A long-lasting poisonous legacy: On the Soviet origins of modern anti-Zionism

Because facts matter

Although the USSR collapsed in 1991, the legacy of its involvement endures. Today, many of the rhetorical patterns pioneered by Soviet anti-Zionist campaigns are still visible. Accusations that Israel is an apartheid state, a proxy of Western imperialism, or a uniquely malevolent global actor echo the Soviet-era lexicon. UN bodies that disproportionately focus on Israel, a pattern rooted in Cold War-era bloc politics that was shaped by Soviet leadership.

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In the wake of the October 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas, Jewish communities throughout the world found themselves confronting a bewildering reality: while images of unspeakable violence circulated globally, many corners of academia, media, and activist culture responded not with outrage, but with rationalization, deflection, or even celebration. Within days, slogans accusing Israel of genocide and apartheid replaced calls for empathy. Rallies denounced “Zionism” with vehemence that, for many Jews, was indistinguishable from anti-semitism.

This response was not simply a spontaneous eruption of protest. Rather, it revealed the long-maturing effects of an ideological framework in which Jewish national identity is uniquely delegitimized. The rapid shift from mourning to condemnation, and the moral inversion that portrayed the victims as aggressors, appeared from a discourse that has long painted Zionism not as a liberation movement but as a form of imperialist domination. That discourse did not originate in Gaza, Berkeley, or London. It has roots in Moscow.

To understand how anti-Zionism evolved into a dominant moral language on the progressive left, and how the Palestinian cause came to be seen as the paradigmatic struggle against oppression, we must look back to the Cold War.

It was the USSR that systematically redefined Zionism as racism, casting Israel as a colonial settler-state and recasting the Arab-Israeli conflict as a global struggle between oppressors and the oppressed. It was in the USSR that a state-sponsored “discipline” known as Zionology [Зионо́логия] appeared as a propaganda tool aimed at vilifying Zionism and the State of Israel masquerading as an objective social science cloaked in the language of academic research.

In the decades following World War II, the USSR played a decisive role in reshaping global attitudes toward Zionism and the State of Israel. What began as a brief period of Soviet support for Jewish statehood in the late 1940s quickly gave way to a sustained and ideologically driven campaign of anti-Zionism, one that has profoundly influenced international institutions and left-wing political thought to this day.

In 1947, the USSR voted in favor of the UN Partition Plan, which called for the establishment of a Jewish and an Arab state in British Mandatory Palestine. The Soviets saw the Zionist project, then dominated by socialist and left-leaning movements, as a potential ally against British influence in the Middle East. In May 1948, the USSR was among the first countries to officially grant recognition to the new State of Israel.

This early support, however, was short-lived. By the early 1950s, Soviet policy had undergone a dramatic shift. At home, antisemitic undercurrents reemerged in Stalinist purges, with Jewish intellectuals targeted, Zionist organizations shut down, and expressions of Jewish identity under suspicion. The infamous Doctors’ Plot of 1952, which accused Jewish physicians of conspiring to kill Soviet leaders, exemplified the regime’s increasing paranoia toward Jews, particularly those with ties to the newly founded Jewish state.

Meanwhile, on the international stage, the Cold War realigned Soviet strategic priorities. Israel’s growing ties to the United States and Western Europe undermined hopes that it would serve Soviet geopolitical interests. In contrast, the USSR saw in Arab nationalism, particularly in Egypt, Syria, and Iraq, an opportunity to extend its influence in the Middle East. These Arab regimes were vocally anti-Zionist, and the USSR began to adopt and amplify their rhetoric.

This ideological transformation culminated in the Soviet promotion of a narrative that depicted Zionism not as a legitimate movement for Jewish national self-determination, but as a reactionary, imperialist ideology aligned with Western capitalism and Israel as a racist, expansionist aggressor.

The Six-Day War in 1967, in which Israel decisively defeated Soviet-backed Arab armies, further intensified Soviet hostility. The USSR severed diplomatic ties with Israel and began an even more aggressive campaign to delegitimize the Jewish state on the international stage.

This campaign bore fruit in 1975 with the passage of a UN General Assembly resolution, which declared that “Zionism is a form of racism.” The resolution, pushed by the Soviet bloc and Arab states, marked a high point in the institutionalization of anti-Zionism within the global order. Although the resolution was revoked in 1991, its legacy endures in international discourse.

The Soviet influence extended far beyond diplomatic circles. Beginning in the 1960s, Western left-wing intellectuals and activist movements increasingly adopted Soviet-influenced critiques of Zionism. For many shaped by anti-colonial struggles and Marxist thought, Israel came to be viewed not as a haven for Holocaust survivors, but as a settler-colonial state oppressing indigenous Palestinians. This framing, aggressively spread through international institutions, Third World movements, and cultural production, laid the foundation for much of today’s anti-Israel rhetoric.

During the Cold War, the USSR played a decisive role in transforming the Palestinian national movement. Through ideological, military, and diplomatic support, the USSR redefined Palestinian identity, resistance tactics, and how the international community perceived the Arab Israeli conflict.

Before Soviet involvement, Palestinian nationalism was a local response to Zionist immigration and British colonial rule in Mandatory Palestine. The 1936–1939 Arab Revolt and, later, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians following the creation of Israel in 1948 shaped early Palestinian consciousness. However, political leadership was fragmented, and the movement often lacked strategic independence, relying heavily on the agendas of neighboring Arab states such as Egypt and Jordan.

By the 1950s and 60s, as the USSR distanced itself from Israel and embraced pan-Arab nationalism, particularly with the emergence of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964 and Yasser Arafat’s rise to leadership in 1969, the Palestinian cause increasingly caught their attention. The USSR offered direct support to Palestinian factions, especially those aligned with Marxist-Leninist ideology, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. These groups received military training, weapons, and operational support.

Most significantly, these groups were provided with an ideological framework. In this Soviet-inspired narrative, Zionism was recast as a form of Western imperialism and racist settler-colonialism, an outpost of American and European dominance imposed on the Arab world. Palestinians, in contrast, were cast as heroic symbols of oppressed peoples everywhere, aligned with anti-colonial movements in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

This ideological shift had practical consequences. Palestinian factions began adopting revolutionary symbols, like red flags, Marxist language, and iconography of figures like Che Guevara. They also began embracing tactics associated with armed revolutionary movements, including airplane hijackings, embassy takeovers, and guerrilla-style attacks. They justified their acts of terror as revolutionary violence, modeled on global liberation struggles.

Soviet influence also transformed the diplomatic landscape of the Palestinian cause. With Moscow’s backing, the PLO gained international recognition as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. In 1974, it was granted observer status at the UN. The following year, the USSR and its allies helped pass the infamous UN General Assembly resolution declaring that Zionism is a form of racism.

Soviet engagement also extended to education and political formation. Thousands of Palestinian students received scholarships to study in Soviet universities, where they were immersed in Marxist theory and Cold War geopolitics. These students often returned to the Middle East as political cadres, intellectuals, and organizers, reinforcing Soviet-style ideology within Palestinian institutions and discourse.

Although the USSR collapsed in 1991, the legacy of its involvement endures. Today, many of the rhetorical patterns pioneered by Soviet anti-Zionist campaigns are still visible. Accusations that Israel is an apartheid state, a proxy of Western imperialism, or a uniquely malevolent global actor echo the Soviet-era lexicon. UN bodies continue to disproportionately focus on Israel, a pattern rooted in Cold War-era bloc politics shaped by Soviet leadership. Understanding this legacy is essential to navigating today’s debates over Israel, antisemitism, and the boundaries of legitimate criticism.