[lbo-talk] Is there still a Jewish question, by Ellen Willis

James Heartfield Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk
Sat Nov 11 12:41:39 PST 2006


The late Ellen Willis, as cited by Michael, wrote

"I reject the villainization of Israel as the sole or main source of the mess in the Middle East. And I contend that Israel needs to maintain its "right of return" for Jews around the world."

I agree with the first sentence, but not the second.

After years of denying it, I think there is good reason to accept now that there is a streak of anti-Semitism in anti-Zionism. But it does not follow that Israel is anything but a terrible trap for Jews.

The contemporary form of the Jewish question is surely wrapped up with a romantic, backward-looking anti-capitalism that sees the Jews of Israel as the shock troops of US domination and oil imperialism. No doubt the Israeli state does a lot that confirms that view - but isolating Israel from the broader barbarities of the West's civilising mission in the developing world is the slippage that turns anti-imperialism into anti-Spemitism. All the same, Trotsky's point against Zionism stands - it is not an alternative to anti-Semitism, but an adaptation to the prejudice that Jews and Gentiles cannot live together. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <../attachments/20061111/f743426f/attachment.htm>



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