OPINIONISTA: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is complex enough without the shouting By Yanir Grindler
Standing on the piazza of the Wits University Great Hall during the annual Israel Apartheid Week, I often wondered whether equating anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism was, after all, no more than a clever tactic used by Israel advocates to defuse a difficult discussion.
That year, more than any previous year, it was made clear to me that Israel Apartheid Week does not seek to educate anyone, nor to challenge Israel’s occupation of territory captured in 1967, nor even to further the cause of Palestinian liberation. On the contrary, it exists solely to incite confrontation between the two groups and to create greater hatred among a number of factions in society.
Zionism, formally established as a political organisation in 1897, is the Jewish national movement of rebirth and renewal in the land of Israel — the historical birthplace of the Jewish people. The Zionism that the movement’s founder, Theodor Herzl, presents us with is more complex than what is portrayed by both the Zionist myth and anti-Zionist propaganda. It is an ideology that envisions a Jewish state and is rooted in the liberal principles of freedom, democracy, equality and social justice.
While there are perfectly legitimate criticisms that one can make of Israel or the actions of its government — and I have never been shy about— those criticisms cross the line into anti-Semitism when they ascribe evil, almost supernatural powers to Israel in a manner that replicates classic anti-Semitic slanders.— the most successful Nazi film ever made, produced by Joseph Goebbels himself. Since then, the myth of the shrewd Jewish manipulator continues to persist in various forms.
If an entire campaign is premised on hatred and seeks to consistently delegitimise Israel, how will we seek to bring an end to the occupation and ultimately an end to the conflict? Now, I truly believe that Israel could benefit from a week like this and genuinely needs an international wake-up call to realise some of the negative implications of its presence in the West Bank.
I can’t call out either side and say that neither makes a legitimate point, so in saying this, if we choose to realistically and pragmatically move forward from here, then both sides need to make compromises. BDS ought to acknowledge that the Jewish people also have a historical right to the land that is now Israel. They just need to recognise that the Jews who settled in Palestine did not conquer the land to enrich themselves, which is usually the purpose of a colonial invasion.
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