What is the main subject of Israel’s current elections? The wasted money in the prime minister’s household? Hardly. The most dominant word in these elections is “Zionism.” The Labor Party calls itself the “Zionist Camp.” Netanyahu disqualifies the judges for the Israel Prize because they are not Zionist enough. Suddenly Zionism has returned to the limelight, and everybody wants to show off his or her Zionist feathers.
What is this Zionism everyone is talking about? Zionism is the national liberation movement that restored the Nation of Israel to history by attempting to redefine it as an indigenous nation. “The Jewish Nation has risen in the Land of Israel,” states Israel’s Declaration of Independence. But that is false. Just like the “Palestinians,” the Israelis were forced to write a new history for themselves in order to create a new nation in the Land of Israel.
But the project backfired. The invention of the Israeli nation brought about the invention of the “Palestinian” nation. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Everybody knows that if the State of Israel were destroyed, Heaven forbid, the “Palestinian nation” would disappear the same moment.
So liberation of the land was not the goal of Zionism. The creation of the Israeli nation was its real goal – the creation of the Israeli nation to replace the Jewish Nation.
The Left is right for claiming the crown of Zionism. The Oslo Process and the surrender of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza were not anti-Zionist processes. On the contrary, for Zionism the Land of Israel is nothing more than a tool with which to create a new Zionist identity. Until the Yom Kippur War, Israel conquered territory in order to create this new “Israeli-ness.” When it became clear that conquering land did not motivate Israel’s neighbors to recognize the new Israeli/Zionist identity, we switched to giving up the land in an attempt to achieve the same recognition.
One way or another, for Zionism, the Land of Israel is a means to an end – not the end in itself. The end goal is to normalize the Nation of Israel by means of its new identity. To transform it into a nation like all other nations; a nation that finds its place among the nations. That is why Herzog, Livini, and the trail of radical leftists who have attached themselves to them are correct when they call themselves the “Zionist Camp.”
What about the Right? Is it any different? Not really. The Right is informed by the very same Zionist mentality that sets being a nation like all other nations as its primary goal. Netanyahu’s book is even called A Place Among the Nations.
The Right is motivated by the same mentality – it is simply always a step behind the Left. Where Herzog is today, Bibi will be tomorrow, and the Religious Zionist Camp – in two days from now. And everyone is fighting over who is more Zionist…
Not one of them is relevant to the reality of our lives. They are all stuck in the values of the liberation movement of the 19th century, while our reality demands something entirely different. The world has progressed a bit since then and much water has flown through the Rhine since Herzl looked out at it from the veranda in Basel. Since World War II, nationalism is no longer very attractive and colonialism has turned into a curse word. Is it any wonder that the world hates a movement that insists on being both of the above?
Enough is enough! We have been liberated, most of the Jews are already in Israel, the rest of them are on their way, and nobody is preventing them from getting here.
Instead of creating an Israeli/Zionist identity that is at odds with Judaism, we must create a homogenous, modern, and relevant Jewish Israeli-ness. When we achieve that harmony, we will have peace with ourselves – and with our neighbors, as well.