Sunday, April 30, 2023
From Ian:
Gil Troy: 'If you will it, is no dream!': What would Herzl think of Israel today?
Gil Troy: 'If you will it, is no dream!': What would Herzl think of Israel today?
Eventually, Herzl decided the only answer was to transform “the Jewish Question into a Zion Question.” We’re not just a religion, he realized, “We are a people,” with a particular history, heritage, and homeland, Zion, meaning the land of Israel. Knowing that a national political renewal requires a strong cultural foundation, Herzl deemed the Jewish national liberation movement, Zionism, “a return to Jewishness even before there is a return to the Jewish land.”This was not his dream - Opinion
Unfortunately, especially when examining Eastern Europe’s Jewish masses, this proud Westernized Jew, with his piercing dark eyes and impressive black beard, saw a paralyzed people demoralized by poverty and persecution. He wanted his Zionist Congress to reawaken the Jewish people. Sensitive to optics, he insisted that the 197 delegates – including 13 women and some non-Jews too – attend the Congress in formal eveningwear, reflecting the Jewish people’s dignity.
This frustrated playwright valued the script more than the costumes. As a peoplehood-person, Herzl appreciated the past; but, as a dreamer, a social-experimenter, and a liberal-democratic nation-builder, he was future-oriented too. “Our hearts cling to the old, it is true; we love the glorious past of our people, so full of struggle and suffering,” he warned, “but we do not want to revert to any narrowness of spirit.”
Appreciating a good prop, Herzl insisted that a flag was not just “a stick with a rag on it…. With a flag, one can lead men wherever one wants to, even into the Promised Land.” The flag carried a people’s “imponderables,” their “dreams, songs, fantasies,” because “visions alone grip the souls of men.” While charmed by the spread of individualism, industrialism, and capitalism, he nevertheless believed that individuals cannot help themselves “politically nor economically as effectively as a community can help itself.”
In 1899, reflecting the 19th century faith in humanity’s redemptive capacity, Herzl defined “the chief tenet of my life: Whoever wishes to change men must change the conditions under which they live.” Preempting any impulses toward narrow-minded illiberal nationalism, he challenged Zionists: “Make your State in such a way that the stranger will feel comfortable among you.”
He labeled this Jewish state-to-be Altneuland – old-new land, envisioning what is now this 75-year-old State in the ancient Land of Israel. In emphasizing Jewish rootedness, the term itself proved that Zionism isn’t European colonialism.
Every day, when 9.7 million Israelis, Jewish and non-Jewish, wake up in their beds, at home in their homeland, most know that every crane that builds, every start-up that starts, and every new investment through the Abraham Accords that appreciates, helps explain why they are safer, freer, and more prosperous than their great-grandparents would have dared imagine. And that’s why Herzl would also think, it worked! It’s really true – if you will it, is no dream!
Many critics of antizionism argue that it is a form of bigotry that singles out the Jewish state and holds it to a double standard, which is recognized by the IHRA working definition as antisemitism. Some point out that Israel is the only Jewish state in the world and that opposing its right to existence can be a form of discrimination against the Jewish people. However, there is agreement among Jews about the role that Israel should play in promoting Jewish unity. Some argue that Israel’s policies often do not take into account how they can affect Jews in the Diaspora, while others argue that Israel is a beacon of democracy and human rights in the region and that focusing on defending the country against its enemies and should have unilateral support from communities worldwide.Remembering San Remo: When the world powers recognized our rights to the land
There is a growing consensus among many Jewish organizations that the solution to antisemitism is unity among the Jewish people and support for a Jewish state. The existence of a Jewish state provides a safe haven for Jews worldwide and gives them a sense of pride and belonging. Jewish unity is also seen as a way to combat the divide-and-conquer tactics of antisemites, who often try to pit different segments of the Jewish community against each other. This is seen on US campuses, where the culture of boycotting often makes Jewish and Israeli students feel unsafe and even has led to antisemitic attacks due to misinformation and incendiary rhetoric.
One of the challenges in combating antisemitism is that many people do not understand the difference between antizionism and antisemitism. The two concepts are often conflated. While it is ok to criticize a government and its policies, it is as important to call out real instances of antisemitism. It is also important to be careful not to label all critics of Israel as antisemitic, but to make sure that blatant antisemitism hiding behind antizionism doesn’t go unchecked.
Looking back on Herzl’s vision, the world is reminded of the importance of supporting the Jewish state and combating antisemitism. He lived in a time when Jews felt great sorrow living without a land. Israel is a beacon of hope for Jews around the world. Furthermore, it is essential to recognize that antizionism can be a form of antisemitism, and Israel has the right to exist. One can criticize a country’s policies, but one cannot rule out the right of the state to exist and govern itself.
The events in San Remo in April 1920, Iyar 5620, were foundational historic events unparalleled since the destruction of the Second Temple in the first century CE and gave the Jewish people the right to re-establish an independent state in its historical homeland. Chaim Weizmann celebrated: "The decision in San Remo, this recognition of our rights in Palestine which was included in the treaty with Turkey (Treaty of Sèvres) and became part of international law – is the biggest political event in our movement [the Zionist movement]. And maybe, it would not be an exaggeration to say – in the entire history of the Jewish people since the diaspora."
In the wake of the conference, the Sèvres Treaty was signed in August 1920, with Turkey renouncing its ownership rights over the territories in the Middle East in favor of the Allied Powers. Article 95 enshrined the text of the Balfour Declaration in international law. This is the Magna Carta of the Jewish people that was born in San Remo. Article 2 of the Mandate states: "The mandatory shall be responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home, as laid down in the preamble, and the development of self-governing institutions..." What does the preamble state? That recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with their land and to their right to reconstitute their national home there.
This decision by the League of Nations has not been annulled since. Article 80 of the United Nations Charter, established after the Second World War, protects all the rights granted by the League of Nations prior to the signing of the UN Charter.
In my conversations with politicians and in my speeches before the two houses of the Italian parliament, and the media, I reiterated that supporting a diplomatic compromise is one thing, but the statement that Israel violates international law by building settlements in its historical homeland is a lie because binding international law – which Italy is a signatory to as the host of the historic San Remo Conference – has not changed since.
Now is the time for Education Minister Yoav Kisch to make the San Remo Conference part of the core study curriculum!
