Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff, Lauren Bogelbaum. Here.
Speaker 1: We don't often talk about current events on this show,
Speaker 1: but given the ongoing Israel Hamas War, which started on
Speaker 1: October seventh of twenty twenty three and is part of
Speaker 1: the larger Gaza Israel conflict and the even larger Israeli
Speaker 1: Palestinian conflict, I wanted to talk today about a term
Speaker 1: that's been in the news a lot lately, Zionism. Zionism
Speaker 1: is a nationalist movement that successfully established an independent state
Speaker 1: for Jewish people in nineteen forty eight and continues to
Speaker 1: support Judaism's claim to Israel, its ancient homeland. It's also
Speaker 1: one of the most complex and controversial political ideas of
Speaker 1: the past one hundred and fifty years. Not only is
Speaker 1: the history of Zionism complex and messy, but so are
Speaker 1: the emotions and opinions surrounding it today. A criticism of
Speaker 1: Israel's treatment of the Palestinians has stoked protests and calls
Speaker 1: for economic boycotts of Israel, similar to those levied against
Speaker 1: South Africa during apartheid. However, criticisms of Israel strike a
Speaker 1: nerve and some supporters of the state, because the line
Speaker 1: between anti Zionism and antisemitism can be dangerously thin. So
Speaker 1: today let's talk about how all of this started. Although
Speaker 1: Zionism draws its name from the biblical Mount Zion, it
Speaker 1: isn't a primarily religious movement. It's true that some Jewish
Speaker 1: people have yearned for a return to the so called
Speaker 1: Promised Land of Abraham for two thousand years, but leaders
Speaker 1: of the modern Zionist movement were mostly secular and even
Speaker 1: agnostic Jewish people who identified their people as a nation
Speaker 1: rather than a religion. Zionism, for them meant the creation
Speaker 1: of an independent political state for this Jewish nation. Zionism
Speaker 1: wouldn't be so problematic if it wasn't focused on the
Speaker 1: creation of this nation. In what's sometimes known as the
Speaker 1: Holy Land or the Palestine Region, a small strip of
Speaker 1: historically and culturally important land between the Mediterranean Sea and
Speaker 1: the River Jordan. It's considered holy by multiple religions. Furthermore,
Speaker 1: Arab Palestinians have comprised the majority of people living there
Speaker 1: for centuries, under the yoke of both the Ottoman and
Speaker 1: British empires. The result is one of the thorniest political
Speaker 1: issues in the modern world. Zionists and some other supporters
Speaker 1: of Israel argue that the safety and continued existence of
Speaker 1: the brutally persecuted Jewish people depends upon the existence of
Speaker 1: a Jewish state, and that the rightful place for that
Speaker 1: state is Judaism's ancestral homeland. Meanwhile, Palestinians and their supporters
Speaker 1: see Zionism as an at best imperialist and at worst
Speaker 1: racist movement that forcefully colonized Arab lands and homes and
Speaker 1: subjugated the native Palestinian people as second class citizens in
Speaker 1: areas like Gaza, a territory that's been under Israeli military
Speaker 1: control since nineteen sixty seven, and now decades of conflict
Speaker 1: have erupted into the Fifth War between Gaza and Israel.
Speaker 1: To understand how we got here, let's start with the
Speaker 1: birth of the modern Zionist movement, which took place in
Speaker 1: Europe at the tail end of the eighteen hundreds. Nationalist
Speaker 1: movement swept Europe in the early and mid eighteen hundreds.
Speaker 1: For centuries, different ethnic and cultural groups had been forced
Speaker 1: to live together under sprawling empires and kingdoms, but at
Speaker 1: that time, new European states were forged in places like
Speaker 1: Italy and Germany around people with shared language and cultural history.
Speaker 1: This left some European Jewish people wondering are we not
Speaker 1: also a nation? They were living at the time in
Speaker 1: a scattered diaspora in nation states that mostly treated them
Speaker 1: as suspect foreigners, though occasionally welcomed them as full citizens,
Speaker 1: as France did in seventeen ninety. Even before the eruption
Speaker 1: of violent anti Jewish raids pogroms in Eastern Europe, Jewish
Speaker 1: intellectuals struggled with what was known as the Jewish question
Speaker 1: or the Jewish problem. The issue was whether it was
Speaker 1: even possible for Jewish people to be truly free and
Speaker 1: equal in someone else's nation, and as anti Semitic rhetoric
Speaker 1: and violence increased in the eighteen hundreds, this question became
Speaker 1: far more urgent. For the article this episode is based
Speaker 1: on how Stuffworks spoke back in twenty twenty with Daniel Kotsen,
Speaker 1: currently a history professor at William Jewell College who has
Speaker 1: conducted extensive research on the subject. He said, in many ways,
Speaker 1: modern Zionism was a response to the Jewish question, Well,
Speaker 1: what is the place of Jews in Europe? In a
Speaker 1: post Enlightenment age. But if there was a catalyst to
Speaker 1: pursuing independent nationhood, it was the Dreyfus affair. In eighteen
Speaker 1: ninety four, a French army captain named Alfred Dreyfus was
Speaker 1: falsely accused and convicted of treason in a highly publicized trial. Dreyfus,
Speaker 1: a secular Jew, became the target of openly antisemitic attacks
Speaker 1: in the press. There was this idea that because he
Speaker 1: was Jewish, he was not truly Frenchkotsen said, here is
Speaker 1: this army officer the epitome of an emancipated and assimilated Jew.
Speaker 1: The people behind the treasonous accusations spread this false idea
Speaker 1: that Jews could never be part of the European nation
Speaker 1: state and should always be viewed with suspicion. Among the
Speaker 1: journalists covering the Dreyfus affair was an Austrian playwright named
Speaker 1: Theodore Hertzel, who was living in Paris as a foreign
Speaker 1: correspondent for a Viennese newspaper. Hertzel, himself Jewish at fully
Speaker 1: assimilated and non religious, wrote later that he identified deeply
Speaker 1: with Dreyfus. If a man of Dreyfus's stature wasn't immune
Speaker 1: from anti Semitism. Who was. In eighteen ninety six, Hertzel
Speaker 1: published The Jewish State, a call to Jewish nationhood that
Speaker 1: launched the modern Zionist movement. In it, he argued that
Speaker 1: the establishment of an independent Jewish nation would be good
Speaker 1: for everyone in Europe, Jewish or otherwise, because antisemitism was
Speaker 1: causing divisions that plagued European nations. Coming on the heels
Speaker 1: of the Dreyfus affair, Hertzel's writings found a ready audience
Speaker 1: among many Jewish intellectuals. In eighteen ninety seven, the First
Speaker 1: Zionist Congress met in Basel, Switzerland, and Hertzel dedicated the
Speaker 1: short rest of his life he died from a heart
Speaker 1: attack in nineteen oh four to securing political as financial
Speaker 1: support for the creation of a Jewish state in the
Speaker 1: region of Palestine. Note that all of this was part
Speaker 1: of the political Zionist movement. There were several different streams
Speaker 1: of Zionism present in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For example,
Speaker 1: cultural Zionism called for a spiritual rebirth of Judaism in Israel,
Speaker 1: not necessarily an independent state, but okay. A turning point
Speaker 1: in political Zionism was a short letter written in nineteen
Speaker 1: seventeen by the British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfer to
Speaker 1: one Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild, heir to the Rothschild banking
Speaker 1: fortune and president of the British Zionist Federation. The letter,
Speaker 1: known as the Blfer Declaration, was, in its own words,
Speaker 1: a declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations. In it,
Speaker 1: Belfer wrote, his Majesty's government view with favor the establishment
Speaker 1: in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish peaceop
Speaker 1: and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement
Speaker 1: of this object. While far from a mandate or official compact,
Speaker 1: this letter was a huge step forward for the Zionist movement,
Speaker 1: which to that date had only sent small delegations of
Speaker 1: Jewish immigrants to settle in Palestine. A Kotsen said here,
Speaker 1: you have the most powerful empire in the world at
Speaker 1: the time, saying to the Jewish people, We're going to
Speaker 1: help you find a home in your native land of Palestine.
Speaker 1: This was enormously important when the British took control of
Speaker 1: Palestine after World War One. The stage was set for conflict.
Speaker 1: A Jewish immigration to Palestine increased, an Arab resentment of
Speaker 1: what was seen as Balfur's betrayal boiled over into violent clashes.
Speaker 1: It was seen as a betrayal because the British had
Speaker 1: made a lot of promises between nineteen fifteen and nineteen seventeen,
Speaker 1: including one to help create a pan Arab state in
Speaker 1: the Middle East, in which turn for Arab support in
Speaker 1: fighting the Ottoman Empire in World War One. Arab Palestinians
Speaker 1: kept their end of the bargain, and the bell for
Speaker 1: Declaration essentially renegged on the deal. The next two decades
Speaker 1: saw Arab riots and rebellions, and when the British then
Speaker 1: tried to clamp down on Jewish immigration, Zionists also fought back. However,
Speaker 1: through all of this, Zionism remained a small minority movement
Speaker 1: within the global Jewish community, with loud critics from both
Speaker 1: the religious and secular camps. That's according to Columbia University
Speaker 1: historian Michael Stanislowsky and his book Zionism A Very Short Introduction.
Speaker 1: He explains that the situation changed dramatically after the rise
Speaker 1: of the Nazis and their murder of six million Jewish people,
Speaker 1: he wrote, The need for an independent Jewish state to
Speaker 1: serve as a safe haven for Jews became not only widespread,
Speaker 1: but central to Jewish consciousness throughout the world. By nineteen
Speaker 1: forty five, large numbers of Holocaust survivors were living at
Speaker 1: makeshift refugee camps in Europe, while Allied governments argued over
Speaker 1: what to do with them. The British had all but
Speaker 1: cut off Jewish immigration to Palestine in nineteen thirty nine
Speaker 1: in an effort to secure favor with Arab oil producing nations,
Speaker 1: but US President Harry Truman now called on Britain to
Speaker 1: allow one hundred thousand Jewish refugees to enter Palestine immediately.
Speaker 1: The British, already the target of both Arab and Zionist attacks,
Speaker 1: saw no viable solution, so in nineteen forty seven they
Speaker 1: handed over the seething Jewish Palestinian problem to the newly
Speaker 1: created United Nations. In November of nineteen forty seven, the
Speaker 1: UN passed a resolution to partition or divide Palestine into
Speaker 1: two states, one Jewish and one Arab, of roughly equal sizes,
Speaker 1: even though at the time the one point five million
Speaker 1: strung population of Palestine was only about one third Jewish
Speaker 1: and two thirds Arab. The Arab Palestinians flatly rejected the
Speaker 1: un plan and took up arms against the Zionists in
Speaker 1: what was essentially a civil war for control of the
Speaker 1: Holy Land. As internal fighting raged on, the British set
Speaker 1: a date of May fifteenth, nineteen forty eight, for its
Speaker 1: official departure from the region. The day before British armed
Speaker 1: forces left Palestine, the Zionist leader David benger Yan declared
Speaker 1: the independence of the State of Israel, knowing full well
Speaker 1: that such a provocation would invite all out war with
Speaker 1: neighboring Arab nations. Stanislawsky notes that bengur Yan's declaration makes
Speaker 1: no mention of God or the biblical promise of a
Speaker 1: Jewish homeland. That was not the Zionist message. Instead, bengur
Speaker 1: Yan declared the establishment of Israel was quote the natural
Speaker 1: right of the Jewish people to be masters of their
Speaker 1: own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign state.
Speaker 1: As benger Jan and the Zionists expected, five different Arab
Speaker 1: nations immediately declared war on the new state of Israel.
Speaker 1: To demonstrate the opposing perspectives of this war and its outcome.
Speaker 1: Israelis call it the War of Independence, and Arab Palestinians
Speaker 1: and their allies call it the Catastrophe. It's not just
Speaker 1: the names that are different. As historian Betty Morris has demonstrated,
Speaker 1: there are also two starkly opposing narratives about how and
Speaker 1: why hundreds of thousands of Arab Palestinians left Palestine during
Speaker 1: the war and became refugees in Jordan and Syria. In
Speaker 1: the Zionist account, these people willingly fled the war zone
Speaker 1: because their Arab allies warned that they would imminently and
Speaker 1: violently invade. In the Palestinian account, the Israeli army raided
Speaker 1: their villages and brutally drove them out at gunpoint. According
Speaker 1: to historical documents, there is clear evidence that some Palestinians
Speaker 1: fled their homes out of fear of violence by Israeli
Speaker 1: defense forces, both real and imagined. Even historian Morris, a
Speaker 1: defender of Israel, conceded in his book nineteen forty eight
Speaker 1: The First Arab Israeli War that quote, the Jews committed
Speaker 1: far more atrocities than the Arabs and killed far more civilians.
Speaker 1: In POWs in deliberate acts of brutality in the course
Speaker 1: of nineteen forty eight. Ultimately, Israel won the war and
Speaker 1: walked away with fifty percent more territory than it would
Speaker 1: have been granted by the UN partition plan. In the
Speaker 1: first place, that territory did not yet include the so
Speaker 1: called occupied territories in Gaza and the West Bank, which
Speaker 1: were added after Israel's victory in the Six Day War
Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty seven. And so the troubling Jewish question
Speaker 1: that led to the creation of the Zionist movement has
Speaker 1: now become the Palestinian question. After decades of conflict, can
Speaker 1: Israelis and Palestinians find a way to live in peace.
Speaker 1: Many left leaning Israelis and some Zionists recognize the plight
Speaker 1: of the Palestinians and support a two state solution similar
Speaker 1: to the UN partition, while more conservative backers of Israel
Speaker 1: oppose such concessions, claiming that Palestinian leaders and their Arab
Speaker 1: allies continue to seek the destruction of what they see
Speaker 1: as the Jewish homeland. As decades of tension and conflict
Speaker 1: have shown there is no easy solution. Today's episode is
Speaker 1: based on the article what is Zionism and is it
Speaker 1: fueling the Palestinian Israeli conflict? On how stuffworks dot Com
Speaker 1: written by Dave Ruse. Brainstuff is production of by Heart
Speaker 1: Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and is
Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
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