What props it up are persecution stories; persecutions that did not occur in Palestine.
The modern Zionist movement started in 1880, not in 1948. It identified the Jew's lack of human rights with their lack of a state. The persecutions of Jews they were reacting to were happening in both Europe and the Ottoman Empire. The Holocaust only proved their point, so to speak, of the Jews' need for a refuge. Not that it helped much since the British cut off Jewish immigration just when it could have saved a million lives.
Israel was also "propped up" as you put it, by the Jews strong continuous attachment to their ancient homeland in all the lands of their exile, and their continuous presence in the land.
Now of course, Israel simply is a internationally recognized state with six million citizens, a democracy, a modern economy and a strong army. Yet just because the Arabs cannot accept the notion that Jews should ever be their own masters instead of living as cowering dhimmis, they have got you to somehow to repeat their line that Israel is "illegitimate". The Arabs hope thus to destroy Israel's legitimacy bit by bit, having failed to destroy Israel militarily.
There is plenty to criticize about Israel. But I would have more respect for you & the other anti-Zionists if you didn't have such a flagrant double standard. Israel, surrounded by enemies, is to be judged by the standards of Western Europe, while those enemies are judged by the standards of third world dictatorships.
Israel is condemned for its policies on the West Bank. I agree that they have proved corrupting for Israel and a mistake. (Was it Talleyrand who said of a policy, "it's not a sin. It's worse than a sin. It's a mistake.") But let's look at the Lebanese treatment of the Palestinians: they have been there since 1948 without work permits, permission to move, or citizenship, sitting in permanent refugee camps. Yet this is not "apartheid". Nor is the dispossesion and exile of Jews from all the Arab countries, or their current mistreatment of minorities, worthy of mention. Are such things just to be expected from Arabs?
One comes to the conclusion that western Anti-Zionists, like the Arabs, are motivated much more by hatred of the Jews than by any care for the Palestinians. |
