Zionism vs. Democracy – Philippe Roussel

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Zionism, the ideological backbone of the Israeli state, postulates that Jews need a country of their own to be safe. Morally dubious and politically inept, this alleged necessity defines the Zionist project as a settler colonial one.

Failing to see the supremacist nature of Zionism, Western powers have long bought into the alleged necessity of a Jewish state and that “Israel has a right to defend itself.” They have, consequently, been unwilling to oppose, other than in words, Zionism’s practical outcomes of ethnic cleansing and apartheid against Palestinians. When push comes to shove, notably since October 7, 2023, and the overtly brutal policy of Palestinian eradication that ensued, they prefer accusing their own citizens of “antisemitism” for denouncing the Zionist fallacy and its subsequent crimes.

To justify the domination of some over others, Zionism constantly refers to Israel’s “right to exist,” as if the right of states could ultimately be anything other than the right of people. No more than with other countries that were originally founded as colonies, it is not, therefore, the existence of Israel that is at stake, but the idiocy of assuming that the latter can be both a democracy and a colony. The only thing that faces an “existential threat” is, in this regard, the idea of Jewish supremacy and exclusive rights over historical Palestine. As for Israel, the country can only survive for generations to come by respecting Palestinians’ right to freedom, justice, and self-determination. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Principles eventually prevail, and empires die.

Western powers would be well inspired to remind themselves and their “ally” and “only democracy in the region” that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 is… universal, and that this universality is no joke. Being unable to recognize human traits in the children of Gaza and to stop an avowed genocide is not just an abysmal moral failure on their part; it is the undermining of democracy itself.

We all know that power games are what they are; it thus shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that political powers that have long been accustomed to following Israeli propaganda in the dehumanization of Palestinians simply lack the political courage to abide by principles. This is why the task of protecting justice and freedom for all ultimately falls on the first concerned: ordinary citizens. This book is for all those willing to think critically and thus save democracy at its core.

Philippe Roussel

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