BEWARE MISINFORMATION
Anti-Zionists depict Zionism as a white and/or Jewish supremacist movement, akin to Nazism, instead of what it actually is: the Jewish movement for self-determination in the Land of Israel, which encompasses a wide range of political viewpoints, as agreed upon at the First Zionist Congress.
To justify their mischaracterization of Zionism, anti-Zionist propagandists have long circulated false quotes from early Zionist leaders as “proof” that Zionism had nefarious motives from the start. This practice predates the advent of social media, but it is back in full force, especially in the aftermath of October 7.
I suspect there might be a part two (or even part three and four) to this post, because the list of fake Zionist quotations is long.
FAKE: "The Palestinians are beasts walking on two legs." - Menachem Begin
REAL: "The children of Israel will happily go to school and joyfully return home, just like the children in Washington, in Moscow, and in Peking, in Paris and in Rome, in Oslo, in Stockholm and in Copenhagen. The fate of…Jewish children has been different from all the children of the world throughout the generations. No more. We will defend our children. If the hand of any two-footed animal is raised against them, that hand will be cut off, and our children will grow up in joy in the homes of their parents."
THE STORY BEHIND THIS QUOTE
In 1982, Menachem Begin spoke before the Knesset in response to a no-confidence motion over Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, following a series of relentless terrorist attacks from the Palestine Libeartion Organization coming from across Israel’s northern border. The misquote is attributed to Israeli journalist Amnon Kapeliouk, which he wrote in an article published in the New Statesman.
Luckily, we know what the real quote is because it was documented in the minutes of the Knesset session. In short, no, Begin did not call Palestinians “beasts walking on two legs.” He was clearly referring to terrorists who hurt Israeli children.
FAKE: "We shall try to spirit the Arab population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it any employment in our country."
REAL: "We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it any employment in our country... It goes without saying that we shall respectfully tolerate persons of other faiths and protect their property, their honor, and their freedom with the harshest means of coercion."
THE STORY BEHIND THIS QUOTE
The most spectacular thing about this misquote is that it’s not about the Arabs, Palestinians, or even Palestine at all. The quote comes from a Theodor Herzl journal entry dating to June 1895 – before the First Zionist Congress – during which Herzl was pondering the resettlement of Jewish refugees not in Palestine but in South America.
In the same entry, Herzl talks about how Jews will bring financial enterprise and success to the local population. Several days prior, Herzl wrote about resettling Jewish refugees on lands assigned to them on the basis of mutual agreements.
Notably, in that very same diary entry that’s commonly misquoted, Herzl wrote, “Should there be many such immovable owners in individual areas [who would not sell their property to us], we shall simply leave them there and develop our commerce in the direction of other areas which belong to us,” suggesting that he was not looking to forcibly displace anyone.
(POSSIBLY) FAKE, CERTAINLY MISREPRESENTED: "If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country." - David Ben-Gurion
(POSSIBLY) REAL, BUT STILL OUT OF FULL CONTEXT: "I don’t understand your optimism...why would Arabs make peace? If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been antisemitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?"
THE STORY BEHIND THIS QUOTE
First things first: we actually don’t even know if this quote is real. It’s attributed to Nahum Goldmann, who alleged Ben Gurion said this to him in his book Le Paraddoxe Juif in a private conversation.
Regardless, here’s the important catch: Ben Gurion was describing the Arab perspective of the conflict; he was not suggesting that he believed those things himself. In fact, Goldmann described Ben Gurion as pessimistic about the prospects for peace specifically because the Arab countries had this opinion of the Jewish state.
FAKE: "It would be my greatest sadness to see Zionists do to Palestinian Arabs much of what Nazis did to Jews." - Albert Einstein
REAL: There is no real version of this quote because Albert Einstein never said that. Einstein was arguably a Zionist, though.
FAKE: "We must expel the Arabs and take their place." - David Ben-Gurion
REAL: "All of our ambitions are built on the assumption that has proven true throughout all of our activities in the land [of Israel] — that there is enough room for us and for the Arabs in the land [of Israel]. And if we will have to use force, not for the sake of evicting the Arabs of the Negev or Transjordan, but rather in order to secure the right that belongs to us to settle there, force will be available to us...We do not want to and we do not have to expel Arabs and take their place."
THE STORY BEHIND THIS QUOTE
This fake quotation is a “paraphrase” by Israeli anti-Zionist Ilan Pappé, which was published in the Journal of Palestine Studies, and attributed to a 1937 letter that Ben Gurion wrote his son. The letter was written in the context of the Arab Revolt, when Jews were targeted in a number of terrorist attacks and the British began considering partition. In reality, Ben Gurion’s letter repeatedly emphasizes that the Zionist movement did not wish to expel the Arabs – but that ultimately the Jews would do what was necessary to claim their rights and to survive.
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