Reviewing Naomi Klein’s Declaration of Exodus from Zionism

On the eve of the Jewish Passover, and at his “Seder” celebration in the streets of New York, which was witnessed by Jews and non-Jews, Naomi Klein, the Canadian Jewish writer and activist, professor of climate justice and director of the Center for Climate Justice at the University of British Columbia, delivered a memorable speech representing “Declaration of Exodus” for the Jews of the world from Zionism and its false idol in Palestine, in which it used two symbols from the Old Testament that have a very important significance for Jews of all times: - The Book of Exodus, one of the five books of the Torah, which tells the story of the exodus of the children of Israel, led by the Prophet Moses, from the captivity of Pharaoh. In biblical Egypt, the Exodus is the moment of liberation from captivity.

- And the story of the golden calf that the Samaritan made and which the Children of Israel took as a god in the absence of Moses, when he preceded them to the appointed time of his Lord, but the Samaritan led them astray, and they broke their appointment with Moses. It is a moment of tremendous setback for the Children of Israel’s journey with God, the prophets, and prophecy.

Klein recalled the moment of Moses descending from the mountain and his extreme anger when he found the children of Israel worshiping a “golden calf,” calling for the rejection of the worship of the new “golden calf,” by which she meant “the false idol of Zionism.” Klein said, before a gathering of Americans (the majority of whom were anti-war Jews), in a protest calling for an end to arming Israel, which was held in Brooklyn (New York), near the home of the majority leader in the US Senate, Senator Chuck Schumer: “Many members of our (Jewish) community worship a false idol.” ... They are delighted with it... They are drunk... The idol has defiled them... This false idol is called Zionism,” she said, considering that “Zionism is a false idol that took the idea of ​​the Promised Land and turned it into a bill of sale for an ethno-military state.” “It is a false idol that takes our deepest biblical stories of justice and freedom from slavery — the Easter story itself — and turns them into brutal weapons of land theft and colonization, and road maps for ethnic cleansing and genocide,” she added. “It is a false idol that has taken the transcendent idea of ​​the Promised Land, a metaphor for human liberation that has traveled through multiple religions to every corner of this world, and has dared to turn it into a bill of sale to a militaristic ethno-state.”

Also, Klein rejected Zionism's claims about liberating Jews from anti-Semitism and securing them in a Jewish state of their own, saying that "the version of liberation proposed by political Zionism is itself worldly." From the beginning, it required the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and ancestral lands during the Nakba,” noting that “from the beginning (Zionism) was at war with dreams of liberation. It is worth remembering in the Easter celebration that this includes dreams of liberation and self-determination for the Egyptian people. This false Zionist idol equates Israel’s security with the Egyptian dictatorship and client states.”

 Zionism and genocide

Likewise, Klein spoke about the genocidal nature of the Zionist project against the people of Palestine and its immoral essence, saying that Zionism “produced an ugly type of freedom that viewed Palestinian children, not as human beings, but as a demographic threat, just as the Pharaoh in the Book of Exodus feared the increasing population.” Of the children of Israel, and therefore ordered the killing of their children. Zionism has brought us to the present moment of catastrophe, and it is time to say clearly: it always leads us here. “It is a false idol that has led many of our people down a very immoral path, making them now justified in tearing up the basic commandments: Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not covet.”

She also called for protest and the Jews’ exit from Zionism, just as they left Pharaonic captivity, and to disavow the Zionist entity and its crimes, saying: “We, in these streets for months and months, are the exit. Leaving Zionism. It is a false idol that equates Jewish freedom with cluster bombs that kill and maim Palestinian children. Zionism is a false idol that has betrayed all Jewish values, including the value we place on asking questions. “It is a practice rooted in Easter with its four questions asked by the youngest child, including the love we have as a people for text and teaching.” She added: “Today, this false idol justifies the bombing of every university in Gaza. The destruction of countless schools, archives, and printing presses; Hundreds of academics, journalists and poets were killed. This is what the Palestinians call educational genocide, that is, killing the means of education.”

 No to an ethnic Jewish state

“Meanwhile, in this city,” Klein continued, “universities are calling in the NYPD and barricading themselves against the dangerous threat posed by their students who dare to ask them basic questions, like: How can you claim to believe in anything at all, least of all of us, when you By enabling, investing in, and cooperating with this genocide? “The false idol of Zionism has been allowed to grow unchecked for too long.” She added: “So we say tonight: It all ends here.” Our Judaism cannot contain an ethnic state, because our Judaism is international in nature. Our Judaism cannot be protected by the rampaging military establishment of that (ethnic) state, because all the army does is sow sadness and reap hatred, including against us as Jews,” noting that “our Judaism is not threatened by people who raise their voices in solidarity with Palestine. Crossing lines of race, ethnicity, physical ability, gender identity and generations. Our Judaism is one of those voices, and it knows that in this chorus of voices lies our collective safety and liberation.”

Klein added, “Our Judaism is Passover Judaism: gathering in celebration to share food and wine with loved ones and strangers alike, a ritual that is portable by nature, light enough to carry on our backs, and we need nothing but each other: no walls, no temple, no Rabbi, there is a role for everyone, even - especially - the youngest children.” He considered that “the Passover Seder is a diaspora technology if there is one, and it is designed for collective grief, contemplation, asking questions, remembering, and reviving the revolutionary spirit.” So, look around. This, here, is our Judaism. While the waters rise and the forests burn and nothing is certain, we pray on the altar of solidarity and mutual assistance, whatever the cost.”

Liberation of Judaism

Klein added: “We do not need or want the false idol of Zionism.” We want freedom from the project that commits genocide in our name. Freedom from an ideology that has no plan for peace other than dealing with the murderous theocratic petro-states next door, while selling automated assassination techniques to the world. We seek to liberate Judaism from the ethno-state that wants Jews to feel perpetual fear, wants our children to be afraid, wants us to believe that the world is against us, so that we run to its fortress and under its iron dome, or - at the very least - to keep the weapons and donations flowing. That is a false idol.” According to Klein, the matter is not limited to “Netanyahu only, but the world that created it and created it: it is Zionism,” asking, “Who are we?” We, in these streets for months and months, are getting out… Leaving Zionism. And to the likes of the Chuck Schumers of this world, we do not say: “Let our people come out (from the captivity of Zionism).” Rather, we say: We have already left. And your children? They are with us now.” Exit statement finished.

 Resuming the battle against Zionism

The United States witnessed a decisive battle between Reform Judaism and the Zionist project, fought by the American Council for Judaism (the organization of observant American Jews) under the slogan that Jews are not a nationality but a religious group, and that it is necessary to revive the principles of Reform Judaism, whose rabbis have opposed Zionism since before World War First, they supported equal rights for Jews in the countries in which they lived. This battle was led by Elmer Berger (1908-1996), the Reform Jewish rabbi and writer, emancipated from Zionist thought, and who stood against Zionist intellectual terrorism. He contributed to the establishment and leadership of the “American Council of Judaism” with the aim of confronting the establishment of the Zionist state, because it does not represent all Jews in any national or political sense. He devoted his life, efforts, and writings to the issue of Palestine and opposing Zionism, exposing its claims, and warning Jews of its myths and dangers.

It is worth mentioning here that the United States, under the administration of Harry Truman, was the first country in the world to recognize the Zionist state, five minutes after announcing its establishment on May 15, 1948. On that day, everyone thought that Rabbi Elmer Berger and Reform Judaism had been defeated and had lost their battle against Zionism once and for all. But one who contemplates the statement of the Jewish “exit” from Zionism and the repudiation of the “settlement wheel,” in the heart of New York, as well as the popular movement across religions, generations, and races in the streets of the Western Metropolitan and its ancient universities, which was launched by the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” sees the resumption of Rabbi Elmer Berger’s battle against Zionism. The battle is not over, but is being fought with greater energy, broader horizons, and greater momentum.