Zionism in the Age of Self-Haters

Courtesy of ICJS who highlighted this, ABC's Religion Report radio host Stephen Crittenden interviewed Lenni Brenner.

Lenni Brenner is an American Marxist and anti-Zionist who has recently released a book called has written a number of books including one published in 1983 titled Zionism in the Age of Dictators.

To get an understanding of what Lenni thinks, here is a particular revealing excerpt from the interview:

And everybody understands that there are Israeli spies all over the American government etc. But the Zionist establishment is not silent. On the contrary. They hardly defended themselves against those charges because the politicians here are in their pay and they don't care about the fact that these guys are in jail or going to jail or anything like that. What the Zionists are yelling about is this: The Zionists can bribe a gentile politician, all you've got to do is pass out money, that's American politics, OK.

Sounds like Lenni has been watching too many Egyptian television series.

He continues:

And even some people who've been Zionists, like Tony Judt, for example, was an Editor of New Republic Magazine, he broke with Zionism about two years ago. They don't stop denouncing him as an anti-Semite. Or a self-hater. Now what I tell people is Look, they can call me a self-hater all they like, the fact is all my ex-girlfriends tell me that I was in love with myself and the only one I ever loved, was myself. And they know me a little better than the Zionists.

Sounds like Lenni has been smoking too much Egyptian hashish.

To get an understanding of what Crittenden thinks about this, here is the response that immediately followed Brenner's comments above (emphasis added):

Lenni, it's been great talking to you. We've got to wind it up I'm afraid, but look, that's been a very interesting and entertaining conversation on a whole range of levels.

Hard hitting interview, that.

UPDATE: A reader using the name Stephen Crittenden pointed out the book Zionism in the Age of Dictators was not released recently but published in 1983. It is difficult to verify if this reader is indeed the interviewer. Regardless, the reader was correct, and this post was not. It has been updated accordingly.