Žižek (whose recent book I’m enjoying to the point of wanting to bug everybody with it all day long) has some interesting things to say about Israel:
In order to ground its Zionist politics, the State of Israel is here making a catastrophic mistake: it decided to downplay, if not outright ignore, so-called “old” (traditional European) anti-Semitism, focusing instead on the “new” and allegedly “progressive” anti-Semitism masked as critique of the Zionist politics of the State of Israel.
This is happening against the background of growing “old-style” anti-Semitism in Europe. Let’s remember that it was precisely that kind of anti-Semitism that led to the Holocaust not so long ago. Nobody is saying that the Holocaust is about to repeat itself in Europe, but the trend is definitely scary and needs to be addressed. Instead of doing so, however, Israel has identified the greatest enemy of the Jewish people elsewhere:
Zionism itself, in its hatred of those Jews who do not fully identify with the politics of the State of Israel, paradoxically became anti-Semitic, for it has constructed the figure of the Jew who doubts the Zionist project along anti-Semitic lines.
A really disturbing part of this process are Israel’s welcoming gestures towards openly anti-Semitic Christian fundamentalists who support the Zionist project for reasons of their own.
And finally Žižek dares to say what I always wanted to say but never mustered the strength to do:
However, are not the real self-haters those who secretly hate the true greatness of the Jewish nation, precisely the Zionists who have allied themselves with anti-Semites?
The true greatness of the Jewish nation has been reduced, in my opinion, to pursuing the boring nationalistic dream of “one’s own country” as if the Jewish people hadn’t achieved so much without this crutch and haven’t called almost every country in the world our own. Now we are supposed to self-immolate on the altar of claiming ownership to a miserable little piece of land. And those who feel it isn’t worth all these sacrifices are traitors and self-haters.
As everybody who has read this blog for a while knows, I don’t like anything anybody ever has to say about Israel. Žižek’s words, however, make a lot of sense to me. And when he says that
at the end of this road lies an extreme possibility that should in no way be excluded a priori—that of a “historic pact” between Zionists and Muslim fundamentalists,
this possibility does not sound completely unrealistic either. When The Nation (and I don’t mean the magazine) becomes a goal and a value in itself, every other consideration tends to slip away. The Jews who had to pay such an enormous price for Germany’s nationalistic drive should remember this lesson of history.
Clarissa's Blog 
\\ a “historic pact” between Zionists and Muslim fundamentalists
What does he mean by it?
-el
LikeLike
I think he means the equivalent of a pact between Israel and US Christian fundamentalists.
LikeLike
I am unsure what this pact between Israel and US Christian fundamentalists is besides what you said in the post, if there is more.
Why would Muslim fundamentalists support Israel? Nothing in Islam could be interpreted to be actively for the state.
Anyway, as an Israeli citizen, shouldn’t I dream for the pact with Muslims and the cease of the armed conflict? I get the impression both you and Zizek are against any pacts, right?
That neither Muslims nor Christian fundamentalists see Jews as (a) normal people is a fact. I don’t need their love, just lack of harm and, if their religion can drive them to help me, why not? Isn’t it better for Israel than the opposite?
– el
LikeLike
“That neither Muslims nor Christian fundamentalists see Jews as (a) normal people is a fact. I don’t need their love, just lack of harm and, if their religion can drive them to help me, why not? Isn’t it better for Israel than the opposite?”
– You see? You have already accepted the possibility, so Zizek is right.
In the book, Zizek talks about a man called John Hagee, an ultra-conservative and a virulent anti-Semite. He said that the Holocaust was divinely inspired and that Hitler was born from a lineage of “accursed genocidally murderous half-breed Jews.” He has blamed the Holocaust on the Jews. And, of course, every aspect of the Conservative US agenda is supported by him. This person has visited Israel 22 times and has been cordially welcomed in person by every Israeli president since Begin. What can possibly justify a pact with this kind of person?
“Anyway, as an Israeli citizen, shouldn’t I dream for the pact with Muslims and the cease of the armed conflict”
– We are not talking about a pact with Muslims. We are talking about a pact with fundamentalists. Religious fanatics. Scary, horrible people who want to stomp out things like secular society, women’s rights, gay rights, children’s rights. Does this completely spurious “safety” justify something like this? When Bush curtailed the rights of the US citizens in a much less dramatic way than fanatics would have wanted in the name of a vague “safety” from terrorists, was that a good thing, too?
LikeLike
// Religious fanatics. Scary, horrible people who want to stomp out things like secular society, women’s rights, gay rights, children’s rights.
Those are people, who hold power in Muslim societies. Should Israel somehow insert new West-friendly rulers there or have no peace whatsoever till those societies develop after several hundreds of years from now?
// Does this completely spurious “safety” justify something like this?
Like what? What would this pact include in practice in your eyes? I still don’t understand. And how is Bush connected to it? It’s two completely different situations.
It sounds as if because I morally disapprove of somebody’s culture, I should be at eternal war with them till they develop to my liking. I don’t see what good it does to anybody.
Any peace agreement would be between countries. Those fanatics would stay in their country, and I – in Israel, continuing to live in my culture as I see fit. It’s not like a situation, when fanatics are in your society and demand you to accomodate them in your daily life (like not to have abortion). Peace would greatly help Israeli people, let less money flow into army & other security structures, less people killed in wars which have been numerous in Israeli history, etc.
// What can possibly justify a pact with this kind of person?
I suppose he’s somebody very important and US help justifies it? Unfortunately, liberal parts of US seem to be disproportionately against Israel, if it isn’t a wrong impression I got from a right leaning newspaper. That’s why Israel holds so fast into conservative support.
LikeLike
Of course, one can justify anything if one feels like it, even hanging out with Hagee. And this is precisely the point that Zizek is making. If Israel ends up being the only country in the world that is so welcoming to a vicious anti-Semite like him, this is a very disturbing situation.
LikeLike
You still haven’t answered what this pact with Muslims would include.
LikeLike
Again, not with Muslims. With fundamentalists. And I already gave an example of this Hagee fellow. Just imagine that he is a Muslim fundamentalist instead of a Christian one.
LikeLike
// Just imagine that he is a Muslim fundamentalist instead of a Christian one.
Bad example. We have a great relationship with US and horrible relationships with Muslim countries around us. Any pact with Muslim fundamentalists would be possible only if there was peace with a country headed by them. I prefer a peace with country like Iran rather than constant war, which may turn into something worse, for example.
Btw, today saw too fear mongering article:
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon bluntly threatened the Russian Federation on Tuesday, saying that if Moscow followed through on its plan to send the S-300 air defense system to Syria, Israel would bomb the arrays. Since the systems will be accompanied by Russian experts, any Israeli strike on them could well kill Russian personnel and create a crisis between nuclear states not seen since India and Pakistan played atomic chicken in 2002.
http://www.juancole.com/2013/05/coming-israeli-russian.html
LikeLike
“Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon bluntly threatened the Russian Federation on Tuesday, saying that if Moscow followed through on its plan to send the S-300 air defense system to Syria, Israel would bomb the arrays. Since the systems will be accompanied by Russian experts, any Israeli strike on them could well kill Russian personnel and create a crisis between nuclear states not seen since India and Pakistan played atomic chicken in 2002.”
– Oh Jesus. I hope he is inventing things as usual.
LikeLike
Valuable and nuanced. Thank you for your insights!
https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.js
LikeLike