Re: good old israel
Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:40 pm
It used to mean someone who believe in creating a homeland for the Jews in what was Palestine, and is now Israel.
The modern definition is torn between right and left political interpretations:
I would take Zionism to mean occupation of the West bank settlements coupled with nationalism - and at worst, ethnic chauvinism; whereas the more Hawkish would take it to mean support of Israel. However, I don't object to Israel's existence as a state - just it's violence, and I object to Arabic violence towards Israel equally. That, to right-wingers would make me anti-Israel, which I'm not; to liberals it would make me anti-Zionist - which given the true meaning of the word, I'm not. It gets much more complicated, but that's the essence.
The modern definition is torn between right and left political interpretations:
I would take Zionism to mean occupation of the West bank settlements coupled with nationalism - and at worst, ethnic chauvinism; whereas the more Hawkish would take it to mean support of Israel. However, I don't object to Israel's existence as a state - just it's violence, and I object to Arabic violence towards Israel equally. That, to right-wingers would make me anti-Israel, which I'm not; to liberals it would make me anti-Zionist - which given the true meaning of the word, I'm not. It gets much more complicated, but that's the essence.