Reblogging this from myself bc I think it’s important for my goyische followers to understand what’s happening here and how this works. You will often hear non-Jews going on about how “Zionism and Judaism aren’t the same thing,” and this is true. Like I said, I’ve loudly and often voiced my qualms with both the actuality of the zionist movement, and with the more abstract political theory of it. But when non-Jews say this, they are normally doing so with the intention of obfuscating the fact that they DO mean Jews, even if they don’t consciously realize this.
Take this tumblr user for example. I highly doubt he thinks he hates Jews. In fact, I’m reasonably certain he doesn’t think about us all that much. In his head he just hates the filthy zionists. But, clearly, when faced with a non-zionist Jew advocating against antisemitism, I’m close enough for him. Zionist gives people like him a word to claim it is not our Jewishness that, but, conveniently, all these Jews just happen to be (((zionists))). What’s actually happening is the reverse of what these people say. Their issue is with Jews, especially Jews who are willing to stand up and call out antisemitism. Zionist is the label that gets slapped on AFTER they’ve stepped out of line as a means of discrediting what they have to say.
If you’re not convinced, let’s break down the practicalities of the situation. Some Jews are zionists is a true statement. Zionism, as a nationalist philosophy of a persecuted ethnic group, exists in a response to generations of trauma. Much of this trauma results from being unable to flee persecution as an unwelcome minority group perpetually seen as an interloper. Our most recent major collective trauma (at the time of the founding of Israel) was the holocaust. People teach the holocaust as if it was a moral lapse. That a bunch of otherwise good people lost their minds and committed horrific acts against other human beings. That is a lie. Like racism, Jew hate is built into the fundamental ideological underpinnings of the vast majority of the world. Those places in which it is not homegrown almost always have acquired it anyways due to cultural imperialism and colonialism. Ultimately, Jews were not seen as a part of society for which support and protection were owed, and this attitude was consistent throughout Europe for well over a millennium by that point. The Nazis simply took advantage of that pre-existing hatred and apathy to mobilize people against us.
That brings us to another flaw in how the Holocaust is taught. It wasn’t just the Germans. When the nazis started rounding up Jews, other nations PAID the nazis to come and take us from them. When the nazis conquered places like Poland, they gave our neighbors permission to beat us, rape us, kill us, and steal our homes and belongings. And they did. With relish. And, when it became apparent something unprecedentedly horrific was going to happen to the Jews of Europe, the Evian conference took place. 32 nation-states sent representatives. Only one agreed to take any Jews. Everyone was perfectly fine to condemn the actions of the Nazis when it was just words. But to actually suffer Jews to live amongst them? Never.
So, after the murder of 6 million of our people, not just by a single nation-state, but by the bloodlust of our fellow countrymen across Europe, and the apathy of the entire world, the prevailing sentiment amongst Jews became that we would only ever be safe if we had somewhere to flee. And the only way we could ensure that would be to have our own nation-state for which we controlled immigration and could ensure we would accept any and all Jewish refugees.
So, to my non-Jewish readers, with that understanding of what zionism is, I ask you this question: What practical things could you do to dissuade Jews from thinking that nationalism represents the only means by which they can assure their safety? Do you think discussing zionism, a white nationalist dogwhistle for decades, as some nefarious evil is going to reach the Jews already skeptical of you? Do you think harassing them or using an ideology they believe to be the only thing keeping them safe is going to make them trust that they don’t need it? Or, will perhaps calling them zios, a slur popularized by the former head of the KKK, will convince them to trust their safety in the diaspora? What if you isolate them from all their community spaces because they’re zionists and, thus, undeserving of support? I think you know what the end result is.
Now, I want to clarify a few things. PLEASE keep advocating for the Palestinian cause. Fight for the US and other nations to stop funding Israel’s military. But understand that you, as a non-Jewish, non-Israeli, aren’t actually fighting zionism when you do this. The nation-states which use Israel as an imperial outpost have no stake in Jewish nationalism. They don’t give two shits about what Israel does internally or how it treats Palestinians, within its borders or outside. It serves no purpose. What Israel, does provide for them is an important strategic military outpost and an allied nation-state which can apply soft and hard pressure on its neighbors in the region. As long as it does that, they truly don’t give a shit. And Israel is not unique in this role. Think of all the democratically elected governments overthrown by the US with the purpose of installing a politically convenient despot. What the US and other nations do with Israel isn’t zionism. It’s just plain old imperialism. The only practical effect of using zionism instead is to scare people into agreement by your use of the Scary Jew Word, as well as to imply that this imperialist action is WORSE because it’s Jewish. And, given its longstanding use as a dogwhistle, all you really gain in the process of using it is to prime more people into falling for antisemitic conspiracies.
Now there is one more thing you may be asking. “But what about the evangelical/christian zionism I see?” Simple answer. It’s not actually zionism. As I discussed, zionism is a Jewish nationalist philosophy. Christian zionism isn’t that. It simply stole the word. Christian zionism is a doomsday cult which thinks the end of the world will only happen when all the Jews move to Israel and, so, they want to send us all there. It has nothing to do with Jewish zionism and isn’t remotely the same thing. However, hard right elements like to collude with each other, so u’ll see some people like Netanyahu or Ben Shapiro buddy up to them for practical purposes.
The point of this is, if you want to fight for the Palestinian cause from abroad, pressure your governments and the people in power. Those individuals are almost never Jews, and it’s never diaspora Jewish organizations. This is because Jews are ~.25% of the total world’s population and nearly half live in Israel, and most of the other half live in the US at 2% of the US population. Despite what people tell you, we utterly lack systemic power EVERYWHERE but Israel. So, understand as you do this advocacy you’re not actually fighting against Jewish nationalism, you’re fighting against regular old imperialism. If you’re actually, interested in working against nationalist ideology in the Jewish community the best thing you can do is make the diaspora a safe place to live. Educate yourself on antisemitism and Jewish history. Show up for the Jewish community when we need support. And, above all, keep your mouth shut. You’re not going to have the credibility to make change in this arena. That’s for people like myself to do. The best thing you can do is to show your support and help convince Jews with your actions that there is a place for them in the broader communities they live in. If you’re really antizionist, that’s the best thing you can do.
