Labor Zionism

... about the systematic violence committed against the indigenous Palestinians.

So let's remember that left-wing and Labour Zionism committed the Nakba-

Yeah

... committed the Kafr Qasm massacre.

Ofer is a member of the Israeli Knesset for Hadash, the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, and he is the only Jewish member of the Arab majority party's delegation.

He was born in Rishon Lezion in 1964, raised in a labor Zionist home, and he now describes himself as a communist and an anti-Zionist.

He has a doctorate in political philosophy from the London School of Economics and completed his postdoc at Columbia University and has taught for two decades before he ever ran for office.

When the first intifada began, Ofer was called up as a reservist to serve in Gaza.

delightful already.

And I'm going to bring us into our questions because now we get to pick your brain and learn more about your experience.

Ofra, you've said that you were, and we're quoting you here, born into a classic labor Zionist family, my parents, my grandparents, all of them.

So you joined a leftist youth movement in your teen years and ended up in Hashemar Hatzair, the most left-wing Zionist youth movement there was at the time.

I was giving a talk in Philadelphia when a man I'll call Bill asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks.

"Hey, Noam, why haven't you talked about the religious Zionists who are ruining Israel's global reputation?" Paraphrased, but still spicy.

Very spicy.

Essentially because if I have to apply a label to myself, religious Zionist fits pretty comfortably.

Angry teenagers kicking and screaming, mothers who pushed their babies in soldiers' faces and demanded, "Explain to my child why you're making him homeless." Men weeping, leaving the homes where they had raised their families.

Through it all ran a current of hurt and confusion.

The people of Gush Katif were among the country's most passionate Zionists.

They loved their state.

But they did not yet believe they should lead the country.

The old Labor Zionist heroes remained larger than life.

Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin.

They had built the state.

He was a friend of hers, right? And she talks about Burl Katz Nelson.

For those not familiar, Burl Katz Nelson is like the founding philosophical figure behind labor Zionism.

And he died, I think, in 1944, before the founding of the Jewish state of Israel in 1948.

But still, like you talk about labor Zionism and the political left in Israel, he is their godfather.

I believe 99% of the political left labor Zionists in Israel today would be shocked to hear the following quote that Golda Meir writes that was told, said by Broll Katznelson.

What did he say? The Jewish state of Israel must have a Jewish culture to it.

This isn't some messianic.

This isn't a religious Jew.

But they did not yet believe they should lead the country.

The old Labor Zionist heroes remained larger than life.

Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin.

They had built the state.

You know, but that kind of language will go away after October.

Like the two above-mentioned parties, the SJWP also held its statewide conference at which it had merged with the Socialist Zionists, forming the United Jewish Socialist Workers Party, Faranikta, and parting with the idea of any extraterritorial Jewish nation with its own parliament and national autonomy.

Faranikta appealed to the provisional government, asking it to declare equality of languages and to establish a council on the affairs of nationalities, which would specifically fund Jewish schools and public agencies.

At the same time, Faranikta closely collaborated with the Socialist Revolutionaries.