The Return of 'Diasporism'

"The Jews' problem is not that they are not assimilable, but rather that they are too assimilable" - paraphrasing of Cecil Roth

It is a common assumption that Jewish anti-Zionism in its various forms died out, or was marginalized, by the twin blows of the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel. Especially shaken, according to this view, was the 'diaspora' ideal, which actively negated the concept of Jewish self-determination, and exalted the concept of Jewish subject communities throughout various countries. The 'symbiosis' of various communities with their host countries (take your pick - Germany/Iraq/Britain Morocco/Soviet Union etc) were touted as proof of this vision. The Holocaust drove this movement underground, at least for a time.

I think it can be now stated that Jewish anti-Zionism in the form of 'diasporism' is now back in full swing. True, it never completely died, but even non-Zionists, at least for a time, accepted the reality of a Jewish state. Now, however, it is a full-blown, fully legitamized intellectual movement, comprised mainly of intellectuals and academics of varying calibers, united in their hatred of Jewish nationalism in any form, and determined to return to the 'good old days' of Jews 'fertilizing' other cultures. A good example of this is Reuven Snir's article in the 2003 Issue of Middle Eastern Studies on the 'Jew-Arab' golden age, as well as Eric Hobsbawm's and Henry Wasserman's lament of the glorious German-Jewish tradition, destroyed by the evil manipulative, narrow-minded Zionists.

There are those of you who will respond that this is a 'lunatic-fringe' phenomenon, a collection of the usual self-hating Jews. Sadly, this is simply not true. At least in Israel, this movement has gained respectability and even semi-official recognition. Articles by 'diasporists' are often written up in Ha'Aretz, and their books are published by 'establishment' publishing houses such as Am Oved, HaKibutz HaMeuchad, and the Van Leer Institute. Moreover, these scholars, together with 'critical sociologists' and 'new historians', are often in senior positions in their universities, ready to mold young minds against the evil Zionism and to exalt the diaspora. More to the point, there exists no comparable intellectual movement to stem the steady erosion of Zionist values accomplished by this and other movements.

I don't know about you, but I am increasingly having less and less faith in our ability to stem this tide. AIWAC