At Israel's 73rd Independence Day: Reclaiming pride in Zionism - with Profs. Gil Troy & Judea Pearl

A century ago, Zionism revived pride in the label “Jew”; today, Jews (and their allies) must reclaim pride in “Zionism”

In the wake of both recent U.S. terror attackers, i.e., Noah Green (follower of Louis Farrakhan rammed into US Capitol Policemen) and Ahmad al-Issa (follower of Islamic State/ISIS shot-dead 10 people at Boulder, CO supermarket) being exposed to fundamentalist Islamic anti-Semitism expressed as "anti-Zionism, many pro-Israel diasporan Jews are reluctant to have the "label" of Zionist applied to them. But now, around Yom haAtzmaut / Israeli Independence Day, we are reminded of the nationalist autonomy movement which turned a people into a new country, Zionism.

Israeli Prof Gil Troy (r) with Israeli-born Prof. Judea Pearl
Dr. Pearl's son, Daniel, was slain by 9/11 Islamists he tracked down
who boasted slaying him confessing family's Jewish identity

The Jerusalem Post reprinted author and Canadian-Israeli Professor Gil Troy's 2001, 800-word essay for Israel’s Independence Day to the Montreal Gazette called “I am a Zionist.”  He explained: “A century ago, Zionism revived pride in the label ‘Jew’; today, Jews should revive pride in the label ‘Zionist.’”

"Tragically, today, too many Jews avoid the “Z-word,” because so many Jew-haters demonize and delegitimize Jews, Israel and Zionism. Zionists must not allow their enemies to define the movement. We are not just anti-antisemites or anti-anti-Zionists. Jews should reaffirm their faith in Zionism; the world should appreciate this gutsy, visionary movement that rescued a shattered people by reuniting a scattered people. 

Zionism is the Jewish national liberation movement, reviving a once-broken community with bold actions guided by three assumptions – that Jews:

• Are a people not just a community of faith – the Jewish people, Am Yisrael;

• Have ties to a particular homeland – the Land of Israel, Eretz Yisrael;

• Have the right to establish a state on that homeland – the State of Israel, Medinat Yisrael.

If Political Zionism’s great twentieth-century success was establishing a functional, democratic Jewish State, today’s great opportunity for Identity Zionism is finding meaning from connecting to that State and to our people, wherever Jews live."

Commemorate Israel's Independence Day with a new refresher Why I Am a Zionist narrated by Prof. Troy.

Zionism: New Goals & Old Struggles - Prof. Gil Troy

 

Prof. Gil Troy and UCLA emeritus Prof. Judea Pearl instructed an audience of Stand with Us "Israel in Focus '19" gathered college students and L.A. community members in the essence and history about Zionism - and the pioneers who restored sanctuary for Jews in Biblical, Jewish Palestine. 

In the The Zionism(s) talk below, Prof. Troy (a McGill University lecturer) is joined by Israeli-born, UCLA Emeritus Prof. Judea Pearl in the second and third segments here.  

Part 1 is McGill Univ Prof. Gil Troy's talk on the diversity of Zionist pioneers' ideas, which he addresses in his book.

In Part 2, Troy answers questions from the audience and Prof. Pearl.

In Part 3, Prof. Judea Pearl explains Judaism's centrality in Israel, and Israel's centrality to the Jewish faith. Anti-Zionism (or Zionophobia) is therefore a racist offense against Jewish belief. "For Jews to oppose Zionism is to commit suicide on a collective level. American Jewry will not survive without Israel. We used to have a glue - religion - and we lost that. Now the only glue that remains is Israel and its inspiration."

(Advance through video-playlist via buttons on lower left)

With reference to Prof. Troy's book, "The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland—Then, Now, Tomorrow" has been called the most comprehensive Zionist collection ever published. 

Troy describes: "I divided the book into three chronological sections: Pioneers, until 1948, the visionaries, including Theodor Herzl, A.D. Gordon, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, HaRav Kook, Rachel the poetess (Rachel Bluwstein) and Henrietta Szold, who conceived of a Jewish state and talked, dreamed, argued and sang it into existence; the Builders until 2000 or so, including David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Menachem Begin, Elie Wiesel and Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook, who made the state the living miracle it is."

In case you missed watching the second and third videos from the playlist above, all three are laid out individually here:

Zionism & Jewish Identity: Prof. Gil Troy at Stand with Us' Israel in Focus Student Conference '19

A new Zionism? Prof. Gil Troy (author, "The Zionist Ideas") answers questions at Israel in Focus '19

What IS Zionism? What is Ziono-phobia? Profs. Judea Pearl & Gil Troy share their interpretations: