Can You Be an Anti-Zionist But Not An Anti-Semite?

I want to talk about anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.

I think it is theoretically possible to be an anti-Zionist without being an anti-Semite.

However, when I look at the current anti-Zionist movement, it is clear to me that the movement has an anti-Semitism problem.

Many of the rallies feature anti-Semitic chants, organizers, activists, or organizations. Furthermore, these anti-Semitic elements are not called out by the other anti-Zionist organizers/activists/organizations, which continue to work together, to organize joint rallies, and to share resources with the anti-Semitic actors.

By anti-Semitic, I don’t mean “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free.” We can debate whether or not that chant is inherently anti-Semitic.

I mean chants that actively praise or support Hamas/the October 7th massacres, or leaders speaking at rallies who have openly expressed such praise and support, or organizations that include such leaders among their activists and members, or have themselves issued public statements of support for Hamas and October 7th.

I also mean the description of “Zionists” in epithets traditionally used by anti-Semites to describe Jews, and the inclusion of leaders and activists who use such epithets.

Additionally, I think the targeting of universities or hospitals in order to make them free of Zionists, begs a few questions: 1. Does Zionist mean any Jew who doesn’t actively repudiate Israel? After all, most Jewish students or doctors (or patients) may have never been to Israel or speak any Hebrew, but it still feels like maybe they are included in this message. 2. Is it fair to hold individuals responsible for the actions of their government? I don’t think that protesting individual Chinese students and doctors in order to protest China’s genocide against the Uyghers would be acceptable. Indeed, if someone targeted an institution demanding it be a Chinese-free zone as part of their protest of China’s policies, we would probably call that discriminatory -all the more so if many of the Chinese people being targeted were actually Americans of Chinese descent who had never been to China and didn’t speak Chinese.

To be clear, targeting a university or hospital in a way that holds Jewish people, or Israelis, or Zionists, responsible for Israel’s actions, is different than a protest targeting a policy. I don’t think it’s anti-Semitic to chant slogans about divestment outside of a school or a hospital. But that doesn’t seem to be what most of the rhetoric at these protests is about. It seems to be about the presence of Zionist people.

That is why I increasingly feel that although anti-Zionism without anti-Semitism is theoretically possible, it isn’t practically possible to support today’s anti-Zionist movement without allying with anti-Semites.