Against Militaristic Nationalism

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to India from 14 to 19 January 2018 completes 25 years since the two countries established full diplomatic relations in 1992, following the victory of the United States (US) over the Soviet Union in the protracted Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel from 4 to 6 July 2017 came in a year that marked the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration by the British occupying government in 1917, asserting the objective of establishing a Jewish “National Home” in Palestine, a promise British imperialism had made to the Zionists. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Zionist leadership’s proclamation of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948. Collective memory of colonialism was then quite strong. In those Nehruvian times, India did acknowledge the gross violations of the rights of the Palestinians who were brutally dispossessed and expelled to make way for the creation of Israel.

Zionism must be recognised for what it was and is—a colonialist and racist ideology that justifies the dispossession and the expulsion of the indigenous population of Arabs and denies their human rights. Anti-Zionism is not anti-Jewishness; it is also not anti-Semitism. In claiming that its brutal actions against the Palestinians are being carried out in the name of the world’s Jews, Israel poses a threat to the humanity of all Jews. Under Zionist leadership, Israel is an occupying force in Palestinian lands. The State of Israel refuses to treat the Palestinians as equals. The Palestinian liberation struggle against Israeli sub-imperialism is part of a wider struggle against imperialism and the reactionary regimes of the Arab world allied with imperialism. With the support of Washington, and in the course of three wars—in 1948, 1967, and 1973—Israel has gained over time de facto possession of the entire area west of the River Jordan. Furthermore, it has been controlling and limiting access of the Palestinians to their lands, besides subjugating and containing them in a most brutal manner.