For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel

[Laura]

Put out by the CFR!!

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/penncip/lustick/

 

[a.saccus]

Put out by the CFR!!

To which I would add, !!!!

This piece is definitely interesting material, but it merits a very close reading. This is what I found in a brief survey:

1. Anything from the CFR is, by definition subtle, and should be carefully sifted. "Caveat Lector" big time.

2. A large amount of information is provided that, while not new, has been absent from mainstream American discourse on the Middle East Situation. That is to be welcomed. For example,

[...]The worldview of Jewish fundamentalists in Israel is also worthy of careful study precisely because it is so radically different from that of most Americans, and even of most Israelis. [...]

Most Americans don't realize that.

Indeed, Jewish fundamentalism has helped plunge the Jewish state into a true Kulturkampf; in the context of which the country's social democratic tradition is facing unprecedented challenges. The ideological and philosophical chasm separating fundamentalists, and their annexationist political allies, from social democratic and liberal-dovish opponents is broad as well as deep.[...]

Inasmuch as the general public has not been made aware of the difference between Judaism and Zionism, this is also good.

The worldview of Jewish fundamentalism is based on myths of Jewish chosenness, mission, and territorial sovereignty similar to those that shaped Jewish politics before the Roman expulsion. Now, as then, establishment of Jewish political Sovereignty over the Land of Israel constitutes the vital focus of zealous action; now, as then, the territorial issue is but the most concrete expression of a highly parochial brand of Jewish redemptionism -- a worldview that stands in as sharp a contradiction to Western liberal/democratic values today as it did to Greco-Roman civilization in ancient times. [...] my emphasis

Talk about "Deja vu all over again"!

No one can tell what Israel, or the Middle East, will be like twenty years from now. Nor can one chart, with confidence, the future of Jewish fundamentalism. But one can be sure that the two will be linked. Virtually no serious observers believe a negotiated solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict is possible unless Jewish fundamentalism's key goal-establishment of permanent Jewish rule of the whole Land of Israel-is thwarted. Yet, for the foreseeable future, the political leverage this movement and its allies can exert will prevent the Israeli political system from responding positively, by normal, peaceful parliamentary means, to opportunities to achieve such an agreement, no matter how attractive its terms. [...] my emphasis

All these sentiments and observations I think are on the mark. On the other hand:

[...]The reestablishment of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel is a true revolution in the structure of Jewish life. As with any revolution, Zionism has had consequences that its architects never anticipated[/b[ -- indeed, that they would have shuddered to contemplate. The crystallization of a deeply rooted and effective Jewish fundamentalist movement is one such consequence.[...]

--The "revolution in the structure of Jewish life" began in the late 17th century in England and Holland, and accelerated through the 18th century to full blown Emancipation in the 19th just about everywhere except Russia. So it's a revolution that's about 300+ years old.

--Lustick manages to hop, skip, and jump deftly right over the crucial period 1880 - 1920 (with a cursory nod to two orthodox rabbinical opponents -- and suddenly we're in 1967!), which we know from Reed was so crucial. There's no mention of Herzl, Ahad Ha'am, Weizmann, Rothschild, Col. House, etc.

These men not only "anticipated" those "consequences" but actively worked to bring them about. There is no "shuddering" being done here.

The result is a very very thin version of the origins of Zionism, and that makes me suspicious until I can give it a careful reading. Alas! I have to go to work now.