Albert Einstein: Anti-zionist, Anti-Israel

C

Cypress

Well-known member
The most famous Jewish person of the 20th century did not support the creation of a state of Israel, fearing it would contribute to war and conflict in the Middle East.

Einstein and Zionism

For the rest of his life, Einstein lent his support to the Zionist movement. But he was always careful to explain that he supported “cultural Zionism,” not “national Zionism.” That meant support for Jewish refugees in Palestine and for institutions like Hebrew University, but not support for a Jewish national state, which he feared would lead to conflict with Palestinian Arabs.


source credit: Albert Einstein: Physicist, Philosopher, Humanitarian course notes, Professor Don Howard, Notre Dame University
Click to expand...
 
From early on, Einstein found much to admire in the liberal vision, propagated by some Palestinian Jewish intellectuals, of a binational Arab-Jewish state. Speaking in New York City in 1938, he declared: "I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state... My awareness of the essential nature of Judaism resists the idea of a Jewish state with borders, an army, and a measure of temporal power... I am afraid of the inner damage Judaism will sustain."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/feb/16/israel.india
 
Why Socialism?

It is also arguably possible that Albert Einstein was the most credible and influential person of the 20th century to argue on behalf of democratic socialism in the face of the immorality of unrestrained capitalism

Albert Einstein: Why Socialism?

Einstein demonstrated his own resolve in the face of hostile criticism in 1949 when he published the influential article “Why Socialism?” in the inaugural issue of Monthly Review
.
Einstein’s socialism was that of the democratic left, which distinguished itself from the communist left by its deep commitment to constitutional, electoral procedures and gradual social reform.

In his thoughtful and densely argued 1949 essay, Einstein argued for a planned economy but warned that it carried with it the risk that an all-powerful bureaucracy could become as much of a threat to the rights of the individual as is the unchecked competitiveness of capitalism.

Einstein noted that democratic government under capitalism cannot be trusted to protect ordinary working people because political parties are financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who constitute an “oligarchy of private capital.” The worst evil of capitalism, he wrote, was “the crippling of individuals.”

Einstein was always clear and firm in condemning what was going on in Stalin’s Soviet Union


source credit: Albert Einstein: Physicist, Philosopher, Humanitarian, course notes, professor Don Howard, Notre Dame University
Click to expand...
 
Cypress said:
The most famous Jewish person of the 20th century did not support the creation of a state of Israel, fearing it would contribute to war and conflict in the Middle East.
Einstein and Zionism

For the rest of his life, Einstein lent his support to the Zionist movement. But he was always careful to explain that he supported “cultural Zionism,” not “national Zionism.” That meant support for Jewish refugees in Palestine and for institutions like Hebrew University, but not support for a Jewish national state, which he feared would lead to conflict with Palestinian Arabs.


source credit: Albert Einstein: Physicist, Philosopher, Humanitarian course notes, Professor Don Howard, Notre Dame University
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Notice the reason. Einstein had just lived through the fucking Holocaust. I'm certain he didn't want to give any assholes a reason to have a second one. Einstein was speaking out of fear for his people, not that he thought Zionism was wrong.
 
Dutch Uncle said:
Notice the reason. Einstein had just lived through the fucking Holocaust. I'm certain he didn't want to give any assholes a reason to have a second one. Einstein was speaking out of fear for his people, not that he thought Zionism was wrong.
Click to expand...

That is pure psychoanalytical speculation. Neither of us can read Einstein's mind.

Further it is entirely reasonable to oppose political Zionism because it fuels conflict between people. That is the best reason of all to oppose political Zionism, whether one is Jewish, atheist, Christian or Muslim. Cultural Zionism of the type Einstein supported sounds fine to me.

The point being that there are even Jews who did not support political Zionism.

Sidebar: Just to be precise, Albert Einstein lived in the United States during the holocaust. He lived during the holocaust but he did not live through it.
 
Cypress said:
That is pure psychoanalytical speculation. Neither of us can read Einstein's mind.

Further it is entirely reasonable to oppose political Zionism because it fuels conflict between people. That is the best reason of all to oppose political Zionism, whether one is Jewish, atheist, Christian or Muslim. Cultural Zionism of the type Einstein supported sounds fine to me.

The point being that there are even Jews who did not support political Zionism.

Sidebar: Just to be precise, Albert Einstein lived in the United States during the holocaust. He lived during the holocaust but he did not live through it.
Click to expand...

You did. You're "reading" his mind by assigning a reason to his concern about Zionism then whine when I point out a viable alternative reason.
 
Dutch Uncle said:
You did. You're "reading" his mind by assigning a reason to his concern about Zionism then whine when I point out a viable alternative reason.
Click to expand...
I am repeating what an Einstein scholar said about him: Einstein supported a Jewish cultural presence in the Levant, but not a Jewish political state, becasue it might fuel conflict.

That is not my opinion. That is what is reported by a scholar of Einstein
 
Cypress said:
That is pure psychoanalytical speculation. Neither of us can read Einstein's mind.

Further it is entirely reasonable to oppose political Zionism because it fuels conflict between people. That is the best reason of all to oppose political Zionism, whether one is Jewish, atheist, Christian or Muslim. Cultural Zionism of the type Einstein supported sounds fine to me.

The point being that there are even Jews who did not support political Zionism.

Sidebar: Just to be precise, Albert Einstein lived in the United States during the holocaust. He lived during the holocaust but he did not live through it.
Click to expand...

Zionist was very much a minority movement until so many anti-nazis failed the Jews during the War, which seemed to prove the extremist point then. As time has gone on, the benefit to Jewish people of a racist colony introducing apartheid into Palestine has become a great deal less arguable, particularly when you look at the sort of people who support it - broadly the same political forces that so admired Hitler.
 
Cypress said:
I am repeating what an Einstein scholar said about him: Einstein supported a Jewish cultural presence in the Levant, but not a Jewish political state, becasue it might fuel conflict.

That is not my opinion. That is what is reported by a scholar of Einstein
Click to expand...

Prove your point. I already showed how the Einstein quote you posted means fear of a second Holocaust, not being against a Jewish homeland, the return to Israel.
 
Dutch Uncle said:
Prove your point. I already showed how the Einstein quote you posted means fear of a second Holocaust, not being against a Jewish homeland, the return to Israel.
Click to expand...

You stated an opinion.

I posted what an Einstein scholar said.

It is a widely understood that Albert Einstein was a committed pacifist who only believed in fighting as an absolute last resort.

Pacifism all people. Not just for Jewish people.

It is more than plausible to conclude he opposed political Zionism because of the risk of conflict it introduces.

That is actually the reason I have doubts about excessive Zionist nationalism. It gets a lot of people killed, both Jewish and Palestinian
 
Cypress said:
You stated an opinion.

I posted what an Einstein scholar said.

It is a widely understood that Albert Einstein was a committed pacifist who only believed in fighting as an absolute last resort.

Pacifism all people. Not just for Jewish people.

It is more than plausible to conclude he opposed political Zionism because of the risk of conflict it introduces.

That is actually the reason I have doubts about excessive Zionist nationalism. It gets a lot of people killed, both Jewish and Palestinian
Click to expand...

Dude, are you saying Einstein was such a pacifist that he'd strip down and meekly walk into "the showers"? I know some that are that committed and history is full of them, but most people put survival above ideology. Dead pacifists change nothing and Einstein was a very much alive pacifist.

He was also pro-Israel...or as the terrorists and their supporters like to scream "prosemitic!!!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_views_of_Albert_Einstein#Cold_War_politics
in a 1947 letter to Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru intended to persuade India to support Zionist aims of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine, Einstein stated that the Balfour Declaration's proposal to establish a national home for Jews in Palestine "redresses the balance" of justice and history,[27] claiming that "at the end of the first world war, the Allies gave the Arabs 99% of the vast, underpopulated territories liberated from the Turks to satisfy their national aspirations and five independent Arab states were established. One per cent was reserved for the Jews in the land of their origin".[28] Einstein remained strongly supportive of unlimited Jewish immigration to Palestine....

...Einstein's motivation was a concern for the future of Israel if the Freedom Party continued to gain power.[citation needed] When President Harry Truman recognized Israel in May 1948, Einstein declared it "the fulfillment of our (Jewish) dreams."[33] Einstein also supported vice president Henry Wallace’s Progressive Party during the 1948 Presidential election which also advocated a pro-Soviet and pro-Israel foreign policy.[34]
 
Penderyn said:
Zionist was very much a minority movement until so many anti-nazis failed the Jews during the War, which seemed to prove the extremist point then. As time has gone on, the benefit to Jewish people of a racist colony introducing apartheid into Palestine has become a great deal less arguable, particularly when you look at the sort of people who support it - broadly the same political forces that so admired Hitler.
Click to expand...

Zionism is a loaded word which requires discretion when it is invoked.

The cultural Zionism Einstein supported seems perfectly reasonable to me: the right of Jewish people to return to live in their ancestral homeland in the Levant.

The nationalist Zionism of establishing an independent Jewish political nation state was what Einstein opposed, and that seems wise to me

Shorter story: Jewish cultural identity okay. Jewish nationalism at the expense of others = questionable.
 
Dutch Uncle said:
Dude, are you saying Einstein was such a pacifist that he'd strip down and meekly walk into "the showers"? I know some that are that committed and history is full of them, but most people put survival above ideology. Dead pacifists change nothing and Einstein was a very much alive pacifist.

He was also pro-Israel...or as the terrorists and their supporters like to scream "prosemitic!!!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_views_of_Albert_Einstein#Cold_War_politics
in a 1947 letter to Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru intended to persuade India to support Zionist aims of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine, Einstein stated that the Balfour Declaration's proposal to establish a national home for Jews in Palestine "redresses the balance" of justice and history,[27] claiming that "at the end of the first world war, the Allies gave the Arabs 99% of the vast, underpopulated territories liberated from the Turks to satisfy their national aspirations and five independent Arab states were established. One per cent was reserved for the Jews in the land of their origin".[28] Einstein remained strongly supportive of unlimited Jewish immigration to Palestine....

...Einstein's motivation was a concern for the future of Israel if the Freedom Party continued to gain power.[citation needed] When President Harry Truman recognized Israel in May 1948, Einstein declared it "the fulfillment of our (Jewish) dreams."[33] Einstein also supported vice president Henry Wallace’s Progressive Party during the 1948 Presidential election which also advocated a pro-Soviet and pro-Israel foreign policy.[34]
Click to expand...

I am just telling you what noted Einstein scholar Professor Howard said. I took an entire class on Einstein with him.

Shorter Einstein:
-Worked tirelessly on behalf of pacifism.
-Supported cultural Zionism.
-Opposed Nationalist Zionism concerning the establishment of a sovereign Jewish political state in Palestine
 
I do not like using Wikipedia as a source , but since it is being used in this thread even Wikipedia supports what professor Howard in the OP states

"He (Einstein) supported the creation of a Jewish national homeland in the British mandate of Palestine but was opposed to the idea of a Jewish state "with borders, an army, and a measure of temporal power."[6]:33 A"

-Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_views_of_Albert_Einstein#Zionism
Click to expand...
 
Cypress said:
I am just telling you what noted Einstein scholar Professor Howard said. I took an entire class on Einstein with him.

Shorter Einstein:
-Worked tirelessly on behalf of pacifism.
-Supported cultural Zionism.
-Opposed Nationalist Zionism concerning the establishment of a sovereign Jewish political state in Palestine
Click to expand...

A couple of my professors made a strong impression on me too. Number one was Camel unfiltered, Wild Turkey neat drinking nutjob who taught several of my philosophy classes. Some were tangential dual-taught classes such as Man and Death, Man and Religion. His name was Ron Smith, probably in his forties but the Wild Turkey made him look 50s. Mind-blowing community college professor, even more so than University professors.
 
Cypress said:
I do not like using Wikipedia as a source , but since it is being used in this thread even Wikipedia supports what professor Howard in the OP states
Click to expand...

Dude, no one is claiming Prof. Howard was wrong in his quoting of Einstein. What you and I are discussing are the difference between your view of the quote and m view of the quote. Nothing to do with college professors.
 
Cypress said:
It is also arguably possible that Albert Einstein was the most credible and influential person of the 20th century to argue on behalf of democratic socialism in the face of the immorality of unrestrained capitalism
Click to expand...

Especially since we had just survived a world war against the unrestrained forces of capitalism.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top