Can Western civilization reckon with Zionism?

More than three years have passed since the savagery Israel displayed in Gaza and in the historical lands of Palestine. In fact, the expansionist aggression of this colonial structure, which is steadily increasing and spilling over into the countries neighboring Palestine, has continued for a hundred years. Rumors are also spreading that these attacks will increase after the elections held last week. There are more than enough signs giving strength to these rumors. In fact, the credibility of the rumor that Iran will be struck again by America is also related to the proliferation of these signs. But most people still believe that Trump is being directed by Israel. Because of this widespread belief, they also accept that new attacks on Iran stem from Israel's desire and direction. They also say that the Americans have fallen into Israel's trap. According to the same approach, the Germans are filled with embarrassment because of the crime of genocide and are indebted to Israel. In Britain too, there are many who believe that Jewish capital gives direction to politics. According to them, Europeans and Americans are desperately supporting Israeli expansionism.

As has been explained many times, it is very wrong to explain Israel's expansionist aggression by placing Judaism and Jewish history at the center. This approach emerged as a propaganda necessity and offers Zionism an inexhaustible resource. In any case, when Christian Zionists, or more specifically Evangelical Christians, put Zionism forward as an ideology, they consciously presented Jewish theology and history among the sources of this ideology. But this ideology should also have had a limit.

The use of the concept of the frontier in American English in a constantly expanding and advancing sense is a result of settler colonialism. I do not think the concept of the settler is understood in our context. We need special studies on the meaning the concept of the settler carries in American culture. We cannot say that this concept has been discussed in depth in Turkish. But there are English and German books on this subject. In these languages too, publications about settlers are relatively new. Before the new publications, "settler colonialism" was used in a very positive sense in American culture. Settlers were even called "pioneers." For this reason, for Americans, a settler from New York or Arizona who attacks the home of a poor old woman in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is also a "pioneer."

It is obvious that the new researchers who see Israeli expansionism as a new version of American settler colonialism do not look at settlers with the same eye. Amy Kaplan's "Our American Israel," which we mentioned before, is one of these new publications. These new books and publications have the power to demolish traditional beliefs. Walter L. Hixson's book "American Settler Colonialism: A History" is another one. These books need to be brought into Turkish. Because such publications are also important for understanding the student protests becoming increasingly widespread in European countries. For the participants in the student protests spreading in European countries are also accused of being Marxist and Muslim. But in Britain the agenda is gaining a bit more clarity, taking shape around the motion "Zionism Is Racism." We can accept it as a serious indicator that the activists participating in protest demonstrations in other countries also carry Palestinian flags. This question is very important: Will "Western civilization" reckon within itself with a colonial and imperial ideology like Zionism, or will it have faith in this ideology as a new vision of civilizing? We can evaluate the protest demonstrations by placing this question at the center as well. Because Israel said it carried out all its war crimes in the name of Western civilization, and the prime minister of a country like Germany confirmed and embraced this claim. These were not sentences of confession; on the contrary, they were a declaration of vision. Therefore, today's events need to be discussed on a very different ground.

The fact that Christian and Jewish Zionists accuse the "Zionism Is Racism" motion in Britain of antisemitism actually also reveals the fundamental contradictions of Western elites. Until now, they had benefited to the utmost from the ideas that emerged during the Enlightenment. The vision of civilizing was also nourished by the ideas of the Enlightenment period, and religion was in the background.

After Gaza, I can say that European elites represent a serious regression. Whether the student protests spreading in response to this will turn into a movement over time, only time will tell. But we can say even now that discussions about Western civilization will be conducted over much more genuine agendas.