Facebook Messages

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From:Adam

To:Seth Feldman

Subject:Zionism

Message:

hi, i was just browsing groups on facebook and came across this one. i was wondering, because i am quite sympathetic with and involved in the palestinian right to return and their plight in general, if you could give me an explanation of zionism today. its just that from what i have listened to from zionists here, its very unintellectual regurgitated arguments which usually start at the holocaust, but im just really interested and invested in the situation and was hoping you could give me your perspective.

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From: Seth Feldman

To:Adam

Subject: re: zionism

Message:

Hi Adam,

I'm assuming you've heard the Palestinian perspective that Zionism is a selfish act where the Jews decided to take land from the Palestinians. You've heard it is racist, colonialist, apartheid, etc etc etc etc.

Those are pretty convincing. But only out of context.
When the Palestinians explain Zionism they explain it as if it took place in a vacuum. As if the only thing going on in the world was that Jews suddenly decided to take land from Arabs.
The truth is that Zionism is just the idea that Jews, after years and years of persecution and transience need a form of self-determination. The goal of Zionism is not to oppress or segregate. The goal is only that if Jews want to be self-determinate they can not be an extreme minority in every country and in every region. For example, Jews are about 2 percent of the population in the US. They aren't persecuted in the US, but they still have no control over their fate if the US decided to persecute them.

This may sound paranoid, but there is too much evidence out there proving that Jews need to be self-determinate in order to survive.

It is unfortunate that the creation of the Jewish state had to be created in a very hostile and monolythic region. A region that rejects outsiders and minorities. It is also a region that has official policies on treating its minorities as second class citizens. There is a reason why over 1 million Jews left all the Muslim countries immediately when Israel was declared independent. And it wasn't because the Arabs were so nice to them.

You can argue back and forth over who is the most violent and who is wrong. But when you come down to it, all Israel is about is giving Jews a way to be self-determinate and avoid another possibility of extinction.