Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Zionism as Anticolonialism: The Case of Exodus

2013; Oxford University Press; Volume: 25; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/alh/ajt042

1468-4365

Abraham Kaplan,

Jewish Identity and Society

Lots of people around the world have decided that they want to run their own lives. Colonies are going out of vogue in this century. “I'm curious to hear you talk about the Zionist idea. Do you believe that it has justice on its side?” Jeffrey Goldberg put this question to presidential candidate Barack Obama in a 2008 Atlantic Monthly interview. “I think the idea of Israel and the reality of Israel,” responded Obama, “is one that I find important to me personally. Because it speaks to my history of being uprooted, it speaks to the African-American story of exodus, it describes the history of overcoming great odds and a courage and a commitment to carving out a democracy and prosperity in the midst of hardscrabble land. One of the things I loved about Israel when I went there is that the land itself is a metaphor for rebirth.” Goldberg introduced this exchange with a fictional reference: “speaking in a kind of code Jews readily understand, Obama also made sure to mention that he was fond of the writer Leon Uris, the author of Exodus” (“Obama”).