On Sunday, 6 May, Dr Colin Shindler spoke about his latest and most thought-provoking book, What do Zionists Believe?, at Hashomer House. The book was published by Granta earlier this year.
Addressing a packed house, Colin initially surveyed relations between Jews and the left generally, and how these have changed over time - sometimes dramatically. He then focused more particularly on divisions within the British Jewish left, between supporters of a Zionist "national left" approach, on the one hand, and those who adopt a more decidedly anti-Zionist or anti-Israeli stance, on the other.
During the lively question and answer session that followed the formal address, a whole host of other topics were raised. What, for instance, actually constitutes the core of Zionism? How has the term been re-interpreted, understood, misunderstood, or even misappropriated, after the creation of the State of Israel in 1948?
Sometimes, Dr Shindler argued, professions of anti-Zionism do act as a smokescreen for veiled anti-Semitism. Nor is this entirely surprising: even in the 19th century certain leading leftist ideologues espoused anti-Jewish feeling. But we should be very wary of saying that the two "antis" (i.e. anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism) are always one and the same.
Likewise, as he suggested in his conclusion, fighting assertively for the creation of a Palestinian state was by no means a negation of Zionism. On the contrary, he seemed to suggest, an authentic Zionism undermines its legitimacy as a belief system if it does not demand full political rights for Palestinians too.
Throughout, Colin proved himself adept at fielding inquiries from all quarters. Quite an achievement in what is, by definition, an endlessly complex field!
We feel privileged to have benefited from his extraordinary breadth of historical knowledge, and also his ability to analyse and put in context difficult and challenging concepts.
Dr Shindler is Chair of the Centre for Jewish Studies and Reader in Israeli and Modern Jewish Studies at SOAS (the School of Oriental and African Studies), London University. He holds a BSc from Leicester University, an MSc from North London University, and a PhD from Middlesex University.
Shindler oversees an MA in Israeli Studies within SOAS Department of the Languages and Cultures of the Middle East. See http://www.soas.ac.uk/studying/courseinfo.cfm?courseinfoid=115
Apart from chapters in other books, and numerous journal articles, Dr Shindler has also written The Land Beyond Promise: Israel, Likud and the Zionist Dream (I.B. Tauris, 2002), Israel, Likud and the Zionist Dream: Power, Politics and Ideology from Begin to Netanyahu (I.B. Tauris, 1995), and Ploughshares into Swords? Israelis and Jews in the Shadow of the Intifada (I.B. Tauris, 1991).
The following is taken from a review of his latest book, What do Zionists Believe, as published on the website News from Nowhere:
Zionism was a movement of national liberation. It sought to establish a permanent home for the Jewish people where they could attain political independence and instigate a national renaissance. Some Zionists were inspired by a vision of religious redemption and the onset of the messianic age. For others it represented the construction of a perfect society. Others aspired to the more modest creation of a modern technological, capitalist state. The Hebrew Republic which came into being in May 1948 embellished all these possibilities. Today thirty-eight per cent of all Jews live in Israel.
The tragedy of Zionism was that it arose during the same period of history as Arab nationalism - and in the same land. Our perception of what it stood for and how it came about has been shaped and distorted by the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Colin Shindler explains the evolution of Zionism as a unique ideology and provides a clear and perceptive analysis of its ideas.
View Image Colin Schindler in full explanatory motion at Meretz