A Jew Attacks Zionism
DAWIDOWICZ, LUCY S.
A Jew Attacks Zionism What Price Israel. By Alfred M. Lilienthal. Regnery. 274 pp. $3.95. Reviewed by Lucy S. Dawidowicz Contributor to "Commentary," "Menorah JournaT' and other...
...Neither does it imply that American Jews are part of a conspiracy to undermine the Arab world...
...As for Israel's relations with Jews throughout the world, we can readily agree with Mr...
...Each of these groups has a feeling of community with their co-religionists or ethnic kin abroad...
...Just as Mr...
...Lilienthal (who authored the controversial article, "Israel's Flag Is Not Mine," in the Reader's Digest of September 1949...
...Lilienthal's insecurity in his status as a Jew and the very narrowness of his definition of a Jew place him in a dilemma: He denies the existence of a "Jewish vote," but vehemently attacks the Zionists for their "power politics...
...Lilienthal feels, may help set Israel on the road to peace with its Arab neighbors...
...He demands that Israel cease to be a "Jewish state" with claims on non-Israeli Jews and become an Israeli state...
...This was apparent in the case of the Kibya massacre, when many Jews rushed to justify or condone this abominable mass murder...
...If the State of Israel can exact such blind, uncritical devotion, then indeed there may be merit to Mr...
...Any other feeling of Jewish identification is, according to the author, nationalist or segregationalist, whether it be identification with Jewish history or culture, ties of common background and community, language or national aspirations...
...that they sabotaged efforts to settle displaced Jews in countries other than Palestine (later Israel...
...Economic union is not possible so long as Egypt blocks Israel-bound shipping through the Suez Canal and all the Arab states strictly enforce an economic blockade against Israel...
...that they ignored and defied the rights and interests of the Arabs in establishing Israel...
...What should be demanded of American Jews, I believe, is a more critical and objective appraisal of Israel's policies and actions...
...Such a "reconciliation agenda," Mr...
...As a result, some of his rational views have become entangled in a mass of hysterical and frightened subthoughts...
...that they have refused to abide by United Nations decisions...
...Admitting that a similar "reconciliation agenda" is needed also for the Arabs, he evades this responsibility by declaring that it would be "an Arab's job to sketch [one] for Arabs...
...Lilienthal that the decision to create this state was unwise, that its establishment created more problems than had previously existed...
...This does not mean that Italian-Americans are acting as agents of Italy, or that American Protestants oppose the existence of the Vatican...
...It is clearly her responsibility to make the first move toward a joint endeavor with the Arab states and the United Nations to help solve the tragic situation of over 800.000 homeless people...
...We may agree with Mr...
...The attitude held by many (though not all) Jews that Israel is usually right is both impolitic and immoral...
...But we cannot, nor should we desire to, disestablish it...
...Lilienthal that it would be well were Israel to withdraw its gratuitous conferring of Israeli citizenship upon all Jews outside its borders...
...But no one can expect Jews outside Israel to give up their deep interest in that country...
...But all the wrongs are not entirely on Israel's side...
...Jews are naturally concerned about their co-religionists behind the Iron Curtain, in Latin America and elsewhere...
...The righteous self-justification of the Zionists and their tireless rebuttal of any and all criticism have especially agitated Mr...
...Here Israel is most vulnerable...
...American Protestants pressure against appointing an ambassador to the Vatican...
...They cannot help but be concerned about the fate of one million Jews in Israel, surrounded by over 60 million Arabs...
...Lilienthal on the question of the Arab refugees...
...We must agree in large measure with Mr...
...Lilienthal's contention that "the worship of the State of Israel is crowding out the worship of God...
...He urges that Israel undertake to execute several of the UN decrees, particularly with regard to the repatriation of Arab refugees and the internationalization of Jerusalem...
...As far as a general peace settlement is concerned, the first conciliatory step is up to the Arabs...
...Lilienthal is clearly worried lest anyone impugn his loyalty as a Jew to America...
...In his discussion of Zionist efforts in this country on behalf of Palestine and later Israel, he reveals his failure to understand the American system of political lobbying...
...Lilienthal's book is his last chapter, "Agenda for Jews," which is largely an agenda for Israelis...
...that they connived to win unwitting support for these aspirations...
...to expunge any doubt in the non-Jew's mind, he has tried to eradicate all possible ties to other Jews elsewhere in the world...
...Israel's existence as a state is an accomplished fact...
...many Jews pressure for a favorable policy toward Israel...
...Even more welcome would be Israel's ceasing to demand vast financial support, .from non-Israeli Jews, as though they constituted vast colonial hinterlands to be exploited for the benefit of the mother country...
...As for American Jews, he believes they must disentangle themselves from a sense of responsibility for the State of Israel...
...They exercise a privilege available to all citizens in a democracy like ours by expressing their views in this manner...
...To begin with, let us consider Mr...
...Lilienthal's definition of a Jew as one who believes in Judaism, a universal religious faith...
...Lilienthal's arguments are valid and cogent, but they are frequently vitiated by extremist passion and undocumented vituperation against the Zionists...
...The most reasonable part of Mr...
...He favors the economic union of Israel and the Arab states...
...Reviewed by Lucy S. Dawidowicz Contributor to "Commentary," "Menorah JournaT' and other publications Alfred M. Lilienthal has written an angry book whose thesis is that the creation of the State of Israel has "seriously affected the position of the free world in the Middle East, has dangerously complicated the lives of Jews everywhere, and now endangers Judaism...
...His book, briefly summarized, argues that the Zionists Tiave placed nationalist, statehood aspirations above humanitarian needs...
...As for the internationalization of Jerusalem, Israel's flouting of UN decisions and apparent disdain for the position taken by most of the world has not been to her credit...
...Right or wrong (and the bad may be balanced by the good), pressure for certain Government policies is constantly being exerted by various groups for their own interests, which they genuinely believe to coincide with the interests of the entire country...
...Lilienthal and other anti-Zionists must reconcile themselves to the unwisdom of its creation and face the reality of its existence, so, too, must the Arabs...
...Furthermore, the author alleges that the new state has jeopardized the position of Jews in other countries and has transformed American Jewry into a political pressure group on behalf of Israel, and, finally, that its support of Israel has weakened the position of the United States in the Arab world...
...Many of Mr...
...Americans of Italian origin pressure the Government for special immigration legislation to admit Italians to this country...
Vol. 37 • January 1954 • No. 1
