“I’m a German-Polish Jew. My last name is Wexler. …
We are told that we need a state that is based on ethnicity in the 21st century and that’s the only way Jewish people can be safe. But it is really for Britain and America and other imperialist states to have a presence in the Middle East.”
@wdlindsy
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It is ahistorical nonsense to suggest that Israel is somehow the result of a "colonial project"of the US & the UK. It makes for a great story but it's not at all supported by facts. For starters, The UK didn't need Israel to have a presence in the Middle East, it had bases & troops in other "protectorates" all over the region (Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, etc). People will point to the Balfour declaration as proof & then conveniently forget everything that happened for the next... 1/4
...35 or so years. The British were far more interested in their relationships with their Arab partners who allowed them access to the region. The British had basically reneged on the Balfour declaration by the outbreak of WW2 & had severely limited Jewish migration to Mandatory Palestine during that period to mollify Arab anger. As a result, Jewish militias waged a guerilla insurgency against the British & also smuggled thousands of Jews into Palestine explicitly against... 2/4
...the wishes of the British authorities.
After WW2, the UK abstained from the UNSC votes which were to be the legal basis for the creation of the future state of Israel and did not recognize the nascent state right away. In fact Turkey would have full diplomatic relations with Israel before Great Britain.
The claim about the United States is equally ridiculous. While true that the United States supported the UNSC resolutions & recognized Israel's declaration of statehood...3/4
...almost immediately, the same can also be said of the Soviet Union, who viewed Zionism as an inherently socialist movement (many founders of Zionism were indeed socialists) & saw Israel as an "Anti imperialist" project that could counter British influence in the region.
Antagonism between the USSR & Israel developed later after many Arab states became independent & moved closer to the Soviets in the context of the Cold War.
To say otherwise is historical revisionism.
4/4 end 🧵 @wdlindsy
@DeeGLloyd I find Sara Geller's historical knowledge first-rate, and think she's making a very important point when she says, "It makes no sense to have a place for Jewish people that requires other people to suffer and die.”
@wdlindsy
One can be critical of Israel & current American & British support for it without veering into wild fantasies with nearly zero basis in actual history.
The need for Ms. Wexler & others like her to frame their criticisms around (demonstrably false) narratives suggests that their conclusions reflect a particular worldview rather than critical evaluation of evidence.
The real world is full of plot twists & turns & unexpected outcomes, not neat storylines with clear villains & heroes.
@wdlindsy
Ms. Wexler may be a fine philosophy student.
I wouldn't hire her as a historian. Her story is one of basic factual errors.
I've presented those errors here & they can easily be verified by anyone with an Internet connection & a bit of intellectual curiosity.
Again, that's not to say there isn't valid criticism to be made of Israel. Just do it without historical fables.
@DeeGLloyd Yes, the internet allows us to sample and evaluate the many different historical perspectives that all events of the past elicit — and those differing perspectives call on us to reflect on our biases which can in some cases be blinding, causing us to pretend that one version of history is "the" truth and the others, which may be more factually grounded, are untrue.
@DeeGLloyd You can find online any number of good courses in basic historiography and good reading lists in that field. You may want to start with E.H. Carr's succinct classic little book What Is History?
‘All systems of totalitarianism, including corporate totalitarianism, deform education into vocational training where students are taught what to think, not how to think.’
“I’ve no idea why people still believe this narrative. It makes no sense to have a place for Jewish people that requires other people to suffer and die.”