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AntiSemite Argument number six Jews are
selfish narcissistic haughty doublefaced dissemblers. Zionism is an extension
of this pathological narcissism as a colonial movement Judaism is not
missionary. It is elitist. But Zionism has always regarded itself as both a
19th century national movement and a colonial civilizing force. Nationalist
narcissism transformed Zionism into a mission of acculturation White Mans
Burden. In Altneuland translated to Hebrew as Tel Aviv the feverish tome
composed by Theodore Herzl Judaisms improbable visionary Herzl refers to the Arabs as pliant and
compliant butlers replete with gloves and tarbushes. In the book a German
Jewish family prophetically lands at Jaffa the only port in erstwhile
Palestine. They are welcomed and escorted by Briticized Arab gentlemens
gentlemen who are only too happy to assist their future masters and colonizers
to disembark. This ageold narcissistic defence
the Jewish superiority complex
was only exacerbated by the Holocaust. Nazism posed as a rebellion
against the old ways against the
hegemonic culture the upper classes the established religions the superpowers
the European order. The Nazis borrowed the Leninist vocabulary and assimilated
it effectively. Hitler and the Nazis were an adolescent movement a reaction to
narcissistic injuries inflicted upon a narcissistic and rather psychopathic
toddler nationstate. Hitler himself was a malignant narcissist as Fromm
correctly noted. The Jews constituted a perfect easily identifiable embodiment
of all that was wrong with Europe. They were an old nation they were eerily
disembodied without a territory they were cosmopolitan they were part of the establishment
they were decadent they were hated on religious and socioeconomic grounds see
Goldhagens Hitlers Willing Executioners they were different they were
narcissistic felt and acted as morally superior they were everywhere they were
defenseless they were credulous they were adaptable and thus could be coopted
to collaborate in their own destruction. They were the perfect hated father
figure and parricide was in fashion. The Holocaust was a massive trauma not
because of its dimensions but because
Germans the epitome of Western civilization have turned on the Jews the
selfproclaimed missionaries of Western civilization in the Levant and Arabia.
It was the betrayal that mattered. Rejected by East as colonial stooges and
West as agents of racial contamination alike
the Jews resorted to a series of narcissistic responses reified by the
State of Israel. The long term occupation of territories metaphorical or
physical is a classic narcissistic behavior of annexation of the other. The Six
Days War was a war of self defence but
the swift victory only exacerbated the grandiose fantasies of the Jews. Mastery
over the Palestinians became an important component in the psychological makeup
of the nation especially the more rightwing and religious elements because it
constitutes Narcissistic Supply. The Jewish Response Happily sooner or later
most antiSemitic arguments descend into incoherent diatribe. This dialog is no
exception. Zionism was not conceived out of time. It was born in an age of
colonialism Kiplings white mans burden and Western narcissism. Regrettably
Herzl did not transcend the political discourse of his period. But Zionism is
far more than Altneuland. Herzl died in 1904 having actually been deposed by
Zionists from Russia who espoused ideals of equality for all Jews and nonJews
alike. The Holocaust was an enormous trauma and a clarion call. It taught the
Jews that they cannot continue with their historically abnormal existence and
that all the formulas for accommodation and coexistence failed. There remained
only one viable solution a Jewish state as a member of the international
community of nations. The Six Days War was indeed a classic example of
preemptive selfdefense. Its outcomes however deeply divide Jewish communities
everywhere especially in Israel. Many of us believe that occupation corrupts
and reject the Messianic and millennial delusions of some Jews as dangerous and
nefarious. Perhaps this is the most important thing to remember Like every
other group of humans though molded by common experience Jews are not a
monolith. There are liberal Jews and orthodox Jews narcissists and altruists
unscrupulous and moral educated and ignorant criminals and lawabiding citizens.
Jews in other words are like everyone else. Can we say the same about antiSemites
I wonder. The AntiIsraeli The State of Israel is likely to end as did the seven
previous stabs at Jewish statehood in
total annihilation. And for the same reasons conflicts between secular and
religious Jews and a racistcolonialist pattern of deplorable behavior. The UN
has noted this recidivist misconduct in numerous resolutions and when it justly
compared Zionism to racism. The Jewish Response Zionism is undoubtedly a
typical 19th century national movement promoting the interests of an
ethnicallyhomogeneous nation. But it is
not and never has been a racist movement. Zionists of all stripes never
believed in the inherent inferiority or malevolence or impurity of any group of
people however arbitrarily defined or capriciously delimited just because of
their common origin or habitation. The State of Israel is not exclusionary.
There are a million Israelis who are Arabs both Christians and Muslims. It is
true though that Jews have a special standing in Israel. The Law of Return
grants them immediate citizenship. Because of obvious conflicts of interest
Arabs cannot serve in the Israel Defense Forces IDF. Consequently they dont
enjoy the special benefits conferred on war veterans and exsoldiers.
Regrettably it is also true that Arabs are discriminated against and hated by
many Israelis though rarely as a matter of official policy. These are the
bitter fruits of the ongoing conflict. Budget priorities are also heavily
skewed in favor of schools and infrastructure in Jewish municipalities. A lot
remains to be done. The AntiIsraeli Zionism started off as a counterrevolution.
It presented itself as an alternative to both orthodox religion and to
assimilation in the age of European Enlightenment. But it was soon hijacked by
East European Jews who espoused a pernicious type of Stalinism and virulent
antiArab racism. The Jewish Response East European Jews were no doubt more
nationalistic and etatist than the West European visionaries who gave birth to
Zionism. But again they were not racist. On the very contrary. Their socialist
roots called for close collaboration and integration of all the ethnicities and
nationalities in IsraelPalestine. The AntiIsraeli The Status Quo promulgated by
Israels first Prime Minister David BenGurion confined institutionalized
religion to matters of civil law and to communal issues. All affairs of state
became the exclusive domain of the secularleftist nomenclature and its
attendant bureaucratic apparatus. All this changed after the Six Days War in
1967 and even more so after the Yom Kippur War. Militant Messianic Jews with
radical fundamentalist religious ideologies sought to eradicate the distinction
between state and synagogue. They propounded a political agenda thus invading
the traditionally secular turf to the great consternation of their compatriots.
This schism is unlikely to heal and will be further exacerbated by the
inevitable need to confront harsh demographic and geopolitical realities. No
matter how much occupied territory Israel gives up and how many ersatz Jews it
imports from East Europe the Palestinians are likely to become a majority
within the next 50 years. Israel will sooner or later face the need to choose
whether to institute a policy of strict and racist apartheid or shrink into an indefensible though
majority Jewish enclave. The fanatics of the religious right are likely to
enthusiastically opt for the first alternative. All the rest of the Jews in
Israel are bound to recoil. Civil war will then become unavoidable and with it
the demise of yet another shortlived Jewish polity. The Jewish Response Israel
is indeed faced with the unpalatable choice and demographic realities described
above. But dont bet on civil war and total annihilation just yet. There are
numerous other political solutions for
instance a confederacy of two national states or one state with two nations.
But I agree this is a serious problem further compounded by Palestinian demands
for the right to return to their ancestral territories now firmly within the
Jewish State even in its pre1967 borders. With regards to the hijacking of the
national agenda by rightwing religious fundamentalist Jewish militants as the recent pullout from Gaza and some of
the West Bank proves conclusively Israelis are pragmatists. The influence of
Messianic groups on Israeli decisionmaking is blown out of proportion. They are
an increasingly isolated though vocal
and sometimes violent minority. The
AntiIsraeli Israel could perhaps have survived had it not committed a second
mortal sin by transforming itself into an outpost and beacon of Western first
BritishFrench then American neocolonialism. As the representative of the
oppressors it was forced to resort to an official policy of unceasing war
crimes and repeated grave violations of human and civil rights. The Jewish Response
Israel aligned itself with successive colonial powers in the region because it
felt it had no choice surrounded and outnumbered as it was by hostile
triggerhappy and heavily armed neighbors.
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