"When the real-life impact of anti-Zionism results in cries advocating for the killing of Jews, then it can only be understood as antisemitism. As is any criticism of Zionism or Israel that crosses the line into blatant racism or discrimination, demands to de-platform or exclude Zionists, the resurfacing of tropes and conspiracy theories about Jewish people, or the questioning of Israel’s right to exist as a state.
On October 9, just two days after Israel’s declaration of war against Hamas, a pro-Palestinian
rally took place in Sydney with clear parallels to 1354.
While the police may quibble as to whether the protesters’ chants were “gas the Jews” or “where’s the Jews”, for Jewish people, the intent was the same....
Over millennia, “Zion” has come to refer to Jerusalem itself, as well as the Land of Israel. Zionism is also the Jewish national self-determination movement, which emerged in the 19th century to create a Jewish state in the Jews’ ancestral homeland, Israel. This goal was achieved in 1948.
Many anti-Zionists today, particularly among the progressive left, however, believe Israel was “born in sin” as a racist, settler-colonial state. In their view, Zionists are pursuing ethnic cleansing, expulsions, theft, apartheid and genocide against the Palestinians.
These beliefs were also propagated by the Soviets from the early 1960s as part of their efforts to win over the Arab world.
Examples of antisemitic behaviour relate to Israel. These include:
- denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, for example, by claiming the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavour
- drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis
- holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
"Anti-Zionism is often expressed, explicitly or implicitly, in the rejection of the status of the Jewish people as a nation and the denial of the Jewish right to self-determination; the vilification and ostracization of individuals and groups associated with Zionism; and the downplaying or negation of the historic and spiritual Jewish connection to the land of Israel.
Anti-Zionism is distinct from criticism of the policies or actions of the government of Israel, or critiques of specific policies of the pre-state Zionist movement, in that it attacks the foundational legitimacy of Jewish self-determination and statehood.
Anti-Zionism is antisemitic, in intent or effect, as it invokes anti-Jewish tropes; is used to disenfranchise, demonize, disparage, or punish all Jews and/or those who feel a connection to Israel; exploits Jewish trauma by invoking the Holocaust in order to position Jews as akin to Nazis; or renders Jews less worthy of nationhood and self-determination than other peoples."
"much of the antisemitism that has recently emerged is directly related to Israel, and the “No Fear” concept includes the right of Jews to demonstrate their love and support for Israel without condemnation or fear. As such, the message during the rally included addressing anti-Zionism, or the denial of collective self-determination for the Jewish people, as
a new form of antisemitism....
The rally was conceived to impart the message that anti-Zionism—not criticism of Israeli policies—is in fact antisemitism. As actor and writer Noa Tishby stated at the rally, “Today’s Jew haters simply attribute all the evil tropes, lies and libels used for centuries to justify the worse horrors against the Jewish people, to the Jewish state.”.....There was no clearer example of the relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, however, than that of first-generation Iranian American Jew Matthew Haverim, the victim of the antisemitic attack in Los Angeles, California on May 18, 2021. That evening, his assailants were marching with
keffiyah masks and Palestinian flags to show support for Palestine as the conflict between Hamas and Israel raged. They were angered when their demands to cheer for Palestine were ignored by Haverim and his friends. They then asked, “Are you Jewish?”—to which Haverim immediately said, “Yes, we are.” One of their assailants then taunted, “You should be ashamed of yourself,” and then beat the men to the point that they required urgent medical care. Haverim closed his speech with a poignant statement about his parents fleeing Iran in 1979 to escape the Ayatollah Khomeini’s anti-Zionist antisemitism: “Within a generation, the shameful poison of antisemitism that corrupted the soil they left has now crept up on our doorposts here in the United States.” Haverim reminded listeners that the antisemitism his parents experienced came in the form of anti-Zionism."
Self-proclaimed anti-Zionists are using a thinly disguised veil to promote their anti-Semitic beliefs. Just look at how Jews in the US are being treated. It couldn't be more clear.
