1 comments about What Do Zionists Believe? (What Do We Believe?).

1. This is an excellent introduction to understanding the historical meaning of 'Zionism'. Shindler is keenly aware of the misuses and misunderstandings which have characterized much of contemporary political discourse in relation to 'Zionism'. The distortions of the extreme left who see Zionism as a form of colonialism and of the Islamists who see it as the major force responsible for their own deprivations are pointed out at the outset.
   Schindler is aware of the deep religious and political roots of the Jewish people's connection with the land of Israel. 'Zionism' which is the modern political expression of an ancient yearning has taken a number of different forms as Schindler explains.
   
   " Zionism was a movement of national liberation, modeled on nineteenth century European nationalism and the French revolutionary tradition. It sought to both normalize and modernize the situation of the marginalized Jewish people. For the religious it was the beginning of the redemption and the onset of the messianic age. For Marxist Zionists it was an opportunity to rectify the abnormal socio- economic structure of the Jews in the Diaspora by settling them on the land. For idealists and dreamers , it was the construction of a perfect society based on socialist theory merged with themes of social justice cemented in the biblical teachings of the prophets. Others ridiculed all this as utopian and proposed a modern technological - capitalist state. The Hebrew Republic which arose as the state of Israel in May 1948 embraced all these possibilities. "
   
   Schindler does a masterful job in tracing the 'Zionist idea ' over two millenium. He also makes clear the fundamentally peaceful intentions of the Zionist movement, and the central part the repeated refusal of the Arab community to accept the Jewish one has played in the conflict over the Holy Land.
   Schindler does not go into detail in describing the great achievements of the Zionists in reviving the Hebrew language,in absorbing over two millions immigrants from over eighty countries, in building a modern state. Nor does he does he provide a close picture of the challenges Zionism and the Jewish people are facing today.
   But in showing the basic developments of this complex phenomenom he does show how it has been a central idea of Jewish history and faith - a just cause- which through hard work, and sacrifice has been brought to considerable fruition.
   His own take on 'Zionism ' if I understand him correctly is close to that of traditional Labor Zionists- a most liberal conception which at present would aim for a peace based on 'two states for two peoples'. It is possible to quarrel with him on this idea, but not on the quality of this fascinating summary of a concept so often misunderstood in our time.

No comments about David Ben Gurion and the American Alignment for a Jewish State (Modern Jewish Experience).

5 comments about 51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration With the Nazis.

1. This book, compiled by a self-proclaimed Trotskyist, is ridiculous. Indeed, only a Trotskyist sectarian purist could edit a volume like this.
   
   The book contains 51 documents, of varied quality and relevance, supposedly proving that the Zionists collaborated with the Nazis. Really?
   
   In reality, of course, most Zionists did no such thing. The Revisionist leader Jabotinsky called for an economic boycott of Nazi Germany. The Labor Zionists supported the Allies during World War Two. Zionists participated in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, while others joined Communist partisan units. And, of course, the Zionist idea that Jews can be safe only in their own state, was ultimately proven right. Without this context in mind, the documents presented by Brenner are in effect a subtle way of suggesting that the Jews were responsible for the Holocaust. In reality, both Labor and the Revisionists smuggled Jews out of Nazi-infested Europe.
   
   So Brenner is a Trotskyist. Now, there was a small Trotskyist group in Albania that supported Mussolini, and later joined the right-wing, anti-Communist resistance group Balli Kombetar. There were also Trotskyists who, after the war, expressed support for the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a fascist organization. What conclusions should we draw from this? That Trotskyists in general were Nazi collaborators?
   
   What have Brenner come up with, then? Not much. Naturally, he spends an entire section of the book exposing the Stern gang (Lehi). But this group was very small and was disarmed by the Labor Zionists in 1948. That the Stern gang proposed collaboration with the Nazis in 1940 and 1941 is therefore as irrelevant as Albanian Trotskyists joining an anti-Communist resistance group after first praising Mussolini. Besides, the whole point of Lehi's proposal was that they would side with the Nazis only if Hitler agreed to re-settle all Jews in Palestine. Since that never happened, the deal was off. No actual collaboration took place.
   
   Next, Brenner attempts to implicate the Labor Zionists in Nazi collaboration. However, the documents he presents rather show that Labor attempted to save Jews by getting them out of Germany. Unfortunately but unsurprisingly, there was a catch: the Zionists had to buy German goods in return for every Jew being allowed to emigrate. This broke the trade boycott against Germany called by many progressive groups. The abstract sectarian Trotskyist Brenner doesnt appreciate the moral dilemma of the situation: should one uphold a trade boycott even if it means sacrificing Jews? Or should one try to save as many as possible, even if it means paying the Nazis? Only a stupid Trot like Brenner could suggest, that the only solution is...yes, what? Socialist revolution? In Germany 1936?
   
   A similar dilemma exists in the case of Rudolph Kastner, whose case is still controversial. Kastner negotiated with the notorious Adolf Eichmann, and managed to save perhaps 2000 mostly Hungarian Jews from being killed by the Nazis. However, the rest of Hungarian Jewry was exterminated. Kastner had to "play God" and decide who was to live and who was to die. Also, he had to promise Eichmann to "uphold order in the concentration camps". The original deal between the two stipulated that one million Jews would be spared in exchange for 10,000 trucks for the Nazi army. When the trucks failed to materialize, most Jews were transported to the death camps. Still today, Jews are divided over how judge Kastner, who became a government official in Israel after the war. Was he a tragic hero? Or a cynical collaborator? The fact that Kastner appeared as a witness in favor of SS war criminals have lead many to belive the latter. But even so, Kastner was hardly identical with all of Zionism. Incidentally, Kastner was assasinated when details of his deal with Eichmann leaked out.
   
   When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they didnt have a clear position on the Jewish question beyond apartheid. Concentration camps were set up in 1938, the Final Solution was decided upon in 1942. Until that time, different ideas existed within the Nazi leadership about what to do with the Jews. Some wanted them expelled to some foreign country, perhaps Madagascar (at the time controlled by Vichy France). This made it possible for Zionists to attempt a "deal with the Devil": since some Nazis wanted to extradite all Jews from Germany, why not propose that they be transferred to Palestine? Today, we know that this was a naive proposal. But not even Brenner's hero Trotsky predicted the Holocaust. At the time, an transfer agreement seemed like an idea worth trying. Ironically, the Holocaust proved that all attempts to get the Jews out of Germany, no matter how naive, were at some level justified.
   
   Some documents in this book are frankly ridiculous. Please note that the point is to prove Zionist collaboration with Nazis. But Brenner has also included documents about Revisionist collaboration with Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan! While such collaboration is indeed reactionary, Brenner never explains that Fascist Italy wasnt anti-Semitic, nor a fully committed ally to the Nazis, until the eve of World War Two (the documents cited are from before that). Nor does he explain that Imperial Japan didnt exterminate Jews in Manchuria. These documents tell us much about the antics of right-wing nationalists, but nothing about collaboration with Holocaust-mongers.
   
   Finally, I must protest against the naivety of the editor of this anthology. He seems morally outraged by the fact that Zionists can even comtemplate some kind of deal with Nazis, no matter the purpose. But please, comrade. The Bolsheviks made secret deals with both Imperial Germany and the Weimar Republic, both equally anti-Communist, and also with the rogue Ottoman adventurer Kemal Pasha, or the anti-Communist Turkish nationalist Kemal Ataturk. The Bolsheviks also took money from Wall Street banks, and even attempted to collaborate with Labor Zionists in Palestine!! And during all of this, a certain Leo Trotsky was second in command of the Soviet Bolshevik regime... Trotsky even supported the creation of an "anti-imperialist united front" with Chiang Kai-shek. On that point, he later changed his mind. But not on the others.
   
   Is Lenni Brenner upset about this? Or was this "all for a good cause"?
   
   By all means, buy this book. The documents are interesting in and of themselves. But if you believe that this somehow delegitimizes the State of Israel, you gotta be kidding.



2. Can everyone please start talking honestly about Zionism, what they and the Christian Zionists in Britian did to the Palestinians, and do to this day? It is history! And yet, the Zionists have been able to make "Holocaust Denial" (questioning any aspect of the Holocaust at all) ILLEGAL in Germany as well as other places. The Auschwitz Memorial has lowered its number killed to 1.5 million (google it). This is the most used and manipulated historical event in history, not to mention the most "blackmailed". Jews alike should be looking into this, as they are used more than anyone.



3. The only people to give a good review of this book are people who 1) either hate Jews or 2) bleeding heart liberals hopelessly in love with Palestinians. The fact of the matter is, nothing in this book is a secret, it is an imperative for Jews to save lives, not matter what, so if they collaborated with Eichmann to save their people that is fine, unfortunately the Nazi's changed their plans and chose to eliminate the Jews instead of deporting them to Israel. One cant help but think what small thing could have been done to stop all of this in the beginning.



4. A six-year old book that has had remarkably little circulation in the United States . "Documents" includes a 1940 offer from the head of the Zionist Stern Gang to go to war on Hitler's side. As seen from the terrorist bombings of British sites in Palestine leading up to the 1948 declaration of the State of Israel, the Stern Gang had no compunctions about hanging British prisoners or attacking British targets.
   
   Collaboration with Hitler was a natural, and the Zionist rationale vis a vis Germany was simple. The Nazis wanted Jews to leave Germany. The Zionists wanted the same thing so long as the emigres' destination was Palestine. So why not work together?



5. What a crock by the 'old documents' folks. I stumbled across this book and the reviews purely by accident.
   
   I had no idea (dumb### here) such books existed in the volume that they do.
   
   I ALWAYS believed Zionism was corrupt.
   
   I bought the book based on the reviews and am not disappointed.
   
   From ancient times (Genesis) a part of the Israeli/Jewish community has used deception against their own people and everyone else.

1 comments about Studies in Vayikra: Leviticus.

1. 'Vayikra' is in many ways the most challenging and difficult of the books of the 'Chumash' for the modern reader. It consists by and large in regulations in regard to the Priesthood and to Sacrifice. The questions raised and the suggestions made by various commentators as brought here by Nehama Leibowitz have a special role in bringing this particular book alive. As always her approach is one which pushes the reader to think and question.

1 comments about Our Golda: The Story of Golda Meir (Women of Our Time).

1. I think this story touches on the basics of the women of the century-Golda Mier was definitely an outstanding woman and this author has touched on the finer points regarding her character. I've already read her biography and another non-fiction book written about her times and travels...beginning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Being a Wisconsin native myself-This woman definitely inspires me. True to form, Golda is portrayed as a strong, determined woman on a mission..somewhat along the lines of Eleonor Roosevelt.

No comments about Zionism and History: The Rise of a New Jewish Consciousness.

No comments about Evangelicals, Zionists & Secular Neocons.

No comments about The Jews' State: A Critical English Translation.

2 comments about El Priorato De Sion / The Priory Of Zion.

1. I had the greatest expectations about reading the book, but it's really a complete dissapointment. Conclusions are so obvious that can be done at the first pages- The Sion Priorate it's an invention of Mr. Placard-. If you're looking for something in the Da Vinci Code line, DON'T buy this book, it's a waste of money.



2. After reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail, this book looks like a kid's atempt to explain something but not knowing exactly what he must explain. To much of personal belief are embeded here, personal attacks to whatever doesn't agree with the writer are everywhere in this book. The book cannot be taken seriously due to the nature in wich his author wrote it.

No comments about Hadassah and the Zionist Project.