ANTI-ZIONISM IS HATE

The Los Angeles Times ran two Op Ed articles on Zionism on 15 March 2009. One by Ben Ehrenreich entitled "ZIONISM IS THE PROBLEM" in which the writer opined that the "Zionist ideal of a Jewish state is keeping Israelis and Palestinians from living in peace". His tendentious argument smacks of ignorance of what really makes Israelis tick and is symptomatic of a line of thinking totally divorced from the reality of Israel's vibrant society that plagues the thinking of many of Israel's critics.

In the second Op Ed, Judea Pearl concludes that ANTI-ZIONISM IS HATE and puts forward a strong argument supporting his view that anti-Zionism is "more dangerous than anti-Semitism, threatening lives and peace in the Middle East."

Anti-Zionism rejects the very notion that Jews are a nation -- a collective bonded by a common history -- and, accordingly, denies Jews the right to self-determination in their historical birthplace. It seeks the dismantling of the Jewish nation-state: Israel.

Anti-Zionism earns its discriminatory character by denying the Jewish people what it grants to other historically bonded collectives (e.g. French, Spanish, Palestinians), namely, the right to nationhood, self-determination and legitimate coexistence with other indigenous claimants.

Anti-Semitism rejects Jews as equal members of the human race; anti-Zionism rejects Israel as an equal member in the family of nations.

FOOTNOTE: Not surpringly, Antony Loewenstein's blog highlights the Ehrenreich piece but completely ignores the Pearl article. When an observer attempted to place a comment on the blog bringing attention to the Pearl article, Loewenstein who wails at every opportunity about having his voice muzzled by the Jewish lobby, characteristically scrubbed the message in the moderation process.

Like most of his friends in the Israel basher war camp, the atheist Loewenstein, who claims to be Jewish but denies Jews the rights which other naturally have, continues to heap praise on Hamas and the Islamic Jihadistas who preach the total destruction of Israel and genocide against Jews. After you've made an attempt to figure thaat one out, you will see why he and his ilk remain perfect examples of the ill wind the Jewish people are facing today.