A Jabotinsky Zionist reply to Ronald Lauder
A Jabotinsky Zionist reply to Ronald Lauder

Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, following up his March 18 New York Times ("Israel’s Self-Inflicted Wounds") tirade against Israeli 'settlers' and several other targets doubled down with a second op-ed in the Times on August 13 with an attack on Orthodox Jewish influence on Israeli politics ("Israel, This Is Not Who We Are") .

Many opponents of Lauder's views on Israel have taken pen in hand and pointed out where they believe Lauder went wrong in each of his articles. Other authors attacked Lauder for what they (correctly) saw as his hypocritical claim that "democratic and egalitarian dimensions of the Jewish democratic state are being tested" when he himself was not elected to his position as president of the WJC in a general election of its membership. He has been president of the organization for over 11 years and it seems he faces no term limits.

Let us examine the Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who perhaps to most, if not nearly all, American Jews was the least recognizable name in the pantheon of important heroes from early Zionist history mentioned in Lauder's essay.   

Lauder wrote "Theodor Herzl, Chaim Weizmann, Zeev Jabotinsky, David Ben Gurion and Golda Meir always emphasized the need to combine Jewish nationalism with universal humanism. So now, when Israel’s government appears to be tarnishing the sacred value of equality, many supporters feel it is turning its back on Jewish heritage, the Zionist ethos and the Israeli spirit."

Thanks are due to Lauder for rightfully ranking Jabotinsky where he belongs among the builders of Zionism and the Jewish State. Jabotinsky (1880-1940) was a Zionist leader, orator, and writer who founded the Jewish Legion during World War One as well as the Haganah self-defense units in Jerusalem in 1920. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's father Benzion served as Jabotinsky's personal secretary just after the outbreak of World War Two.

In the May 15, 1981 edition of the Jewish journal Sh’ma, Professor Daniel J. Elazar, a noted political science scholar, recalled Jabotinsky’s legacy and wrote:

Smart Israelis know that Lauder's name won't ever make it into future Israeli history textbooks while Jabotinsky's importance grows every year.
“Would there be serious public commemoration of the 100th birthday of Ze'ev Jabotinsky had it not been for the fact that the Likud won the election in Israel in 1977? Not likely. For thirty years and more, Jabotinsky was one of those non-persons in Israel and the Jewish world…. The ruling Labor Party made him a non-person for the same reasons that it portrayed Menachem Begin and his supporters as uncivilized fascists – it is easier to beat the opposition by painting it as irrelevant, intolerable and non-existent, until it is too strong to be dismissed.”

In the intervening elections the next generation of leaders including Ehud Olmert, Benny Begin, Tzipi Livni, Uzi Landau, Dan Meridor and many other central figures in Israel’s political life up until today (and by contrast J Street’s Jeremy Ben-Ami) had a parent that was an active supporter of Ze’ev Jabotinsky and was involved with the Irgun paramilitary organization his followers created. It can be noted that Rahm Emanuel’s father too was an Irgunist.

What Jabotinsky would advocate given today’s current events is often debated in Israel.

It is a fair question to ask if Israel would even exist today if it were not for Jabotinsky and the sacrifices of the Irgun he molded and inspired. That question would be impossible to ask, though, if Begin had never won the elections for prime minister in 1977.

What were Jabotinsky’s vital contributions?

His words and ideas animated a generation of young Jews to resist the Nazis, rescue fellow Jews from Hitler's forces, and fight for the freedom of Israel as soldiers in the Irgun and Stern Group/LEHI. Later, the movement for freedom Soviet Jewry both in the US and inside the USSR itself was led by Jabotinsky Zionists.

Since 1977 things have fundamentally changed in Israel: not only Menachem Begin’s Likud but also the National Union (HaIhud HaLeumi), Kadima and Yisrael Beyteinu (Israel is Our Home) parties have all connected themselves directly to the legacy of Jabotinsky as do several smaller parties.

No party claims to continue in the tradition of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister or his protege Golda Meir. Their secularism and socialism lost all its chic long ago. Perhaps Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beyteinu party made the most of invoking his name and attitude (even if that party is the least obvious in terms of its allegiance to Jabotinsky's ideology) when it described itself as “a national movement with the clear vision to follow in the brave path of Ze’ev Jabotinsky.”

What could be meant by this “brave path?”

A strong national defense, national pride, connection to authentic Jewish observance, love of the Land of Israel, and belief in both free markets and modern democratic values.

In this limited space it is not possible to elaborate on all of the above.

A verse from one of Jabotinsky's most beloved poems will do much to illustrate just how far Lauder stands apart from Jabotinsky:

Two Banks has the Jordan –
This is ours and, that is as well.
From the wealth of our land there shall prosper
The Arab, the Christian, and the Jew,
For our flag is a pure and just one
It will illuminate both sides of my Jordan.

And what timeless message did Jabotinsky have for Jews who question Jewish uniqueness?

Even in poverty a Jew is a prince
Whether slave or vagabond beggar
You have been created the son of kings
Capped with the crown of (King) David.

Jabotinsky wrote his greatest novel about the Biblical champion Samson. In the most well-known passage of the book, Samson declares: “Tell them [the Jewish People] three things in my name, and not two: they must get iron [i.e. armaments]; they must choose a king; and they must learn to laugh.”

What Jabotinsky meant in part by “learn to laugh” was the necessary development of confidence on a national level. With rapidly changing Middle East realities and the abuse of self-proclaimed friends as Lauder Israelis may need that message now more than ever. Or do they? After all, smart Israelis know that Lauder's name won't ever make it into future Israeli history textbooks while Jabotinsky's importance grows every year.

Postscript: For readers who want to know more about Jabotinsky one option is to read Lone Wolf: A Two-Volume Biography of Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky. Written by Shmuel Katz and published in 1996 it is a two-volume masterful work and is a breathtaking effort. So much information about Jabotinsky and his tremendous impact on Zionism is related that it causes a new appreciation of the man and his ideas to even those who thought they know who he was.


Moshe Phillips is the national director of Herut North America's U.S. section. Herut is an international movement for Zionist pride and education. More information about Herut is available at www.herutna.org