The Zionist Illusion

Book excerpt: What is the use of Zionism? To restore our pride as Jews, comes the ready answer. Now just when did we lose this precious pride? Could it be that, without the State of Israel, Zionists might be ashamed of being Jews? And how can one be proud of a country that drops white phosphorous bombs on defenseless civilians? Instead of combating anti-Semitism, Zionism cultivates it. An essential dogma of this new creed is that anti-Semitism is immutable and permanent. Zionists claim that we are still in 1938, and that a new Holocaust is in the offi ng. Every passing year becomes a year of broken glass. So we must rally around the State of Israel, which alone can save us. A fear-based religion allows Jewish leaders in the Diaspora to retain power over their flock. To free themselves from such blackmail, to break out of the vicious Auschwitz-Israel circle, Jews have only to disconnect from Zionism and take up their historic vocation: explaining Torah to the nations. But first, they will have to understand it themselves. Haim Ben-Asher is a historian.