Zionism as a way of life Mondoweiss – Mondoweiss
Posted By admin on August 20, 2021
AFTER ISRAELTowards Cultural Transformationby Marcelo Svirsky256 pp. Zed Books, $28.75
In his recent article My grandfathers Nakba, Emad Moussa referred to Marcelo Svirskys 2014 book After Israel: Towards Cultural Transformationin connection with the active forgetting practiced by most Israeli Jews. My curiosity piqued, I read the book and am highly impressed. Although it was nominated and short-listed for a Palestine Book Award, it does not seem to be widely known outside the community of scholars in Settler Colonial Studies. It has been reviewed neither on Mondoweiss nor on The Electronic Intifada. Hence my belated review.
The author, a former Israeli high school teacher who now lectures at the University of Wollongong in Australia, views Zionism not as a political ideology and movement in the narrow sense but as a system of practices or way of life that permeates all spheres of Jewish-Israeli culture and society. It can therefore be overcome only by means of a deep cultural transformation that will equip Israeli Jews to live and work together with Palestinians in a shared homeland, after Israel.
Professor Svirsky has no truck with the delusion of post-Zionism. Zionism remains firmly entrenched as the dominant paradigm of Jewish-Israeli life. At the same time, he sees promising signs of the beginnings of resistance to Zionism among Israeli Jews. Like Zionism itself, such resistance need not be openly political in nature. For example, some Mizrahi youngsters evade the draft in order to earn money to help their families, but their non-political motive does not deprive their draft evasion of meaning or value.
The author starts with a theoretical introduction. Then he applies his approach in successive chapters to four facets of Israeli life represented by the figures of the hiker, the teacher, the parent, and the voter. In the process we learn a great deal about the education that Israeli Jews receive in school, in the family, and in Zionist youth movements and how closely it is geared to Zionist indoctrination and to preparation for military service.
The conceptual structure that Professor Svirsky erects in his introduction is a complicated one. Is it perhaps unnecessarily complicated? He is aware that it may put off non-academic readers, whom he invites to skip the introduction or read it last. If, however, it can be read last, why not change the title to Theoretical implications and place it last, where it is less likely to put people off?
Of special interest to me was the chapter on hiking. No other author of whom I am aware provides a detailed account of the Zionist hiking expedition and analysis of the role it continues to play in conquering the land. (Meron Benvenisti has a few pages of nostalgic reminiscences about hiking expeditions in his memoir.) [1]
I feel a personal connection with this topic, though for me it was part of an anti-Zionist education. When I was about ten my parents visited Israel for the first time, leaving my sister and me with an aunt. Upon their return I asked my mother for her impressions and was astonished at her reply: This is our [i.e., Jewish] fascism. She then talked about the presence everywhere of armed soldiers another focus of Svirskys reflections and the exhausted young hikers she had watched marching along the road in the heat. A few years later I myself went hiking in Israel, on my own, and chanced upon the ruins of a deserted village that suddenly revealed to me the dirty secret of the Jewish state.
[1] Sons of the Cypresses: Memories, Reflections and Regrets from a Political Life (University of California Press, 2007).
Mondoweiss is a nonprofit news website dedicated to covering the full picture of the struggle for justice in Palestine. Funded almost entirely by our readers, our truth-telling journalism is an essential counterweight to the propaganda that passes for news in mainstream and legacy media.
Our news and analysis is available to everyone which is why we need your support. Please contribute so that we can continue to raise the voices of those who advocate for the rights of Palestinians to live in dignity and peace.
Support Mondoweiss from as little as $1. Thank you.
Go here to read the rest:
Zionism as a way of life Mondoweiss - Mondoweiss
- First Zionist Congress - Wikipedia - May 27th, 2022
- Statement in Support of The Harvard Crimson and Palestinian Liberation | Opinion - Harvard Crimson - May 27th, 2022
- New book: A 'Queer, Disabled' early Zionist illustrates 'roads not taken' J. - The Jewish News of Northern California - May 25th, 2022
- Group reports record tally of antisemitic incidents in 2021 - ABC News - April 29th, 2022
- Why Did an Antisemitic Christian Zionist Have the Chutzpah to Declare That He'd Be Leading a Holocaust March? - Religion Dispatches - April 29th, 2022
- The Babylonian Talmud - Zionism Exposed - April 20th, 2022
- LIVE EVENT - War, Conflict, and Academic Freedom (21 April) - Jadaliyya - April 20th, 2022
- The cause, and the goal, of Israeli violence - Al Jazeera English - April 20th, 2022
- 67 years after his death, Albert Einstein's true relationship to Judaism and Zionism - St. Louis Jewish Light - April 20th, 2022
- Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism on the College Campus - jewishboston.com - April 20th, 2022
- Why is this night and this year different than all other nights? - Wisconsin Examiner - April 16th, 2022
- Temple Israel series to focus on antisemitism, anti-Zionism - Cleveland Jewish News - April 16th, 2022
- Controversy Over Israel Studies At University Of Washington Did Not Have To Happen - Forbes - April 13th, 2022
- Wine-washing the Israeli occupation - Al Jazeera English - April 13th, 2022
- My Zionist Hagadah | Jeffrey Levine | The Blogs - The Times of Israel - April 13th, 2022
- Canary Mission Report Highlights Antisemitism Among Supporters of USC Student Senator Who Tweeted I Want to Kill Every Motherf---ing Zionist - Jewish... - March 29th, 2022
- Yet another 'apartheid' report builds pressure on liberal Zionists to recognize 'lived reality' of Palestinians - Mondoweiss - March 26th, 2022
- Students For Justice In Palestine: J Street Is The Gateway For Jewish Anti-Zionists - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - March 26th, 2022
- How Owen Jones learned to stop worrying and love Zionism - The Electronic Intifada - March 24th, 2022
- Judaic Studies begins Zionism lecture series with guest ... - March 8th, 2022
- Foreign Fighters and Fellow Travelers: Right-Wing Extremism in Australia and the United States - Lawfare - March 8th, 2022
- The crisis in Ukraine exposes the hypocrisy of Israel and its Zionist allies - Middle East Monitor - February 26th, 2022
- Iran: Believers To Begin Prison Sentences For spreading ... - February 24th, 2022
- New Historians - Wikipedia - February 24th, 2022
- 'We Can't Shut Off One of Our Identities': Jewish SUNY Students Decry 'Exclusion' From Sexual Assault Awareness Group Over Zionism - Algemeiner - February 24th, 2022
- Inside the Unraveling of American Zionism - The New York Times - February 11th, 2022
- How Judaism and Zionism Helped Me Find Myself - The Times of Israel - February 11th, 2022
- A view from the ground in Ukraine | Paul Anticoni | The Blogs - Jewish News - February 11th, 2022
- 'I am exhausted by Israel' hear Sylvain Cypel on the risk to Jews of supporting the 'thug nation' - Mondoweiss - February 11th, 2022
- Opinion: Dont be fooled. Zionism is an Indigenous rights movement and being anti-Zionist is antisemitic. - The San Diego Union-Tribune - December 14th, 2021
- 'Toxic atmosphere of hatred.' USC faculty outraged over response to student's tweets - Los Angeles Times - December 14th, 2021
- Product of Zionism is 'Apartheid, plain and simple', says Israeli publisher - Middle East Monitor - December 14th, 2021
- Can a new word 'Zionophobia' clarify the debate over Israel? J. - The Jewish News of Northern California - December 14th, 2021
- When battling 'progressive madness' is more important than saving lives - Haaretz - December 14th, 2021
- Can religious Zionism overcome its addiction to state power? - November 30th, 2021
- Benzion Netanyahu - Wikipedia - November 30th, 2021
- The UK government is on the wrong side of history again - Aljazeera.com - November 27th, 2021
- Margins of History: On Shay Hazkani's Dear Palestine: A Social History of the 1948 War - lareviewofbooks - November 25th, 2021
- Proud Zionist Who Immigrated From South Africa Killed by Hamas Gunman in Jerusalem's Old City - Algemeiner - November 25th, 2021
- Readers Write: Elaborating on the significance of Great Neck adopting IHRA's definition of antisemitism - Readers Write - The Island Now - November 8th, 2021
- Hannah Arendt and Isaiah Berlin Review: Clash of the Titans - The Wall Street Journal - November 8th, 2021
- My Fellow Progressives Are Always Asking Me if Anti-Zionism is Antisemitic. Here's What I Tell Them - Jewish Exponent - November 8th, 2021
- Leaders of anti-Zionist cult Lev Tahor to stand trial in New York - The Jerusalem Post - November 8th, 2021
- Singer who performed at anti-Zionist event wants to represent Israel - The Jerusalem Post - November 8th, 2021
- There is no right or left in Israel, just Zionism and non-Zionism - Haaretz - October 18th, 2021
- Letters to the editor October 18, 2021: Can Israel learn from New York? - The Jerusalem Post - October 18th, 2021
- Lies Are Being Told About Sally Rooney Because She Refuses to Ignore Israeli Apartheid - The Intercept - October 18th, 2021
- Israel is approaching the next Nakba - Haaretz - October 18th, 2021
- Origins and Evolution of Zionism - Foreign Policy Research ... - October 15th, 2021
- What is Zionism? Meaning explained - The US Sun - October 15th, 2021
- Smotrich at Knesset: Ben-Gurion should have finished the job, thrown out Arabs - The Times of Israel - October 15th, 2021
- Thanking God for 50 years of living in Israel - The Jerusalem Post - October 15th, 2021
- Personal Letters by Rabbi Known as 'Hazon Ish' Come to National Library of Israel - Algemeiner - October 15th, 2021
- Beirut will leave behind 'Zionist-backed seditions' - Mehr News Agency - English Version - October 15th, 2021
- Why are Australia and its media so fearful of debate on Israels treatment of Palestinians? - The Guardian - October 13th, 2021
- An Open Letter to Sally Rooney RE: Boycotting Israel - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - October 13th, 2021
- What happened to Hamas rebrand? - The Jerusalem Post - October 13th, 2021
- Philanthropist Eitan Neishlos: 'Everyone here has something to give' - The Jerusalem Post - October 13th, 2021
- Activists, scholars call to end weaponising anti-Semitism ahead of Holocaust Remembrance event in Sweden - Middle East Monitor - October 13th, 2021
- Survey: Likud with Edelstein at the Helm Loses Seats But Builds Right-Wing Coalition - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - October 13th, 2021
- The failure of Zionist 'normalization' - Press TV - October 7th, 2021
- Patriots Remember to Forget: Omri Boehm and the Collapse of Liberal Zionism - Dissident Voice - October 7th, 2021
- Iran not to let presence of Zionists, Takfiris on its borders - Mehr News Agency - English Version - October 7th, 2021
- The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism Is Itself Antisemitic - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - October 7th, 2021
- Russia expected to be sensitive to Zionists' moves in region - Mehr News Agency - English Version - October 7th, 2021
- The spiritual void at the heart of Israeli militarism - The Real News Network - October 5th, 2021
- Israel Maimon reflects on five-year Israel Bonds career - thejewishchronicle.net - October 5th, 2021
- Jewish character actor Nehemia Persoff looks back at ups and downs of his first 102 years - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency - October 5th, 2021
- Israel kills 'innocent civilians' in West Bank and Gaza liberal Zionist admits in 'NYT' - Mondoweiss - October 5th, 2021
- Fundamental issues to Jewish nation to be tackled in Knesset - The Jerusalem Post - October 5th, 2021
- Bristol University sacks professor accused of antisemitic comments - The Guardian - October 2nd, 2021
- Why Should Jews Be Concerned About Hyphens? - Jewish Exponent - October 2nd, 2021
- Israeli dreams in the region won't be realized, says Iranian envoy to Baku - Tehran Times - October 2nd, 2021
- Hillel, Anti-Defamation League partner on campus antisemitism - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix - October 2nd, 2021
- Zionism as the Root of All Evil - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - September 28th, 2021
- U.S., Israel Walk Out of United Nations Meeting After Zionism Likened to Racism - Newsweek - September 28th, 2021
- The U.S. departure will ensure that the Zionist entity is removed and Palestine is liberated - Tehran Times - September 28th, 2021
- Enough with the sniveling Zionists! - opinion - The Jerusalem Post - September 22nd, 2021
- What we are saying when we say 'Zionist' - rabble.ca - September 22nd, 2021
- France seems cursed, and it's all down to Macron - Middle East Monitor - September 22nd, 2021
Comments