ABSTRACT

Like many diaspora Jewish communities, South African Jews are divided on the politics of Israel-Palestine. The majority, however, remain strongly Zionist and opposed to allegedly self-hating Jewish critiques of Israeli government policy and action. This article draws on a series of in-depth interviews with South Africans who identify as Jewish but situate themselves outside of what they regard as the communal mainstream. Focusing on their views about Israel and Zionism, the article reveals the often intense internal struggles provoked by their attempts to reconcile emotional connections to Israel and discomfort with the country’s politics. We show the extent to which such reactions are rooted in the rhetorical link between Israel and apartheid, which dominates global discourse about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Many of these Jews reject the direct analogy but find the perceived associations between apartheid and Israel deeply unsettling. This position is generationally inflected, with those who lived through apartheid typically more disturbed by the analogy than younger Jews, whose critique of Israeli politics does not draw from a deep personal well of apartheid experience.

摘要

像许多散居国外的犹太人社区一样，南非犹太人在以色列-巴勒斯坦的政治上也存在分歧。但是，大多数人仍然坚决支持犹太复国主义，反对犹太人对以色列政府政策和行动的自我批评。本文基于对南非人的一系列深度访谈，他们将南非人视为犹太人，但将自己摆在他们认为是社区主流之外的地方。本文着重于他们对以色列和犹太复国主义的看法，揭示了他们为调和与以色列的情感联系和对该国政治的不安而进行的经常激烈的内部斗争。我们表明，这种反应在多大程度上扎根于以色列与种族隔离之间的修辞联系上，这种联系在有关以色列与巴勒斯坦冲突的全球论述中占主导地位。这些犹太人中的许多人都拒绝直接的类比，但发现种族隔离和以色列之间的感知联系深深令人不安。这种立场世代相传，与那些年轻的犹太人相比，那些生活在种族隔离中的人通常比类比的犹太人更受打扰。犹太人对以色列政治的批评并非来自深厚的种族隔离经验。