Originally posted by Shuckins
If Israel were to be suddenly and violently overthrown by its enemies, and a wholesale massacre of the Jewish population took place, western intellectual elites that have taken anti-Israel stands might be appalled by the slaughter but would write it off as the natural consequence of all the "repressive" acts the Israelis had "inflicted" on the Arabs since 1948.
Apalled as they may be, nothing would be done to prevent this from happening. This is why Israel give only limited attention to the opinion of the international community. It is good to be loved, but only interests and actions counts and it is clear that no foreign country will risk its interests for the sake of Israel, not even America. The "goim" will talk but the Jews will do what's good for the Jews - that was the mantra since early days of Zionist movement. Since the 1917 "Balfur statement" through the UN voting on a Jewish state in 1948 to the 2000 UN announcement of Israel's complete withdrawal from Lebanon, they were all just words in the wind. Eventually the zionists and Israelies had to act on their own behalf.
Originally posted by Neubob
WWII was the last straw, after which, it was clear, as it should have been long, long before, that a Jewish state was necessary for the long term survival of the Jewish ethnicity.
The ultimate counter argument is that Jews have survived 2000 without a country - maybe they don't need one. For the anti-zionist Jews being prosecuted as a jew is part of being a jew. The occasional disasters hurt the Jews, but cannot destroy them. Being scattered all over the globe is both the insurance of Jewish future and a source of power. Their oppinion of a Jewish state was like putting all the eggs in one basket - easier to kill when all together.
The idiological pillars of the zionist movement were the claim that a Jew is a nationality and that Jews deserve control over their own individual safty (not survival of the Jews) and destiny, meaning a Jewish state.
WWII was a big push for the Jewish state idea for 3 reasons (that I see):
One, the anti zionist movement led by German Jews was erradicated by the Nazies.
Two, Jews discovered that a large portion of europians would gladly backstab a jew in the right circumstances. I have old family members that can tell wonderful stories about their Dutch, Polish, Ukrain and Russian neighbors during WWII. My grandfather made his peace with modern Germany but still hates the Polish for what they did to him.
Three, for most of the europian countries, a Jewish state was both a way to clear their concience and an oppertunity to get rid of their Jews in a nice, easy way.
