Discourse 130 – ANTI‒ZIONISM DOES NOT EQUAL ANTI‒SEMITISM.

The Meaning of Tisha B’av. / THORAH JEWS, submitted by TTJ on Wed, 07/26/2017 – 21:42

ISRAEL, THE UNFRUITFUL VINEYARD.

Table – The Antichrist, the "queen" in the devil’s chess game.

Table – The World Empires in the Bible.

The foundation of the state of Israel damages the Jews world-wide. / Chief Rabbi M. A. Friedmann, Vienna

Israel makes a ploy of the holocaust and antisemitism. / Prof. Moshe Zuckermann, Social Historian Tel Aviv, KURIER daily newspaper, 2010-10-21

Lamentation over Zion.

Summary.

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

(The Meaning of Tisha B’av / TORAH JEWS, submitted by TTJ on Wed, 07/26/2017 – 21:42)

Our mission is to inform the world that the State of Israel does NOT represent Jews or Judaism.

This week, Jews of all stripes around the world will observe TIsha B’av, the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, a day of fasting and mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. But what are they mourning?

Let us stress that this mourning is not merely a custom or a matter of extra piety. The Gemara says, "Whoever mourns over Jerusalem will merit to see its happiness when rebuilt, and whoever does not mourn will not see its happiness" (Taanis 30b). Whoever understands what we are missing and patiently awaits its restoration will not be disappointed, but whoever thinks we are lacking nothing now – will get nothing.

Many today struggle to define the term Zionism. Some say it means secularism, but there are religious Zionists. Some say it means those who love Eretz Yisroel (the Land of Israel) and make it their home, but there are hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Jews who are so opposed to Zionism that they refuse to serve in the army, yet love Eretz Yisroel, speak of it constantly in their prayers and often make it their home as well. So let’s drop this confusing term and instead talk about exile and redemption.

G-d decreed that the Jewish people should be in exile. We say in our prayers, "Because of our sins we were exiled from our land." Exile means not having Jewish sovereignty, as the Gemara says, "There is no difference between the current era and the messianic era except for our subjugation to the nations" (Shabbos 63a). A Jew living in Eretz Yisroel under Turkish or British rule was considered to be in exile, and by the same token a Jew living outside of Eretz Yisroel is not considered to be in exile if he relies on a Jewish state as a last resort in time of need.

Today there are those Jews who accept exile and those who don’t. Those who don’t might be religious, they might sit on the floor and mourn on Tisha B’av, but they don’t really understand what they are mourning about.

They think they are smarter than Hashem and don’t have to follow His plan. They think it was an accident that we went into exile, so another accident could bring us back. "Geopolitical conditions," they say, "have made it possible for Jews to resettle in their ancient homeland, Eretz Yisroel once again and fulfill the dream of centuries."

They don’t realize that Hashem scattered us around the world for our own safety, as the Gemara says (Pesachim 87b). They don’t realize that the Torah speaks of the curses that will befall the Jewish people in Eretz Yisroel ^[1] , but not if they go into exile (Ramban on Devarim 28:42).

Some may protest, "Exile is not merely a matter of sovereignty. We are mourning the loss of our Beis Hamikdash, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. We are mourning the spiritual greatness that the Jewish people once possessed

mpared to today, when many Jews live under secular influence."

But those who build Eretz Yisroel on their own will not stop at sovereignty. They say that if we enact legislation to make the state more religious, then all will change. They want to build a theocracy without permission from G-d.

Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, chief rabbi of Jerusalem in the 1920s and 30s, explained it well with the parable of a wise prince who became seriously ill. His father, the king, sent for the best doctors and brought them to his hospital bedside, and the king himself stood there together with him. Could one imagine that such a wise boy would ask his father and his doctors to free him from the hospital and send him home while still sick?

And even if he did make such a foolish request, they would not grant it, despite their mercy and love for him. Leaving while not completely recovered would put his life in danger. Rabbi Sonnenfeld continued:

We, the Jewish people, are in exile because of our sins. The exile is the Jewish people’s hospital. It is unthinkable that we should take for ourselves power in our land before our healing process is complete. Hashem protects us and shields us while doling out to us our medicine in exact amounts. We are certain that when the time comes and our healing from our sins is complete, Hashem will not delay even one second, and He Himself will redeem us. Not so if we would hurry to leave the hospital – then a mortal danger, a perpetual danger would hover over us, G-d forbid. And even when we pray for our redemption, we ask only that our healing process be complete quickly – not that we should return to the King’s palace while still sick, G-d forbid. (Mara D’ara Yisroel v. 1 p. 145)

Yes, we are mourning for our spiritual losses, but our spiritual healing is dependent on the physical exile. To mourn over the illness while attempting to escape from the hospital early is to deny this principle.

Now let’s talk about the name Zion, which this anti-exile movement has adopted for itself. Someone once asked the Brisker Rav, "Where is it written in the Gemara or Shulchan Aruch that the idea of Zionism is wrong?" "Gemara? Shulchan Aruch?" he replied. "Bring me a siddur (prayer book) and I will show you where it is written." He showed the person the words of Shmoneh Esrei, "And may our eyes see when You return to Zion… " (Uvdos Vehanhagos Leveis Brisk v. 4, p. 195)

Every Jew in every past century, reciting the prayers three times a day, knew well that it was Hashem who would return His presence to Zion. Along came Zionism, took this holy name and turned the whole concept on its head. It will not be Hashem, it will not be Moshiach (the Messiah), it will be we ourselves who bring the redemption. "If I will not help myself, who will help me?" was their slogan.

On Tisha B’av, Jews in the synagogue recite eight kinos (lamentations) that begin with the word Zion. The most famous of them begins, "Zion, will you not seek out the welfare of your captives?" It was written by Rabbi Yehuda Halevi in the 12th century. "Ah," they say, "Rabbi Yehuda Halevi was a Zionist! See, he wrote beautiful poems of longing for Zion, and even made aliyah himself at the end of his life." But the following passage from his famous work, the Kuzari, shows us what he truly believed.

The Kuzari describes a dialogue between the king of the Khazars and a rabbi. The rabbi states that the Jewish people is closer to G-d today, in their humble state of exile, than if they were a mighty nation. The king asks: "That might have been so if your humility were voluntary; but it is involuntary, and if you only had the power you would kill." The rabbi replies:

You have touched our weak spot, O King of the Khazars. If the majority of us had accepted our humble status for the sake of G-d and His Torah, G-d would not have forced us to bear it for such a long period. But only the smallest portion of our people thinks thus… If we bore our exile and degradation for G-d’s sake, as we should, we would be outstanding even by the standards of the generation of the messianic era, for which we hope, and we would accelerate the day of our long-awaited deliverance. (Kuzari Maamar 1, 113-115)

Rabbi Yehuda Halevi considered it a great merit to accept exile for G-d’s sake; his longing was not to break out of exile by force, only to experience the long-awaited redemption and, in the meantime, to see the beloved Holy Land in its state of desolation. The Zionists, on the other hand, unfortunately confirm the accusation of the king of the Khazars that "if you only had the power, you would kill."

The Zion we long for is a spiritual place, a place where all the ancient commandments will be restored, the Jewish people will serve Hashem and be a light to the nations – not a place where Jews will live by the sword, every day clashing with enemies and provoking the condemnation of the world.

For centuries, the remnant of the Temple, the Western Wall, known to Jews as the Kosel, has symbolized our mourning for what we have lost. Ironically, the Zionists have used both Tisha B’av and the Kosel as nationalist symbols. In the 1920s, Jabotinsky’s militant Beitar youth group started an annual custom to march to the Kosel on Tisha B’av night.

In 1929, despite warnings from the British authorities of the tension growing between Zionists and Arabs over the holy site, several hundred youths of the Beitar group marched to the Wall, holding half-mast flags. When the march reached the Wall the youths grew silent and swore: "Hear O Israel, the Wall is our Wall, the Wall is one!" (Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! Deut 6,4).

Then they marched around the Old City walls. Returning to the city, they went up to the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva, met with Rav Kook and told him about the march and the oath they had taken to defend the Wall till their last drop of blood. Rav Kook strongly approved of what they had done. (Malachim Kivnei Adam, p. 184)

The rest is history: in the riots that broke out in reaction to the Zionist claim to the Wall, the Arabs killed 133 Jews in Jerusalem and Hebron.

Today as well, the Kosel symbolizes Zionist sovereignty over the most holy of sites. And now, those Orthodox Jews who think that "the Wall is our Wall" are locked in struggle with Reform groups who wish to hold egalitarian prayer services at the Kosel.

But the Kosel is not ours to decide who should pray there. In the olden days the Kosel was not used for public prayer services of any kind. It was a holy place where Jews came to pray privately. It was the Zionists – who are not known for praying at all – who sought to turn it into a public synagogue during the 1920’s.

In 1928, when the Zionist Vaad Leumi (National Council) came to Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, who had lived in the Holy Land for some 60 years, to get support for their contention that the Wall had always had the status of a synagogue, Rabbi Sonnenfeld replied as follows: "October 14, 1928...As regards the question: Was it the practice to bring an ark and Torah scrolls to the Wailing Wall? – I know that never has there been such a practice; and likewise today, I am totally dissatisfied with the practice."

The last and most famous lamentation of all, Eli Tzion, also focuses on the word Zion: "Mourn, Zion, and her cities, like a woman in labor, and like a virgin dressed in sackcloth mourning the husband of her youth." Note the choice of the comparison "like a woman in labor": pain that leads to joy, to the birth of a child. The poet’s intent is clear: those who understand exile, who do not attempt to escape G-d’s decree, will be those who will one day witness the true rebirth of the Jewish people in the Holy Land, when moshiach (the Messiah) comes.

TORAH JEWS

Our mission is to inform the world that the State of Israel does NOT represent Jews or Judaism. Contact Us

I have deliberately reproduced the above article in its entirety, because this topic above all – that of the strictly believing Antizionist Jews in our western non-Jewish world – is much too little known and too little publicized.

Fundamentally I welcome this Jewish critique of Zionism, and have indeed myself, here on my own website, adduced quantities of arguments showing for what reasons Zionism is also wrong from the Christian point of view, and should therefore be rejected. The deep insights of the above author testify to an intensive study of the holy scriptures of Judaism over many years – especially including the prophets (the Books of Prophesy), in which we find indications of the fate of the people of Israel, as for instance in the following parable from the prophet Isaiah.

This is just one of many prophesies which announced to Israel long ago that things were going to turn out badly.

(See also Discourse 1015: "Shema Yisrael ‒ Hear, O ISRAEL: the judgment of God on his people.")

As the author says so pertinently in the above article, with reference to the Israel of today: "They want to build a theocracy without permission from G‒d."
And that is just the way it is:

 • They returned to the land of Israel without God’s permission.

 • They founded a worldly state without permission from God.

 • Without God’s permission they have passed new, worldly laws.

 • They rule this state on a basis of murder, homicide, crime, corruption and blasphemy.

In a nutshell – with this godless state of Israel, the Zionist Jews have again made for themselves a "golden calf" and are dancing around it.

In his article above, TTJ mentions the loss of the Beis Hamikdash, the Holy Temple:

What he does not mention is first of all the biblical fact that in this temple, in the Holy of Holies of the temple, God Almighty had dwelt with the Israelites for centuries. It was originally the "Tent of Meeting" which God told Moses to set up. At the back of the tent, separated from the front by a curtain, was the "Holy of Holies" where the Ark of the Covenant (Ark of the Testimony) stood.

There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seatand I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.

Ex 25,21 You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give to you.
25,22 There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel. Ex 25,21-22;

So, it was in this Holy of Holies, above the Ark of the Covenant, that God spoke to Moses, and this was also the "dwelling place" of God with the Israelites. Later, when the Temple was built in Jerusalem, the Holy of Holies was likewise in this Temple, in the rearmost room, which was also separated there with a curtain from the front room, the Holy Place. This was where God dwelt with his people.

And the veil shall serve for you as a partition between the holy place and the holy of holies.

Ex 26,31 "You shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen; it shall be made with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman. 26,32 "You shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, their hooks also being of gold, on four sockets of silver. 26,33 "You shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring in the ark of the testimony there within the veil; and the veil shall serve for you as a partition between the holy place and the holy of holies. 26,34 "You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the holy of holies. 26,35 "You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand opposite the table on the side of the abode toward the south; and you shall put the table on the north side. Ex 26,31-35;

Von Daniel Ventura – Eigenes Werk,
CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

On the other hand, though, it is precisely this curtain that is torn from top to bottom at the death of the Son of God on the cross, as a sign that the Israelites, who had condemned the Son of God to death, had also broken their covenant with God; and God thereupon dissolved the covenant, and abandoned the temple and so also the Israelites and made a New Covenant with all people.

And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom;

Mt 27,50 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 27,51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. Mt 27,50-51;

And when, 40 years later, Titus and his Roman legions razed Jerusalem and the Temple to the ground and drove all the Israelites out of their land into the Diaspora, it was God’s punishment for this outrage by the former people of God. The Jews know this in their hearts, but in their brains they suppress the knowledge of this connection and it must never be mentioned, especially to the world.

Another sentence however from the article by TTJ quoted at the beginning, reveals the whole problematic nature of this view in the light of the New Testament Book of Revelation:

Taken on its own, this statement is completely correct and in conformity with the Bible according to the OT. However, if one knows the New Testament – which is certainly not the case with TTJ – then one knows that this is a highly dangerous threat. Because according to the NT – and especially according to the Revelation of John – it is the Antichrist who is going to appear as the "true" Messiah in Israel.

It is Satan who will deceive the whole world by plagiarizing the life and death of the Son of God. First of all he will let a man – a politician – come to great power (the first Antichrist). The Lord Jesus will then kill him with the sword of his mouth, when he comes for the Rapture of his faithful.

The one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders.

2The 2,3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 2,4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 2,5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? 2,6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 2,7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 2,8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 2,9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 2,10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 2,11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 2,12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. 2The 2, 3-12;

So he will sit down in the temple and claim to be "God". Our Lord Jesus Christ also sat down in the temple, read there from the book of Isaiah "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me" (Isa 61:1-2) and told the congregation present: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." (Lk 4,18-21)

In this way he said that he was the "Anointed One", Hebrew: moshiach (the Messiah) ,and thus the Son of God. And it is a plagiarism on this biblical fact that Satan will perform for humanity. Already Luther called him the "ape of God", because he always tries to imitate God. And here the devil plays his greatest trump card: the Antichrist.

The Antichrist, the "queen" in the devil’s chess game. (LANDSCAPE)

After the Son of God has killed this lawless one, Satan will raise him from the dead again and he will come to Israel as the second Antichrist, the "resurrected Messiah". He will claim to be the real "Messiah/Christ" and say that Jesus was an impostor. And that is what the Jews have always said, of course, so they will celebrate the Antichrist as the "Savior" in Israel and soon thereafter worldwide.

A beast coming up out of the sea, having seven heads – immediately before the seven bowls of the wrath of God.

Rev 13,1 And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. 13,2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. 13,3 I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; 13,4 they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?" 13,5 There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. 13,6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 13,7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. 13,8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.13,9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 13,10 If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. 13,11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. Rev 13, 1- 11;

At the time of his appearance, the very two witnesses of God will torment the people with plagues to show them who their God is and how he can punish them (Apoc 11:3-7). The second Antichrist when he appears will kill these two witnesses and thus cause a frenzy of joy in Jerusalem and all over the world.

I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

Jn 5,43 "I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. Jn 5,43;

This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

1Jn 2,22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 1Jn 2,22;

However, the consequence of this will be even greater plagues (Day of God’s Wrath, Judgments of the Bowls). The false Messiah will then fight with all the earthly armies against the true Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, and his heavenly army in the battle of Armageddon and will be thrown into hell by the Son of God, together with the false prophet.

(See also Chapter 07: "The Battle of Armageddon.")

The World Empires in the Bible. (LANDSCAPE)

So we can see that, understandable as is the longing of the Orthodox Jews for their Messiah, the first "Messiah" who will come will be the Antichrist and with him Satan, who will deceive and seduce the Jews and with them the whole world. In our day the real Messiah – our Lord Jesus Christ – can only be received in the faith of the heart.

He will only come in person after all this tribulation, in the Millennium. And the "remnant of the Jews" will then receive him with the cry: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord":

Behold, your house is being left to you desolate until you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!

Mt 23,32 "Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. 23,33 "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? 23,34 "Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, 23,35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

23,36 "Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 23,37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 23,38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 23,39 "For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!" Mt 23,32-39;

Finally the above article unfortunately does not refer to the Torah itself – the Bible of the Old Testament – one single time. But the Jewish scriptures of the Talmud (consisting of the Mischna and the Gemara) are of course based on the Torah, as the following quote from our author reveals:

"Someone once asked the Brisker Rav, ‘Where is it written in the Gemara or Shulchan Aruch that the idea of Zionism is wrong?’ ‘Gemara? Shulchan Aruch?’ he replied. "Bring me a siddur (prayer book) and I will show you where it is written.’ He showed the person the words of Shmoneh Esrei ‘And may our eyes see when You return to Zion…’ (Uvdos Vehanhagos Leveis Brisk v. 4, p. 195)"

Indeed, that is a wise answer: "When You (the Messiah) return to Zion… " Thus he told this Zionist that Zionism without the Messiah is wrong.

Here follows a statement by Chief Rabbi Moishe Arye Friedmann from Vienna:

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

(The foundation of the state of Israel damages the Jews world-wide. / Statement by Moishe Arye Friedmann, Chief Rabbi of the Orthodox Jewish congregation, Vienna 13. 7. 2002)

"With the Holocaust as a justification, the state of Israel was founded by the use of force, which contradicts the will of God (Hos 1:7). As Jews true to our faith we accept the fate of the Diaspora which God has laid upon us. But the founding of the state of Israel has not just damaged the Jews on this religious plane; the means and the methods used by Israel to secure its existence against the Palestinians damage all Jews world-wide, and encourage the rebirth of anti-Semitism. For Jews true to their faith it is clear, however, that the Diaspora is the fate laid upon us by God until the coming of the Messiah."

Austria Presse Agentur ‒ APA [Austrian Press Agency] 13. 7. 2002

The above author, Viennese Chief Rabbi Moishe Arye Friedmann, also made the following statements in his opening speech at the 2004 International Rabbinical Conference in Vienna:

"At this very time, on the occasion of the Theodor Herzl centenary, we have to address certain fundamental points which concern the essential basis of the Jewish religion. The national celebrations here in Austria and in other countries do tend to give the impression that Zionism can be equated with Judaism, or at least can be seen as a legitimate political movement of Judaism. In fact the opposite is the case!"

"As Jews true to our religion, we can never accept the doctrine of Dr. Theodor Herzl. As Jews true to our religion, we are completely opposed to Zionism and reject it. As Jews true to our religion, we see Zionism as a betrayal of God and of the Jewish religion."

"(…) For those Jews who remain true to their faith, however, it is clear that the Diaspora is the destiny that God has laid upon us until the coming of the Messiah. A Jewish state established on the basis of power and military might therefore contradicts the will of God (Hos 1:7). Consequently we pray for its downfall, without however any innocent blood being spilt. Machtpolitik is forbidden to us Jews: our path can only being one that remains consistently spiritual."

(Texts in a black frame are quotations from visitors to this site or from other authors.)

(Israel makes a ploy of the holocaust and antisemitism. / Prof. Moshe Zuckermann,  Social Historian Tel Aviv)

He was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv, as the son of Polish holocaust victim, and he has criticized Israel sharply on repeated occasions. The key thesis of Moshe Zuckermann, a professor of history and philosophy who has just brought out a new and complex book (Antisemit ‒ published by Promediaverlag, 208 pp, EUR 15.90) is that many Jews and Israeli politicians "make a ploy of the holocaust and antisemitism in order to gag their critics."

KURIER: Isn’t your thesis actually a bit extreme?

Moshe Zuckermann: Not at all. Look here, antisemitism does exist of course, and it should be opposed, wherever it shows its ugly visage. But what I mean is the accusation of antisemitism, which is used by the powerful to make political capital and with which they try to annihilate their critics. Anyone who criticizes Israel is not automatically anti-Semitic. This would be a complete loss of distinctions. It must be possible to call a spade a spade when it comes to Israel’s barbaric policy of injustice against the Palestinians.

You think this doesn’t happen enough outside the Arab world? 

Yes, above all in Germany, where it is taboo to criticize Israel, right up to the highest echelons of politics. The German left above all has developed a blind solidarity with Jewishness. But people like Michel Friedman or Henry M. Broder (both Zionistic Jews who take up the cudgels to defend Israel against its critics, FH) have absolutely no idea of Israeli realities. I am speaking in this connection of a kind of philo-Semitism, which is based on the same resentment and so is nothing other than antisemitism inverted. 

Do you not get applause for your thesis from quarters to which you would rather not be indebted?

Of course that has been the case for years, but the alternative would be to keep silent on what I think is right and important. But I won’t let myself be hijacked or gagged.  

How do you see the role of Israel in the Middle East conflict with the Palestinians? 

Even after 40 years of an occupying regime, Israel is still trying to make out that it is a victim. Finally it comes down to a quite simple question ‒ does Israel want to exist, and can it not understand that it is heading into a self made abyss. Accordingly there are just two possibilities. Israel gives back the occupied territories, with the risk of a civil war ensuing. Or it does not, and then there is the risk of a regional war which ‒ being conducted with new weapons ‒ would reduce half the Middle East to rubble and ashes. That would be the end of the state of Israel and of Zionism.

(This interview conducted by Walter Friedl appeared in the Austrian daily KURIER, 21 October 2010.)

Lamentation over Zion

(See also Discourse 101: "The ‘Israel movement’ in the Christian congregations" – Christian Evangelical Zionism

Summary.

Political Zionism is – as well as political Islam – a movement that represents itself as a religious advocate in the world – there the Islamists, here the Zionists – and under this guise kills their political enemies – there the Syrian population, here the Palestinian population.