SPECIAL COMMENTARY

Post-Zionist Headache

nonromantic
culture whose primary values are not
Philadelphia
view
of the hor-
specifically
Jewish.
Post-Zionism
is
the
hanging the way a nation
rors
of
the War
process
by
which
Israel
ceases
to
be
and a people think about
of Indepen-
the Jewish state and becomes merely
itself is not an easy job.
dence is not the
the state of its inhabitants.
But Yoram Hazony and
point.
For many people here,
his Jerusalem and Washing-
The real
the phrase "post-Zionism" is
ton, D.C.-based Shalem
question is
associated primarily with
Center is attempting to do
whether or not
the politics of the Israeli
just that for Israel and the
Israelis believe
left,
and
what
the
Jewish
Jews.
that the struggle
state
might
look
like
in
the
Hazony's arrival on the
for the Jewish
aftermath of a comprehen-
Jewish intellectual scene is a
state itself was
sive peace. But whether for-
signal that the backlash
mer Prime Minister Shimon justified.
against post-Zionism has
The switch
Peres' vision of a "New
begun. So here's the question:
Middle East" was realistic or here is not from
Is it too late for the propo-
a Likud to a
nents of mainstream Zionism JONAT HAN S. not is, according to Hazony,
Labor point of
TO
BIN
.
not
the
point.
to reverse a trend that has
view.
Hazony
Spec
thl
to
called into question the
explains that post-
What Israelis Forget
the Jew ish News
morality of having a Jewish
_Zionist ideology
Hazony sees Israel's prob-
state?
is, in fact; an
lems as going much deeper.
Given the fact that this
abandonment of
The issue is not that Israelis are weary
month we celebrate only the 52nd
the Labor Zionist
of war and unwilling to go on strug-
anniversary of Israel's rebirth as a sov-
values promoted
gling. As tired of the conflict as most
ereign Jewish state, that is a remark-
by Ben-Gurion.
of them certainly are, they are not
able question to be asking. But for
Rather than being
reluctant
to
fight
for
their
survival.
Hazony, a 30-something Israeli who
a modernist fad,
Rather,
he
says,
the
problem
is
that
was raised and educated in the United
post-Zionist
increasingly large numbers of young
States, the most important questions
thought can be
Israelis no longer "understand why
for Israel are not about how much ter-
traced directly
they should do so." In discussions
ritory to exchange for a peace treaty,
back to intellectu-
with men he served with while on
but how Jews and Zionists are the
al trends that were
Israeli Army reserve duty, this cross-
people who will be living in the coun-
prominent in the Jewish world prior
section of Israeli society revealed to
try, no matter its size.
to World War II and the Holocaust.
hirri
that
most
had
no
idea
of
the
Hazony, who worked as an aide to
Indeed, Hazony devotes consider,
value of the Jewish people, its contri-
Binyamin Netanyahu in the early
able space to the leftist critics of both
butions and struggle, or why there
1990s, before Bibi's election to the
Herzl and Ben-Gurion,
should be a Jewish state at
premiership, left politics in 1994 to
especially the famous
all.
found the Shalem Center. The point
intellectuals who worked
The gap between the
of this nonpartisan think tank is "to
at the Hebrew University
prepare a reasonable alternative" to the generation of the founders
in Jerusalem, such as the
and the generations that
post-Zionist view of Israel. He's set
philosopher
Martin
have
followed
is
truly
out his views on this problem in a
Buber.
troubling.
The
consensus
book that has just been published this
These critics opposed
that a Jewish state was a
month by Basic Books, The Jewish
the idea of a Jewish state,
moral imperative has been
State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul.
and pushed for a binational
eroded.
I had a chance to sit down with
state of Arabs and Jews.
Is Hazony exaggerat-
Hazony and discuss his book and his
Hazony sees this non-
ing?
views on the state of Israeli society
Zionist school of thought
A quick look at recent
while the author was visiting recently
YORAM RENY
as dominating Israel's
cultural and political
in the United States.
intellectual and cultural
developments inside Israel
Hazony's work represents the most
worlds. If a nation's lead-
confirms his concerns.
comprehensive account yet written
ing intellects all believe that the only
The change in Israel's secondary-
about the phenomena of post-Zion-
obstacle to peace has always been
school history textbooks is only the
ism, its origins and how it conflicts
"right-wing militant Zionist nuts" like
most well-known example. As report-
with the basic ideology of the people
ed in a front-page story last summer
Ben-Gurion, says Hazony, a process of
who created Zionism and brought
self-delegitimization of Zionist values
in the New York Times, the new book
Israel to life: Theodor Herzl and
can snowball. Recent decisionS of
drops the traditional Zionist view of
David Ben-Gurion.
Israel's Supreme Court that have
the
War
of
Independence
and
subse-
What is post-Zionism? It is the
undermined the legal basis of Zionism
quent struggles, looking at them
transformation of Israeli society into a
instead from a "universalist" frame of
give credence to Hazony's fears.
reference.
Hazony argues that "the Israeli man
Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor
in the street still has a strong Jewish
This is not a question of whether
of the Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia.
Israeli schools should continue to
identity and believes in Zionism as a
He can be reached via e-mail at
teach myths merely to defend Israel, as just cause," but that the abandonment
jtobin@jewishexponent.com
of Zionism in Israeli education, films,
the post-Zionists have asserted. A

THE JEN
STATE

lot-tsars soul

5/19
2000

40

In the beginnin : David
Ben-Gurion, le and
Theodor Herz , above, "cre-
ated Zionism and brought
Israel to life."

theater, literature and law is
taking a terrible toll on
Israeli society.
"How long can a country
survive if its intellectuals are
working to debunk the basic
culture the country is built
on?" Hazony asks.

■■.

Comeback Of Zionist Thought
His response is to use the Shalem
Center to create a different way in
Israeli intellectual life.
Shalem promotes not just Zionism
but the basic works of liberal democ-
ratic thinking, such as the writing of
John Locke, as well as the opponents
of socialism, such as Frederick Hayek.
His group is promoting student pro-
grams,.publishing a journal called
Azure, and commissioning the first
Hebrew translations of works like The
Federalist Papers. The goal is to pro-
mote democratic behavior and belief
in the rule of law, as well as Zionism.
Given that the post-Zionists have
control of most of Israel's institutions
of higher learning and culture, the
odds are heavily stocked against
Hazony.
But before the politics of post-
Zionism can be reversed, the way
must be prepared by intellectuals dedi-
cated to a revival of Zionist values.
Yet as Israel celebrates its 52nd
birthday, one need only reflect on
the fact that 100 years ago, few
believed that there would ever be a
Jewish state, let alone a drift to post-
Zionism. In this age of Jewish mira-
cles that Zionism produced, it
would be foolish to bet against
Yoram Hazony.

