Post Zionism Post Holocaust

This book contains three essays that examine three forms of anti-Zionism and their use of the Holocaust to delegitimize Israel.

This book contains three independent essays, available in English for the first time, as well as a post-scriptum written for the English edition. The common theme of the three essays is the uses and abuses of the Holocaust as an ideological arm in the anti-Zionist campaigns. The first essay examines the French group of left-wing Holocaust deniers. The second essay deals with a number of Israeli academics and intellectuals, the so-called post-Zionists, and tries to follow their use of the Holocaust in their different attempts to demonize and delegitimize Israel. The third deals with Hannah Arendt and her relations with Zionism and the State of Israel as reflected in her general work and in Eichmann in Jerusalem; the views that she formulates are used systematically and extensively by anti- and post-Zionists. Yakira argues that each of these is a particular expression of an outrage: anti-Zionism and a wholesale delegitimation of Israel.

Discusses Chomsky's views on Zionism, Israel, and the Holocaust, as well as his relations with Holocaust revisionists in France and the USA (both extreme right and extreme left), and in particular with Faurisson. Chomsky has always justified his stance as a defense of freedom of speech. At the same time, he did not refrain from expressing his views in neo-Nazi and other radical publications. This fact, as well as an examination of his pronouncements and arguments, shows that antisemitism underlies his views. Examines the leftist, neo-Trotskyist intellectual tradition (the Marlenites, who, inter alia, claimed that the Nazis were not more criminal than the Allies), which influenced Chomsky's views on the Holocaust and Zionism, and recently found expression in the views of the leftist group and publishing house La Vieille Taupe. Compares the views of Holocaust deniers with those of the Marlenites and the post-Zionist and pro-Palestinian historians: if the latter groups had no malicious anti-Jewish intentions in their writings, Chomsky and Faurisson had. This edition includes a preface dealing, in particular, with the activities of Chomsky and his "accomplices" after 1988.

"Between these two points in time, Professor Gorny examines the intellectual and spiritual complexities in 'Public Thought', examining the topic of collective identity of the Jewish people throughout the world, focusing particularly on Jewish identity in the USA and Israel, and also touching on the Anglo-Jewish community. Taking a multi-dimensional approach, the author compares the thoughts and attitudes of various Jewish groups, and seeks to understand the ties that bind them through the prism of theological, academic, political and ideological discourse concerning the Holocaust and the State of Israel. This book raises an important issue: can the Jews, scattered around the free world, be a nation without their unique bipolar ethos? Can the Jewish people survive the trend towards universalism, which even now is undermining their unique ethnic status?"--BOOK JACKET.

A collection of interviews conducted by Gerstenfeld with Jewish historians and public figures. In a lengthy essay preceding the interviews (p. 10-90), "From the Aftermath of the Holocaust to Today's Antisemitism" [an abridged version appeared in "Jewish Political Studies Review" 14 (2002)], notes a number of issues relevant to assessing European postwar antisemitism: barriers placed in the way of survivors' reintegration into postwar society, problems related to financial and moral restitution, the reluctance of European states to punish war criminals and its relation to national myths that exculpate countries from responsibility for the Holocaust, the preservation or lack thereof of Holocaust memory and Holocaust education. Stresses the double standard adopted by European countries in regard to Israel, and antisemitism expressed in anti-Zionism. Presents brief reports on antisemitism in various countries and suggests that more research is needed to reveal connections between present and postwar antisemitism. Some of the interviews (which consist of quotes interspersed with Gerstenfeld's comments), were published previously. Contents:

The essays in this volume, by leading scholars from within and outside Israel, shed new light on the Israeli historians' controversy of the creation of the State of Israel, the 1948 War and its aftermath, Israel's attitude towards Holocaust survivors, the "melting pot" absorption policy and similar subjects. The attack on Zionist historiography, which initially came from what is dubbed the "post-Zionist" radical left, has recently broadened to include a critique from the right. These essays cover diverse aspects of the critique, exploring its historiographical, political, sociological and educational ramifications.

Holocaust Denial. The Politics of Perfidy provides a graphic and compelling global panorama of past and present variations on this toxic phenomenon. The volume examines right and left wing French negationism, post-Communist Holocaust deniers in Eastern-Europe, the spread of denial to Australia, Canada, South-Africa and even to Japan. Leading scholarly experts also explore the close connection between Holocaust denial, global conspiracy theories, antisemitism and radical anti-Zionism – especially in Iran and the Arab world.

An expose of the effects of Shabtai Tzvi, a 17th Century messiah, on the history of modern Israel. Discover who the modern players are, their politics involving Israel and the Jewish people, and their plans for the state of Israel and its people. The religious beliefs of the follows of Shabtai Tzvi continue to affect us today.