maybe a stupid stupid question because i just have been overwelmed by politics and media for years and had to step away from alot of it bc it was causing me alot of distress and am not as informed on judaism but coukd you elaborate a bit on the antizonist = antisemitic post i would love to hear the perpective of an actual jewish person rather than inflammatory shit from non jewish people if you don't have the energy please do not feel obligated i just thought it would be better to ask someone who is actually jewish than try and use discression for sources thst dont say explicitly that they are also jewish (sorry really wordy i am autistic and tend to over explain)
hi anon! Thank you for your kindly asked question. I don’t have the energy to give a super in depth response, so I’ll keep it pretty simple:
for me, there are three main reasons why I consider antizionism to be, at its core, antisemitic. The first reason is logical, the second reason is historical, and the last one is anecdotal (i.e. based on my observations)
first of all it is crucial to define zionism. Unlike what you might have heard, the only true definition of zionism, which is the way Jews define it, is the following: Jews need to have their own state in their ancestral homeland, because other peoples keep oppressing, murdering and exiling us. Zionism arose out of a need to survive in the face of terrible violence that was inflicted on us mostly by christians and muslims. now, why does this country need to be where it is? Because it is our homeland, and large parts of our culture revolve around it. The Jewish people and the land of Israel (not to be confused with the modern state of Israel) have always been inseparable, no matter how far away and how many times we were exiled from it (and there have always been Jewish communities living in that area despite the exiles).
now, there are different forms of zionism, and different ideas for what kind of country we should create or what our relationship should be with the Arab population, but at its core it’s nothing more than “we need our own country because the goyim (non-Jews) keep trying to kill us”. And this sentiment was proven right in the most horrible way by the holocaust. Despite what you might have heard, israel was a nation founded mostly by refugees who were refused entry almost everywhere else. They literally had nowhere else to go.
so when people look at this situation and say, “no, I don’t think Jews should have their own country”, then they are condemning us to suffer death and oppression. Ergo, antisemitic.
this was the more abstract reason why antizionism=antisemitism. The second reason is linked to old Soviet Union propaganda. To give you some background, Russia in the end of the 19th century was one of the worst places to be a Jew. Pogroms were commomplace, and many Jews had to flee the country. Now, the soviets considered themselves modern and enlightened, and so they couldn’t admit to being antisemitic in the old way. Instead, they rebranded this old hatred into a new term: “antizionism”. They made Jews into the boogeyman of socialism. They accused Jews of being imperialists and colonisers (sounds familiar?). This narrative justified the persecution of soviet Jews, no matter how secular or loyally communist they were.
this narrative has been adopted almost verbatim by modern leftist movements, who very often have ties to the old communist movements of Europe and America. Antizionism has always been just new coat of paint over old antisemitic ideas (Jews control the world, the banks etc…).
Lastly, my reason for saying antizionism is 100% antisemitism is purely from observing these movements for the last 15 months. Every single modern movement that claims to be antizionist has proven itself to be riddled with antisemitism. This is not incidental or just limited to a few cases. It is SYSTEMATIC and BY DESIGN. Advocating for Palestine is not by itself antisemitic. But advocating for the DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLDS ONLY JEWISH STATE totally is.
one final note: when a Jew calls themselves antizionist or non-Zionist, it doesn’t quite mean the same thing, and would require much more nuance than can fit in this post. Suffice to say that everything I’ve talked about mostly applies only to antizionist goyim (non-Jews).
