rabbiofberlin,
Please report back after you read the trial history of Kastner. Both the trial of him, and the trial of the Nazis he defended in Nuremberg. It is all in the public record. BTW what is your teretz to what Kastner’s fellow zionist Ben Hecht wrote of his activities?
Your response to Think BIG doesn’t address his points, i.e. of course no one advocates dismantlement, for obvious after-the-fact reasons, but they all still are anti-zionists nonetheless. As far as participation in the organs of the State, many poiskim felt it was a necessary evil in order to protect their interests as dwellers in Eretz Yisroel, not an ideal situation.
And your conclusion regarding the poor conditions for Yidden in Syria, Arabia, Yemen, etc. was already addressed by Think BIG. They were the RESULT of zionism. Of course it was no “paradise” and Jews were oppressed before zionism. Jews were oppressed THROUGHOUT GALUS, anywhere, anyhow. No Jew was ever immune from galus. Not in Christian Europe and not in the Arab lands. BUT the Jews in the Arab lands, like Think BIG so well pointed out, did live relatively benignly for 2,000 years compared to Christian Europe, from the beginning UNTIL THE ADVENT OF ZIONISM.