Anti-Zionism Is Not the Answer

Once again, rapid upheavals are reshaping global attitudes toward Jews. As in the late 19th century, moments of profound social and political instability have produced new forms of antisemitism. Then, the crisis of European modernity redefined the Jew as a racial category – inscribed in blood, inherited, immutable – eliminating any possibility of escape through conversion and positioning Jews as the ultimate “other” of Western civilization.

Today, the social, cultural, and political turmoil of the early 21st century has generated a different but equally potent transformation. As thinkers such as Tomer Persico and Ilan Gur-Ze’ev have noted, contemporary antisemitism reframes the Jew not as the outsider but as the distilled essence of the West itself – uniquely corrupt and uniquely guilty: capitalist, colonialist, racist, imperialist, patriarchal, and more.

In this paradox of history – where the Jew becomes the symbolic core of the “evil” West – it is unsurprising that the most modern expression of Jewish collective life, Zionism, receives particular hostility. Recognizing this, a group of mostly Jewish scholars has begun systematically analyzing the dynamics of modern anti-Zionism. Some of its leading researchers recently founded the Movement Against Antizionism (MAAZ), which aims “to expose the structural dynamics of antizionism while affirming the dignity, security, and equal belonging of all communities – Jewish, Israeli, and Palestinian alike.”

Their core insight is correct: much contemporary anti-Zionism is not legitimate political criticism but a form of libel. One need only look at the routine targeting of Jewish and Israeli-owned businesses in Europe and the United States. Nothing comparable is directed at Russian or Chinese enterprises, despite those regimes’ vastly more severe human-rights records. Such disparities reveal that this “new” antisemitism – expressed through anti-Zionism – is rooted in a broader postcolonial worldview that casts Israel, Zionism, and ultimately the Jews as the embodiment of Western civilization in all its alleged evils.

Yet focusing solely on the ideological structure of anti-Zionism risks missing a deeper and more urgent truth. The targeting of businesses reminds us that these debates do not unfold in theory but in the lives of ordinary people. In the early 20th century, Zionism was a fledgling movement; today – more than a century later – Zionists constitute the largest, most vibrant, and most culturally influential Jewish community in the world. The stakes are no longer abstract. They are existential, shaping the safety, identity, and future of millions of Jews in Israel and across the diaspora. http://gty.im/2222640022 http://gty.im/2221931661

Thus, the debate over anti-Zionism cannot remain an abstract, academic discussion conducted above the heads of its primary targets. Zionists – whether they live in Tel Aviv, Berlin, or Los Angeles – cannot be defined only in negative terms, as what they are not. Their lived reality must be articulated positively, in its full human and historical depth.

This is not a simple task. In a post-truth era, “simple facts” travel poorly. The goal need not be the endless rebuttal of falsehoods – explaining, for instance, that there is no genocide, or that slogans like “Queers for Palestine” defy basic logic. Nor is it sufficient to rely on accurate yet reductive formulas such as “Zionism is the movement for Jewish self-determination,” which fail to persuade those who have already internalized the opposite narrative.

What is needed is a constructive effort: an articulation of the human, historical, and moral core of Zionism. This means telling the story behind the slogans – remembering that the Zionist project was built not by abstract “settler-colonists” but by flesh-and-blood human beings who fled persecution and degradation, carrying with them the fragile hope that they might finally build a home in dignity. It means reminding the world that beneath the political arguments lie real families, real memories, and real aspirations for safety and meaning. http://gty.im/2222640022

The debate over Zionism is not merely about a political ideology. It is a debate about the moral vocabulary of the West in the 21st century. The last time Jews lost such a struggle, Europe was consumed by a hatred from which it has never fully recovered. Will the new world inherit the same fate?

Only time will tell. But a new conversation about Zionism is urgently needed – one clearer, braver, and more honest than the slogans shouted in the streets. A conversation that serves as a resource for all – Jews and non-Jews alike – who seek to overcome the present crisis.

In the end, the most powerful answer to the new antisemitism is not merely to expose its distortions, but to affirm – calmly, confidently, and without apology – the moral legitimacy of a people who chose, against all odds, to build a home of their own. Zionism shows that out of trauma, a society can be built. Renewal is possible even for a people repeatedly consigned to the margins of history. And it reminds us that with confidence, creativity, and determination, our collective future remains ours to shape.