Democratic Palestine : 1 (ص 33)
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- Democratic Palestine : 1 (ص 33)
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Anti-Zionist Interviews
The following are interviews made with anti-Zionist Jews at the UN International Conference on
the Question of Palestine, September 1983, in Geneva. The first is with Uri Davis, who revolted against
the reality he experienced growing up in the Zionist state. The second is with Alfred Lilienthal, who
rejected the tyranny of world Zionism as exercised in the United States. The viewpoints expressed in
the two interviews are not identical; nor do we agree on every point. However, we greatly value the
ideas contained in the interviews, both in terms of exposing Zionism, and as contributions to a dialogue
on how joint Arab-Jewish struggle can be realized for the sake of a democratic Palestine.
Alfred Lilienthal
“Israel's Flag
is not Mine”
For over thirty years, Alfred Lilienthal has been one of the
leading Jewish critics of Zionism in the US. He has lectured in 300
universities and some 250 cities around the country, each time fa-
cing local ‘Zionists’ attempts to cancel his lecture, because of their
fear of a Jew speaking out against Zionism. Being so outspoken has
put him in the center of controversy, and finally led to his being
excommunicated from the Jewish faith by a group of rabbis on the
grounds of lack of loyalty to ‘Israel’. He is the author of What Price
IsraelP, published in 1953, one of the best known books written by a
non - Arab on the question of Palestine, which has sold well over a
million copies in the Arab world. His other works include There
Goes the Middle East, The Other Side of the Coin and The Zionist
Connection. Alfred Lilienthal has visited the Middle East no less
than 23 times. The following is excerpts of our interview with him.
As an American anti-Zionist Jew,
can you give our readers an
idea of how you see the Zionist
movement and ideology, and
why you are anti-Zionist?
I am anti-Zionist because Zionism has
attempted to replace the faith of the
religion into which I was born, Judaism,
with a narrow, nationalist, chauvinist
movement of a political nature. This
disregards the basic principles of
Judaism. Number one: Without
righteousness and justice, there is no
Judaism. I am not the most religious
person in the world; I have respect for
my religion, and I believe that Zionism
is trying to replace Judaism. Number
two: Zionism is trying to push a double
loyalty on me. I am an American; my
only loyalty is to America. Zionism says:
Even if it is against the best interests of
the US, you have to support Israel. I
resent their political tyranny of trying to
saddle me with a double loyalty and
trying to speak in my name, saying that
all Jews are Zionists, and that if you're
not a good Zionist, you're not a good
Jew; therefore, we speak in your name,
we can decide the political policies; we
can decide when Israel is right or
wrong; youre just a follower; if you are
a Jew, then you follow the rabbi, you
follow the Jewish law...There was
something that rebelled in me. I don't
know what the lord inspired in me, but I
picked up my pen and wrote: Israel's
flag is not mine. Once I did that, I put
myself in a very difficult and
controversial position, and I have since
been fighting to prove I was right...
How do you see the distinction
between Zionism and Judaism?
Zionism is a_ political movement
which really started in 1893, when
Theodor Herzl wrote his book Den
Judenstat (The Jewish state). Then five
years later, in Basel, the first Zionist
Congress (was held), whose goal was to
recreate a Jewish state.
Judaism is a relationship between
man and God, nothing to do with
politics; it requires no loyalty to any
state. If you don't believe in any state,
you still can believe in Judaism, which is
a set of ethical concepts and principles
-justice, righteousness, belief in one god,
relationship between man and God,
man and man, and not between man
and state; that is political. Therefore, in
order to be a good Jew, one does not
have to be a good Zionist. As a matter of
fact, the basic ethics of Judaism have
been flouted by Zionism in_ their
treatment of the Palestinians, in their
aggressive wars....
Does that mean that the Jews all
over the world don't constitute a
nation?
I don't think they constitute 156
nations They are citizens in the
countries in which they live. The Jews
are not (a nation). This concept is wrong
in many ways. Zionists, echoed by
Begin, say we must go home; Judea and
Samaria are ours. This overlooks the
basic fact that the overwhelming
majority of Jews in the world never
came from the holy land. They are the
result of conversions of people, foreign
to the holy land, who wanted to practice
a religion based on one god. The only
religion at that time based on one god
was Judaism, so they adopted Judaism.
They may have been in Afghanistan;
they may have been in South America,
wherever. They were not a nationalist,
ethnic group. This myth that Begin and
the Zionists have tried to sell the world
is totally false and wrong.
This means that those Jews who
lived in Palestine before the
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