A Sunday Times article published last June 24 suggested that Israeli intelligence had played a role in the bombing of the Tel Aviv nightclub last month where about twenty young Russian Israelis had died. Evidently the Palestinian who had driven the bomber to the nightclub was an Israeli intelligence informant. Concerned commentators such as Israel Shamir have thus speculated that the Shin Bet had actually assisted in the setting up of the event to bring about political gains for the Israeli government.
It would seem that this bombing highlights more than one of the many uncivil faces of Zionist Israel. Israeli institutional racial discrimination was clearly demonstrated in the initial refusal to bury two of the girls who had died in the blast because they were born to non-Jewish mothers. If the latest information about the Shin Bet complicity were true, it would also demonstrate that when the motive is worth it to those in authority in Israel, even the lives of Jews are expendable.
Zionism’s raison d’étre was to protect the interests of Jews worldwide. Creating a state to act as a haven of security for the Jews was the means through which it intended to protect these interests. Zionism was born in the heyday of European colonialism and continues to be a colonial tool till this very day. It found a strong supporter in the racist mentality prevailing amongst some circles in the west that saw in Zionism a good vehicle for ridding its society of the unwelcome Jews – and what better place to send them to than amongst other Semites in the Middle East!
Instead of protecting the Jews, Zionism has been instrumental in jeopardizing their interests. It has cooperated with fascist movements throughout its short history including (amazingly) Nazi Germany and Apartheid South Africa to name but a couple of the more notorious. Its adherents have killed and maimed so many innocent people over the years and have been directly responsible for the exile of millions associating the Jews with aggression and oppression. On many occasions, its operatives have sacrificed Jewish lives ‘for the cause’ as in the bombing of Synagogues in Baghdad in the fifties to promote the emigration of Iraqi Jews, the bombing of a boat full of Jewish refugees from Europe at the end of the British mandate to gain international sympathy, the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem é etc. etc. Ironically, Zionism bears responsibility for the loss of Jewish life, because of its direct or indirect actions and the Jewish presence in Palestine has been to the detriment of the Jews on so many occasions.
The world has moved forward a great deal since the birth of Zionism at the turn of the twentieth century while unfortunately Zionist mentality has regressed. Instead of moving with the times in becoming more open and accommodating, it has developed into a supremacist ultra-nationalist movement that is ready to sacrifice anything to achieve and maintain its goal of creating an exclusively Jewish state in the land of Palestine. It has stopped short of nothing to do so.
In today’s world, it is desirable to separate religion and politics. Mixing the two may very easily lead to serious misunderstandings and misrepresentations that could threaten the orderly workings of the multi-religious and multi-cultural world we live in. Is it not time for the Jews, especially those living in Israel, to develop a new vision which would be more accommodating of the realities of the twenty first century – a vision compatible with equality, tolerance and openness? Is it not time for the Jews to recognize that Zionist ideology belongs to times gone by? It would seem that not only do the Jews need to be liberated from the limitations of Zionism but they also need to be protected from its dangers. Indeed, only if current Zionist mentality is put to rest can the peoples of the region, particularly the Jews, hope for a peaceful and better future.