Comments on: Three Principles of Zionism http://zionismandisrael.wordpress.com/2008/07/03/three-principles-of-zionism/ news, research and interesting facts Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:05:39 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Hadassah http://zionismandisrael.wordpress.com/2008/07/03/three-principles-of-zionism/#comment-466 Hadassah Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:08:49 +0000 http://zionismandisrael.wordpress.com/?p=272#comment-466 You may find this article interesting: "Herzl's Road to Zionism, Shlomo Avineri" http://www.wzo.org.il/en/resources/view.asp?id=1273 The second part of the article discusses the origins of Herzl's political Zionism. You may find this article interesting:

“Herzl’s Road to Zionism, Shlomo Avineri”

http://www.wzo.org.il/en/resources/view.asp?id=1273

The second part of the article discusses the origins of Herzl’s political Zionism.

]]> By: **** ***** http://zionismandisrael.wordpress.com/2008/07/03/three-principles-of-zionism/#comment-465 **** ***** Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:08:39 +0000 http://zionismandisrael.wordpress.com/?p=272#comment-465 "Political Zionism" (which is what people usually mean by "Zionism") is not aimed at preserving any sort of Jewish identity but was formulated by Theodore Herzl after 1895 to facilitate Jewish assimilation and loss of separate identity even in the face of modern racial Antisemitism. Herzl, an idealistic assimilationist, wanted to save Jews from continuing to suffer persecution for the sake of a meaningless, however romantic, ancient religious identity. Having witnessed the failure of standard assimilation to save Alfred Dreyfuss from antisemitic persecution even in liberal France, Herzl deduced that successful assimilation was only possible in isolation from the disruptions of unrestrained racial antisemitism. Herzl suggested transferring Jews to a remote "state for the Jews" dedicated to instilling non-Jewish (European) culture and transforming "Jews" into something indistinguishable from other people. The nihilism so evident in modern Israeli culture is a natural result. “Political Zionism” (which is what people usually mean by “Zionism”) is not aimed at preserving any sort of Jewish identity but was formulated by Theodore Herzl after 1895 to facilitate Jewish assimilation and loss of separate identity even in the face of modern racial Antisemitism. Herzl, an idealistic assimilationist, wanted to save Jews from continuing to suffer persecution for the sake of a meaningless, however romantic, ancient religious identity. Having witnessed the failure of standard assimilation to save Alfred Dreyfuss from antisemitic persecution even in liberal France, Herzl deduced that successful assimilation was only possible in isolation from the disruptions of unrestrained racial antisemitism. Herzl suggested transferring Jews to a remote “state for the Jews” dedicated to instilling non-Jewish (European) culture and transforming “Jews” into something indistinguishable from other people. The nihilism so evident in modern Israeli culture is a natural result.

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