The Zionist Dream
April 16, 2002
by Joe Sobran
The uproar in the Middle East reminds me of the late
Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was murdered in New York some
years ago. Kahane was condemned as a fanatic because he
openly called for expelling all Arabs from Israel,
including the occupied territories. His book was bluntly
titled THEY MUST GO.
Despite his fanaticism, I always respected Kahane.
He said what he meant, without the usual Zionist double
talk. He didn't pretend he was a humanitarian, a
democrat, or a friend of America. And he insisted that
other Zionists secretly agreed with him, however
stridently they denounced him. His slogan was "I'm saying
what you're thinking."
It would seem that he was saying what Ariel Sharon
is thinking. Sharon has never publicly agreed with
Kahane, but he acts as if he does. He has never specified
what rights (if any) he thinks the Arabs have, and his
wildly excessive "crackdown on terrorism" -- terrorism he
purposely provoked -- is a cover for measures designed to
drive Arabs out of all the territory Israel claims.
Yasser Arafat is constantly told he must renounce
terrorism, but nobody demands that Sharon repudiate any
plan to drive Arabs out. He has even included advocates
of "transfer" -- the Orwellian euphemism for mass
expulsion -- in his cabinet. Does that tell us anything?
One of the staples of Zionist propaganda is the
charge that the Arabs rejected their chance to have a
Palestinian state in 1948, when they refused the proposed
partition of Palestine that the Jews accepted. But such
"moderate" Jewish leaders as Chaim Weizmann and David
Ben Gurion -- Israel's founding fathers -- saw the
partition plan not as a final settlement, but as a base
for further conquest later. They never intended to honor
it, and the Arabs knew this.
While publicly accepting the partition plan,
Weizmann wrote privately to a friend that the boundaries
were "skimpy," adding, "The Kingdom of David was smaller;
under Solomon it became an Empire. Who knows? C'est le
premier pas qui compte." It's the first step that
counts.
Ben Gurion wrote privately to his son that "a
[small] Jewish State is not the end but the beginning.
The establishment of a Jewish State will serve as a means
in our historical efforts to redeem the country in its
entirety."
And how would the whole country be "redeemed"? By
bringing in as many Jews as possible and building "a
sophisticated defense force -- an elite army." He went
on: "I have no doubt that our army will be one of the
best in the world. And then I am sure that we shall not
be prevented from settling in all the other parts of the
country, either through mutual understanding and
agreement with our Arab neighbors or by other means."
"Other means" have indeed proved necessary. The
whole plan is reminiscent of Communist stratagems of
"peaceful coexistence" as a ground for future conquest.
The parallel is so obvious that it's amazing that so many
people continue to miss it. The Arabs remain suspicious
of Israeli "peace" offerings and pseudo-compromises, but
most Americans take them at face value and wonder why the
Arabs are so unreasonable.
One of the odd ironies of history is that American
conservatives, who refused to be fooled by Communist
ruses, are today eager dupes of Zionist propaganda;
whereas liberals, who were often taken in by the
Communists, usually see through Zionist deceptions.
Let's hope that Secretary of State Colin Powell has
pressed Sharon hard about his real intentions. A few
blunt questions are in order. What is Sharon's ultimate
goal, if not to rid Israel (including the territories) of
all Arabs? And if that isn't his goal, where would he
stop short of it? What rights do Arabs have that Sharon
would never violate? And what assurance do we have that
he will never try to fulfill the dream of Weizmann, Ben
Gurion, and Kahane?
The whole history of Zionism points toward that
dream. It has never been decisively repudiated by
Israel's leaders, who have gradually and progressively
edged toward explicitly embracing it. The gains of 1948
and 1967 were mere stepping stones. Israel will keep
expanding as long as it can.
There is no reason for the United States to be
implicated in the Arab-Israeli conflict, any more than in
Africa's tribal wars. For us Israel has been a hugely
expensive headache -- the costs enormous, the gains nil.
But having given this tar baby a bear hug, President
Bush expects Powell's diplomacy to get him unstuck. Good
luck.
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