If only we could ask him.
A year or so ago, while vacationing, I read with interest and pleasure Walter Isaacson’s absorbing book “Einstein: His Life and Universe.” While the book does refer to Einstein’s astounding scientific achievements it also provides readers with a “look” into the great man’s personal life. Recent comments here have caused me to think again of the book and Einstein, particularly his views on Zionism.
The debate on whether or not Einstein was or was not a Zionist goes on and on and perhaps may never be resolved. Einstein himself didn’t help. He was at times ambivalent and his own opinions seemed to change or to evolve over time. How could it be otherwise?
The best we can do is to examine the record, to try and understand by referring to Dr. Einstein’s own words.
It is only natural that both sides would try to enlist Einstein on their side of the question – both believe, perhaps wrongly, that there could be no greater authority on the subject.
I understand that it is difficult to put aside emotions and to approach the issue with an open mind but there is no other way to arrive at the truth. I have pasted (below) some items for consideration by those who have open minds, who are willing and eager to learn.
http://dissidentvoice.org/...
Here is a quote from Einstein’s testimony before Judge Hutcheson, the American Chairman of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry into the Palestine issue:
Judge Hutcheson: I have asked these various persons if it is essential to the right or the privilege of the Jews to go to Palestine, if it is essential to real Zionism that a setup be fixed so that the Jews have a Jewish state and a Jewish majority without regard to the Arab view. Do you share that point of view, or do you think the matter can be handled on any other basis?
Dr. Einstein: Yes, absolutely. The state idea is not according to my heart. I cannot understand why it is needed. It is connected with many difficulties and narrow-mindedness. I believe it is bad.
From: “‘Einstein on Israel’ reveals essential history of debate over Zionism and a Jewish state,” by Adam Horowitz, Mondoweiss, May 28, 2009.
In 1950 Einstein published the following statement on the question of Zionism. This speech was originally given to the National Labor Committee for Palestine, in New York, on April 17, 1938 but republished by Einstein after Israel’s creation.
I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state. Apart from the practical considerations, my awareness of the essential nature of Judaism resists the idea of a Jewish state with borders, an army, and a measure of temporal power no matter how modest. I am afraid of the inner damage Judaism will sustain – especially from the development of a narrow nationalism within our own ranks, against which we have already had to fight without a Jewish state.
Taken from: Albert Einstein, Out of My Later Years (New York: Philosophical Library, 1950), p. 263. This speech is reproduced in Prophets Outcast edited by Adam Shatz, p. 63-64. For a discussion of what Alfred Lilienthal calls the “kidnapping” of Albert Einstein by the Zionists, see Alfred Lilienthal, The Zionist Connection II (New Brunswick, New Jersey: North American, 1982), p. 340‑343. Also see Einstein on Israel and Zionism: His Provocative Ideas About the Middle East by Fred Jerome, (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2009).
Einstein wrote to his stepdaughter Margot after declining the presidency of Israel. He said, “If I were to be president, sometime I would have to say to the Israeli people things they would not like to hear.”
Farooq citing Fred Jerome and Rodger Taylor, Einstein on Race and Racism (Rutgers University Press, 2005), p. 111; further sources given in p. 307, note #25.
Einstein did participate in the Sixteenth Zionist Congress in 1929. The World Zionist Organization (WZO) mentioned and described Einstein in a document published in 1997. It is rather revealing and the WZO ought to know who was and who was not a Zionist.
The Sixteenth Zionist Congress (1929) decided on the establishment of the Jewish Agency for Israel, which would be a joint body of the World Zionist Organization and those known as “non-Zionists” in the belief that all Jews wished to participate in building the National Home. Upon conclusion of the Congress, Board of the Jewish Agency convened. Of its 224 members, 112 were Zionists (members of the World Zionist Organization) including Prof. Chaim Weizmann who was elected as President of the Jewish Agency, Nahum Sokolow, Menahem Ussishkin, Shemaryahu Levin, David Ben-Gurion, Rabbi Uziel; the 112 “non-Zionist” members included Louis Marshall, Shalom Asch, Albert Einstein, Leon Blum, and members of the Rothschild family.
From: Year of Zionism, by the Zionist General Council, World Zionist Organization: The National Institutions, Structure and Functions, 1997, p. 47. Cited in Farooq, Ibid. The quotation marks around “non-Zionists” are in the original document.
The highlight is mine and not in the original.Gregmex