Thomas Paine and Anarcho-Zionism

We recommend that you all read or reread Thomas Paine's classic "Common Sense". It is a priceless historical document and also remains politically interesting. One aspect is his espousal of something very much like what we have termed Samuelianism- a pre-monarchic and anarchic Jewish society. He views this society as a republic, but his appraisal of the "sin" of a monarchy is pertinent to our philosophy. In the second section of "Common Sense", "Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession" we find the following:

... Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honours to their deceased kings, and the Christian World hath improved on the plan by doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of sacred Majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is crumbling into dust!

As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty as declared by Gideon, and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by Kings.

All anti-monarchical parts of scripture have been very smoothly glossed over in monarchical governments, but they undoubtedly merit the attention of countries which have their governments yet to form. "Render unto Cesar the things which are Cesar's" is the scripture doctrine of courts, yet it is no support of monarchical government, for the Jews at that time were without a king, and in a state of vassalage to the Romans.

Near three thousand years passed away, from the Mosaic account of the creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king. Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of Republic, administered by a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it was held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the Lord of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous homage which is paid to the persons of kings, he need not wonder that the Almighty, ever jealous of his honour, should disapprove a form of government which so impiously invades the prerogative of Heaven.

Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, for which a curse in reserve is denounced against them...

Definitely food for Jewish and anarchist thought.

A Real Cousin

Here is a truly inspirational man, who gives even us cynics hope for true peace... May there be many more such people as this holy cousin.

Rock Attack Against Israel Activist

Meir Indor, a prominent Israeli activist, and chairman of the Almagor Terror Victims Association, was attacked by an Arab mob on the Mount of Olives last Wednesday. He and his wife, Batsheva, were in the car at the time. Their car sustained extensive damage, and Meir, bleeding from a head wound, was brought to Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital. Read more here.
May he have a complete recovery. Let us hope for a real peace, which will only come when Israel's security, and the security of it's inhabitants, is not on the bargaining table.

Gilad Schalit

This video is an interesting perspective on the complicated Gilad Schalit issue.

The Battle of Cable Street

A B"ZAYON comrade mentioned to us an interesting episode in the fight against fascism, one which seemed appropriate to post here. The Battle of Cable Street is an interesting example of some of our favorite type of anti-fascists (Jews, anarchists, the Irish) teaming up against a fascist antisemitic march. In other random news, Fidel Castro has some bizarrely astute things to say about antisemitism. May we all be sealed in the book of life this Rosh Hashanah, and may this year bring the full redemption/revolution.

Ron Paul...

...exposes himself again as an anti-Semite and fool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JoGwq9k5lw&feature=player_embedded
It is quite disturbing that anyone pretending to be a libertarian could hold such anti-freedom views...

We Con the World

Great spoof of "We Are the World" about the flotilla:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOGG_osOoVg
The Dylan impression is pretty weak, but that aside, a good video.

The ARYEH

An Award in Recognition of Youth Exemplifying Hebraism



B"ZAYON would like to announce the first Award in Recognition of Youth Exemplifying Hebraism (ARYEH). This is being awarded to the unidentified high school student who took the remarkable stand against a horde of anti-Semitic protesters who, one feels sure, would have quickly become violent were it not for law enforcement officers. Hebraism, a term originally with philological meaning, also implies the essential nature of the Hebrew/Jewish people. This student has exemplified these values by standing up to those who wish our destruction. He is the "just one man" of Bob Dylan's classic Neighborhood Bully. Kudos to Democast for the video.

Bawney Fwank

One B"ZAYON-er was at a Boston rally in support of a unified Jerusalem and heard someone making the claim that our esteemed congressman, Barney Frank, was pro-Israel. Well, this seems to disprove that claim... B"ZAYON does not endorse any comments on the above story.

Elvis

We at B"ZAYON are, musically speaking, huge Elvis Costello fans. Politically, not so much... Here is a good response to Elvis' disappointing and foolish decision to not play a show in Israel: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3893595,00.html
The only thing we can't agree with is the author's denigration of Elvis' musical talent, which is formidable.

Yom Hazikaron-Yom Haatzmaut

Tonight marks the transition between Remembrance Day and Independence Day. In B"ZAYON, we often try to think of the many people who sacrificed their lives for the Jewish people in Israel before the State was founded. Specifically, if one is ever in the Holy Undivided City, Jerusalem, we recommend a trip to the Museum of Underground Prisoners. Today, many of our members remembered Moshe Barzani and Meir Feinstein. Their story is one of the most moving in Zionist history.

With regards to Independence Day, we refer you to this article. Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon is among the few clearheaded public figures in Israel today- probably because he isn't really a politician. From the River to the Sea, Israel will always be!

Palestine Post

Relive the time when Israel was Palestine in the days before Yom Ha'Atzmaut: http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=173398

Of course, this shows how Arab terrorism didn't originate with any so-called "Occupation".

Spot On!

A must-read article: http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=173302

Druze Tragedy

This news is quite sad... The Druze are remarkable for their staunch service to Israel. Their religion is also interesting, especially in that, like us Jews, they are simultaneously an ethnic and a religius group. Some of the comments on this news article also highlight the sickness of the anti-Israel crowd, as they feel it is fine to be flippant about suicide, as long as those involved are IDF soldiers. May the families be comforted. They are, by virtue of their service of Israel, "mourners of Zion" in a certain sense.

Shmuel Katz

We recommend this new site to all our readers wholeheartedly. The late Shmuel Katz, may his memory be a blessing, was a close follower of Vladimir Jabotinsky and an astute commentator on Israeli politics. His work is a "must-read" for those with Revisionist Zionist tendencies.

Post-Passover

In order to augment our Hebrew/Aramaic content, here is a fun video:



For those less Hebraically inclined, there is an English version...

Passover Post

Here are two great links for your consideration:
http://text.rcarabbis.org/?p=857
http://jewishmag.com/89mag/brandoseder/brandoseder.htm

A Note on Several Things...

It has come to our attention that we have reached 100 posts- in fact, this is B"ZAYON's 101st post! So first, just a little self-congratulation. Secondly, we would like to address a trend in this and other Anarcho-Zionist blogs (the only other active one which we know of, In The Gloaming, certainly holds to this trend) to deal with Zionist issues above and beyond anarchist ones. There are many reasons for this, but here are, we think, a few:

• Anarcho- modifies Zionist, so Zionism understandably takes a front seat much of the time.
• There is a lot more blatant anti-Israel sentiment in the world than anti-anarchist. For that reason, there is more work to be done on that front than that of government and other by definition oppressive authorities.

However, we will try to make an effort to have some more anarchist thought on the blog, as that side of the world deserves to be heard as well. We will, of course, continue to bring our characteristic mix of Zionist news and other randomnesses.A Happy Israelite Freedom Holiday to all!

Primary Source-a-riffic

One of our outstanding associates has recently brought to our attention an important semantic point relating to Israel. The the 1947 Partition Plan refers to the geographical area on the west side of the Jordan river, or the 'West Bank', as Judea and Samaria, or rather 'Samaria and Judea'. Here is the source: http://www.undemocracy.com/A-RES-181(II).pdf, on page 13. A search for "West Bank" in the New York Times during 1966 yields only stories about finance in West Germany: http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?frow=0&n=10&srcht=s&daterange=period&query=west+bank+1966&srchst=p&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=sub&hdlquery=&bylquery=&mon1=09&day1=18&year1=1851&mon2=12&day2=31&year2=1980. Facts are inconvenient so often for the anti-Israel crew. Let us not fall prey to "Newspeak" of any sort!

Content

It is here we ponder, and present ot you a thought which very well may be worthless: what is content? Must a post link to some news, decry some infamy, or may it simply impart a mood? Here in Boston it has been raining hard and flooding. As you are at home tonight, hopefully dry and warm, take a moment to think about where you are, physically and metaphysically. As Pesach approaches and we clean our house, let us also set flame to mental chametz and try to bring our world near the day which is neither day nor night, as the seder song says. What is anarchism, (or Zionism, for that matter) of any stripe, if not an impatient messianism?

Cold Turkey

The concept of "historical truth" has never seemed complicated to us at B"ZAYON; if something happened, then it probably happened. But Turkey seems to be unacquainted with objective reality. Their denial of the Armenian genocide is famous, but recently they have further sullied their standing among rational nations by pulling their ambassador to the US, and more shockingly, denying any Jewish connection to the Cave of the Patriarchs or Rachel's Tomb. Genocidal fascist fools...

It Never Stops

So much anti-Israel rhetoric is based on willful ignorance. It should be obvious to everyone the offensiveness of acknowledging Maarat Hamachpelah (Cave of the Patriarchs), which is in Hebron, as a "national heritage" site. (Of course, Kever Rachel, or Rachel's Tomb, has no historical or religious connection with Islam, but that doesn't keep it from being "another move of aggression"). Sure, parts of the building over the cave date from the period of Herod (before the creation of Islam), and that Hebron is mentioned many times in the Torah. Sure, Hebron was King David's first capitol, and is among the holiest of Jewish sites. But really- do you think that is why Maarat Hamachpelah is a heritage site? This is just another racist attempt to steal land from the Ancient Ones who, obviously, were the REAL inhabitants of the land. Look at their ancient culture, their distinctive religion, their miraculous survival through the millenia! What about their countless contributions to Western civilization, not to mention their pioneering work in the arts?! And, of course, that most "Palestinian" of all foods- a steaming hot chulent. Wait a second...

Monkeywrench!

Massachusetts has monkeywrenched the Democratic machine! Perhaps this will lead to more balance in the Senate, and may prevent the growth of government. Let's hope Scott Brown proves himself deserving of the Senate seat...

Brown in Massachusetts

For what it is worth, B"ZAYON supports Scott Brown's attempt at conquering Teddy Kennedy's throne. Regardless of whether we agree or disagree with his politics, there is a standard approach that drives our endorsement. When one party in our system controls the Executive branch, it is important that the other control the Legislative. This prevents either side from behaving rashly- the legislature is a check on the power of the Presidency, and vice versa. As well, a Republican winning in Massachusetts would be quite a monkeywrench in the Democratic machine. So, disregarding temporarily the many arguments in anarchist literature against voting, we are compelled to support Mr. Brown.

Right on!

Here we finally have a good reason to "move to Canada", as Americans have traditionally threatened to do whenever they disagree at all with the government. May your maple syrup always be sweet, and your snow always be cold!

Kudos to Google

Google has taken an important step in combating Chinese censorship. Communism was opposed by most anarchist thinkers (not to mention Jewish activists) for this very reason- a dictatorship of the proletariat inevitably becomes just a dictatorship. So, Google deserves recognition- although it came a bit late, they have taken a stand.

What a New Year!

Several things have come up this January first. A delegation from B"ZAYON visited the First Night celebrations in Boston, and were unpleasantly surprised to see the anti-Jews marching in force. Among their ranks were, of course, skinheads, and signs spouting such equality loving and balanced slogans such as "Viva Ahmedinejad" and "America stop helping the Jew(ish State)". They are being less and less successful in hiding their antisemitism, and we can only hope that this wakes people up. There was a similar march in San Francisco, which was countered by ZFA, among others. Right on!
There were also reports of settler violence, which we at B"ZAYON condemn. It has always been our belief, and always will be, that we Jews should not act like our enemies. This doesn't mean we don't resist, it just means that attacking random civilians is objectively wrong. May we all have a very new year, in which we witness full redemption.