The Center for German and European Studies hosted a lecture, last Monday, by Professor Alain Dieckhoff, French sociologist and author of The Invention of a Nation. Karin Grundler-Whitcare of the German, Russian, and East Asian Languages and Literature Department played a large role in having Prof. Dieckhoff speak at the University.According to Grundler-Whitcare, Dieckhoff's lecture at Brandies was part of a series of lectures called "The New Europe at Brandeis," which has been going on for about two years and still continues.

Dieckhoff talked about the creation of Zionism in Europe and the way in which the current state of Israel is viewed by international and Jewish communities. According to Dieckhoff "Zionism was only one form of nationalism." There also existed two other ideological groups of European Jews. One group advocated civil reforms in Russia that guaranteed religious freedom, the other one wanted a Jewish state somewhere other than Palestine. The Zionists wanted a Jewish state in Palestine, which was controlled by the Ottoman Empire at the time.

Dieckhoff said, "there were ideological divisions (within Zionism), but they had a clear objective." They wanted to gain "internal legitimacy within the Jewish world and achieve international recognition" at the same time.

Dieckhoff distinguished "Anti-Zionism" from "legitimate" criticism of Israel. "All criticisms of political and military leaders can't be considered anti-Zionism," he said, "as long as the criticism is based on fact." He added "perfectly legitimate to describe Zionism as nationalism."

Anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism occur when "Zionism is described as a power that seeks to dominate the world," he said. Furthermore, he said many anti-Zionists use the state of Israel as a "pretext to blame Jews for world evils."

Dieckhoff's lecture met with approval from some students who attended.

Borjan Zic' 05 didn't know much about recent relations between France and Israel and thought the presentation was "very informative.