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'Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainity and agitation distinquish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones ... All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned.' Marx

Lowenstein's 'My Israel Question' « Previous | |Next »
November 17, 2006

I'm reading Anthony Lowenstein's My Israel Question which reframes the Israel-Palestinian question from a personal perspective. He asks: why are dissenting view points on the conflict are shunned and ridiculed amongst the Jewish community in Australia. It's a good question. He also asks: 'How could a democratic state maintain a brutal occupation over another people for nearly 40 years? Another good question. Lowenstein says:

I support the state of Israel and believe in its existence. This book examines how much Zionism---the ideology of Jewish nationalism---is to blame for this intractable conflict. There must be a way for Israel to exist securely while allowing justice for the Palestinian people.

Asking these questions in Australia means being accused of being anti-Israel (hating Israel) and being hostile towards the Jewish people by the Zionist lobby---the Australian Jewish News (AJN) and the Australia/ Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC). The latter defines Lowenstein as anti-Zionist without bothering to address the criticisms of Jewish nationalism.

In Australia the debate is still framed in terms of Israel's security, which justifies erecting walls, checkpoints and barriers. It implies that Palestinians should accept peace only on Israel's terms. "Jews" are equated with "Israel." This erroneous equation leads to the equally flawed conflation of "criticism of Israel" with a "dislike of Jews"----anti-Semitism.This means that in Australia there is little willingness by the Jewish community to listen to, or understand, the Palestinian narrative, as this community works within the narrative of Israel and is Likud governments.The Zionist lobby still endeavours to control the debate through phrases like Israel-phobia and Israel-phobic paranoia. For Zionists criticism of Israel is a part of the definition of anti-Semitism. No allowance is made for any behavior of Israel that might stir up hostility; rather, everything done by Israel becomes an automatic and justifiable defense against the essential hatred evinced by the critics for Jews.

What is not included in this Zionist frame is Israel acknowledgment of its role in Palestinian dispossession. What is in the frame is Palestinians being blamed for the region's conflicts. Palestinians are just terrorists. What is ignored is the pain and suffering by the people on both sides of the conflict. What cannot be accepted is the legitimacy of the Palestinian narrative of occupation and oppression.

The Palestinian question is the most inflammatory and the most profoundly misunderstood of all the issues of the Middle East, and rarely do we hear from Palestinian voices expressing their experiences of loss, exile, and longing for home. No other culture is so often spoken for by others, or denied a public forum to express itself. This silencing in the hegemonic media means that Australian democracy suffers.

| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 5:20 AM |