Sigmund Freud`s Letter to the Zionist Movement

Letter to the Keren Hajessod (Dr. Chaim Koffler)


Vienna: 26 February 1930


Dear Sir,


I cannot do as you wish. I am unable to overcome my aversion



to burdening the public with my name, and even the present



critical time does not seem to me to warrant it. Whoever



wants to influence the masses must give them something



rousing and inflammatory and my sober judgement of Zionism



does not permit this. I certainly sympathise with its goals, am



proud of our University in Jerusalem and am delighted with



our settlement's prosperity. But, on the other hand, I do not



think that Palestine could ever become a Jewish state, nor that



the Christian and Islamic worlds would ever be prepared to



have their holy places under Jewish care. It would have seemed



more sensible to me to establish a Jewish homeland on a less



historically-burdened land. But I know that such a rational



viewpoint would never have gained the enthusiasm of the masses



and the financial support of the wealthy. I concede with sorrow



that the baseless fanaticism of our people is in part to be blamed



for the awakening of Arab distrust. I can raise no sympathy at all



for the misdirected piety which transforms a piece of a Herodian



wall into a national relic, thereby offending the feelings of the



natives. Now judge for yourself whether I, with such a critical



point of view, am the right person to come forward as the solace



of a people deluded by unjustified hope.




Your obediant servant,




Freud

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http://www.freud.org.uk/arab-israeli.html