for support
of Israel, flawed though it may be, is not support for
imperialism, but support of a homeland.

It's still off to call zionism a dominant
ideology.  If it was truly so, there would be
no jews left in the U.S.  The dominant ideology
among Jews is Judaism, in its 157 varieties.

mbs

At 01:20 PM 07/14/2001 -0400, Yoshie wrote:
>Back when the Rosenbergs were being persecuted & then executed,
>Zionism was -- despite rampant anti-Semitism -- not popular among the
>American Jews, much less equated with the litmus test of the Jewish
>identity.  Nor was there any support for Zionism among fundamentalist
>Christians, I believe.  It may help us to remember that the
>widespread popularity of Zionism & its equation with Jewishness are
>of a very recent vintage.  It is not the Holocaust that made Zionism
>the dominant ideology in the USA; it is American imperialism that did
>the work, and it did *not* do so *until the late 1960s*.

Yes, absolutely!. For a fascinating and incredibly well-written account
of 
this, see "Dangerous Liasons" (USA/Israel/CIA) by Leslie and Andrew 
Cockburn. And, please guys, though it may be the case that these folks
are 
related to Alexander... Just never mind. It's still a great book.

Joanna