Mordechai Bar-On, Moshe Dayan: Israel’s Controversial Hero (Yale University Press 2012) pp.247 Patrick Tyler, Fortress Israel: The Inside Story of the Military Elite who run the Country and why they can’t make peace (Portobello Books 2012) pp.562 Reviewed by Colin Shindler Moshe Dayan was charismatic, courageous and innovative as well as conniving, ruthless and devious. … Read more
The Origins of Zionism Zionism grew out of the French revolutionary tradition, the Jewish and European Enlightenments – with the Bible as a cultural and historical backdrop. It was a progeny of early nineteenth century European nationalism – when nationalism belonged to the Left rather than the Right. In part, it took as the paradigm, … Read more
Israel Studies is not an innovation at institutions of higher education in Europe. Modern Hebrew and the study of the Holy Land reach back certainly into the nineteenth century. At my own college, the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, such academic interest began with the British Foreign Office’s … Read more
The European Left and Its Trouble With Jews Photo The Grande Synagogue de la Victoire in Paris in October. CreditEd Alcock for The New York Times LAST week, Twitter shut down a popular account for posting anti-Semitic messages in France. This came soon after the firing of blanks at a synagogue near Paris, the discovery … Read more
During his United Nations speech last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed that “a demilitarised Palestinian state recognise the one and only Jewish state”. While all previous holders of his office worked unceasingly for the recognition of Israel per se, the present incumbent has since his election four years ago insisted on the recognition … Read more
In 1940, Eric Hobsbawm, a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, characterised the war against Hitler as one of rival imperialisms between the Allies and Nazism and not as an anti-fascist struggle. Although millions of Jews were trapped by Hitler’s invasion of Poland, Hobsbawm was silent. He regarded the sacrifice of the Jews … Read more
Shamir: a colourless tough guy Yitzhak Shamir was the accidental prime minister. When Menachem Begin resigned in 1983, the mantle of responsibility fell on Shamir’s shoulders. The colourless, uninspiring, 68-year-old was the stop-gap choice instead of the feared Ariel Sharon and the lightweight David Levy. Yet, including the two years when he almost shared power … Read more
During Jewish Book Week in February 1958, the great Marxist historian, Isaac Deutscher, gave a talk entitled “The Non-Jewish Jew”. It was later published and became required reading for the student revolutionaries of the 1960s. Deutscher tried to explain why some Jews embraced the revolutionary imperative and relegated their Jewishness to a secondary level. As … Read more
From the play, ‘The Snail and the Whale’ with our under-fives grandchildren to a 95th birthday party. Michael Sherbourne was a pivotal figure in the Soviet Jewry campaign in this country. He maintained telephone contact with many activists throughout the long years of Soviet denial of exit visas. In a collective email, a role-call of … Read more
Stalin’s last years were ones which were pervaded by Jewish conspiracies and Zionist plots. The first show trial in Hungary of László Rajk in 1949 was also the first in which ‘international Zionism’ was invoked for crimes committed. Three out of the six of Rajk’s six co-defendants were Jews. Local Communists in Western Europe parroted … Read more