A hundred years after Basel, fifty years after the founding of the state, no self-respecting Jew should have to defend Zionism . Moreover, the last fifty years of rebuilding the land with Jewish labor and genius, and of defending it with Jewish blood, have made denials of the Jewish claim unworthy even of reply. No one asks Australia to justify its right to breathe. The time for justifying Israel 's is long past. This is not to say that the deniers are not there.
Entire nations deny.
Entire leagues of nations deny. The war against Zion is, of course, the leitmotif of Arab international life. And not just of the Iraqs and Syrias . We are in a conflict with the Zionist movement and the Balfour Declaration and all imperialist activities. That was Yasir Arafat in Bethlehem three years after Oslo .