Noam Chomsky on Israel, Settler Mentality and Colonialism

Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired

More often than not when I discussed Israel with co-workers or with workers in general, those that are not deeply involved in world politics, would say that Jews and Muslims have been fighting this present fight for centuries and people more often than not claim that religious differences are the root cause. This is not the case in Israel/Palestine, nor is it in Northern Ireland.

As I have pointed out many times in writing on the subject I refer to the first British governor of Jerusalem who said of the creation of a Jewish state in the region, that it could be "Our loyal little Ulster in the Middle East". In other words, a small settler minority occupying the land and the homes of the indigenous inhabitants they have driven out, with the result being a siege mentality on the part of the settlers and a dependence on the colonial or outside power for protection. Israel is a European settler state in the Middle East.

The US is also a settler state as is Australia as Chomsky says. When Americans talk to me about the Union Jack, the flag of the United Kingdom, I remind them, or in most cases they hear for the first time, that the Irish Republicans referred to it as the "Butcher's Apron." Ireland was England's first colony and to this day, the history and brutality of this colonization has molded Irish mass consciousness.  Irish people are not Irish American people and many are often embarrassed by the ignorance of Ireland's revolutionary history and it being supplanted by green beer, rivers and Leprechauns by their US cousins. When I was in a pub in Dublin in October watching the Rugby World Cup final between South Africa and England, there was not one Irish person rooting for England in there. As it was an international game the anthems were sung and I don't sing anthems (except the Internationale, the workers' anthem) especially a backward feudal hymn, and I certainly wouldn't sing God Save the Queen in an Irish pub.

In this video Chomsky gives a short, succinct explanation of why US imperialism supports the Zionist regime with all its brutality and racism. He explains the religious aspect of it going back to before the Balfour Declaration and Christian Zionism in England as well as here in the US. Most people do not consider when it comes to a religious reason for supporting Zionism that Christian Zionists far outnumber and have more influence than their Jewish counterparts. For these people, the conflict in Israel/Palestine is a confirmation of Biblical prophecy.  Along with this there is the geo-political as Israel is US imperialism's only reliable ally in the Middle East. The revolutionary potential of the Arab masses rules the weak Arab regimes out as far as that is concerned. Zionist brutality against the indigenous population of the region is made possible by US support.

In the case of British colonialism, it too is a history of extreme brutality and repression. It governed India for a century or more and plundered that sub-continent. I should add, that why identity politics is so prevalent here in the US is that it obscures or completely negates the class question.  We "are all American" fits in to the propaganda of the ruling class very nicely and it is shouted most loudly when they need cannon fodder for their imperial ventures.  But British colonial policy was not developed by the working class or the rural peasantry no more than US imperialism's invasion of Korea or Vietnam or Grenada or Cuba or countless other nations is not developed in any way through the truly democratic intervention of the working class. This is why I for one have been so vehement when criticizing those who rail against racism, white nationalism, imperialism and so on and never mention class at all.

US workers from all backgrounds and cultures have been sent to Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam and so on, plus, we have the notorious concentration camp in Guantanamo Bay and recently thousands upon thousands of small children locked away in camps, prisons and makeshift holding tanks. Where is the public outcry about this?  These people are economic refugees from US imperialism's century old domination of the political and economic life of their homelands. But we do not look at or treat the workers the US sent to invade Vietnam or Iraq, countries that never threatened us in any way, the same way we would treat those who send them. We don't attack the average person in the street for their apathy. We can accuse them of avoiding reality or keeping their heads in the sand but we do not distribute responsibility equally.

I encourage workers to listen to how Chomsky answers that question.