Daniel Packer

Let me tell you a bit about modern Zionism so you don’t continue to make a fool out of yourself. People talk about it without knowing where it even came from. Let's of course start with Herzl. This man was not a religious Jew dreaming of a homeland for his "tribe". He was actually the opposite. He was completely assimilated. He dressed like a European intellectual, wrote like a European intellectual, lived like a European intellectual. He honestly believed that Judaism would eventually blend into “being French” or “being Austrian” and that this was a good thing. He pushed for Jews to blend in as much as possible. That was his whole worldview. He believed that Europe was the future of the Jewish people. He trusted Western values, Western society, Western culture. He was proud of it. He thought that if Jews just acted “European enough,” the hatred would go away. Then he found himself in the middle of the Dreyfus Affair in France. And he watched as thousands of so-called enlightened French citizens scream against Jews because one Jewish officer was falsely accused. Not “down with the criminal.” Down with the Jews. Straight to the oldest hatred in history. This was France, the country that bragged more than any place on earth about being modern and open minded. Yet the moment things got heated, all the fancy talk completely collapsed and the crowd went back to what Europe always knew how to do. Blame the Jews. That broke Herzl. Because if even he, a completely assimilated Jew, someone who barely thought of himself as part of a separate people, could stand in a European crowd and hear that, then the whole idea of assimilation protecting Jews was finished. He understood that no matter how “European” a Jew becomes, the crowd will always remind you that you are a Jew when it suits them. That is the moment modern Zionism was born. Not from religion. Not from nationalism. And not from tribalism. From a fully assimilated European realizing that Jewish safety cannot depend on other nations liking us. And this is why the argument “I don’t like some Israeli politicians” means nothing. A bad president in America does not mean America is a bad idea. It means people are flawed. Same in Israel. Leaders come and go. Zionism is not about who sits in office this year. It is about the basic right of Jewish people not to live at the mercy of whatever mood the crowd is in. Which brings me to the video. Calling Zionism “an attack on Western civilization” is completely backwards. Zionism exists because Western civilization, even at its most cultured and educated, could not protect the Jews. Herzl saw that with his own eyes. That is the real story. If someone wants to lecture about Zionism, at least know the basics before talking.