Like carve out a place between Russia, Belarus and Ukraine in the former Pale of Settlement. Establish a bunch of Yiddish language schools there. Have it become a center of Jewish culture. Sure, there are already Ukrainians, Russians and Belorussians there but there were already people in the far east too.

  • LeninsBeard [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    While of course there's more to it that that including a colonial mindset and straight racism, I think it's fair to say it was a large part of the desire for a Jewish state. At the very least it was a driving factor for Theodore Herzl, the father of modern Zionism.

    Comparing antisemitism to natural disasters such as floods and saying that the only way to combat it is through fighting (presumably to create a "homeland"):

    In Paris, then, I gained a freer attitude toward anti-Semitism which I now began to understand historically and make allowances for.

    Above all, I recognized the emptiness and futility of efforts to “combat anti-Semitism.” Declamations made in writing or in closed circles do no good whatever; they even have a comical effect. It is true that in addition to careerists and simpletons there may be very stalwart people serving on such “relief committees.” These resemble the “relief committees” formed after—and before!—floods, and they accomplish about as much. The noble Bertha von Suttner is in error—an error, to be sure, which does her great honor—when she believes that such a committee can be of help. Exactly the case of the peace societies. A man who invents a terrible explosive does more for peace than a thousand gentle apostles.

    Saying that the "Jewish Question" will exist due to innate characteristics of Jewish people:

    The Jewish question exists wherever the Jews live, however small their number. Where it does not exist it is imported by Jew immigrants. We naturally go where we are not persecuted, and, still persecution is the result of our appearance...By persecution we cannot be exterminated...the strong Jews turn proudly to their race when persecution bursts out. Entire branches of Judaism may disappear, break away; the tree lives.

    And just for good measure, Jews as a sort of Ubermensch who would enlighten the entire world:

    The Jews who will it shall achieve their State. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and in our own homes peacefully die. The world will be liberated by our freedom, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind.

    So while I would say it's being reductive to say that the belief in antisemitism as an immutable characteristic was the driving force behind Zionism, I don't think it's necessarily being generous.

    • Vncredleader
      ·
      2 years ago

      Finkelstein talks about this a lot, the zionist idea of the uniqueness of the Jew and that genocide against them is an innate characteristic of the gentile