A handy reminder that racism was baked in to the Zionist movement from the beginning.

 

David Miller

@Tracking_Power

A handy reminder that racism was baked in to the Zionist movement from the beginning. The idea of a non-racist Zionism is hypothetical: it is outside the realm of actual history and at odds with existing Zionist ideology. Herzl said openly in The Jewish State that the state he wished to conceive was for European colonists and must be created somewhere that is comfortable for their sensibilities rather than a wild expanse of land. He suggested that were a patch of suitable land to be found, for example, “natives” might be put to work draining swamps. During his trip to Palestine in 1898, Herzl wrote that “large-scale drainage operations and the elimination of swamps ... could make [Palestine] habitable [for Europeans]” and that, “Such Arabs as are immune to the fever might be used for the work”. (See, Theodor Herzl, 1898, (n 16), pp. 92-3.) The Arabs might also be induced into killing snakes on behalf of these European colonists with promises of future employment in a land to which they would later be deported. Herzl wrote: “If we move into a region where there are wild animals to which the Jews are not accustomed – big snakes, etc. – I shall use the natives, prior to giving them employment in their transit countries [i.e. before they are deported], for the extermination of these animals.” (Herzl (n 16), p. 92.) #DismantleZionism

8:31 PM · Sep 2, 2024

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