If You Hate Israel, You're No Friend of the Jews
It’s one thing to criticize Israel. It’s another thing entirely to be against the very existence of the Jewish state. In this clarifying video, Dennis Prager defines the difference and explains why anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are one and the same.
Why was the historic homeland of the Jews named Palestine by the Romans?
to honor a Roman emperorbecause the Jewish people of the time did not want to live in the past anymorebecause the Romans wanted to live in peace side by side with the Jewish nationto remove all memory of the Jewish state they destroyed in the year 70In Israel, Arab Muslims have the same rights as Jewish Israelis.
TrueFalseIsrael controls the West Bank because _____________________________?
the United Nations always favors Israel in legal disputes with other countriesPalestinians and their Arab allies tried to destroy Israel in 1967, and they lost the war.the European Union gave it to Israel in exchange for better economic trade conditionsnone of the abovePalestinians have rejected offers to found their own state on ______ separate occasions since 1947.
twothreefourfiveWhy do anti-Zionists challenge the legitimacy of Israel, but not the legitimacy of Pakistan?
because so many people died in the creation of Pakistanbecause all anti-Zionists are Pakistanibecause Israel is the one Jewish stateNone of the above
- Anti-Zionism isn’t “criticism” of Israel—it’s opposition to Israel’s very existence.
Zionism is the name of the movement that advocates for the return of Jews to their historic homeland. As defined by the Anti-Defamation League, Anti-Zionism is “a prejudice against the Jewish movement for self-determination and the right of the Jewish people to a homeland in the State of Israel.”
View sourceThere have been only three autonomous nations that have ever governed the land of Israel. The First Kingdom of Israel, the Second Kingdom of Israel, and the modern state of Israel. The modern state of Israel was legally founded in 1948 after the U.N. General Assembly officially approved its creation in 1947 with Resolution 181. Prior to Israel’s legal founding, the region was already home to 80,000-90,000 Jews.
View sourceWhen the British Mandate expired in Palestine, Israel declared independence and was accepted as a member state in the UN in 1949.
View sourceRelated reading: “Criticism Of Israel Isn’t Anti-Semitism; Anti-Zionism Is” – Dennis Prager
View source- Of all the world’s 200-plus countries, the only country anti-Zionists declare illegitimate is also the only Jewish one.
Anti-Zionists single out Israel as an illegitimate country, failing to apply the same standard for legitimacy to the rest of the more than 200 countries in the world, no matter how controversial or bloody its origins.
View sourceFor example, anti-Zionists do not level the same “illegitimate” claim against Pakistan, which was formed in 1947 when India was partitioned into a Muslim state, Pakistan, and a Hindu state, India. Unlike Israel, Pakistan had never existed before. The creation of Pakistan created some 7 million Muslim refugees and another 7 million Hindu refugees and resulted in around a million Arab deaths.
View sourceRelated video: “The Middle East Problem” – Dennis Prager
View source- Anti-Zionists claim Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism. Judaism has always consisted of three components: God, Torah and Israel.
As underscored by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zionism has been a crucial element of the Jewish faith for over two millennia: “The aspiration of returning to their homeland was first held by Jews exiled to Babylon some 2,500 years ago… Thus political Zionism, which coalesced in the 19th century, invented neither the concept nor the practice of return. Rather, it appropriated an ancient idea and an ongoing active movement, and adapted them to meet the needs and spirit of the times.”
View sourceThe religious and cultural origins of Zionism is emphasized in Israel's Declaration of Independence (1948): "The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books. After being forcible exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom."
View source- Anti-Zionists claim Israel is illegitimate because it’s “racist,” despite Israel having a diverse racial and ethnic population.
Anti-Zionists claim Israel is illegitimate because it is supposedly “racist,” yet Israel has an extremely diverse racial population, and anyone of any race or ethnicity can become a Jew.
View sourceIsrael includes many non-Jewish citizens—who make up about a fifth of the population. A vast majority of the non-Jewish citizens are Arab.
View sourceThere are over 1.5 million Arabs who are Israeli citizens. They have the same exact rights as all Israeli citizens. The Israeli Declaration of Independence states that Israel will "ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex” and “guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture."
View sourceThe Jews are called a “nation” more than a hundred times in the Bible. There can be irreligious, secular and even atheist Jews because Jews are not only a religion—they are also a people, or a nation.
View sourceRelated video: “Does Israel Discriminate Against Arabs?” – Olga Meshoe, PragerU
View source- Israel controls the West Bank because Palestinians and their allies tried to destroy Israel in 1967, and they lost the war.
The West Bank cannot be “given back” to the Palestinians, as it was never their land. Jordan lost the land in 1967 when it invaded Israel. Jordan, Israel’s neighbor to the east, attacked Israel in 1967, despite Israel’s repeated efforts to keep Jordan at bay. In defending itself against Jordan, Israel captured the West Bank, where it has since built settlements.
View sourceRelated reading: “The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can Be Resolved” – Alan Dershowitz
View source- Palestinians have rejected offers to found their own state on five separate occasions since Israel was founded in 1948.
Palestinian leaders have rejected offers of statehood contingent upon promises of peace in 1938, 1948, 1993, 2001, and 2007. Instead of embracing peace, they have repeatedly sanctioned and participated in terrorism and violence.
View sourceIn 1972, Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, ordered the capture and murder of Israeli Olympic athletes. In 1973, Arafat arranged for the capture and eventual torture of three American diplomats.
View sourceAfter the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Peace Accords, the Palestinian Authority escalated terror attacks on Israelis, resulting in the murder of 1,496 Israelis by Palestinian terrorists between 1993 and 2012—nearly three times the number of Israelis murdered by terrorists in the five decades prior.
View sourceRelated reading: “The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can Be Resolved” – Alan Dershowitz
View source- The Palestinians became refugees because they chose to leave Israel when surrounding Arab countries declared war on the Jewish State.
Palestinians left Israel for a variety of reasons, some due to the calls by Arab leaders to leave Israel, but many more simply to avoid the crossfire of the war surrounding Arab states waged against Israel.
View sourceFor a timeline of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, read: “Palestinians Must Come to the Table for Peace” – Alan Dershowitz, Jerusalem Post
View sourceRelated video: “Why Isn’t There a Palestinian State?” – David Brog, PragerU
View source- Israel is a free and diverse nation, yet other far less free and diverse countries in the Middle East call for Israel’s destruction.
Israel is the only nation in the Middle East considered “free” by the 2017 Freedom House Freedom of the World Report.
View sourceThe call for Israel’s destruction by its neighbors in the Middle East began in 1948 when Arab armies invaded the newly founded state of Israel.
View sourcePalestinian leadership and Hamas continue to call for Israel’s destruction.
View sourceSome Arab countries, like Iran, claim to be friendly to Jews, but still seek the destruction of Israel.
View sourceRelated reading: “American and Israeli Jews: Twin Portraits From Pew Research Center Surveys” – Pew Research Center
View source- Israel has been a frequent target of attacks by its neighbors, yet it has sought to make peace with them.
The first of two waves of terror, so-called intifadas, occurred in the late 1980s.
View sourceIn the early 2000s, Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas refused to accept the Oslo agreement and started a second intifada against Israel.
View sourceIsrael has faced repeated incursions from terror groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon.
View sourceHamas has launched thousands of rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip — even after Israel completely withdrew from that territory in 2005.
View sourceDespite the wars and terrorism, Israel has sought peace with its neighbors. And it did achieve a peace treaty with Egypt on March 26, 1979.
View sourceIsrael signed a peace treaty with Jordan on October 26, 1994.
View source- Despite being repeatedly targeted by terror groups, Israel has remained committed to the rule of law, democracy and tolerance.
Nearly one-fifth of Israel’s citizens are Muslim.
View sourceMuslims enjoy the same rights as Jewish citizens in Israel and occupy key positions in the nation’s courts, press and government.
View sourceMuslims have their own parties representing them in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
View sourceIsrael is the only country in the region devoted to democracy.
View sourcePrisoners in Israel, be they Jewish or Arab, are well-treated. Israel has one of the lowest recidivism rates in the world.
View source- Israel’s Declaration of Independence pledges to protect the rights of all citizens regardless of race or religion—and Israel does just that.
Israel is a liberal democracy that extends full rights to all, including women, the LGBT community and Arab citizens. In its Declaration of Independence Israel pledges to protect the rights of all citizens regardless of race or religion.
View sourceArabs, even leaders of Hamas, go to Israel for medical treatment and are not discriminated against.
View sourceA 2013 study by a U.S.-based freedom watchdog found that Israel was the only country in the Middle East that didn’t segregate and oppress its minority population.
View sourceRelated reading: “No, Israel isn’t a country of privileged and powerful white Europeans” – Hen Mazzig, Los Angeles Times
View source
Imagine a group of people who work to destroy Italy because, they claim, Italy’s origins are illegitimate. Imagine further that these people maintain that of all the countries in the world, only Italy doesn’t deserve to exist. And then imagine that these people vigorously deny that they are anti-Italian. Would you believe them?
Now substitute “Israel” for “Italy,” and you’ll understand the dishonesty and absurdity of the argument that one can be anti-Zionist—that is, against the existence of a Jewish state—but not anti-Semitic.
But that is precisely what anti-Zionists say. They argue that Israel’s existence is illegitimate. They don’t believe this of any other country in the world, no matter how bloody its origins. And then they get offended when they’re accused of being anti-Semitic.
How can they make this argument?
First, they change the topic. They say it’s unfair to charge those who merely “criticize” Israel with being anti-Semitic. But criticism of Israel is fine. Denying Israel’s right to exist isn’t. Anti-Zionism isn’t criticism of Israel. Anti-Zionism is opposition to Israel’s existence.
Zionism is the name of the movement that advocates for the return of Jews to their historic homeland. Over the past 3,000 years, there were only two independent states located in what is called Israel. Both were Jewish states, and invaders destroyed both. No Arab or Muslim or any other country ever existed in that land, which was only named Palestine by the Romans to remove all memory of the Jewish state they destroyed in the year 70.
Second, anti-Zionists claim they can’t be anti-Jewish because Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism. That’s equally false. It is the same as saying Italy has nothing to do with being Italian.
Judaism has always—always—consisted of three components: God, Torah and Israel. If Israel isn’t part of Judaism, neither is the Bible or God.
Third, anti-Zionists claim that Judaism is only a religion; therefore, Jews are only members of a religion, not a nation. But the Jews are called a “nation” more than a hundred times in the Bible. That is why there can be irreligious, secular and even atheist Jews—because Jews are not only a religion. They are also a people, or a nation. There are no atheist Christians because Christianity is only a religion.
Fourth, the anti-Zionists claim that Israel is illegitimate because it is racist. This is the fraudulent charge Israel-haters and America-haters make against two of the least racist societies in the world. Half of Israel’s Jews are not even white, and anyone, of any race or ethnicity, can become a Jew.
Plus, 1 of 5 Israelis isn’t a Jew. And these Israeli citizens, mostly Arab Muslims, have the same rights as Jewish Israelis.
As for Israel’s control of the West Bank, that has nothing to do with race. Israel doesn’t control the West Bank because Palestinians are of another race—but because Palestinians and their Arab allies tried to destroy Israel in 1967, and they lost the war. Palestinians have rejected offers to found their own state on five separate occasions since 1947. That’s the only reason they don’t have their own state. And why have they always rejected building a Palestinian state? Because they have always been more interested in destroying the Jewish state.
Finally, the anti-Zionists claim that Israel’s origins are illegitimate. Of all the world’s 200-plus countries, the only country anti-Zionists declare illegitimate is also the only Jewish one. That’s pretty much all you need to know about their motives. Why, for example, don’t they make this claim about Pakistan? In 1947, nine months before the establishment of Israel, India was partitioned into a Muslim state—Pakistan, and a Hindu state—India.
Unlike Israel, Pakistan had never existed before. Unlike Israel’s founding, which created about 700,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands and about 700,000 Arab refugees from what became Israel, the founding of Pakistan created about 7 million Muslim refugees from India and about 7 million Hindu refugees from Pakistan. And while the highest estimate of Arab deaths in the fighting that took place when Israel was established is 10,000, the number of deaths as a result of Pakistan’s creation is around 1 million.
So why is Israel’s legitimacy challenged while Pakistan’s isn’t? There is only one answer: Israel is the one Jewish state.
Of course, not all anti-Zionists hate all Jews. But if you seek to destroy Italy, you don’t have to hate every Italian to be anti-Italian. If you seek to destroy the one Jewish state, you don’t have to hate every Jew to be an anti-Semite.
I’m Dennis Prager.
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