Zionism and Anti-Semitism in Concert, a la 1903

Nowadays. we read of how Zionists and anti-Semites cooperate.

Is that a new slant?

No.

Read on:

Reply to MR. T. Renaudo

(Voice of a Zionist)

Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Odessa News", Deber 17, 1903

In yesterday's issue of Odessa News, Mr. Theophrastus Renaudot* insists that Nordau and Drumont, that is, the Zionists and anti-Semites, have points of contact; He does not draw any conclusion from this to Mr. Renaudeau, but from the whole tone of the letter it is clear that the conclusion is unfavorable for the Zionists. The author even says: “The anti-Semites are stretching out their hand to the Zionists. Progressive people - who eschew both the nationalism of Drumont and the nationalism of Herzl and Nordau - can only treat this spectacle with an unpleasant feeling.

Frankly, I do not understand how one can seriously say that anti-Semites and Zionists are at the same time. The former do their best against the Jews, the latter do their best for the Jews: what kind of unity is there, what is there in common between one and the other? No doubt, if the Zionists want to bring the Jews out of foreign lands into their own, many anti-Semites may find that the Zionists play into their hands by freeing foreign lands from the Jewish element. But you never know who can play into someone's hands: sometimes, saving a drowning man, you run the risk of playing into the hands of a usurer who wants to tear off an old debt with high interest from this drowned man. Does this mean that the savior is at one with the usurer?

And yet, this is what is most important, and it would be good if M. Renaudot and his like-minded people deign to remember this firmly. The point of view of Zionism is that the salvation of the Jews is only in themselves. “Make your own story” has become our motto. Therefore, we go our own way and do not look back at strangers. Of course, we are sorry that "people of progress" (however, Mr. Renaudot, by no means all!) still sometimes look at us "with an unpleasant feeling." But we ourselves in our souls deeply and honestly recognize ourselves, too, as "people of progress" first of all. Therefore, we are and will continue to pursue our line calmly and proudly, caring least of all whether outsiders like or dislike us, be it Drumont, whom we despise, or M. T. Renaudeau, whom we respect.

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* Theophrastus Renaudeau is the pseudonym of the journalist I. I. Dmitriev, who published correspondence from Paris in Odessa News.

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