A dreamer of nightmares: Ilan Pappe’s foolish plan to dismantle Israel

Yet we are now to give Pappe a hearing and platform at Bennelong Point. A poignant irony. Land rights as a political entitlement for all, except Israel and its Jews. A splendid renunciation! Caring so little for what most Israelis and Jews treasure, how generously, in the name of “Jewish principles”, Pappe and his admirers would give away what is not his, or theirs, to cede.

What is worn lightly, a flimsy surface garment, is easily cast off. What is worn closer to the heart less so. And casting off what others value far more than oneself and cling to dearly is not generosity of spirit or exemplary political courage but farcical self-delusion.

Those “other Jewish voices” get a “good hearing” because there are so many non-Jews who, for their often confused and ignorant reasons, want to hear that capitulation voiced, especially when it is voiced by some Jews ostensibly for all Jews. There are many who like to think that if only there were no difficult and ever-awkward Jews to be acknowledged, the world would be a far simpler place, one more amenable to their own designs and congenial to their own preconceptions.

A way forward is needed, one that acknowledges, on Israel’s side, both the ancient connection, unbroken over the centuries, of the Jewish people to their land and also the modern political transformation of Jewish identity and public life.

Pappe’s is not it.