A History of Jewish Anti-Zionism: From The Communist Party to The New Left
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 พ.ค. 2024
- Guest: Benjamin Balthaser is associate professor of multi-ethnic US literature at Indiana University, South Bend. He is the author of Anti-Imperialism Modernism: Race and Transnational Radical Culture from the Great Depression to the Cold War, and Dedication, a personal history of growing up in a Jewish "red diaper" family. His forthcoming book from Verso, Citizens of the Whole World: The American Jewish Left and Cultures of Anti-Zionism, is due to be out this fall.
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This deserves a second listen
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
00:00 *🤝 History of Jewish anti-Zionism in the US*
- Anti-Zionist Jewish activism has roots in the first half of the 20th century, particularly in the American left and Communist Party.
- The speaker's guest, Benjamin Bazer, is an expert on this topic and discusses the evolution of Zionism in the Jewish community.
01:10 *🗣️ Challenging the "Zionism as Jewishness" narrative*
- The consensus that Zionism is central to Jewish identity is a relatively recent development, emerging in the 1970s.
- Prior to this, major Jewish institutions like the ADL and American Jewish Committee were focused on a range of issues, including civil rights and aiding Jewish refugees.
- Zionism only became the dominant focus of these organizations after the 1967 Six-Day War.
04:52 *🇺S Shift in US support for Israel after 1967*
- The US government's strong support for Israel after the 1967 war was a key factor in the growing association of Zionism with American liberalism and patriotism.
- The portrayal of Israel as a scrappy, militarily superior ally against Soviet-backed Arab nationalists resonated with the American public at a time when the US was struggling in the Vietnam War.
- This US "love affair" with Israel led many American Jews, particularly liberals, to align their Jewish identity with Zionism and support for the Israeli state.
09:00 *🇺🇸 Zionism as American identity*
- The Zionist consensus among American Jews emerged at a time when Jews were being "incorporated into mainstream whiteness" and suburban middle-class life.
- Supporting Zionism became a way for American Jews to assert their identity as both good Jews and good Americans.
- This is now being challenged, especially by younger Jews, who see aligning with the Israeli state and its military actions as antithetical to older Jewish traditions of supporting civil rights and democracy.
12:10 *🌍 Jewish left's anti-Zionist stance in the 1930s*
- In the 1930s, the Jewish left, including the Communist Party which had a large Jewish membership, saw Zionism as a form of ethno-nationalism aligned with fascism.
- They critiqued Zionism for aligning the interests of the Jewish working class with the Jewish bourgeoisie, rather than pursuing internationalist, anti-imperialist goals.
- This perspective saw Zionism's alliance with British imperialism as antithetical to the interests of the oppressed.
17:24 *🔍 Limits of "socialist Zionism"*
- Even some left-wing Zionist groups like Hashomer Hatzair recognized that the practical reality of building a Jewish state would inevitably involve violence and the expulsion of the native Palestinian population.
- This conflict between socialist ideals and the nationalist project of statebuilding was a source of unease and disillusionment for some on the Jewish left.
- The long Jewish tradition of opposing state violence and seeing nation-states as inherently threatening to vulnerable minority groups also influenced the Jewish left's critique of Zionism.
22:49 *💭 Jewish left's critique of state violence*
- The Jewish left has a long-standing tradition of seeing state power and nationalism as fundamentally dangerous for vulnerable minority groups like Jews.
- This perspective views the violence and displacement inherent in nation-building projects like Zionism as anathema to Jewish values of non-violence and opposition to oppression.
23:29 *📚 Mike Gold and the anti-Zionist Jewish left in the 1930s*
- Mike Gold was a prominent Jewish leftist writer in the 1930s whose novel "Jews Without Money" portrayed Zionism as aligned with bourgeois, reactionary politics.
- Gold's novel presented Zionism as a project of Jewish middle-class suburbanization and assimilation into whiteness, in contrast with the multiracial, working-class solidarity of the Jewish left.
- The anti-Zionist views expressed in Gold's work were common among the Jewish left in this period, seeing Zionism as a nationalist movement at odds with internationalist, anti-imperialist leftist politics.
29:14 *🌎 The impact of the Holocaust on Zionism*
- The role of the Holocaust in driving support for a Jewish state is often overstated, as even after the Holocaust, the Jewish left continued to oppose Zionism.
- While the influx of Jewish refugees created demographic pressure, the Jewish left argued that a Jewish state should not be created by displacing the indigenous Palestinian population.
- It was the Soviet Union's surprise support for partition and the creation of Israel in 1947 that was a major turning point, leading many on the left to begrudgingly accept Zionism.
35:56 *🕰️ Anti-Zionism and the American left in the 1950s-1960s*
- During the Red Scare and McCarthy era of the 1950s, the American left was preoccupied with defending against anticommunist persecution and repression, causing Israel-Palestine issues to take a backseat.
- However, the 1960s saw a resurgence of anti-Zionist politics on the left, as the Six Day War and the Palestinian liberation struggle became tied to broader Third World decolonization movements.
- Many prominent figures of the 1960s New Left, including Jews like Noam Chomsky and Abbie Hoffman, were vocal critics of Zionism and supporters of the Palestinian cause.
43:25 *✡️ The complex relationship between Jews and leftist politics*
- While there has historically been a strong connection between Jews and leftist/progressive movements, this is not an inherent or automatic relationship.
- The modern state of Israel, with its right-wing governments, demonstrates that being Jewish does not necessarily make one a leftist.
- However, the Jewish left's critique of nationalism, state violence, and support for the dispossessed has deep roots in Jewish history and tradition, contributing to this longstanding association.
44:32 *📜 The Jewish Enlightenment and liberal politics*
- The French Revolution's granting of citizenship to Jews marked the beginning of a "Jewish Enlightenment" and association between Jews and liberal, pluralistic values.
- As a minority group historically facing persecution, Jews have often thrived in tolerant, secular societies, leading to a stereotype of Jews as natural liberals.
- However, this relationship is complex, as the modern state of Israel demonstrates that being Jewish does not automatically make one a leftist.
45:57 *🗽 American Jewish leftism as a distinct tradition*
- Contrary to the notion of socialism as a "foreign import" to America, American Jewish leftism had deep roots in 19th century Jewish immigrant communities.
- The interaction between German socialists fleeing repression and Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants in cities like New York and Milwaukee fostered the growth of a unique American Jewish socialist tradition.
- This Jewish left saw parallels between the struggles of Jews and African Americans, leading to a strong alliance with civil rights movements.
50:21 *🇺🇸 Jewish communists as American patriots*
- Many Jewish communists and socialists in the early 20th century saw their leftist politics as compatible with, or even integral to, being a good American.
- They viewed America's formal democracy and pluralism as providing opportunities for organizing and advocating for their values that were denied to Jews in other contexts.
- This patriotic strain within the Jewish left led to a sincere embracing of American symbols and institutions, even as they critiqued the country's racism and oppression.
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Here is a breakdown of the key takeaways from the video transcript:
Background:
The interview features Benjamin Balthaser, Associate Professor at Indiana University South Bend, discussing his forthcoming book titled "Citizens of the Whole World: The American Jewish Left and Cultures of Anti-Zionism."
The discussion focuses on the history of anti-Zionist activism within the American Jewish left, particularly from the 1930s onward.
Historical Context:
In the 1930s, the American Communist Party had a substantial Jewish presence, with estimates suggesting up to half of its members were Jewish.
During this period, Zionism was widely viewed within the Jewish left as a form of ethnic nationalism akin to fascism, aligning working-class Jews with the Jewish bourgeoisie and British imperialism.
Prominent Jewish leftist figures, such as Mike Gold, criticized Zionism and portrayed it as a reactionary force in works like the novel "Jews Without Money."
Speaker's Perspectives:
Balthaser argues that the consensus around Zionism within the American Jewish community emerged gradually after the 1967 Six-Day War, not immediately after the Holocaust, as is commonly believed.
He contends that even after the Holocaust, many within the Jewish left maintained their opposition to displacing Palestinians for a Jewish state.
The Soviet Union's support for the establishment of Israel in 1947 significantly influenced the American Jewish left's stance on Zionism.
Key Arguments:
Balthaser suggests that anti-Zionist politics reemerged within the American Jewish left during the 1960s, influenced by third-world liberation struggles and the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
He highlights the influence of figures like Noam Chomsky, I.F. Stone, and Abbie Hoffman, who were critical of Zionism and Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.
The interview explores the historical connections between Jews and left-wing politics in America, tracing it back to German and Eastern European socialist influences in the 19th century.
There is a lot missing in this presentation. For example, two of the best-known Jewish anti-Zionists of the 1960s were authors and activists Alfred Lilienthal (he described himself to me as a Wendell Wilkie Republican) and Rabbi Elmer Berger, who was the executive director of the American Council on Judaism and later of American Jewish Alternatives to Zionism. Noam Chomsky, incidentally, described himself to me as a non-state Zionist. He said he was raised as a Zionist but opposed the creation of a Zionist state. Jewish anti-Zionists like myself and Hilton Obenzinger and many others were key leaders of the nationwide Palestine Solidarity Committee in the 1980s. Then there is the massive orthodox Jewish anti-Zionist movement which opposes Zionism on religious grounds. So there is a lot more to cover. Stalin, incidentally, thought Israel was going to be a socialist state, which was why he smuggled arms into Palestine in violation of the ceasefire agreement and then supported the creation of Israel.
th-cam.com/video/XQORo5T51yw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=OGYLWkgcIfTyLV9J
Any recommendations for sources on the activists and organizations you mentioned?
@@beyondaboundary6034 Books by Lilienthal and Berger are easy to find online. Both of them have wikipedia pages. There are a lot of books out there on Zionism and its history, including in the US. I hope to publish our interview with Elmer Berger as soon as I can get my hands on it. If I remember correctly, we interviewed him for a few hours. One of the things he told us was that Zionists took over the rabbinical seminaries (he was Reform; I don't know if that also happened in Conservative and Orthodox seminaries) in the 1940s. Stalin's role in smuggling arms to the Zionists via Czechoslavakia is well-known and is discussed in many books. Lenni Brenner's "Zionism in the Age of Dictators" covers the involvement of Zionists, particularly the most right-wing, with Mussolini and Hitler during WW II. Note that one of the three Zionist leaders to write to Hitler offering to fight with him against the British, Yitzhak Shamir, was later elected prime minister of Israel. That was widely known in Israel, though not in the US. Long ago, too long ago to remember where, I read a history of Zionism in the US, which praised Supreme Court Justice Brandeis for upholding Zionism when nobody would support it, which would have been about a century ago.
I'll add one more prominent Jewish anti-Zionist with an interesting story. My old friend, Yigal Arens, is the son of a former Likud Israeli defense minister, Moshe Arens. Yigal and his uncle, Richard Arens, were and are both vocally anti-Zionist. Yigal is currently a professor at USC. I don't know if his uncle is still alive. Someone recently asked Yigal how and why he became an anti-Zionist. He tweets so much that I can't find it, but basically he said that he saw what was happening to the Palestinians and could not support it. He is worth following on Twitter because he uncovers so much, a lot of it in Hebrew, that you might otherwise miss.
The brutality of the war in Gaza is breaking Zionism’s identity of Jewishness=State of Israel.
What do you think of the claim in the following that essential to Zionism was an attempt to redefine what it means to be Jewish and part of this was the explicit adoption of the definition by some Zionists of the negative definition of Jewish as “those the antisemites hate”?
Has Zionism Hijacked Judaism. - Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro
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(FWIW I have found Rabbi Shapiro’s lectures to be very helpful in detailing the history of Zionism. Only the lectures on the World Socialist Web Site are better because Rabbi Shapiro leaves out certain aspects such as US imperialism’s support for Zionism.)
The author is obviously very smart and very knowledgeable, but this discussion shows the weaknesses of so much American intellectual history: it implies that the history of political and social thought is the history of left-wing political and social thought--in this case, secular far-left ideas. He doesn't even touch on the more moderate leftist anti-Zionists, like Erich Fromm, a democratic socialist who belonged to the American Council for Judaism. It was Fromm who supposedly said, "I don't see how the world would be much improved if everyone decided to move to where their ancestors used to live." And what about Harvard sociologist David Riesman? A lifelong anti-Zionist, when he was a Supreme Court clerk, he once tried to discuss whether a Jewish state was a good idea with his boss, Justice Louis Brandeis. Brandeis wouldn't even talk about the issue. And what of the Union of Reform Judaism itself, formerly the UAHC? In the Pittsburgh Platform, their declaration of independence from Orthodoxy, they specifically rejected the idea of migrating to Palestine. (One might say that there was a Post-Civil War Pro-Diaspora Consensus, which gave way to a Post-World War II Pro-Zionist Consensus.) Maybe some other scholar could talk to Mitch about some of this.
Jews ofc were tested to not support Zionism. Look how antisemitic the US and Europe are.
Notice there is no debate about Palestinian nationalism and the development of a state, even its implementation as advocated is 1000000x more destructive then the original establishment of Israel.
Why arent Arabs questioning themselves?
Dont confuse Jewish morals and doubt with reality. Israel is here and necessary. Leftists and Muslims have ruined enough countries already.
It’s not surprising that the Jewish left - and much of the left in general - was optimistic about the future of the United States. Remember that Karl Marx was quite optimistic about the U.S. during his lifetime. Marx followed the U.S. Civil War closely, and was a huge admirer of Abraham Lincoln (particularly after Lincoln proved to be able to win the Civil War and to abolish slavery). Indeed, Marx thought that perhaps the United States would someday be able to become a Communist country without bloodshed, but rather through the vote (of black freemen and white working-class men), as the necessary bloodshed had occurred, in effect, during the Civil War.
Proves that Marx never had any foresight or brain
@@sunnymitra6372 Or maybe Marx used his intelligence to read into political/economic situations those things he wanted to see. High-level wishful thinking, in essence.
@@sunnymitra6372He sad that perhaps US , Engine,?etc.? workers MIGHT vote in socialism.
2th & 21st c. examples shownmixed results like murder & mayhem of US backed Pinochet in & vs. Chile, after Allende won election or attempts at same vss.
Venezuela,?Nicaragua,etc.,Socialists May win
elections but often face violent
capitalist countries counterattacks.
Yes yes you're right Marx was wrong about so many things.
Some of these are some of my recent ancestors; their memory is a blessing! 🤗
Any ancestors who were doing bullying like Apartheid-Zionism or Kahanism, they are rejected by us. Anyone being a bully now, especially when they NOW KNOW better, they will be rejected by their descendants too.
Thank you both! 🤗🤗
Your ancestors, had they lived to the present, might have eventually seen the truth of Zionism. The Holocaust conclusively proved the need for Jewish military and political power. Only the most deluded and stonehearted could fail to be disturbed by the Oct 7th Hamas atrocities in Israel and the drawn-out hostage drama.
Philip, apparently the Bible says that the sins of the fathers will be visited upon their ancestors for three generations and this is what is happening in Israel but in America, I think the 3rd generation is seeing the 🚨 light and refuses to accept what theirc ancestor believed in. Bravo 👏
Muslims in israel are treated better then jews in U.S and Europe
Fantastic guest, subscribed. One quibble, not perhaps important to the thrust: can Israel be said to have defeated "soviet backed arab nationalists" (in quotes only to denote that this is Balthasar's characterization, not mine) single handedly? Surely the hand of the US and a few other countries sending money and providing military infrastructure is part of the picture? And just broadly speaking... whatever Israel has was either taken from the Palestinians or brought in from outside... so it is pretty much not a thing for Israel to do ANYthing "single handed," no?
US didnt support Israel seriously until 1968...even then Israel is not in NATO and US always bullies Israel.
Russians literally flew jets for Arabs against Israel (shot down ofc commie losers)
No Israel was not "taken" from the Palestinians. Feel free to cite one inch of land taken by force before 1948. Never.
Arabs have never not been taking for 1400 years.
I recommend everyone to read and listen to
Tony Greenstein
"Zionism During the Holocaust ~The Weaponisation of Memory in the Service of State and Nation"
Marvellous book
2022
Terrific resource
and his online interviews, articles related to this conversation and more
Very important voice and research
Greenstein's thesis is all based on counterfactual events & possible "might-have-beens" in history.
Today, you have an Israeli population of almost 10 million, including 8 million Jews (including those who are not Jews according to strict Jewish Law).
Greenstein's analysis is essentially irrelevant
Don't let reality disturb your anti-Zionist reverie, bro.
Greenstein's stuff is all based on counterfactual events & historical "might have beens". The reality is that Israel exists & has a population of 10 million & a high standard of living.
Greenstein's "what ifs" of history are irrelevant philosophical mishmash.
@@benqurayza7872 Typical mindless Z-cult ad hominem attack.
Typical leftist deflective deny reality utopian wishful thinking
Enjoyed this so much. Thank you gentlemen!
Is this left-wing framing the reason we never hear much reference to Alfred Lilienthal?
Alfred who?
Alot of overblown hype & BS on display here.
The elephant in th phone booth is demographics.
.
Israeli Jews have the highest birth rate in OECD at 3 kids per couple. This means a100,000 increase annually. US Jews are shrinking with 40% not marrying and a very low birth rate for those that do. The future geographic dispersion of World Jewry is obvious.
Great channel. Great interviews. Thank you for making serious content in a world where nonsense sells. Good work!
Looking forward to this book 📖 great interview thanx 👏
Brilliant thanks!
You simply must interview Dr Yaakov Shapero?
In doing so, will give All viewers a much greater understanding of, "what is the true meaning of Zionism!!!
Sincerely Michael Foley 🤔
Thanks. A very interesting interview
The confirmation bias of this man is incredible azra the list of things that he is conflating. Proof that anyone can write a book.
This is very interesting
why i can not share?
Wait this guy is speaking from point of American Jews ,not from Jews from around the world
Excellent 🎉
amazing convo. thank you
🙌🏽❤️
Crazy good intervew.
The six day war was won by Israel without the help of America - with no American military backing. The French were the military backers at the time and they stopped their support afterwards.
My Jewish friend’s dad left Palestine in 49 because he did not like the incoming settlers from Europe. He saw the writing on the wall and split to Canada.
And now he's being targeted for who he is in Canada. Brilliant.
Tell me where you think these holocaust survivors should have gone? Considering there were strict immigration quotas on the European Jews who no longer had a home to go back to.
What I find most disturbing is when, where and why this woke ideology came to be and how long it’s had to gain momentum over the years. You talk about the so-called indigenous populations as Palestinians when in fact these groups were Arabs and were not indigenous at all. The Jews have always lived in Israel and when the partition plan was offered to both parties, the Jews said yes and the Arabs said no.
This narrative is so perverse that as a Jew I am not surprised at the current rhetoric being waged on social media against the Jews rights to live let alone exist. Your problem with the Jews in democratic Israel is that we are not of trembling knees, ready to be once again taken to the g@ss ch@mb3rs.
SO WHAT
Sounds bullshit lol.
Canada one of the most antisemitic countries, Canada took Ukrainian Nazi in thousands, Ukrainian Nazi killed with very active participation over million Jews . Jews came to America and changed their last names and pretend not even being Jews.
An excellent history lesson. Copy should be sent to the UN and the EU executives to understand that Zionism is Fascist idea.
There was fascism involved. Jews purchased land from Arabs. Al-Husseini said "murder them all". Al-Husseini also ordered torture and death for Arabs who were friendly with Jews, or sold land to Jews, calling them apostates.
About HALF the Arabs liked Jews and the much greater prosperity and vastly improved health. The price paid was 150 Notable Arab leaders found dead with signs of torture.
Israel in 1948 promise to protect them.
TWENTY PERCENT of Israel is Arab Muslim citizens. Blacks in America are only 12%.
The basis for Islamic only control of land is the holy Land Trust (Waqf) bestowed on Muslims (according to Muhammad) after invaders from Arabia raided and conquered the area in 637.
Those Arabs lost it to other Muslims, such as the Turks, but the point remained that ONLY Allah's chosen people can live there in freedom democracy and self-determination.
Democracy is FORBIDDEN by Islam because democratic reps don't answer to god.
Theocracy is the only acceptable mode.
Disbelieving infidels might live in Islamic lands but only under Islamic Jim Crow, called Dhimmi, in a state of social humiliation and constant fear a annihilation, with no legal defense.
All who dare resist? War, death, or slavery.
You were saying something about fascism?
Einstein was right ✅
It wasn't always, but became this in 1948, which was why Albert Einstein rejected it in 1948. He wanted nothing to do with Fascism, Zionist or otherwise. He was in the Martin Buber camp. Martin Buber and Albert Einstein were right. I am disgusted by those who want to label Albert Einstein "self-hating."
Einstein was right ✅
Do you think that Jewish power is fascist and Arab power is not?
No doubt you have no clue
But 21 openly Arab and practicing Islamic states are NOT?
Typical Jihadi Barbaric thinking.
The truth is never antisemitic
There is little knowledge or understanding of this really important topic. Zionism was detested by many, possibly most, Jewish people for a long time.
Initially it was an atheist godless takeover & wasn’t welcomed. They have been extremely successful at getting the religious on board since then, anti zionists are very much in the minority today.
Thank you for your comment. Growing up in the worst years of of Apartheid and married to a Holocaust survuvor, I Iremember that many Jews in South Africa lived off, and made huge amounts of money off the backs of the blacks. The Jewsh left opposition was teeny in proportion …… Ruth First, Joe Slovo, Denis Goldberg…… et al……..I am deeply saddened by the current genocide aided and abetted by the Biden US. Zionism is antithetical to to Judaism…… a crime againt mankind.
So long as a certain ethnic state is NOT in existence, many of that ethnic group will oppose it for various reasons. But once that state is set up & established, that opposition vanishes.
The same thing happened with the Irish. Many opposed it before 1916.
I see your flag. No sympathy for Oct 7th. perpetrators. Get lost
@@thekneidlachengineer6038 Well, that's an insightful and erudite reply. I thought J****h people were noted for their enthusiasm for debate.
Marx and Trotsky broughy socialism from London not NYC or Germany
Trotsky lived in NYC before the 1917 revolution and in Mexico City in his last days when he collaborated with the American Socialist Workers Party.
I guess some people think you should cover more centrist and right sing antiZionists. I would say fair point... except that it is clear in various degrees of explicitness that the grievance is with the overarching anti-colonial framework, not mostly with with the facts of the case. The examples given of quotes by people likeFromm or Riesman (really cool dude on crime as i recall) are just that - quotes, not references to organizations or actions of meaningful resistance. That some were uncomfortable is interesting. That others built a body of scholarship is far more relevant to our current situation. So regardless of the openly acknowledged left perspective of the guest, what they are speaking about is the history of material, institutional and scholarly resistance to Zionism, not just opinions. The difference may be lost on the boomer/millennial commenter cohort?
wing not sing, sorry for this and any other typos
@@kennethhymes9734Use "edit" function (three vertical dots on the right, touch, functions will appear - answer , edit , delete).
Unhinged bullshit cliche after cliche.
lol can’t cite one example. Is mad at history! Oh no history is Hamas!!
@@315pasha Next, all history is antisemitic!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
This kind of Jews are just disgusting, we lived in USSR, we know very well about Holocaust and we know well too that Jews in America did nothing for 6 million Jews in Europe!!
Very interesting
This is a breath of fresh of objectivity and academic rigor
Barf.
Denying reality and not realizing how wrong they've been is a breath of fresh air for you?
Atheist Jewish ideologies clashing(Churchills letters bolshevism v Zionism etc)
Revelation 2:9.
Tell people what is in the Talmud. Zionism IS Talmudic.
Belle, my understanding is the talmud is the oral history as told by Jews which may and most definitely often does differ from the written history which is found in the talmud, ie the Jewish Bible. . And zionism is an oral history or made up oral creation by people who obviously wanted some land and they wanted it free. This being correct , I believe I understand the analogy that you've created between the talmud & Zionism and I say-- well done 👍
@@LadyBug1967 look up what's in the Talmud. That's what I meant. TH-cam: evil talmud. (Is it not how Israel acts?..)
@@LadyBug1967The bulk of this written oral history in the Talmud was written in the post Temple period justifying the rejection of Jesus of Nazareth as the prophesied Messiah and with it are blasphemous passages against him and his mother. In the Talmud, Jewish supremacy is taught. The Zionist believe their Messiah will be a person, the left believes, but the left sees themselves as the Messiah through progressive Utopian programs.
@@LadyBug1967 literally nothing you said is accurate. Why did you post?
Thousand of Jewish in Israel are US citizens including the IDF soldiers, are far right Republicans they have dual citizenship and live in Israel
Israel is a democratic nation. Where a person stands politically doesn’t make them either good or bad because you as the progressive left disagree with their views. Also please do tell where you got your information from that support your opinion. The IDF is made up of young people doing their national service. Many of these young people are left leaning.
Wrong a lot of America Jews didn't work for party political and many organisations and it was Jews for peace organisation and yes a lot of them survivor holocaust,former IDF and IDF including their family who have lost his member of family and zionist is political movement by Herzl he is Atheist zionist
"Thousands" out of a country of 9 million.
@@JM.5387 yes they have Mizrahi Jews ,and Middle east jews Ukraine Jews,Russia Jews and Europe Jews and Israel is not country and it's people
Unfortunately - he is not fully correct in his knowledge of Israel - and makes a few serious mistakes - for example - the serious story of who are the indigenous people of the land of Israel - and he makes the tragic mistake to ignore the fact that the Jews are the only indigenous people of the land. There never was a Palestinian people!
Imteresting last name for Benjamin "Balthasar"
🇮🇱💙💙
Who attaked Israel in 1948?
There is an immense amount of strained framing and handwaving here without stating the thesis that is obviously being pushed. Better to simply state your thesis and defend it.
What? I couldn't hear you over all the wind coming from his hands!😂
Or maybe you just hate anti-Zionists, including anti-Zionist Jews.
@@beyondaboundary6034 You think this guest is genuinely in that category (I don't) ? To the contrary - I would recommend interviewing a genuine anti-Zionist with intellectual gravitas and real skin in the game, such as a Max Blumenthal, Aaron/Gabor Mate; or maybe Abby Martin.
@@kakistocracyusa why ----? 4 what ---to make u feel good?
@@BiggerThanClevelan No, in order to have a guest who understands what an articulate argument substantiating a coherent thesis sounds like. Amazing how many PhD's in the social sciences never learn this skill.
This guy talks rubbish
Till we have Israel we have place to go
Amen
I used to live under communist purty no more
The Communist Party and its Jewish helpers in the Yevsektsia did all they could to obliterate the Jewish people in Russia. They executed Jewish intellectuals and political leaders. They burned Yiddish and Hebrew books. Then, when Israel chose the West, they stepped up their war against Israel and nurtured Yassir Arafat and company.
Poor you
I stopped counting "you know" at 666
Focusing on what really matters, I see...
ADL NOT LEFTIST? You are out of touch!
Quite the reverse; claiming the ADL is at all left is either disingenuous or ignorant of their activities the last 20-40 years. The ADL has been skewing increasingly right-wing. For example (3 here): decades spent lobbying to not only criminalize the BDS movement, but to make it a FEDERAL crime to support; is open about its ties to RW despots like Netanyahu; and deeply enmeshed with AIPAC and its efforts to discredit or oust leftist politicians. Is literally on their Wikipedia page. No self-respecting leftist would claim the ADL is anything other than a reactionary mouthpiece for Israel any more. A position that's been made with abject clarity the last six months
You don’t know what the word “leftist” means. The ADL are Zionists, imperialists and capitalists, the opposite of leftists.
Zionism is religious and people who don'tknow their Bible or history will be totally confused about whqt is happening in Israel.
People should learn about Islam and Jihad. That also explains a lot of Arab behavior.
@@benqurayza7872You should probably try and learn about Brzezinski and Afghanistan (since) circa early summer of 1979 (Soviet intervention in that country, requested by the legitimate Afgani government, late December of that year).
Early Zionists, centered around and including Theodore Herzl, were secular. While Nathan Milejkowski was a writer and a Rabbi his son Benzion was already secular (an atheist plainly speaking) as is his son Benjamin (family left Poland in 1910 when Benzion was 10 years of age for Mandate Palestine, changed name to Netanyahu once there).
First of all, please drop the ‘you know’, it is tiresome. Second, think before you talk so you avoid sounding so dumb.
Classic Antisemites like Bernie Sanders !! We Jews from USSR CAME as a refugee inn America but I never experienced antisemitism like in America right now. We were talking which country if not Israel time to go. Leftist Jews defend universities subhumans screaming Intifada , I worry about safety of my daughters in Manhattan even after I told them take anything off could identify as a Jews. Anti Semitism in America was alwayspresent always.