Zionism in the Age of the Dictators by Lenni Brenner

Description

Originally published in 1983, Brenner’s famous study documents a history of collusion between the Zionist movement and European fascism during the first half of the 20th century. The new edition features a new Afterword by the author. 

“Short, crisp, and carefully documented. Mr Brenner is able to cite numerous cases where Zionists collaborated with anti-Semitic regimes.” -Edward Mortimer, The Times (London)

“Brenner reviews the efforts of the Jewish establishment of the war years to play down, even to conceal, reports of the camps in Europe for fear of inciting anti-semitism at home.” – David Lan, London Review of Books

The Zionist movement actively sought to undermine the Jewish boycott against Nazi Germany. Zionists also tried to discourage anti-fascist rank-and-file Jews from traveling to Spain to fight against Franco during the Spanish Revolution. These accounts, and other information presented in this book, help the reader to understand that the Zionist movement and the colonial settler-state of Israel have no legitimate claim to anti-fascism or anti-racism, despite their continually frequent claims to the contrary.

Brenner’s historical analysis highlights how the Zionist movement sought to emulate other European white-supremacist and nationalist colonial movements and even sought to collaborate with anti-Semitic regimes (including Nazi Germany) if such collaboration would advance their colonialist ambitions. 

As Brenner shows, this collusion represented a betrayal of the masses of rank-and-file Jews, who were primarily concerned with maintaining an organized fight against European fascism.