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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Israel
Index
Labor Zionism, although by far the largest organization in the
Yishuv (the prestate Jewish community in Palestine), did not go
unchallenged. The largest and most vocal opposition came from a
Russian-born Jewish intellectual residing in Odessa, Vladimir
Jabotinsky. Jabotinsky was both a renowned writer and the first
military hero of the Zionist revival; he was commander of the
Jewish Legion. While residing in Italy, Jabotinsky became attached
to the notions of romantic nationalism espoused by the great
Italian nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi. Like Garibaldi,
Jabotinsky viewed nationalism as the highest value to which humans
can aspire. He called for massive Jewish immigration to Palestine
and the immediate declaration of Jewish statehood in all of
biblical Palestine. He viewed the world in Machiavellian terms:
military and political power ultimately determine the fate of
peoples and nations. Therefore, he called for the establishment of
a well-armed Jewish self-defense organization.
Jabotinsky sharply criticized Ben-Gurion's single-minded focus
on creating a Jewish working-class movement, which he felt
distracted the Zionist movement from the real issue at hand, Jewish
statehood. He gained wide popularity in Poland, where his
criticisms of socialism and his calls for Jewish self-defense
appealed to a Jewish community of small entrepreneurs hounded as a
result of anti-Semitism.
Data as of December 1988
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