Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism

May 13, 2011

by occupiedpalestine 0 Comments

As an idea, a Jewish homeland was always controversial. As a reality, Israel still is – and it is not anti-Jewish to say so

Brian Klug | The Guardian, Wednesday 3 December 2003 02.18 GMT

From the beginning, political Zionism was a controversial movement even among Jews. So strong was the opposition of German orthodox and reform rabbis to the Zionist idea in the name of Judaism that Theodor Herzl changed the venue of the First Zionist Congress in 1897 from Munich to Basle in Switzerland.Twenty years later, when the British foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour (sponsor of the 1905 Aliens Act to restrict Jewish immigration to the UK), wanted the government to commit itself to a Jewish homeland in Palestine, his declaration was delayed – not by anti-semites but by leading figures in the British Jewish community. They included a Jewish member of the cabinet who called Balfour’s pro-Zionism “anti-semitic in result”.

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