Why Israel is a Jewish supremacist state
There is much I can agree with in Yoav Litvin’s article “The Zionist fallacy of Jewish supremacy“. Without a doubt, Zionism is a modern settler colonial movement which emerged in the twilight of the colonial era. It is also true that Zionism was a reaction to the anti-Semitism of the European colonial and racial movements of the late 19th century and it is equally true that Zionism’s reaction to anti-Semitism was to try and take advantage of it and harness it as an engine does with steam power.
It is also true that Zionism perceives Jews as a biological race. Because, what else is the myth of Jewish nationhood other than a racial one? Given that Jews are members of every nation on the Earth and speak most languages, what else but race binds them according to Zionist folklore?
I also agree with Litvin that Zionism mercilessly exploits and uses Judaism or parts of it in order to justify its racist and indeed genocidal practices. On all this and more we agree and yet I cannot concur with the idea that Zionism in the form of the Israeli state is a Jewish supremacist state. This flies in the face of the evidence.
It is of course true that within the Israeli Jewish population, there is discrimination against the Sephardi/Misrahi Jews and even more against the Falashas (Ethiopian) Jews. But while intra-Jewish racism exists, the major division within the Israeli society is not between black and white, but between Jewish and non-Jewish, and in particular between Israeli Jewish and Palestinian. That is inescapable.
The Law of Return allows Jews of any colour to emigrate to Israel anytime they want. That is not a right which non-Jews - black or white - possess. Only Jews can be nationals in Israel and some 93 percent of Israeli land is Jewish national land from which non-Jews are legally barred from. Of course, the best land in Israel is reserved for the Ashkenazim. So yes, Zionism is certainly tainted by white supremacy, but this is a secondary, not primary, feature.
We can see this politically. The Sephardic Jews vote for the openly racist and nationalist parties whereas the Ashkenazi or a (diminishing) section of them vote for the nominally “leftist” Zionists of the Israeli Labour Party and Meretz. What we see in Israel is a phenomenon known to the Deep South of the United States. The Sephardic or Arab Jews display what is known as the poor white mentality. Yes, they are oppressed by their white Jewish brothers, but that only intensifies their hatred of the Arabs and Palestinians.
Zionism from the very beginning made enormous compromises with what became the religious Zionist sector. It did this because religion was and is a powerful form of legitimation of the Zionist claim to Palestine. In 1949, when David Ben Gurion, leader of Israel’s Labour Party, had a majority of 65 out of 120 Knesset seats with the leftist Zionist Mapam Party, he chose to form a coalition with the National Religious Party (NRP). From 1949 to 1977, Israel was ruled continuously by coalitions of the Labour and religious Zionist parties.
Since the creation of Israel, the Orthodox rabbinate has had exclusive control over the question of who is a Jew. All personal matters, from birth to marriage to death, are in the hands of its representatives; Reform Rabbis do not get a look in. Why? Because Israel is a state based on the concept of the Jewish “race”, in the same way in South Africa to define who was part of the white race.
South Africa had the Population Registration Act and Israel has the Law of Return, each with its own “race experts”. In Israel, it is the rabbis who decide who is and who is not Jewish.
In a 2016 survey by Pew Research Center, one of the more interesting yet least commented upon findings was that 46 percent of Israeli Jews saw themselves as Jewish first and 35 percent saw themselves as Israeli first, but 79 percent agreed that Jews should receive preferential treatment. In other words, Israeli Jews have an identity crisis, which is not surprising since Israel itself doesn’t have a nationality but subscribes to the myth of one worldwide Jewish nation.