It seems clear now that the UN General Assembly Resolution 4686 of 1991, which revoked an earlier one equating Zionism with racism (the 1975 Resolution 3379), was a premature measure.
Kohout, whose country was the former rotating president of the European Union, is not a rare species in demanding to "understand what is meant" by the "Jewish state" precondition. One could not but recall the Venetian word "ghetto," once meant for the Jews of Europe. The Israeli leadership seems now in the grips of a "ghetto mentality" racing against the modern times of pluralism and coexistence, when nations are moving towards a globalized 21st-century identity of citizenship by allegiance, regardless of race, creed or gender, and at a time when the French translation of Israeli academic Shlomo Sand's "The Invention of the Jewish People" is granted this year's French prestigious Aujourd'hui Award for a book which argues that Zionism in modern times "invented" the concept of the "Jewish people" as well as their "imaginary" historical connection to Palestine.
1 | 2
