If the State of Israel had truly been "born" from the "bad conscience" of the states responsible for the "industrial murder" of millions of Jews, then those with the "bad conscience" would not have expected the Jews/Israelis to harass them for decades with a so-called "two-state solution" with precisely those who were responsible for pogroms and massacres against Jews in the formerly so-called "Palestine" before the founding of the State of Israel and who remain such to this day. Instead, they would have recognized such a "solution" as the outrage that it is, and spared the Jews the need/"duty" to enter into "negotiations" with some of their worst butchers and with people who, in the vast majority, are incapable of peace, and then to blame Israel for "failure".
Moreover, for almost twenty years, there has been a "two-state solution" (including "Gaza"), and it is incomprehensible, but deeply characteristic of those with a "guilty conscience," that they not only refuse to recognize and express that this puts an end to any thought of a "two-state solution," but that they are so utterly stupid as to now also "recognize Palestine."
Ezra Klein is pretty dumb for someone who’s so smart. He’s terribly ignorant about the history of Zionism or it’s most important figures. He claims it just came from Holocaust guilt by the Europeans. That’s just complete nonsense and not remotely true. Jews had been longing for Zion for centuries of not thousands of years. Zionism started not after the Holocaust but after the French Revolution when Jews left the ghettos after being emancipated. As Alan eloquently explains, here Zionism LONG predates the Holocaust as does the desire for the Jewish people to be restored to their ancient homeland. Is Ezra Klein aware of the Dreyfus Affair? The pogroms in Tsarist Russia? The Farhud in Iraq in 1941? The Hebron Massacre of 1929? The quotas Ivy League universities put on the number of Jewish students who could be admitted? I’m guessing Ezra fell asleep in history class and never actually listened to anything his teacher said. Since Ezra is so ignorant and knows nothing about his own heritage or history here’s a little reading list for him:
• Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the World’s Mightiest Empire by Barry Strauss
• Jewish Emancipation: A History Across Five Centuries by David Sorkin
• A History of Zionism: From the French Revolution to the Establishment of the State of Israel by Walter Laqueur
• The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Israeli-Arab Conflict by Jonathan Schneer
• Theodor Herzl: Charismatic Leader by Derek Penslar
If it was born of the Holocaust, how does one account for the 1920 San Remo Conference?
—-
The San Remo Conference of April 1920 was a pivotal meeting where the Allied powers, particularly Great Britain and France, finalized the allocation of former Ottoman territories as mandates under the League of Nations. The agreement assigned mandates for Syria and Lebanon to France and for Palestine and Mesopotamia (Iraq) to Great Britain. It also incorporated the Balfour Declaration's principle of establishing a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine into international law.
“Ezra Klein says embarrassing things about Israel because he’s trapped inside The Ezra Klein Show and doesn’t know how to get out. “
This last line sums it all up.
Ezra needs to either read up about his history and heritage or grow more backbone. It’s likely he needs to do both. Or change his name, because he is not living up to the legacy of his name.
He truly is one of the many embarrassments lately. I stop counting. Thanks, Alan for calling him out, although I doubt he would even notice, but we did notice YOUR efforts to correct the misstated “facts”!
He would gain a fan if he did that. It would mean he is not the person I think he is—one who is closed off to the possibility that the NYT is wrong about a lot of stuff, including Israel.
I still remember when the scales fell from my eyes re: the NYT. It was when I saw a video of Dean Baquet watching TV as the Republican party nominated Donald Trump in 2016. "What a story!" Baquet says with journalistic glee. "What a f***ing story!"
A related moment: Les Moonves, chairman of CBS, telling an investors' meeting: "Donald Trump may be bad for America, but he sure is good for CBS News. Keep going Donald!"
He also could have said, "Israel was born of the efforts of the Israelis who, in the months following the UN Partition Resolution in November 1947, set up a working, functioning government which has lasted to this day.
The Palestinian leadership, on the other hand, made no such preparation, preferring to concentrate on their first priority - wiping out the Jews.
Israel was also born of the decades of labor prior to 1948, decades in which the infrastructure of a modern Western state was set up in a manner seen in no Arab nation.
If the State of Israel had truly been "born" from the "bad conscience" of the states responsible for the "industrial murder" of millions of Jews, then those with the "bad conscience" would not have expected the Jews/Israelis to harass them for decades with a so-called "two-state solution" with precisely those who were responsible for pogroms and massacres against Jews in the formerly so-called "Palestine" before the founding of the State of Israel and who remain such to this day. Instead, they would have recognized such a "solution" as the outrage that it is, and spared the Jews the need/"duty" to enter into "negotiations" with some of their worst butchers and with people who, in the vast majority, are incapable of peace, and then to blame Israel for "failure".
Moreover, for almost twenty years, there has been a "two-state solution" (including "Gaza"), and it is incomprehensible, but deeply characteristic of those with a "guilty conscience," that they not only refuse to recognize and express that this puts an end to any thought of a "two-state solution," but that they are so utterly stupid as to now also "recognize Palestine."
I´m lost for words at such utter dumbness.
Ezra Klein is pretty dumb for someone who’s so smart. He’s terribly ignorant about the history of Zionism or it’s most important figures. He claims it just came from Holocaust guilt by the Europeans. That’s just complete nonsense and not remotely true. Jews had been longing for Zion for centuries of not thousands of years. Zionism started not after the Holocaust but after the French Revolution when Jews left the ghettos after being emancipated. As Alan eloquently explains, here Zionism LONG predates the Holocaust as does the desire for the Jewish people to be restored to their ancient homeland. Is Ezra Klein aware of the Dreyfus Affair? The pogroms in Tsarist Russia? The Farhud in Iraq in 1941? The Hebron Massacre of 1929? The quotas Ivy League universities put on the number of Jewish students who could be admitted? I’m guessing Ezra fell asleep in history class and never actually listened to anything his teacher said. Since Ezra is so ignorant and knows nothing about his own heritage or history here’s a little reading list for him:
• Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the World’s Mightiest Empire by Barry Strauss
• Jewish Emancipation: A History Across Five Centuries by David Sorkin
• A History of Zionism: From the French Revolution to the Establishment of the State of Israel by Walter Laqueur
• The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Israeli-Arab Conflict by Jonathan Schneer
• Theodor Herzl: Charismatic Leader by Derek Penslar
• The Jewish State by Theodor Herzl
• Chaim Weizmann: A Biography by Norman A. Rose
• A History of Judaism by Martin Goodman
If it was born of the Holocaust, how does one account for the 1920 San Remo Conference?
—-
The San Remo Conference of April 1920 was a pivotal meeting where the Allied powers, particularly Great Britain and France, finalized the allocation of former Ottoman territories as mandates under the League of Nations. The agreement assigned mandates for Syria and Lebanon to France and for Palestine and Mesopotamia (Iraq) to Great Britain. It also incorporated the Balfour Declaration's principle of establishing a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine into international law.
Absolutely right. My list could have included the San Remo Conference... and many other historic data points.
Thanks for this brief history lesson on Israel’s creation, Alan.
Ezra may be smart but he is giving his audience what they want and this makes him immoral.
When I listen to him, he strikes me as very smart, but dazed and confused. As if he's profoundly uneasy about something.
Dazed and confused is a good description. You are a better person than I am. He is profoundly uneasy of being found lacking in the capacity to reason.
Great post
Thanks much, Linda. I appreciate it.
“Ezra Klein says embarrassing things about Israel because he’s trapped inside The Ezra Klein Show and doesn’t know how to get out. “
This last line sums it all up.
Ezra needs to either read up about his history and heritage or grow more backbone. It’s likely he needs to do both. Or change his name, because he is not living up to the legacy of his name.
He may be Jewish by birth, but he clearly does the Jewish people no service with that declaration, to be sure.
He truly is one of the many embarrassments lately. I stop counting. Thanks, Alan for calling him out, although I doubt he would even notice, but we did notice YOUR efforts to correct the misstated “facts”!
Just emailed your article to him at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com
We all should! I learned a lot and got The Kuzari for my Kindle. Amazing stuff here, Alan.
You're the best, EE. I shall now await Ezra's invitation to appear on his show. :-)
He would gain a fan if he did that. It would mean he is not the person I think he is—one who is closed off to the possibility that the NYT is wrong about a lot of stuff, including Israel.
I still remember when the scales fell from my eyes re: the NYT. It was when I saw a video of Dean Baquet watching TV as the Republican party nominated Donald Trump in 2016. "What a story!" Baquet says with journalistic glee. "What a f***ing story!"
A related moment: Les Moonves, chairman of CBS, telling an investors' meeting: "Donald Trump may be bad for America, but he sure is good for CBS News. Keep going Donald!"
Excellent strategy. Emailing him now.
His lips moving is why he embarrasses himself.
He also could have said, "Israel was born of the efforts of the Israelis who, in the months following the UN Partition Resolution in November 1947, set up a working, functioning government which has lasted to this day.
The Palestinian leadership, on the other hand, made no such preparation, preferring to concentrate on their first priority - wiping out the Jews.
Israel was also born of the decades of labor prior to 1948, decades in which the infrastructure of a modern Western state was set up in a manner seen in no Arab nation.