Zionist Amnesia

The following sentence encapsulates the gist of a liberal Zionist critique of Israel which appeared on the opinion page of today's Sydney Morning Herald:

"The current government is attempting to redefine Israel's raison d'etre as one premised on racism and prejudice towards Arabs." (Those who speak out against oppression the true patriots, Assa Doron)

The statement, of course, is ludicrous in the extreme, implying as it does that prior to the election of Netanyahu, Israel's raison d'etre was not premised on racism and prejudice towards Arabs.

This can only mean that prior to the election of Netanyahu, Doron, described as "an Israeli-Australian academic and fellow in the school of culture, history and language at the Australian National University," had been in a coma, from which he'd emerged, on election day, an amnesiac.

How, otherwise, to explain his seeming total ignorance of the Zionist project in Palestine since its very conception in the mind of its founder, Theodor Herzl, who wrote in his diary the fateful words: "We shall try to spirit the penniless [Arab] population [of Palestine] across the border... while depriving it employment in our country."

To redefine Israel's raison d'etre as one not premised on racism and prejudice towards Arabs, Israel has to first be de-Zionised, which is to say de-colonized. The legacy of Herzl has to go.