The Roots of Zionism:
Part 2 of Zionism, Humanitarianism, and the Progressive Dilemma.
The image above is one of many theatrically released posters for the movie 300 (2006). 300 tells the heroic saga of 300 Spartan soldiers standing against hundreds of thousands of Persian soldiers at the battle of Thermopylae in ancient Greece. The poster image is courtesy of Warner Brothers Pictures.
NOTE: Nazia Saeed, a Human Resources professional living in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, contributed significant research and writing for parts of this article.
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“For those who have not yet understood, I want to clarify Israel’s policy – we do not wait for a threat; we anticipate it. Everywhere, in every arena, at any time. We eliminate senior officials, eliminate terrorists, eliminate missiles – and our hands are bent. Whoever tries to hurt us, we hurt him even more.” –Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he announced military air strikes on targets in southern Lebanon at a press conference on September 23rd, 2024.
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The image above is a “still” from the movie “300” (2006). The “still” image is courtesy of Warner Brothers Pictures.
The international community is watching in horror and confusion as Israel seems to be marching hand-in-hand the United States (US) and Western Europe into a full-blown war with Iran and “proxy-state” actors like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza.
Questions that need answering concerning the current Biden-Harris diplomatic and humanitarian policy toward the Middle East are as follows:
Why are international diplomatic entreaties and Gaza ceasefire efforts by the Biden-Harris Administration’s State Department so ineffectual?
Why does Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seem to be prioritizing his government’s escalating military campaigns in the Middle East over securing a ceasefire deal to return the remaining 101 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza?
The answers to the first question are easy. Outgoing US President Joe Biden calls himself “the most pro-Israel President in American history.”
The October 7th terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas militants is so horrific that Mr. Biden is affording Israel license to do whatever they deem necessary to destroy the terrorist organization.
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Israel as Sparta.
The image above is one of many theatrically released posters for the movie 300 (2006). The poster image is courtesy of Warner Brothers Pictures.
The answers to the second question are much more complicated.
We believe our readers should consider the historical prevalence of centuries-old international antipathies and antisemitism against the Jewish people – from everywhere they have ever existed as a communal ethnic and religious group. This unrelenting xenophobic loathing of ethnic Jews from almost every other ethnic and cultural group led to the necessity of the Jewish state of Israel and the country’s unique focus on civilian-military service and national defense.
An imperfect but appropriate historical comparison is to view Israel as equivalent to the ancient Greek martial city-state of Sparta. According to the Encyclopedia of World History, Spartan military prowess was a source of fear and envy amongst other Greek city-states and rival societies.
Much like Sparta, Israel exists in constant conflict with every nation-state and distinct culture in proximity to a large collection of Jewish people possessed of a uniquely martial and insular communal disposition toward the outside world.
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Israeli soldiers attend a swearing-in ceremony as they enter the Paratroopers Brigade at the Ammunition Hill Heritage Site in Jerusalem on July 3rd, 2024. The photo is courtesy of Chaim Goldberg and Flash90.
Another national characteristic that makes Israel eerily similar to Sparta is its well-earned reputation for efficient success and ruthless intensity in all small—or large-scale military conflicts.
Just as Sparta’s legendary fighters earned distinction for epically violent battles against the Persian Empire at Thermopylae and Plataea in the 5th century BCE, Israel has consistently defeated coalitions of much bigger military forces arrayed against the existential survival of a singularly unique nation located on what all parties considered hallowed land. For the Israelis, their victories came at the expense of multiple Middle Eastern Arab and Persian nation-states across various timelines.
You do not need to be a genius to realize that Israel’s current collective militaristic and right-wing political national temperament has roots in multiple past instances of mass persecution, slavery, and genocidal intent against Jewish people everywhere.
Of course, we must investigate a small sub-segment of the philosophical theories and historical events that led to instances of genocide and cultural purges against Jewish citizens.
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Nationalism in Europe and the birth of political Zionism.
Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist, lawyer, writer, playwright, and political activist Theodor Herzl. The image is courtesy of Britannica.
Zionism was born in the 19th century against rising European nationalism and the backdrop of widespread antisemitism across the continent.
European Jews, in particular – had long faced discrimination, exclusion, and violence – which culminated in numerous pogroms everywhere in Europe. These violent outbursts of antisemitism catalyzed the Jewish community’s desire for self-determination and the search for a safe homeland.
Theodor Herzl, often considered the father of modern political Zionism, was a Viennese journalist deeply affected by the anti-Semitic fervor unleashed during the Dreyfus Affair in France. In 1896, Herzl published Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), advocating the creation of a Jewish nation-state as the only viable solution to the “Jewish Question.”
Mr. Herzl’s vision of secular, political Zionism contrasted with earlier, more spiritual—and cultural forms of Jewish nationalism. His call for a homeland struck a chord within European Jewish communities, which saw Zionism as a way to escape centuries of persecution on the continent.
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The 19th-century origins of nationalism in Germany and Europe.
The image above is a monochrome photograph taken in 1876 of Josef Hoffman’s (1831–1904) illustration of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen opera. Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.
Compare Theodor Herzl’s purposeful and hope-filled intent for self-determination for the Jewish people to the violence, anger, fear, and anxiety found in Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle.
As amateur social scientists and public health advocates, we submit that the codification of racial hierarchies formed and developed in the Romantic era with Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813–1883) and other German idealists. Richard Wagner was a German composer and political polemicist best known for his epic opera, The Ring Cycle.
Wagner’s Ring Cycle, also known as The Ring of the Nibelung, or Der Ring des Nibelungen in German – is an epic music opera created by the legendary German composer. Wagner wrote the libretto and composed the music for The Ring of the Nibelung from 1848 through 1874. During the twenty-six-year span of creativity it took to finish the Ring Cycle, Wagner separated the opera into four parts:
Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold), 1869.
Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), 1870.
Siegfried,1876.
Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods), 1876.
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Adolf Hitler at a German Nazi political rally in Nuremberg, August 1933. Photo image courtesy Wikipedia Commons.
The Ring of the Nibelung is a sensational and harrowing account of a race of giants plotting against the ancient Nordic gods.
Wagner’s composition of the “Ring Cycle” answers what he and other members of the Romantic era intelligentsia viewed as excessive adherence to the Enlightenment’s emphasis on science and reason. In contrast, Richard Wagner’s worldview emphasizes bloodlines, heritage, reverence for nature, and worship of the gods.
Adolph Hitler attended live productions of The Ring of the Nibelung, and historians say he viewed Richard Wagner’s operas as embodying his vision for the German nation. Hitler went as far as to claim in a 1922 speech that Wagner’s works glorified “the heroic Teutonic nature ... Greatness lies in the heroic.”
Watching and ruminating on Richard Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” provided Adolph Hitler with the emotional context for catalyzing all of Europe’s racialized fears and religious preoccupations regarding the purity of their various ethnic and patriarchal bloodlines into the mass-killing of six million Jews in the holocaust.
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From marginal Zionist ideology to mainstream support.
Although Zionism preceded German National Socialism (Nazism) by almost half a century, both nationalist ideologies originated in Europe as core principles in an enormous wave of separatist movements that swept across many countries in the 19th century.
Nationalism promoted the idea that each distinct ethnic group should have its nation-state, and for many European Jews, Zionism became a pathway to both security and self-determination. European Jewish thinkers like Ahad Ha’am and Max Nordau added complexity to Zionism. They debated whether the future Jewish state should be secular or religious and focus on cultural renewal or political sovereignty.
The movement gained traction with the formation of the World Zionist Organization in 1897 during the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. This congress established a clear political goal: the creation of a “home for the Jewish people in Palestine secured by public law.”
Yet, before the holocaust, Zionism initially encountered resistance, especially among American Jews.
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Post-World War 2 and the Nazi Holocaust.
The photo image is courtesy of Larahcv from Pixabay.
In the United States, Jews assimilated and preferred the idea of being “Americans of Jewish faith” rather than supporting a separate Jewish state.
However, as antisemitism began to surge worldwide, Zionism gained traction. The Balfour Declaration of 1917, in which Britain promised support for establishing a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, was a significant turning point in international Jewish opinion about establishing a “homeland.”
American Zionists rallied behind The Balfour Declaration, and organizations such as Hadassah and the American Zionist Movement grew in influence. The atrocities of World War 2 and the Holocaust fundamentally shifted Jewish opinion in America and Europe about the efficacy of Zionism. The Nazi Holocaust committed against Jewish people naturally became a seminal event in the 20th century all across Europe.
The systematic extermination of six million Jews galvanized widespread support for the Zionist cause. International Jews came to see the establishment of Israel as both a moral and existential necessity—a haven for all Jews that could protect them from future persecution.
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“Life is so much stranger than fiction.”
Image by Александр Жданенко from Pixabay.
With American political support, especially under President Harry Truman, the United States became a key player in securing the legitimacy of Israel’s creation in 1948.
President Truman’s recognition of Israel shortly after its declaration of independence underscored America’s commitment to the Zionist project. But before this time, German composer Richard Wagner’s documented personal hatred of Jews directly influenced the appropriation of The Ring Cycle by Adolph Hitler and his German Nazi party.
The German Holocaust against the Jewish population of Europe accentuated centuries of xenophobic antisemitism against Jews across the planet, eventually leading to the ideals that established Zionism and the state of Israel.
Like the Spartans of antiquity, modern-day Israel has transformed into a warrior nation renowned for developing fierce and unforgiving professional citizen-soldiers tasked with protecting the nation-state against perpetual military conflicts with regional rivals.
We must all remember that Sparta eventually fell after the rigid hierarchy of its slave and martial society accentuated its inability to resolve military conflicts with its neighboring city-states, causing a complete internal collapse of the system.