{"id":116424,"date":"2024-10-20T17:05:21","date_gmt":"2024-10-20T15:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=116424"},"modified":"2024-10-19T09:16:02","modified_gmt":"2024-10-19T07:16:02","slug":"20-05-107","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=116424","title":{"rendered":"The New Zionist Renaissance"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"center alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.reunion68.com\/Biuletyn\/img\/tablet-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"35%\" \/><\/a><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #000080;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #000080; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/sections\/news\/articles\/new-zionist-renaissance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The New Zionist Renaissance<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Shimon Refaeli<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 15px; background: #d0e6fa; width: 100%;\" \/>\n<div>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>The Zionist analysis of the conditions of modern Jewish life have once again been proved correct, both in Israel and in the diaspora. Here\u2019s what that means.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tablet-mag-images.b-cdn.net\/production\/ad8f7e099e4e80f1ff6c78de0ac7d85d48ba0984-3000x2000.jpg?w=1899&amp;auto=format&amp;dpr=1\" width=\"100%\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>A sign reading \u2018Chai [Life]: It means we will live,\u2019 designed by French artist Joann Sfar, is held during a rally against antisemitism in Paris, November 2023 \/ Victor Lochon\/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Image<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent \u201cIron Swords\u201d war have thrust profound philosophical and political questions to the forefront that will in turn shape the future of Zionism and with it, the fate of the Jewish people. What role should the State of Israel play in the life of the Jewish people? What is the meaning of Jewish consciousness in the life of the individual? What historical lessons should be learned from the events of the past year that might help ensure the survival of the Jewish nation?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Grappling with these questions has yielded an unequivocal conclusion: a resurgence of the relevance of the \u201cZionist idea\u201d in the 21st century, both in Israel and in the diaspora.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Since the dawn of the Jewish emancipation in the 18th century, the Jewish people have wrestled with the question of their collective fate. Some argued that Jews should strive for full cultural integration into non-Jewish society, while abandoning religious, social, and cultural traditions and instead adopting the customs of the host countries. Conversely, others contended that one should not trust foreign societies or rely on the aid of host nations during times of crisis. According to this view, the Jewish people should direct most of their resources and efforts toward building internal Jewish resilience\u2014culturally and politically. After the Holocaust, this debate was largely settled by the comprehensive vision of Zionism.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In addressing the distress among the Jews of Eastern Europe, and assimilation in the West, the Zionist movement sought to revitalize the Jewish people economically, socially, and most of all, politically and culturally. It aimed to ensure the continuity of an autonomous Jewish life through the ingathering of Jews to their ancestral homeland and the establishment of an independent sociopolitical base that would secure their existence, security, and well-being. Otherwise, assimilation within host societies and persecution from without would lead to their physical and spiritual destruction.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"PullQuote PullQuote--left flex flex-col items-center pt1_5 pb3 mt1_75 mb_75 border-bottom-black\">\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"PullQuote__text PullQuote--left__text text-center\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>What the rest of the world does and wants can never be our yardstick. Otherwise, we\u2019d all be dead.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The Holocaust proved the prescience of the Zionist prognosis, at least regarding physical existence in the diaspora, in such a definitive manner that even its most ardent proponents could not have dared to imagine. It became evident that the Jewish people could not count on help or shelter from other nations, but must rely solely on an independent army and state.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In the ensuing decades, as Jews integrated into Western society alongside the establishment of the State of Israel, these hard-learned truths began to fade. Many came to believe that this existential diagnosis was a relic of the past with no relevance to contemporary reality. Senior political and security figures, both from within the Israeli establishment and the international community, exerted significant influence on decision-makers in Jerusalem to rely on international guarantees for existential issues concerning security and well-being.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The attacks of Oct. 7 have once again thrown into stark relief the \u201cnormal\u201d historical condition of the Jews throughout history, including now. The attacks did not uncover unknown facts. However, only after their occurrence did these facts transform from abstract concepts into a bitter reality that could no longer be ignored. For many Israelis, Oct. 7 catalyzed an experiential and ideological shift in their fundamental beliefs, leading back to the Zionist idea.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<div class=\"Divider Divider--dotted-rule overflow-hidden\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">A first fact that events since Oct. 7 have reaffirmed is the Jewish people\u2019s status as a persecuted nation. The length and severity of this persecution over time represents a historical phenomenon unique to the Jewish people. From our identification as Hebrews in Egypt to our current designation as \u201csettlers\u201d in our own ancestral homeland, each century has witnessed persecution in various forms: slavery, exile, forced conversion, mass slaughter, pogroms, culminating in the Holocaust.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">While Israel\u2019s military and political triumphs had fostered a sense of security, Oct. 7 showed that sense of safety to have been an illusion. The harrowing scenes of helpless civilians seeking shelter from their attackers drew horrific comparisons to the Kishinev pogrom and the atrocities of the Holocaust. The overt efforts of the Palestinians, backed by Iran and other Muslim nations, to undermine Israel\u2019s existence, coupled with the entrenchment of antisemitism in the West, have reminded Jewish communities worldwide that their own security remains precarious.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Of course, the intense and uncompromising hostility in the Arab world toward Israel and the Jewish people is not new. Since World War I, there has been consistent opposition to Jewish settlement in the region, often manifested in appalling violence. However, in the years since the disengagement from Gaza in 2005, most of the Jewish population has been insulated from the Arab population around them. This successful separation reduced the idea of Arab hostility to an abstract political concept, even as it was understood that sooner or later, war could erupt anew, and that Arab intentions still included not only the erasure of the state but also the extermination of the Jewish population.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Nevertheless, a prolonged period of relative calm, roughly since the 2006 war in Lebanon, fostered an illusion of normalcy, deferring the moment of reckoning. Oct. 7 dispelled this illusion, revealing a harsh truth: In this generation, too, like in every generation before, the Jewish people confront enemies intent on their annihilation. Today, those enemies are actively working on seven fronts: in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">A second fact that has been underscored is that antisemitism continues to shape the Jewish people\u2019s relations with the rest of the world. This reality has shattered assumptions and forced a reevaluation of the Jewish position among other nations.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Prior to Oct. 7, many believed antisemitism was an anachronistic vestige of the dark era. The prevailing assumption was that the image of the educated, productive Jew\u2014well-integrated into Western culture and adhering to its values\u2014had decreased antisemitism toward Jews.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">We told ourselves, \u201cWe\u2019re different from our grandparents\u2014those diaspora Jews of yesteryear with their distinctive\u00a0<em>shtreimels<\/em>, caps, and long black coats. We\u2019re citizens of the global village, wearing sport shirts like the rest of the world, participating fully in Western culture.\u201d We believed our identity was shaped more by global culture than by tradition or nationhood. In academic and public discourse, questions like \u201cHow much longer can we keep playing the Jewish \u2018victim card\u2019 and presenting ourselves as victims because of our Jewishness? How long can we dwell on historical injustices?\u201d were commonplace.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">These thoughts had profound implications for our cultural identity. They led many of us to abandon our historical identification with the collective Jewish story. However, it became clear that antisemitism hadn\u2019t disappeared; it had merely receded temporarily from organized public political activity.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Since Oct. 7, antisemitism has resurged with terrifying intensity worldwide, shattering the illusion of \u201cnormalcy\u201d between Jews and other nations. The Israeli public has come to realize that hostility toward Jews and toward the Jewish state is a deeply rooted force that openly shapes the political positions of many countries. It turned out that the fact of our being Jews has meaning in the eyes of our enemies in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">These developments have led to a deep sense among Jews of betrayal by Western societies, the painful realization that what we\u2019re facing is antisemitism in contemporary guise, masquerading as opposition to Zionism and the State of Israel in the name of liberalism and humanism.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<div class=\"Divider Divider--dotted-rule overflow-hidden\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">It has become clear that no matter how we attempt to downplay our Jewish identity, \u201cenlightened\u201d nations continue to perceive us as \u201cthe other.\u201d The elite institutions of the West\u2014academia, media, and international justice organizations\u2014persist in applying double standards to the Jewish state. Let\u2019s examine some manifestations of this betrayal across various sectors.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In leading and prestigious universities, anti-Israel and anti-Jewish demonstrations force Jewish students to hide and conceal their religious identifiers. In humanities and social science faculties, antisemitism has manifested blatantly alongside so-called \u201canti-racist\u201d politics.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"PullQuote PullQuote--left flex flex-col items-center pt1_5 pb3 mt1_75 mb_75 border-bottom-black\">\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"PullQuote__text PullQuote--left__text text-center\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>The hope that becoming a \u2018normal people,\u2019 by integrating into global culture, would lead to acceptance and support from the \u2018enlightened world\u2019 has proved illusory.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"ArticleView__content-switch bradford text-article-body-md font-300 mxauto\">\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In the name of these values, some academics have justified atrocities by developing distorted social theories. They have crafted a version of Marxist theory positing that the world is dichotomously divided between oppressors and the oppressed, and then created a fake history in which the world\u2019s most persecuted people are magically transformed into the world\u2019s most noxious oppressors. They view Zionism as representing a white (false), colonialist (false), oppressive (false) movement against the native populations, when Jews are by any sane definition\u2014buttressed by thousands of years of written and material history\u2014the aboriginal population of the land.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Yet the purpose of these arguments is hardly to debate history, but rather to license terrorist violence against civilians. Consider renowned feminist scholar Judith Butler, who also serves as a philosophy professor at the University of California, Berkeley. In a shocking display of moral equivalence, following the Oct. 7 massacre, Butler questioned why Hamas should not be called an \u201carmed resistance movement\u201c instead of a terrorist organization. In 2006, she claimed \u201cHamas and Hezbollah should be understood as progressive social movements that are part of the global left,\u201d after Hezbollah\u2019s then-leader, Hassan Nasrallah, decreed in 2003 that gay individuals should face execution, claiming \u201cthey pose the primary threat to Lebanon.\u201d More recently, in April 2024, the IDF unveiled documents detailing Hamas\u2019 brutal treatment of gay people, including executions and torture-based interrogations. These practices implicated even high-ranking Hamas officials.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Views like Butler\u2019s, representative of a prevalent intellectual current in Western academia, reached their public zenith during a hearing in the U.S. Congress in December 2023. The presidents of America\u2019s leading universities\u2014Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, and MIT\u2014were questioned about antisemitism on campuses and the alarming calls for genocide and politicide emanating on campus. Harvard\u2019s president contended that such statements fall under \u201cthe university\u2019s commitment to freedom of expression.\u201d UPenn\u2019s president asserted that classifying these calls as bullying or violence \u201cdepends on their context.\u201d MIT\u2019s president argued that genocidal calls violate university policy only if directed at individuals, not as general statements.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">For nearly five hours, these academic leaders maneuvered, clumsily, around the explicit condemnation of calls for violence and genocide against the Jewish people. This moral paralysis was particularly glaring in comparison to their typically resolute stances on other moral issues in the sociopolitical sphere. It is impossible to imagine the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT spending hours justifying the legality of mass demonstrations on their campuses calling for the mass extermination of African Americans or gay and lesbian people. Apparently it was understood within leading Western academic institutions that Jews are considered oppressors even when they are being beheaded, raped, and burned alive.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Such responses engendered a profound sense of betrayal among Jewish academics worldwide. They also affected brilliant Jewish students worldwide who had comprised a significant percentage of these universities\u2019 student bodies and now found themselves compelled to confront the rising tide of antisemitism within their alma maters\u2014even as they were increasingly being pushed to the institutional margins, and seeing their numbers steadily reduced in what appears to be a campaign of active discrimination against Jews as \u201cwhite.\u201d Disgusted by what they were seeing, numerous Jewish alumni ceased donations to these elite institutions and resigned from their governing boards.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">These events triggered a profound identity crisis for many Jews who had integrated into diaspora societies, even at the highest levels. They experienced a jarring estrangement from their former associates, once viewed as exemplars of morality and integrity. This shift compelled them to reexamine their cosmopolitan identity and their social group affiliation, challenging long-held assumptions about their place in Western intellectual circles.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<div class=\"Divider Divider--dotted-rule overflow-hidden\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Nor can Jews reasonably look to \u201cinternational institutions\u201d such as the press, international bodies, and courts, to repair the injustices they suffer in their home countries.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">While Israelis are used to biased coverage, the comprehensive moral failure the international media has exhibited in its selective coverage and glaring omissions has been shocking. There are no more pretenses: the international media has overtly abandoned objective reporting and has failed to present Israel\u2019s position fairly to the global public.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The United Nations is even worse. On Oct. 27, 2023, the U.N. General Assembly condemned Israel and called for an \u201cimmediate and sustained\u201d humanitarian cease-fire and a \u201ccessation of hostilities\u201d by an overwhelming majority of 121 nations. This resolution conspicuously omitted Hamas\u2019 atrocities and disregarded the ongoing rocket barrage from Gaza into Israel concurrent with its issuance.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">A fortnight after the attack, U.N. Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres posited: \u201cThe attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation \u2026\u00a0Those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people \u2026 The relentless bombardment of Gaza by Israeli forces, the level of civilian casualties \u2026 are deeply alarming.\u201d This proclamation implicitly legitimized Hamas\u2019 atrocities while drawing a specious moral equivalence between the aggressors and Israel\u2019s defensive actions, which try to minimize civilian casualties.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Then there\u2019s the ICJ and ICC: South Africa and other nations appealed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging genocide in the Gaza Strip\u2014a charge with zero basis in reality.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Additionally, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has requested arrest warrants for Israeli and Palestinian leaders for war crimes, equating the leaders of a terrorist organization with those of a state defending itself against them. This equivalence is drawn while Israel strives to avoid harming innocent civilians with a success rate that exceeds that of any Western army in any urban war. Similarly, the prosecutor\u2019s allegation that Israel carried out a policy of \u201cstarvation of civilians\u201d is a demonstrable falsehood.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">These accusations against Israel again received backing from most of the international community, which expressed confidence in the objectivity of the courts\u2019 decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">One of the most striking revelations since Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 attack is the systematic use of rape and sexual violence as a military strategy. This was confirmed by multiple sources including survivor testimonies, rescuer reports, Hamas videos, and captured terrorists.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The conspicuous silence of human rights and women\u2019s rights groups regarding these atrocities, juxtaposed with their focus on the situation in Gaza, has intensified among the Israeli public the sense of betrayal by the international community, which otherwise purports to be concerned with issues like violence against women.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">On Oct. 13, UN Women issued a statement that read: \u201cUN Women condemns the attacks on civilians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and is deeply alarmed by the devastating impact on civilians including women and girls.\u201d This statement omitted any reference to the rapes or the abducted women. A week later, the organization published a second statement on \u201cthe devastating impact of the crisis in Gaza on women and girls,\u201d again ignoring the crimes committed against Israeli women. The message\u2014both to Israelis and the wider Jewish world, as well as to those who rejoice at the images of Israelis being murdered, raped, and traumatized\u2014are entirely clear. Jews simply don\u2019t count. Raping and murdering them is fine.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The sense of betrayal has been particularly painful for Israeli human rights activists who have worked closely with similar organizations worldwide. Professor Ruth Halperin-Kadari, head of the Rackman Center for the Advancement of Women\u2019s Status, who formerly served as vice chair of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.calcalist.co.il\/local_news\/article\/b1oo3ocgp\">articulated<\/a>\u00a0this sentiment eloquently last November. She noted that when similar crimes against women and children were committed by ISIS against Yazidi women, or in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bosnia, Rwanda, there was a standard response from the United Nations. \u201cWhat we went through on October 7 &#8230; the scale, the fact that it was part of a war plan, the extent of the atrocities\u2014it\u2019s more egregious than ISIS. As a dedicated defender and fervent believer in international law and the UN\u2019s role in protecting human rights, I feel betrayed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In a saner world, one that adheres to previously accepted international norms, these international institutions would have ruled to arrest Hamas leaders, who, implementing their movement\u2019s charter which calls for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews, began to carry out genocide for nearly half a day. They would have brought to justice Hamas terrorists who use civilians in Gaza as human shields and operate from hospitals, schools, U.N. shelters, mosques, and churches. Moreover, they would have condemned and ended all support to the movement\u2019s educators who have instilled generations with hatred for Israel. Instead, the terrorists were given employment at U.N. agencies and U.N.-run schools.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In the real world, Israel stands alone.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<div class=\"Divider Divider--dotted-rule overflow-hidden\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The surge of antisemitism and the political alienation of the State of Israel, as reviewed above, have been a wake-up call to Israelis and Jews alike to return to the core principles of Zionism:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">1. We must rely on independent Jewish defensive capabilities for our national security.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">2. We cannot escape the Jewish association. Individual fate is inextricably linked with the broader Jewish nation.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The events of Oct. 7 and the ensuing war have vividly illustrated and revalidated the relevance of the Zionist idea, that the Jewish condition cannot rely on the world\u2019s goodwill in times of crisis. We cannot expect democratic nations to stand with the only democratic state in the Middle East. And we must recognize, now more than ever, the state\u2019s crucial role in Jewish life.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Despite the Oct. 7 attack and the unleashing of antisemitism, Israel has given the Jewish people the ability to fight back. Today, we are no longer helpless nor are we a people at the mercy of foreign rulers. We are fighting, and we are winning. This moment of our isolation as a nation and as a people is also one of the greatest moments of pride and strength in our history.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">This is the essence of political Zionism, starkly revealed on Oct. 7: In the face of terror, the soldiers of the Jewish state regained their composure and fought back. Not since the days of Bar Kochba has there been such a potent Jewish response to existential threats.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">For 12 months, Israel has resolutely repelled those who seek its destruction, writing a new chapter, distinct from the chronicles of Jewish persecution. With our own hands we have now destroyed the entire leadership of Hezbollah, the largest terrorist organization on the planet. The Iran-sponsored organization had, over four decades, murdered hundreds of Americans and kidnapped foreigners, violated the sovereignty of nations near and far by committing large-scale atrocities and setting off bombs, with very few repercussions. Meanwhile, the world stood by mute. Now, it is Hezbollah\u2019s leaders who are mute.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Our adversaries make no distinction among Jews; the Oct. 7 atrocities transcended all sectors and was rooted in pure antisemitism. Recordings of the interrogations released by the Shin Bet revealed that the central motive of the attackers was that the victims were Jewish.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The perpetrators made no mention of their targets\u2019 sectoral affiliations\u2014whether they were settlers or kibbutz members, religious or secular, conservatives or progressives. Non-Jewish individuals, too, were condemned to death, their fate sealed by the perception of their complicity with the Jewish populace. Echoing the ethos of Nazi Germany, our enemies view us as a monolithic entity destined for annihilation, whether justified through theological doctrine or pseudo-scientific racial theories or postcolonial academic-political gibberish.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The hope that becoming a \u201cnormal people,\u201d as author A.B. Yehoshua posited, by integrating into global culture or adopting a cosmopolitan worldview, would lead to acceptance and support from the \u201cenlightened world\u201d has proved illusory. The historical lesson we must derive from Oct. 7 and the international community\u2019s subsequent response is that we must not be complacent, neither in the military sphere nor in the realm of consciousness, regarding the world\u2019s attitude toward the Jewish people and the State of Israel. If our enemies declare that in their heart, mind, and plans they aspire to annihilate us\u2014we must not trivialize, mock, or doubt them. We must take their aspirations seriously, treat their words with the utmost gravity and believe them, and act accordingly.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In closing, we must confront the following questions: Is it conceivable that there is global animosity toward Israel without factual foundation? Is it plausible that the international community is erroneous, while our stance alone is righteous?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The question is entirely absurd, as can be seen from our own history. Is it plausible that slavery was righteous, and only the Jewish people had a law that required that slaves be set free? Is the Earth flat? Was the rest of the world right when they sacrificed their own children to idols? Do Jews in fact bake their Passover matzo with the blood of gentile children? No.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"BlockContent col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 mxauto\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">What the rest of the world does and wants can never be our yardstick. Otherwise, we\u2019d all be dead. Jews need to trust in the lessons of our own history, and in each other. If we can do that, we will write a new and even more glorious chapter in the long history of our people.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"AuthorBioBlock col-12 lg:col-10 xl-wide:col-8 w100 mt6 mxauto\">\n<div class=\"AuthorBioBlock__container graebenbach mt1_5 text-section-details-sm font-300 color-red\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em><strong>Shimon Refaeli<\/strong> is Policy Assistant to the Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr style=\"height: 15px; background: #d0e6fa; width: 100%;\" \/>\n<div id=\"content\" class=\"content-alignment\">\n<div id=\"watch-description\" class=\"yt-uix-button-panel\">\n<div id=\"watch-description-text\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p><em>Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion&#8217;68,<\/em><em><br \/>\nani te\u017c webmastera Blogu Reunion&#8217;68, chyba ze jest to wyra\u017anie zaznaczone.<br \/>\nTwoje uwagi, linki, w\u0142asne artyku\u0142y lub wiadomo\u015bci prze\u015blij na adres:<br \/>\n<\/em><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"mailto:webmaster@reunion68.com\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">webmaster@reunion68.com<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr style=\"width: 100%;\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New Zionist Renaissance Shimon Refaeli The Zionist analysis of the conditions of modern Jewish life have once again been proved correct, both in Israel and in the diaspora. Here\u2019s what that means. . A sign reading \u2018Chai [Life]: It means we will live,\u2019 designed by French artist Joann Sfar, is held during a rally [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116424"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116424"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116440,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116424\/revisions\/116440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}