Benjamin Netanyahu's Ideologically Dictated Worldview

Zionist attitudes have always helped promote a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy when it comes to anti-Semitism. It has always been in Israel's interest that it should thrive. And, lo and behold, Netanyahu's policies and actions (and those of other Israeli governments) have made what was indeed a declining phenomenon into a growing one. That being the case, Netanyahu reminds the world's Jews that Israel is "their home" and, for their own safety, it's time that they all return. Yet, as the Israeli philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz once remarked, Israel is the only place in the world where Jewish lives are in constant danger."

Part III - Just What Does Israel Have to Offer?

If Israel cannot offer a safer place for the world's Jews, what else does it have to offer? Zionists other than the prime minister, sensing the weakness of the safety argument, offer other rationales. Unfortunately, these rationales also turn out to be distorted by Zionist ideology. Take, for instance, Avinoam Bar-Yosef, president of the Jewish People Policy Institute, a Jerusalem-based research center. He asserts that "the raison d'etre of Israel is to create a place where Jews can have a better quality of Jewish life."

Let's think about this claim. What does "better quality of Jewish life" actually mean? If Mr. Bar-Yosef is referring to a Jewish religious life, then Israel offers a powerful orthodox (that is, fundamentalist) religious environment that most Western Jews would find unacceptable. Perhaps he means a Jewish social or cultural life? If so, Israel offers a version that is laced with racism and militarism. Bar-Yosef might find this scenario congenial, but how many other Jews would? And indeed, a very recent poll has suggested that close to an unprecedented 40% of Israeli Jews would move out of Israel if the opportunity to do so presented itself.

Then there is the Israeli professor Shlomo Avineri's declaration that "the legitimacy of Israel does not hinge on anti-Semitism. It hinges on the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in a Jewish state." One might agree that self-determination is a good thing overall, except where it leads to the creation of an apartheid-style racist environment. No one has a right to that sort of state.

Part IV - Conclusion

Prime Minister Netanyahu is the most publicly unpleasant Israeli leader since Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, both of whom were unrepentant terrorists. Netanyahu's repeated war mongering against Iran is a real embarrassment for anyone who is familiar with the facts. And then to see congresspeople and senators collectively jumping up and applauding the man's distortions is downright frightening.

It would appear that while Netanyahu certainly does not speak for all the Jews or even all Israeli Jews, he might, perversely, speak for most of the U.S. Congress. There are now bills in Congress demanding more sanctions against Iran and a congressional veto over any negotiated deal with that country. These bills represent the spread of Benjamin Netanyahu's obsessive delusions through the medium of the Zionist lobby's corruption of electoral politics.

Think of the Israeli prime minister as a Pied Piper, playing the hypnotic tunes of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and clash of civilizations down a dark and dismal road to war. He has most of Congress dancing behind him. Do the rest of us really want to follow?