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Last update - 14:10 05/02/2007
Zionists out
By Bradley Burston

Talkback comment, in response to When Jihad says 'Kiss, make up, and kill the Jews,' of January 29:

Who are you, and what have you done with the real Bradley Burston? The REAL Mr. Burston surely would have blamed himself - and the rest of us - for today's suicide bombing. Are you feeling ok, man?

Citizen Zero,
Toronto, Canada

_____________________


I decided this week that it was time I outed myself.

I couldn't take it anymore. The sneaking around. The posturing, the covering up.

So this is me, coming out.

I've been this way for as long as I can remember. I kept quiet about it, but it was always there. Even before I knew myself what it was.

It colored my thinking. It affected my relationships. I couldn't talk to just anyone about this thing I was carrying inside.

Were I to come out with it, I thought to myself, I'd be asking to be lumped in with people who are routinely shunned, reviled, quarantined by polite society, spat at by the over-righteous, openly blamed for global ills.

You think, there'll be people who will never look at you, shake your hand, or smile at you quite the same way again.

Then again, there's only so long you can lie to your own heart.

So here it is.

I'm a Zionist.

Go ahead. Take your best shot.

There will be those, and they will be many, who will tell me that it is wrong to love this place, that I have no right to love it, and certainly none to claim it as mine. That by God's law, it will never be mine, it can never be mine.

There will be those who will tell me that it is wrong - in fact, impossible - to love this place and, at the same time, believe that it should be shared with another people who loves this place no less than we. That by God's law, it will never be theirs, it can never be theirs.

Perhaps they'll never want to speak to me again. Perhaps we'll both be better off.

Here's one thing they will not change:

I love this place. Even if it doesn't much care for me. I love it unconditionally. I see its flaws. It is a collection of scars and blemishes, bad behaviors and raw moods and tantrums, guilt trips and passive aggression and active aggression and denial. I don't care. It loves me, it loves me not. I love it nonetheless.

I love the way it looks and smells. Overexposed and overpowering.

I have been this way now, for as long as I can remember. I don't expect this to change materially for as long as I live.

In some ways I was raised to be this way, and in some ways I was raised to be anything but. Ways that no one will fully understand. My being this way hurts my family, old friends, the people I left behind to be this way. And yet, from this remove, I see that this is how it works for everyone, more or less. You must leave your family of origin to start a relationship, a family - a new one, from scratch.

One of the tough parts of being this way is the necessity of making it all up as you go along.

If I came out with it, I'd thought to myself, I'd be lumped in with extremists, people whose outrageous behavior and evident, even brutal, contempt for people unlike them makes an irrationally bad rap that much worse.

So if I'm already out, here's what I have to offer:

I believe that a Jewish country need not be racist. I believe that a Jewish country must not be racist.

I believe that Jews have every right to a state of their own, no less than the Palestinians. I believe that the Palestinians have every right to a state of their own, no less than the Jews.

I believe that if one side denies the other the right to a state, it does direct and permanent harm to both peoples.

I believe that in a world in which there are dozens of Islamic countries, some of which cannot abide the corporeal presence of the Jew, there is room for one Jewish one.

I believe that in a world in which the flags of 13 nations bear a cross, the flag of one nation can bear a Star of David.

I believe that a people at war commits crimes. I believe that a people at war tends to see its own crimes as legitimate. I believe that war breeds racism on both sides, and that racism fuels war.

I believe that the process of dividing and sharing the Holy Land will be agonizing for both peoples. Both peoples have seen what civil war will be like, the Jews in Gaza in 2005, the Palestinians in Gaza in 2007.

I believe that the process of forgiveness will be painful, in some ways cruel. I believe that it will be next to impossible.

I also believe that it will happen.

I believe that a time will come when the sides will come to recognize what each has been saying to the other - often in the worst possible ways - for a lifetime now:

We're here. That's final. Get used to it.

___________________


Recent blogs:

When Jihad says 'Kiss, make up, and kill the Jews'
The silence when Arabs kill other Arabs
Occupation: It's horrid, but it's not apartheid
Leave the U.S. embassy where it is

___________________


The guiding principles of the talkback forum for this article will be mutual respect and openness to dialogue. Participants, even if they rule out, dismiss or oppose coexistence, must, within the confines of this forum, practice it.

Censorship will be unapologetic.

Political orientation will have absolutely no bearing on whether a comment is posted or rejected.

The following will be grounds for deletion:

1. Racist remarks, as well as slurs on the basis of religion, ethnicity and gender.
2. Use of the terms Nazi, Hitler, to describe the actions and policies of Israelis, Palestinians or other parties to the Israel-Arab conflict.
3. Disparaging remarks, personal attacks, vulgarities and profanities directed at other participants in the forum.
4. Advocacy of violence against individuals or religious, ethnic or racial groups, including statements which may be construed as urging attacks on leaders, officials, security forces or civilians.

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  1.   Burston: As phoney as a 57-shekel coin 10:56  |  Yacov 02/02/07
  2.   Bradley You`ve Inspired Me 10:57  |  Yosemite 02/02/07
  3.   Pretty good 10:57  |  Colin Wright 02/02/07
  4.   Physical presence of the Jew 10:58  |  Dror 02/02/07
  5.   closet zionists 11:01  |  Joe 02/02/07
  6.   That says it all Bradley 11:19  |  sh 02/02/07
  7.   You read talkbacks?? 11:29  |  Dror 02/02/07
  8.   YES BRADLEY ITS TIME TO FIRM UP JORDAN AS THE ONLY ARAB STATE 11:29  |  paul harris 02/02/07
  9.   There is nothing wrong with being a Zionist 11:36  |  Swiss (Dino) 02/02/07
  10.   #1 Yakov 11:37  |  Chris Linthwaite 02/02/07
  11.   #4, Dror 11:43  |  Hannah 02/02/07
  12.   Kol Hakavod Bradley 11:45  |  Tim R 02/02/07
  13.   To Bradley Burston 11:48  |  Hannah 02/02/07
  14.   I have a question for you 11:49  |  God 02/02/07
  15.   Yacov #1 11:52  |  Dror 02/02/07
  16.   #1 yacov 12:01  |  reuben jacobs 02/02/07
  17.   ZION. The mount from which God will rule. It is 12:27  |  Virginia 02/02/07
  18.   Ethics 12:28  |  Ethan 02/02/07
  19.   If this is zionism count me in 12:33  |  Skandar 02/02/07
  20.   # 9 God doesn`t ask questions. He has already foretold of 12:38  |  Virginia 02/02/07
  21.   Zionism 12:38  |  Nik Miller 02/02/07
  22.   #8 Hannah 12:39  |  Reuben Jacobs 02/02/07
  23.   This is typical - Bradley 12:45  |  Eckestein 02/02/07
  24.   Burston - not a Zionist, as I would define it 12:51  |  Clickfool 02/02/07
  25.   Arrogance 1 12:56  |  Choni Davidowitz 02/02/07
  26.   Burston: I`m outing myself as a Zionist 13:01  |  Peter 02/02/07
  27.   Symbols are my business 13:01  |  christoph 02/02/07
  28.   Paulo of portugal - part 1 13:03  |  mb 02/02/07
  29.   Arrogance 11 13:04  |  Choni Davidowitz 02/02/07
  30.   #18, Reuben 13:05  |  Hannah 02/02/07
  31.   In other words...Zionism is 13:11  |  Virginia 02/02/07
  32.   Swiss (Dino) #7 13:14  |  Tim R (Tim) 02/02/07
  33.   Frankness and respect 13:15  |  Cord H. Kaldrack 02/02/07
  34.   I agree 13:20  |  Edith 02/02/07
  35.   paulo of protugal part -2 13:20  |  mb 02/02/07
  36.   Yacov #1 13:22  |  sh 02/02/07
  37.   Virginia (no.16) 13:31  |  God 02/02/07
  38.   #4, Dror 13:40  |  Hannah 02/02/07
  39.   Bradley,you`ve taken the Bait 13:42  |  Ronnie Wolman 02/02/07
  40.   Si j`etais president de la republique ... 13:42  |  will 02/02/07
  41.   I used to be a Zionist 13:52  |  Bea Philips 02/02/07
  42.   Some of my best friends... 13:52  |  Joseph 02/02/07
  43.   The Censor Strikes! 13:52  |  Clickfool 02/02/07
  44.   Post Zionism 13:54  |  Maureen 02/02/07
  45.   Reply to #10 in Beirut 13:58  |  Joe 02/02/07
  46.   Burston, you are not a Zionist, and never been one 13:59  |  Antonio 02/02/07
  47.   Hannah about the society that we have been cultivating, 14:00  |  Nadav 02/02/07
  48.   I too am a Zionist, and proud of it. And too believe that comprom 14:01  |  AA 02/02/07
  49.   Come now Mr. Burston 14:03  |  Mark Lincoln 02/02/07
  50.   WHAT CIVIL WAR? 14:03  |  indrajaya 02/02/07
  51.   Another Zionist out 14:04  |  Itamar 02/02/07
  52.   Reply to #15 Bitter pills 14:04  |  Ben Azai 02/02/07
  53.   #7 Swiss...Who`s duty is it to take away fear? I am going to say 14:05  |  Virginia 02/02/07
  54.   #18 Reuben Jacobs 14:12  |  Sherlock Holmes 02/02/07
  55.   Agree with #7-Only EXTREMISTS (from ALL sides) are harmful,but... 14:12  |  Luis 02/02/07
  56.   #5 - Zionists Anonymous 14:20  |  Woodlawn 02/02/07
  57.   Disproportonate response to every violent act is not the way of 14:22  |  Apartheid 02/02/07
  58.   Here is the thing Bradley 14:25  |  Marilyn 02/02/07
  59.   Compromise? NO. Learn to 14:34  |  Virginia 02/02/07
  60.   Bradley, if only most Zionists... 14:35  |  Yaakov Sullivan 02/02/07
  61.   With all due respect, Antonio from Haifa I suggest you and others 14:47  |  Nadav 02/02/07
  62.   I`m amused 14:49  |  peter 02/02/07
  63.   Israel needs more patriots and less anti-Zionists 14:51  |  albert amato 02/02/07
  64.   #26, Nadav 14:53  |  Hannah 02/02/07
  65.   maureen 14:53  |  bev 02/02/07
  66.   Joe from Baltimore (no.10) 15:00  |  God 02/02/07
  67.   To Reuben Jakobs(#18) & Sherlock Holmes 15:01  |  IsraeliArab 02/02/07
  68.   i used to be a zionist NOW IM A ZOOLOGIST 15:08  |  paul harris 02/02/07
  69.   Dear Bea Philips 15:08  |  Nadav 02/02/07
  70.   #31 LINCOLN TRUE ZIONISM WAS SECULAR 15:09  |  paul harris 02/02/07
  71.   Credo 15:10  |  Michael N 02/02/07
  72.   The way Bradley Burston describes it... 15:22  |  Stephen Murray 02/02/07
  73.   Hannah and like minded, the "clear-thinking Palestinians" as you 15:26  |  Nadav 02/02/07
  74.   another reply to 10 from Beirut 15:26  |  Me 02/02/07
  75.   Burston: The day the cat barked 15:27  |  Yacov 02/02/07
  76.   Welcome to the club, Brad 15:28  |  Tosefta 02/02/07
  77.   Bravo! We`re coming home. 15:30  |  Eldar 02/02/07
  78.   hannah 15:30  |  bev 02/02/07
  79.   Zionism redefined! 15:34  |  Abby 02/02/07
  80.   ...HIUPY!!! ...you welcome 15:35  |  abraham...mico 02/02/07
  81.   nadav on the Declaration of Independence #43 15:36  |  Yaakov Sullivan 02/02/07
  82.   bradley burston-welcome 15:37  |  yahn goodey 02/02/07
  83.   marilyn in your world 15:38  |  bev 02/02/07