The Phony U.S. Anti-Zionism Movement
And why the Israeli government funds HAMAS and works to keep it in power
Read this article and you will see what a PHONY anti-Zionism movement looks like.
It does EXACTLY what the Zionist leaders want it to do, namely uncritically accept the false (as explained below) framework that the conflict is "The Jews (and their state of Israel) versus the Palestinians."
The Zionist leaders know that this false framework makes people feel that they must choose between supporting Jews (and hence supporting Zionist violence against Palestinians that is SUPPOSEDLY for the purpose of making Jews safe) or supporting Palestinians. The Zionist leaders know that in the West, most people will chose to "support the Jews" out of sympathy due to the Holocaust. This false framework thus sets the phony anti-Zionist movement up as a sitting duck for the Zionist accusation that it is antisemitic: antisemitic in effect if not intent, because it opposes what is done to make Jews safe.
Here's what the anti-Zionism movement does NOT do, but which if it did do it the result would be to gain the support of the vast majority of the general public the way the anti-apartheid-in-South-Africa movement did:
1. It does NOT ever talk about the fact that Zionist oppression of Palestinians has an ANTI-WORKING CLASS PURPOSE, namely it is used by the billionaire ruling class of Israel to make Palestinians be a bogeyman enemy with which to frighten working class Israel Jews, whom the billionaires horribly oppress economically, and to make working class Israeli Jews view the Israeli ruling class as its protector against its "real enemy" so they will not aim to actually challenge the power of the Israeli billionaires and end its oppression of them. I prove this in great detail in my article at https://www.pdrboston.org/israel-s-government-attacks-jews-to .
2. It NEVER condemns the Israeli government for its decades and current practice of FUNDING HAMAS and working to keep it in power nor explain that the reason the Israeli government does this is precisely BECAUSE HAMAS does indeed commit terrorist violence against non-combatant Israeli Jews thereby making the bogeyman enemy maximally frightening, as I prove in my article at https://www.pdrboston.org/israel-funds-hamas-keeps-it-in-power .
3. It never tries to enlist the support of ordinary (not "pro-Palestinian” activist) Jews on the basis of the above CLASS framework, even though this framework persuades passionately pro-Israel Jews to become anti-Zionists.
The anti-Zionist movement is a PHONY anti-Zionist movement (not just at UPenn but in general, as I show at https://www.pdrboston.org/who-refutes-the-zionist-big-lie ). It refuses to do what would enable it to win. It's up to other people to build a winning anti-Zionist movement, on a class basis understanding.
A class-based anti-Zionist movement can win; a phony anti-Zionist movement is doomed to fail. Read more about the difference in my "Dear Fellow Anti-Zionist" letter at https://www.pdrboston.org/dear-anti-zionist .
John - I strongly agree with you about the gross wealth and thus power inequality in Israel and that there needs to be a strong focus on class dynamics in regards to the Palestine Israel conflict. You are coming through strong and clear on this. You grasp the problem of gross wealth and power inequality in the US as well, correct? The question then is, what are we going to DO about it? Because when and if we have clarity about WHAT TO DO then as we address this in the US it will also have ramifications worldwide, especially as we live in "the belly of the beast" of imperialism. I suggest we start by addressing the "land problem" and its connection to tax policy and wealth inequality.