Yor

am 
Haz
ony
: Di
smi
ssi
ng 
th
e Ne
w Pa
rad
igm 
Impe
ril
s 
Is
rae
l – 
For
war
..
. http://www.forward.com/articles/131130/

Forward.com
Dismissing the New Paradigm Imperils Israel
Second Opinion
By Yoram Hazony
Published September 08, 2010, issue of September 17, 2010.

After 
the  I
srael
i 
raid on  t
he Tur
kish bl
ockade breaker s’
 boat  
of f 
Gaz a 
thi
s summer , 
I kept running into the same
r
question: Why does international condemnation of Israel continue to grow ever more viulent? Sh ouldn’ t
 Israel
’
s
withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, and the withdrawal from the Security Zone in Lebanon in 2000, have led to a
decrease in such hostility?

To me,
 the answer’
s cl
ear:
 If
 the Isr
aeli
 wi t
hdrawals 
fr
om Leban
on an
d Gaz a 
had no effect on the trajectory of
accel
erati
ng ant
i­I
srael
 hat
red in 
Eur ope and on Ameri
can 
campuses,
 i
t’
s pr
ett
y obvious this trajectory is being
fuel
ed 
by  
some  f
actor 
we aren’t 
taki
ng in
t o 
acc oun
t.

I think there is such a factor: the European Union.

I elaborat ed on 
this 
view in an essay call
ed “I
srael 
Thr ough Eur opean  Eyes,” 
wh i
ch 
Iposted on my blog,
Jerusalem Letters. And I was pleased that J.J. Goldberg chose to review the essay in the Forward (“ The Israel
i
Ri ght’
s ‘
Post ­Nationali
sm’ Ex cuse,”September 3). But unfortunately, instead of engaging with what I actually
wr ote abou t t
he causes  
of  
Israel’
s delegi
ti
mi z
ation 
in Europe,  Goldber g 
decided  whatwe really need is a column
specul ating about my mot i
ves  f
or wri
ting 
the essay. That’
s too  bad, becau se we  can’
timprove European views of
Israel unt i
l
 we begin giv
ing serious t
hough t
 to t
he problem —  an d 
to the Eu r
opean  
political theory that stands
behind it.

In 1795, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant took up his pen with the aim of demolishing the idea of the
indepen dent 
nat
ion­ state. Kan t t
hought the very 
idea of a “sover ei
gn”  
nation,  
wi th aright to decide for itself
whether to take military action, was a form of barbarism. Individuals enter civilization by giving up the right to
violent self
­hel
p. 
In t he same  way,  n
ation ­st
ates will
 ent
er  t
he  stage of “mor al mat ur
ity”
 wh en  they renounc e thei
r
“brutish fr
eedom, ”
 gi ving up their 
ri
ght to uni
later
al armed  force.

When  Kant wrote, 
no nat
ion on  eart
h had 
reached  the stage  he  cal
l
ed  “moral
 maturi
ty.
” 
Bu t 
in t
h e 1990s,  man y 
in
Europe beli
ev ed t
hey’
d fi
nally arri
ved: 
No more bor der  
chec ks, 
an  i
nternat
ional
 curr
ency, a European flag. These
were the outward symbols of a New Paradigm in the thinking of many Europeans about international relations:
The nati
on­state i
dea was dead.  
When  moral
l
y mat ure nations fight
, th
ey don’t
 go t
o war  – t
h ey go to cou rt
.

This 
new European  paradigm  doesn ’
t 
mean  every nati
on is 
now  “morally 
mat ur e. ” 
In theeyes of New
Paradigmers, North Korea, Iran, Turkey, the Arabs and the Third World are still basically primitive peoples, still on
the r
oad t
o consolidati
ng stabl e nati
on­stat es.
 Like chi
l
dr en, 
they aren’t
 ready  formorality and reason.

But I
s rael
 is a dif
ferent  
st ory
. Jews  ar e 
seen as 
a Eur
opean 
people,
 and we’
re expec
ted to r
en ounce  ou r
 “bru
ti
sh
fr
eedom”  l
ike the other  
Eur opean  nat ions .
 No 
wonder 
New Paradi
gmers hat
e us: 
They see unilateral Israeli
exercise of force as illegitimate in principle.

That’
s what  I
 wrot e. 
Gol dber g’s r
esponse  was, as I 
say, t
o guess at
 my motiv
es: He suggests the essay is
pro­
Benjami n Net anyahu , al
though  Netanyahu 
isn’
t i
n i
t.
 He says my reasoni
ng r
uns f
lak for West Bank settlers,
al
though 
t he Wes t Bank isn’
t in i
t.
  He says, 
not 
once but twi
ce, t
hat t
he essay 
call
s f
or a “purge” of 
anti
­Zionist
prof
essors in Israel’s 
universities —  even t
hough  
there’
s nothi
ng i
n i
t 
about t
akingany action whatsoever against
anti
­Zi
onist professor s 
in Isr
ael ’
s universi
ti
es.

Thi s j
ust 
doesn’ t
 cut  i
t as  a s
er i
ous  
con versati
on —an d 
thi
s i
sn’
t t
he onl y
  i
nst
ance. The fact is Jewish public
discourse on crucial issues is often shockingly shallow, in both Israel and America. The paradigm shift in the way
Eur opeans  see I
sr ael  is a sl
i
ghtly mor e di
ffi
cul
t subject 
than 
wh at 
we’ re used 
to. 
You really do need to know a
t
little about the political thought of Mill and Kant, Habermas and Queen Elizabeth I, o under stand what ’
s

1 di 4 14/09/2010 11.44
Yor
am 
Haz
ony
: Di
smi
ssi
ng 
th
e Ne
w Pa
rad
igm 
Impe
ril
s 
Is
rae
l – 
For
war
..
. http://www.forward.com/articles/131130/

happening to us, and to be able to respond intelligently to it.

k 
But instead of rising to this modest challenge, some of us would just rather turn bac t
he 
chan
nel
 
to 
what
’s
easiest: Bibi and the West Bank.

Thi s 
is 
a  huge  problem.  
Not  everythi
ng  i
n our n
ational  l
i
fe boils down  to yesterday’ s headlines. If Israel is to
sur vi
ve, we’ ve got to become  more sophis t
icat
ed  i
n the tools av ai lable to us for 
u nderstanding the reality we face.
Ultimately, this means establishing colleges where aspiring young leaders, both liberals and conservatives, will be
able to study political theorists such as Kant and Mill seriously in light of the challenges facing Israel and the
Jewi sh peopl e.  
Th ere’s nothing  l
i
ke such  
a coll
ege today.  Get t
ing  st
ar ted  on i
t 
is astrategic imperative.

But even now, before we have such colleges, we should be able to agree on this: Bibi and the West Bank are
i
mpor tant, 
but 
they ’
re not
 everythi
ng. I
sr ael’
s del
egiti
miz ati
on i
n Eur opean  
eyes  
isa subject important enough to
des er
ve our att
ention — without t
urni
ng  the 
chan nel
.

Yoram Hazony is provost and senior fellow at the Shalem Center, in Jerusalem. His Jerusalem Letters blog is
available at www.jerusalemletters.com.

The Forward welcomes reader comments in order to promote thoughtful discussion on issues of importance to
the Jewish community. In the interest of maintaining a civil forum, the Forward requires that all commenters be
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eason ed  crit
ique 
are welcome;  
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ing and per s onal i
nv ecti
ve ar
e not. 
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e we generally do not seek
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COMMENTS (21)

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2 di 4 14/09/2010 11.44
Yor
am 
Haz
ony
: Di
smi
ssi
ng 
th
e Ne
w Pa
rad
igm 
Impe
ril
s 
Is
rae
l – 
For
war
..
. http://www.forward.com/articles/131130/

Tom · 5 days ago -5

This is a primitive article written by a silly person. Thanks to the internet, such garbage can find its way into the
knowledge network. Well, we live in an era of pollution, be it chemical, radiological or ideological.

Reply 1 reply · active 19 hours ago

Report

lamerkhav 36p · 19 hours ago +1

+10

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Report

Norman · 5 days ago +5

I think this essay makes sense. (Assuming there isn't some hidden agenda that was too subtle for me.)

It sounds reasonable that the Europeans believe that we should go beyond nationalism and war, and solve our
disputes in international courts.

Israel probably wouldn't do too well in the courts. Even Israeli government lawyers, like Theodor Meron,
acknowledged from the start that the settlements were illegal. Israel's indiscriminate killings of noncombatants
violates the Geneva Convention.

That's why the Palestinians have repeatedly brought charges before the international courts, while the Israelis
and U.S. have refused to cooperate.

Reply
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light · 3 days ago -2

I think this is a good article, because basically the big problem Israel has is the media that brings to headlines
the here and now,
without knowing the background people are quick to jump to the guns
Israel stands no chance in court because it is seen as a goliath and the palestinians as David.
The reaity is that there are one MILLIARD moslems using the palestinians as puppets in an ugly game
the palestinians have no country no power thanks to their refusal to get one and play the under dog
while continuing in a violent un necessary struggle for a tiny piece of land when there are many moslem
couintries there is only one country that is the jewish homeland
In an international court israel will always be seen as the giant and the palestinians as poor farmers
victimized by the zionists
the reality is that people dont know history and why the jews are there, not even the jews themselves
referring to the sad petition against settlements
Where does one draw the line ? when will the world know the history and realize the palestinian propaganda is
towards a struggle of arms , iran waiting for its moment of glory, and never ever a compromise
the court would only be a show

Reply
Report

DE Teodoru · 3 days ago 0

It is ironic how so many secular Zionists purge Israel of any faults by imaginative confabulations about the

3 di 4 14/09/2010 11.44
Yor
am 
Haz
ony
: Di
smi
ssi
ng 
th
e Ne
w Pa
rad
igm 
Impe
ril
s 
Is
rae
l – 
For
war
..
. http://www.forward.com/articles/131130/

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