Zionism rose on Holocaust sympathy to become a leading Western ideology

Evidence

Africa, and that these factors combined to preopttate a crisis both of economy and of authority for the apartheid regime. … In Palestine, by contrast, the only analogue for that situation is the political hegemony of the PLO among the Palestinians; none of the other key elements of the South African situation obtains. … In addition, imperialist stakes are far higher in Israel than they ever were in South Africa. … Zionism has succeeded in becoming one of the most powerful ideologies of the advanced capitalist countries, and the Zionist state has been the main beneficiary of the global sympathies generated by the Nazi concentration camps. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 144

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Zionism was an extreme desire to assimilate into the West; Zionism is an extreme form of Western assimilation despite rejecting assimilationism — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 638; The Holocaust intensified a colonial ideology the West already practiced elsewhere — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror…, 879 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Emphasizing Jewish victimhood weakens the critique that Zionism is orientalist. #complicates (0.85)
• Zionism was an extreme desire to assimilate into the West #corroborates (0.80)
• The Holocaust intensified a colonial ideology the West already practiced elsewhere #expands (0.80) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 879
• Zionism sought assimilation into the West, not departure from its dichotomy #corroborates (0.80)
• Political Zionism revolted against Judaism, not against the West #corroborates (0.80) — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 972
• Zionist secularism was a European cultural identity by definition #corroborates (0.78) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 663
• Zionism is an extreme form of Western assimilation despite rejecting assimilationism #complicates (0.75) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 638
• Holocaust guilt can drive either supporting or denouncing Israel as expiation #expands (0.75) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1646
• Current Holocaust obsession in Western culture is of recent origin #qualifies (0.75)
• Zionism’s influence spread through psychological critique rather than political program #complicates (0.72) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2077