ZIONISM: A SECULAR NATIONALISM THAT BETRAYED JUDAISM

Zionism was brought to the world agenda in the latter part of the nineteenth century by Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), an Austrian Jewish journalist. Both Herzl and his comrades were people with very weak religious beliefs, if any at all. They saw "Jewishness" as the name of a race, not as a community of belief. They suggested that the Jews were a separate race from European nations, that it was impossible for them to live together, and that it was essential they establish their own homeland. They did not rely on religious thinking when deciding where that homeland should be. Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, once thought of Uganda, and this became known as the "Uganda Plan." The Zionists later decided on Palestine. The reason for this was Palestine was regarded as "the Jews' historical homeland," rather than for any religious significance it had for them.

The farmer and the Wailing Wall on this flier, which depict the Zionist leaders Max Nordau, Theodor Herzl, and Prof. Mandelstamm, represent the "Zionist Dream."

The Zionists made great efforts to get other Jews to accept these non-religious ideas. The new World Zionist Organization undertook vast propaganda work in almost all countries with Jewish populations, and began to suggest that Jews could not live peacefully with other nations and that they were a separate "race." Therefore, they had to go and settle in Palestine. Most Jewish communities ignored these calls.

According to Israeli statesman Amnon Rubinstein: "Zionism (was) a revolt againt their (Jews') fatherland and the synagouge of the Rabbis".15 Thus many Jews criticized the ideology of Zionism. Rabbi Hirsch, one of the foremost religious leaders of the time, said, "Zionism wants to define the Jewish people as a national entity ... which is a heresy."16

The famous French Muslim thinker Roger Garaudy writes this on the subject:

The worst enemy of the prophetic Jewish faith is the nationalist, racist and colonialist logic of tribal Zionism, born of the nationalism, racism and colonialism of 19^th century Europe. This logic, which inspired all the colonialisms of the West and all its wars of one nationalism against another, is a suicidal logic. There is no future or security for Israel and no peace in the Middle East unless Israel becomes "dezionized" and returns to the faith of Abraham, which is the spiritual, fraternal and common heritage of the three revealed religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.17

In this way, Zionism entered world politics as a racist ideology maintaining that Jews should not live with other nations. First of all, this mistaken idea created grave problems for and pressure on Jews living in the diaspora. Then for Muslims in the Middle East, it brought the Israeli policy of occupation and annexation, together with poverty, terror, bloodshed and death.

In short, Zionism was actually a form of secular nationalism that stems from secular philosophies, not from religion. However, as in the case of other versions of nationalism, Zionism also attempted to use religion for its own ends.

Misinterpretation of the Torah by Zionists

The Torah is a holy book God revealed to Prophet Musa. God says in the Qur'an: "We sent down the Torah containing guidance and light..." (Qur'an, 5:44). The Qur'an also says that the Torah was later distorted by incorporating human words. That is why what we have today is the "Distorted Torah."

However, a close examination reveals the existence of many of the religious truths contained in this once-revealed Book, such as faith in God, submission to Him, being grateful to Him, fear of God, love of God, justice, compassion, mercy, opposing cruelty and injustice, all of which prevail throughout the Torah and the other books of the Old Testament.

Apart from this, the wars that occurred in history and the resulting carnage are related in the Torah. If people want to find a basis - although by distorting the facts - for the cruelty, massacres, and murders, they can well take these sections as references. Zionism resorts to this very method to legitimize its terrorism, which is actually a fascist terrorism. And, it has become quite succesful. For instance, it has used the sections related to war and massacre to legitimize its massacres of innocent Palestinians. This is a deliberately distorted interpretation, however. Zionism uses religion to legitimize its fascist and racist ideology.

The Zionists also base their claims on their own interpretations of verses that deal with the "chosenness" that God had once granted the Jews. Several Qur'anic verses deal with this subject:

O Tribe of Israel, remember the blessing I conferred upon you and that I preferred you over all other beings. (Qur'an, 2:47)

We gave the Book and Judgment and Prophethood to the tribe of Israel, provided them with good things, and favored them over all other people. (Qur'an, 45:16)

The Qur'an explains how at one time God blessed the Jews, and how at another time He made them dominant over other nations. But these verses do not implicate "chosenness" in the sense that radical Jews understand. They point to the fact that many prophets came from this line, and that Jews ruled a large area at that time. The verses explain that, by virtue of their position of authority, they "were favored over all other people." When they rejected Jesus, this characteristic also came to an end.

The Qur'an states that chosenness is for prophets and the believers whom God guided to truth. The verses relate that the prophets were chosen, impelled to the right path, and were blessed. Following are some of the verses that deal with this topic:

Who would deliberately renounce the religion of Ibrahim except someone who reveals himself to be a fool? We chose him in this world, and in the hereafter he will be one of the righteous. (Qur'an, 2: 130)

And some of their forebears, descendants and brothers; We chose them and guided them to a straight path. That is God's guidance, and He guides by it those of His servants whom He wills. If they had associated others with Him, nothing they did would have been of any use. They are the ones to whom We gave the Book, Judgment, and Prophethood. If these people reject it, We have already entrusted it to a people who did not. (Qur'an, 6:87-89)

Those are some of the Prophets whom God has blessed, from the descendants of Adam and from those We carried with Nuh, and from the descendants of Ibrahim and Isra'il, and from those We guided and chose. When the Signs of the All-Merciful were recited to them, they fell on their faces, weeping, prostrating. (Qur'an, 19:58)

But radical Jews, relying on distorted explanations, saw "chosenness" as a racial characteristic and therefore came to consider every Jew superior by birth and that the Children of Israel are forever considered superior to all other peoples.

The second great perversion in this viewpoint is presenting this alleged superiority as "an order to practice brutality on other nations." To this end, Zionists justify their behavior by some of the age-old hatreds that can be found in some aspects of Talmudic Judaism. According to this view, it is ordinary for Jews to deceive non-Jews, to plunder their property and real estate, and, when necessary, even to kill them, women and children included.18 In reality, all of these are crimes that violate true religion, for God commands us to preserve justice, honesty, and the rights of the oppressed, and to live in peace and love.

Moreover, such anti-gentile remarks contradict the Torah itself, such as those verse that condemn violence and cruelty. However, Zionism's racist ideology ignores such verses in order to create a belief system based upon resentment and rage. Rather than falling under the influence of Zionist ideology, those Jews who genuinely believe in God will realize that their religion tells them to abide by those other verses that praise peace, love, mercy, and ethical behavior, such as:

You shall do no injustice in judgment: you shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go about as talebearer among your people;nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. (Old Testament, Leviticus, 19:15-17)

He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you. But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? (Old Testament, Micah, 6:8)

You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house... (Old Testament, Exodus, 20:13-17)

According to the Qur'an as well, war is essentially a means of defense. Even if war has been declared on a community, the lives of innocents and the rule of law must be protected. An order to murder women, children, and the elderly cannot be sanctioned by any religion, but only by fabrications masquerading as religion. In the Qur'an, God not only condemns this type of animosity, but declares that all people are equal in His eyes and that superiority is based not on race, line, or any other earthly quality, but on righteousness - love for and nearness to God.

O mankind, We created you from a male and female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you might come to know each other. The noblest among you in God's sight is the one of you who best performs his duty. God is All-Knowing, All-Aware. (Qur'an, 49:13)

Apart from its false religious mask, the real reason for Zionism's barbarism and ruthlessness is its connection to nineteenth-century Europe's colonial mentality. Colonialism is not merely a political or economic system; it is simultaneously an ideology. Zionism, which believes that the industrialized nations of the West have the right to colonize and occupy the backward nations of this region, sees this as a natural result of an international "natural selection" process. In other words, Zionism is a product of Social Darwinism. Within the framework of this ideology, England colonized India, South Africa, and Egypt, and France colonized Indochina, North Africa, and Guyana. Inspired by these examples, Zionists decided to colonize Palestine for the Jews.

Zionist colonialism turned out to be far worse than its British or French counterparts, for at least they allowed their colonies to live (after they submitted) and even contributed to their colonies' education, fair administration, and infrastructure. But, as we will see later, the Zionists do not recognize the right of the Palestinians to live; they practice ethnic cleansing, and contribute nothing to those people under its domination. You might even say they have not laid even one brick for the Palestinians.

Zionism's Clash with the Jews

Another characteristic of Zionism is its reliance upon false propaganda themes, perhaps the most important of which is the slogan "a land without people for a people without land." In other words Palestine, the "land without people" must be given to the Jews, "the people without land." In the first 20 years of the twentieth century, the World Zionist Organization used this slogan insistently to convince European governments, principally England, and their people that Palestine should be given to the Jews. In 1917, as a result of this persuasion campaign, England announced in its Balfour Declaration that "His Majesty's Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people… in Palestine."

In fact, the slogan "a land without people for a people without land" was untrue. When the Zionist movement began, the Jews were not "without land," nor was Palestine without people…

The Jews were not without land, because most of them were living in various countries in peace and security. Especially in industrialized Western countries, Jewish congregations had no complaints about their lives. For most of them, the idea of leaving their countries to emigrate to Palestine had never entered their minds. This fact would emerge later when the Zionists' calls for "Migration to Palestine" were largely ignored. In later years, the anti-Zionist Jews in question actively resisted the Zionist movement through their own associations.

Having received the official support of the Balfour Declaration, the Zionists found themselves in a difficult position when many fellow Jews refused to emigrate. In this context, the words of Chaim Weizmann are quite striking:

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 was built on air … every day and every hour of these last 10 years, when opening the newspapers, I thought: Whence will the next blow come? I trembled lest the British Government would call me and ask: "Tell us, what is this Zionist Organization? Where are they, your Zionists?" … The Jews, they knew, were against us; we stood alone on a little island, a tiny group of Jews with a foreign past.19

The letter sent by then-Foreign Secretary of England Sir Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild became known as the "Balfour Declaration." The original letter is pictured at right; Sir Balfour, above.

Thus the Zionists began to engage in "special activities" to "encourage" Jewish migration to Palestine, even force when necessary, such as harassing Jews in their home countries and cooperating with anti-Semites to ensure that governments would expel their Jews. (See Harun Yahya's The Holocaust Violence, Vural Yayincilik, Istanbul, 2002.) Thus Zionism developed as a movement that harrassed and terrorized its own people.

Approximately 100,000 Jews emigrated to Palestine between 1920-29.20 If one considers that there were about 750,000 Palestinians at that time, then 100,000 is certainly no small number. The Zionist organizations had complete control over this migration. Jews who set foot in Palestine were met by Zionist groups, who determined where they would stay and what type of work they would do. This migration was encouraged by Zionist executives with various incentives. As a result of intense work throughout Palestine, Europe, and Russia, the Jewish population in Palestine recorded extensive growth in terms of numbers and settlements. With the Nazi Party's rise to power, Jews in Germany were subjected to ever-increasing pressure, a development that further accelerated their migration to Palestine. The fact that the Zionists supported the Nazi suppression of Jews is a fact, and yet remains one of history's best-kept secrets. (See Harun Yahya's The Holocaust Violence, Vural Yayincilik, Istanbul, 2002.)

Zionism's Clash with the Arabs

Zionists undoubtedly saved the worst cruelty for the people who belonged to a "land without people": the Palestinians. From the day Zionism entered Palestine, its adherents have sought to destroy the Palestinians. To make room for the migrating Jews, whether influenced by Zionist ideals or afraid of anti-Semitism, the Palestinians were constantly pressured, exiled, and kicked out of their homes and lands. This movement to occupy and exile, accelerated by the founding of Israel in 1948, destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. To this day, about 3.5 million Palestinians still struggle for their lives as refugees under the most difficult conditions.

Ever since the 1920s, the Zionist-organized Jewish migration has steadily changed Palestinian demographics and has been the most important cause of the ongoing conflict. Statistics related to the increase in the Jewish population readily attest to this fact. These figures are an important demonstration of how a colonial power from abroad, one with no legal right to the land in question, came to rob the rights of the indigenous population.

According to official records, the number of Jewish immigrants to Palestine increased from 100,000 in the 1920s to 232,000 in the 1930s.21 As of 1939, the Palestinian population of 1.5 million included 445,000 Jews. Their numbers, which had represented just 10% of the population 20 years earlier, now accounted for 30% of the population. Jewish settlements also expanded rapidly, and by 1939 the Jews owned twice the amount of land that they had owned in the 1920s.

As of 1947, there were 630,000 Jews in Palestine and 1.3 million Palestinians. Between November 29, 1947, when Palestine was partitioned by the United Nations, and May 15, 1948, Zionist terrorist organizations captured three-fourths of Palestine. During this time, the number of Palestinians living in 500 cities, towns, and villages dropped from 950,000 to 138,000 as a result of attacks and massacres. Some were killed; others were exiled.22

In explaining the occupationist policy adopted by Israel in 1948, the famous Israeli revisionist Ilan Pappe spoke of a secret, unwritten plan to drive the Arabs from Palestine. According to this plan, any Arab village or neighborhood that would not surrender to the Jewish forces, that would not raise the white flag, would be uprooted, destroyed and the people expelled. After this decision was implemented, only four villages rose the white flag; all other towns and villages were potentially an object of expulsion.23

In this way, 400 Palestinian villages were wiped off the map during 1948-49. The property left behind by the Palestinians was seized by the Jews, by virtue of the Absentee Property Law. Until 1947, Jewish land ownership in Palestine was some 6%. By the time the state was formally established, it had sequestered 90% of the land.24

Groups of illegal immigrants organized by Zionist leaders managed to reach Palestine despite serious obstacles.

Every new consignment of Jews meant new cruelty, pressure, and violence for the Palestinians. In order to settle the newcomers, Zionist organizations used pressure and force to drive Palestinians from their land, which they had inhabitated for centuries, and into the desert. Joseph Weitz, the head of the Israeli government's transfer committee of 1948, wrote in his diary in December 20, 1940:

It must be clear that there is no room for both peoples in this country. No development will bring us closer to our aim, to be an independent people in this small country. After the Arabs are transferred, the country will be wide open for us;with the Arabs staying, the country will remain narrow and restricted. The only way is to transfer the Arabs from here to neighboring countries, all of them. Not a single village, or a single tribe must be left.25

Heilburn, the chairman of the committee for the re-election of General Shlomo Lahat, the mayor of Tel Aviv, expressed the Zionist view of the Palestinian people in these words: "We have to kill all the Palestinians unless they are resigned to live here as slaves."26 The flood of immigrants brought on by the outbreak of World War II made the Palestinians aware of what was happening, and so they started to resist these unjust practices. But every resistance movement was put down quite violently by British forces. The Palestinians found themselves under pressure from Zionist terrorist organizations on the one hand, and from British soldiers on the other. In other words, they were subjected to a two-pronged seige.

The picture to the left shows Jews emigrating to Palestine in 1930. The picture above shows Jews arriving in 1947. Before the Palestinians understood what these migrations would mean for their future, the population ratio in the region had shifted in favor of the Jews.

1) The country where the migration began 2) The number of Jewish migrants 3) The end of the migration The immigration program organized by Zionist leaders was put into action with surprising speed, starting in the early 1900s. Jews immigrating from North Africa, the USSR, and various Middle Eastern countries shifted the population ratio in Palestine in favor of the Jews.

During the British Mandate, more than 1,500 Palestinians fighting for their independence were killed in attacks coordinated by British soldiers. In addition, quite a few Palestinians were arrested by the British for opposing the Jewish occupation. The pressure of the British government caused serious hardship for them. But the Zionists' terrorism was incomparably more ruthless. Zionist brutality, which exploded with the end of the British Mandate, included the burning of villages; the execution-style shooting of women, children, and the elderly; the torture of innocent victims; and the rape of women and girls.

Approximately 850,000 Palestinians who could not stand this oppression and cruelty left their land and homes behind and settled in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and along the borders of Lebanon and Jordan. About a million Palestinians still live in those refugee camps, while another 3.5 million live as refugees far away from their homeland.

Palestinian Lands Are Divided Up 1) British territory 2) Arab territory 3) Jewish territory 4) International territory When Palestine came under British control following World War I, a large wave of Jewish migration to the area began. This migration gradually led to an increase in tension. During this period, several commissions were established to determine how the Jews and the Palestinians would share the land. The best-known of these were the Peel Commission, headed by England's former Foreign Secretary for India Lord Earl Peel, and the Morrison-Grady Commission, formed through an American-British partnership. The Peel Commission recommended that the British Mandate be lifted and that the region be divided between the two groups. Only Jerusalem and Haifa would remain under British control and would be open to international observation. The Morrison-Grady Plan recommended that Palestine be divided into four separate cantons. However, members of these commissions did not consider that the land that they were trying to divide up had belonged to the Palestinian people for centuries, and that no one had the right to force them to share it against their will.

English police intervened forcefully when Palestinians protested the rapidly increasing Jewish immigration. As a result of this clash in Jaffa in 1933, 30 Palestinians died and 200 more were injured.

Palestinians who live in refugee camps today have difficulty meeting even the most basic needs, can use water and electricity only when Israel allows it, and travel many miles to work for very low wages. For those who go to work or to visit relatives who live in a nearby refugee camp, the trip should take no more than 15 minutes. However, the whole event often turns into a nightmare due to ID checks at frequent checkpoints, where soldiers on duty subject them to verbal and physical harassment, patronization, and humiliation. They cannot get from point A to point B without a passport. And because Israeli soldiers often close roads for "security" reasons, Palestinians often cannot go to their jobs, the places they want to go, or even to the hospital when they are sick. Moreover, people living in the refugee camps live daily with the fear of being bombed, killed, wounded, and arrested, because the fanatical Jewish settlements surrounding the camps constitute a real threat due to the harassment and attacks launched by their fanatic Jewish inhabitants.

Of course, being kicked out of one's home and forced to leave one's native land results in a number of difficulties. However, it is God's pattern. Throughout history, Muslim communities have been driven from their homes and subjected to various types of pressure, torture, and threats by non-believers. Cruel leaders or peoples who come to power often drive innocent people from their homes merely because of their ancestry or beliefs. What Muslims in many countries, as well as the Palestinians, have endured is revealed in the Qur'an. But God helps all those who remain patient, show morality, and refuse to give in to intimidation despite experiencing hardship. As God states in the Qur'an:

Their Lord responds to them:"I will not let the deeds of any doer among you go to waste, male or female - you are both the same in that respect. Those who emigrated and were driven from their homes and suffered harm in My Way and fought and were killed, I will erase their bad actions from them and admit them into Gardens with rivers flowing under them, as a reward from God. The best of all rewards is with God." (Qur'an, 3:195)

Thus the day will come when all Palestinians will live in peace, security, and brotherhood. But this will be possible only by spreading the Qur'an's morality among people, for such morality is forgiving and tolerant; defends peace; emphasizes love, respect, and mercy; and its adherents compete with each other to do good works. Where this morality prevails, violence and strife cannot exist. And what is more, when this morality is experienced thoroughly, the Muslims' solidarity will increase and they will achieve the strength to wage an intellectual struggle against cruelty. Therefore, implementing the Qur'an's system of ethics will lead to the end of cruelty not only in Palestine, but throughout the world. The responsibility of Muslims is to spread these ethics.

Jewish immigrants indoctrinated with the slogan "Everyone should work with one hand, and hold a weapon with the other" soon took up their positions in the Zionist movement. While some were organizing protests with signs saying "Jerusalem is ours," others were bombing Palestinian villages.

In the coming chapters, we will examine more closely the pain and difficulty experienced over the years by the Palestinian refugees. But before we do so, we will address Zionist terror and the techniques used to drive the Palestinians from their homes.

15- Amnon Rubinstein, The Zionist Dream Revisited, p. 19
16- Washington Post, October 3, 1978
17- Roger Garaudy, "Right to Reply: Reply to the Media Lynching of Abbe Pierre and Roger Garaudy", Samizdat, June 1996
18- For Talmud's anti-gentile remarks, see Israel Shahak, Jewish History, Jewish Religion:, The Weight of Three Thousand Years (AMEU: 1994)
19- United Nations Report, "The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem 1917-1988," New York, 1990, emphasis added.
20- British Government, The Political History of Palestine under the British Administration, (Memorandum to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine) Jerusalem, 1947, p. 279.
21- Royal Institute of International Affairs, Great Britain and Palestine, (London, Chatham House: 1946), p. 61.
22- Ralph Schoenman, The Hidden History of Zionism, (Veritass Press: 1988), emphasis added
23- Baudouin Loos, "An Interview of Ilan Pappe," November 29 1999, http://msanews.mynet.net/Scholars/Loos/pappe.html.
24- Weite Diary, A 24617, entry dated 20 December 1940, Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, pp. 1090-1091.
25. Uri Davis, Israel: An Apartheid State (London and New Jersey, Zed Books: 1987), Introduction, emphasis added.
26. Schoenman, The Hidden History of Zionism, emphasis added.