MYERS, Wayne. Anti-racist Jewish British writer explains “Why I am no longer a Zionist”

Wayne Myers is a Jewish British Oxford University graduate, writer and blogger (see: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/why-i-am-no-longer-a-zionist-8364214.html ). .

Wayne Myers on “Why I am no longer a Zionist” (2012): “Not only can I no longer defend any of this, I can no longer defend Zionism at all, not even in an abstract philosophical sense outside of any context involving the actions of the Israeli state. The Law of Return, under which I - an occasional tourist who just happens to be Jewish – can claim Israeli citizenship at a moment's notice, while a Palestinian actually born in, say, Haifa, but subsequently exiled cannot – that is a racist law. The notion of a Jewish state? That is – as far as it has been put into practice since 1948 - a racist notion.

Is Zionism racism? It didn't have to be. There were historical strands within Zionism that were not racist. Martin Buber – Zionist founder, in 1925, of the Brit Shalom organisation advocating a binational state, was not a racist, and nor were the pre-1948 Hashomer Hatzair.

But right now?

It's really very hard indeed to argue otherwise.

And it's such a blessed relief to feel that I am no longer obligated to attempt to do so.

That relief does not, however, in any way reduce the anger I feel at the current massacre of civilians in Gaza.” [1].

[1]. Wayne Myers, “Why I am no longer a Zionist”, The Independent , 28 November 2102: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/why-i-am-no-longer-a-zionist-8364214.html .