Zionism: Ideology and the Assumption of a Jewish Race

Zionism is the political and national movement responsible for the Israeli occupation in of Palestine. One of the more inflammatory aspects of Zionist thought is that which pertains to what constitutes a Jew-not only a religious or cultural entity but also as a racial type. This understanding has important implications for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially in so far as it touches on claims and disputes over land rights, identity, and nationality. But all the same, historians, geneticists, and scholars alike have deconstructed the very notion of one Jewish race, saying that this is far more of a modern construct than a historical one.

The Fallacy of a Jewish Race

It was within the matrix of 19th-century European discourse on the so-called races, which sought to subsume humankind into fixed racial types, that the notion of Jews as a distinct race truly materialised. Following from those premises, Zionism began to uphold the Jewish people in racial terms, insisting that Jews of the world were one race, with one heritage and an inborn right to the land of Israel. The premise, however, increasingly comes to be established as myth and not fact in history.

In his milestone book, The Invention of the Jewish People, Shlomo Sand argues that the concept of a Jewish race does not hold any water historically; it is something rather more recently contrived. He states, "The more I delved into the history of the Jewish people, the more I realized that this idea of a Jewish race is a myth with no basis in historical fact" (Sand, 2009, p. 32). According to Sand, Jewish ethnicity has been created over time through cultural and religious heritage, not through any biological or racial origins.

Genetic Diversity Among Jews

Modern genetic studies are increasingly debunking the notion of a single Jewish race. Many studies have shown that Jewish populations worldwide are highly diverse populations whose genetic diversity reflects a long history of migrations, conversions, and mixed marriages into local populations. Such genetic diversity debunks notions that Jews form a united, homogenous entity.

A 2010 study by Elhaik and colleagues revealed sharp genetic differences among Jewish populations, and thus Jewish communities are not related closely enough to each other to constitute a race. Elhaik is quoted as saying, "The concept of a Jewish race is not supported by our genetic data. Jewish populations are genetically diverse and show no evidence of a common origin that would justify racial categorization" (Elhaik et al., 2010, p. 335).

Similarly, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Harry Ostrer, a geneticist, accepts that there is genetic variation in Jews but insists that they have a shared genetic mark as proof of a shared ancestry. Yet, Ostrer would also state that he realizes labelling Jews as a different race is a bit controversial as he himself states, "While there are genetic commonalities among Jewish populations, these do not constitute a race in any scientific sense. The concept of race is a social construct, not a biological reality" (Ostrer, 2012).

Jewish Identity: Cultural and Historical Roots.

The racialisation of Jewish identity in Zionism is, moreover, a reaction to anti-Semitic persecution of Jewish Europeans. Faced with systemic discrimination within Europe, European Jewish support for Zionism began increasingly to be viewed as a way of asserting collective identity that would transcend assimilation. But even this was more collective identity-cultural-religious rather than racial.

The distinguished historian Eric Hobsbawm argues that nationalism, of which Zionism is a variety, often invents its traditions and myths in the interest of cohesion and continuity. He declares, "Nations are not the product of a timeless racial essence but are constructed through shared culture, history, and memory. Zionism's emphasis on a Jewish race is a modern invention designed to serve political ends" (Hobsbawm, 1990, p. 14).

Maxime Rodinson, a French historian and scholar with Marxist affiliations, examines critically the racial presuppositions ensconced in Zionism. In the book titled “Israel: A Colonial-Settler State?”, Rodinson argues that Zionism's claims to a Jewish race are a species of "myth-making" that operates to justify the colonisation of Palestine. He asserts, "The idea of a Jewish race is a fiction created to legitimize the Zionist project. Jewish identity is not racial but cultural and religious, shaped by centuries of diverse historical experiences" (Rodinson, 1973, p. 15).

Secular Zionism and the Founding Fathers

Another paradox within Zionism is that many of its founding fathers were secularists or atheists, not subscribing to the traditional Jewish religious beliefs. Men like Theodor Herzl, David Ben-Gurion, and Chaim Weizmann called for a Jewish state, but in their private beliefs, regarded Judaism more as a nationality than a religious identity. This is the secular approach to Zionism, further clouding the idea of a Jewish race.

As the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel, David Ben-Gurion stated, "Judaism is not a religion in the traditional sense but a nationality" (Ben-Gurion, quoted in Segev, 2019). This quote shows the Zionist departure from predominantly religious understandings of Jewish identity to a national and, very significantly, racial understanding of their identity. This racial understanding, however, was more political in origin than scientific-normative, meant to mobilise Jews to gain their support for Zionist purposes.

Similarly, Theodor Herzl, widely seen as the father of modern political Zionism, examined Jewish identity in a secular world. In founding modern political Zionism, Herzl wrote The Jewish State, in which he envisioned a modern, secular state in which Jews could live without the necessity of their religious devotion. "We shall keep our priests within the confines of their temples" beautifully sums up his vision of a secular Jewish state (Herzl, 1896, p. 63). Herzl's vision was driven more by the mission of national self-determination rather than racist ideology.

Critiques of Zionism's Racial Ideology

Critics of Zionism have historically struggled with its racialist premises, arguing that racial ideas justify policies and practices of exclusion in Israel. Edward Said, a highly respected Palestinian scholar, challenges the racialist ideology of Zionism in his pinnacle text, Orientalism. In this book, Said argues that Zionism, like other colonial ideologies, constructs an "Other" in order to rationalise domination. He says, "Zionism's racialization of Jewish identity is a form of Orientalism, designed to create a sense of superiority over the Arab inhabitants of Palestine" (Said, 1979, p. 75).

Similarly, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe maintains that the racial ideology of Zionism provides a legitimisation for the practice of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians. In The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Pappe shows how Zionism's leaders used the notions of a Jewish race as an ideology to justify their acts of removing the Palestinian Arabs from their lands. He states, "The myth of a Jewish race was instrumental in the Zionist project to create a Jewish majority in Palestine by any means necessary, including the forced expulsion of indigenous populations" (Pappe, 2006, p. 13).

Deconstructing the Jewish Race Myth

Historical investigations and genetic analyses, in addition to critical academic discourse, have comprehensively invalidated the notion of a Jewish race, central to some interpretations of Zionist ideology. Jewishness cannot be considered one racial category but is instead representative of a rich mosaic of cultural, religious, and historical diversity. The racialisation of Jewish identity through Zionism served to meet particular ends, most obviously in the euphemistic terms concerning legitimacy that might surround the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. The latter view, however, is increasingly seen as a modern invention rather than a historical fact.

Understanding the invented characteristics of the Jewish race myth is a prerequisite to deconstructing the exclusionary policy spawned by it. As long as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict persists, there is an increasing need to challenge racial suppositions supporting Zionist thought and also to strive toward a broader and more historically adequate concept of the Jews.

References

Ben-Gurion, D. (quoted in Segev, T. 2019). A State at Any Cost: The Life of David Ben-Gurion. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Elhaik, E., et al. (2010). The Missing Link of Jewish European Ancestry: Contrasting the Rhineland and the Khazarian Hypotheses. Genome Biology and Evolution, 5(1), 61-74.

Herzl, T. (1896). The Jewish State: An Attempt at a Modern Solution of the Jewish Question. Vienna: M. Breitenstein's Verlags-Buchhandlung.

Hobsbawm, E. J. (1990). Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ostrer, H. (2012). Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Pappe, I. (2006). The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Oxford: Oneworld Publications.

Rodinson, M. (1973). Israel: A Colonial-Settler State?. New York: Monad Press.

Sand, S. (2009). The Invention of the Jewish People. London: Verso.

Said, E. W. (1979). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.

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