Author Archives: Ben Rich

I don’t know about you, but I find it rather irritating when some ‘patriot’ (sic) with a flag tells me what it means to be English.

I find it similarly galling to have explained to me what Zionism means and how it relates to my Judaism. These helpful Greens give me their definition of Zionism and tell me that it’s racist – but it’s ok, because there are plenty of ‘good’ Jews who are anti-Zionists.

But I still choose to call myself a Zionist.  And because Zionism, while not meaning the same as Judaism is deeply entwined with Judaism, I feel I have the right to define what I mean by it.

Every year, at my family seder and at millions of seders around the world, we Jews conclude with the words “next year in Jerusalem!”  For me, Jerusalem is a symbol of peace and belonging, for others – and imagine those who said it in the depths of the pogroms or it the Nazi camps – it may be a more literal aspiration for freedom and safety.

Zionism developed as a political movement towards the end of 19th century at a time whenwhat it meant to be a nation state was still under development.   In much of the world the artificial lines that divide countries were yet to be drawn.  In Europe, where the first Zionist congress was held in 1897, the map bore little resemblance to one that we might see today.   Those first Zionists were simply saying – as others around the world began to find a national as well as an ethic, religious or racial identity which they believed entitled them to a place to call home – that Jews too could share the same ambition.

And they looked to the land which had not just been a millennium long echo in their religious ceremonies and their holy book, but a continuous home to many Jews throughout the centuries, living in Jerusalem and Tzfat and elsewhere.  So, for them and for me, Zionism isthe national liberation movement of the Jewish people.

Now, I understand that international Marxism does not accept the idea of national borders, but for those that believe that the English and the French and the Americans and the Chinese have a right to their own nation state it makes no sense to argue that, uniquely, the Jews don’t and, furthermore, that even that aspiration is racist.

The Green party motion calls for the ‘end of Israel’.  It says Israel – not its Government,which I detest, nor its courts which have done much to hold that Government in check, nor its media which can sometimes be as critical of that government as the Guardian and the BBC – but the very country itself, Israel, has no right to exist.