The Obsession with Separating Judaism, the Zionist State from Zionism

There is a peculiar spectacle unfolding in some areas of Western intellectual life: a cadre of self-described Jewish academics straining, contorting, and moralizing to separate Judaism from Zionism with an intensity that would make Yasser Arafat nod in recognition. They insist—often loudly, always sanctimoniously—that Zionism is a political corruption of a “pure” Judaism, that Jewish national self-defense is a betrayal of Jewish ethics, and that Jewish sovereignty is a historical accident best apologized for, dismantled, or indefinitely placed on moral probation.

They present themselves as courageous dissenters. In reality, they are recycling an old political strategy—one perfected by Arafat and the PLO—now repackaged in the language of seminars, journals, and keynote lectures.

The strategy is simple: deny the Jewish peoplehood claim without denying Jewish existence. Accept Jews as a religion. Reject Jews as a nation. Grant Jews prayers—but not borders. Memory—but not sovereignty. Mourning—but not self-defense.

That is the shared ground.

Arafat understood something that today’s many academic anti-Zionists pretend not to: you don’t need to attack Judaism head-on to delegitimize Israel. You merely need to sever Judaism from Jewish peoplehood. Once Jews are reduced to a private faith community—no different than Quakers or Unitarians—the entire Zionist project collapses under its own weight. No nation. No homeland. No army. No claim to self-determination.

Arafat said it openly. Jews are a religion, not a people. Palestine, therefore, belongs........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)