Zionists say protective state for Jews is essential

Noel Pugach, professor of foreign relations and Jewish studies, gave an in-depth history of Zionism in the SUB on Thursday.

About 15 students attended the event, which was sponsored by the UNM Israel Alliance. Zionism is the belief that a Jewish state, represented today by Israel, should exist to support the security of the Jewish people, Pugach said. Pugach said Zionism is based on thinking of Jews as a people rather than a religious group.

“Jews are different than Christians or Muslims because not only are they a faith, but they are bound as a people, and they are tied emotionally and physically to a piece of land — the land of Israel,” he said. “Modern Zionism is largely a secular movement.” Pugach said anti-Semitism played an important role in uniting Jewish people around the idea of creating a Jewish state.

“The anti-Semitic outburst in Germany and Central Europe in the late 19th century combined with the worsening persecution in Eastern Europe … led to the conclusion that Jews would be safe only when they had a state, only when they controlled their destiny,” he said.

The Holocaust cemented the idea that a Jewish state was necessary, Pugach said, and acted as a catalyst for the creation of Israel.

“This movement to return to the land of Israel came before the Holocaust. What the Holocaust did was to confirm it,” he said. “Had there been a Jewish state in 1934 when Hitler came to power … then millions of Jews would have been saved.”

Pugach said worldwide nationalist movements and the Enlightenment also played pivotal roles in creating the ideology of Zionism.

Donald Gluck, president of the UNM Israel Alliance, said that as European nationalist movements developed, the Zionist movement grew.

“It was a movement as the Italians developed their own country in the 19th century and the Germans were never a country before,” he said. “It was to regenerate the Jewish state, which was a country before, 2,000 years ago.”

UNM student Natti Willcoxon said Pugach’s speech was informative. “I think Zionism in itself is a positive thing because it has given the Jewish people a homeland and a place where they can defend themselves,” she said.

Gluck said the state of Israel ensures the survival of the Jewish people.

“It’s really the old Jewish question, isn’t it: survival,” he said. “We face a very dangerous world, in particular, Iran.”