It’s math: Anti-Zionism = antisemitism

There are a number of arguments which explain how anti-Zionism and antisemitism are connected, but they all stop short of showing how anti-Zionism is in and of itself antisemitism.

1. The first explanation is definitional.

Zionism is “an international movement originally for the establishment of a Jewish national or religious community in Palestine and later for the support of modern Israel” (Merriam-Webster).

What exactly, then, is anti-Zionism? By definition, it would be the opposite of Zionism – that is, being against the establishment or continuation of Israel as a homeland for the Jews. As I wrote in a discussion of this definitional issue, “A surmountable problem,”

…for Zionists to hear someone say he or she is anti-Zionist, we understand that the person is against the existence of a country that is a homeland for the Jews, that is, against a state that actually and already and legally exists. We cannot but take this as promoting a stance against Israel’s very existence, and since [Israel] is a homeland for all Jews, no matter where in the world they reside, [this anti-Zionist stance] is viewed as anti-Semitic. The Anti-Defamation League does a good job of explaining how being anti-Zionistic is a prejudice against the right of the Jewish people to have a state. In Israel’s eyes, that denial is tantamount to not accepting its right to exist.

People who choose to understand Zionism differently, e.g., as a movement to rid the land of Palestinians so that Israel is exclusively for Jews, are hijacking the word’s definition. People who think Zionism is a movement to eradicate Palestinians have no qualms using the term anti-Zionism, as they see it as being against discrimination. This compounds the problem. For them, anti-Zionism is a laudable concept, calling out Israel’s purported discrimination. But since Zionism has nothing to do with displacing Palestinians, Jews hearing the term anti-Zionism understand that those using it want to dismantle the state and rid it of Jews.

These people may not realize it, but in mis-defining words, they are not only negating Israel’s legitimacy but making it impossible to hold a conversation. This does a disservice to us all.

2. A second way to understand why anti-Zionism is antisemitic in nature comes from Natan Sharansky’s 3Ds test, a larger framework for understanding.

Sharansky explains how demonizing Israel, holding it to double standards and delegitimizing the state by targeting it in ways that regular criticism does not, is tantamount to antisemitism. And he’s right. His examples also fit into the collection of examples that accompany the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, which has been adopted by 43 countries, 32 US states and numerous organizations across the globe.

3. Another way to understand the connection between anti-Zionism and antisemitism is as a third and latest iteration of hatred towards Jews. Anti-Judaism has been around since the days of the early Christian church. It morphed into antisemitism in the late 1800s. Today it presents itself as anti-Zionism.

Scholars who spoke about this at the 2024 Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism & Policy’s Summer Institute I attended also showed how the same tropes – like accusations of disloyalty – the Jewish people experienced by those that condemned our religion and by those that condemned us as a people are appearing again by those who condemn our connection to Israel. This is the latest wordplay for the world’s oldest hate.

4. A fourth way in which anti-Zionism is tantamount to antisemitism is when anti-Israel actions are aimed at Jewish institutions or people.

We see this when synagogues, Jewish frat houses and kosher establishments (all decidedly not embassies or representatives of Israel) are vandalized with “Free Palestine” or other political messaging about Israel. We also saw this when Cody Balmer set fire to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s home and when Elias Rodriguez killed Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim outside a Jewish museum. This very spillover all but guarantees that all Jews are considered fair targets, in the eyes of those angry with Israel. It follows then that if all Jews are fair game, then antisemitic sentiment is the blatant motive behind their anti-Israel stances.

These four examples demonstrate how anti-Zionism is tantamount to antisemitism.

Anti-Zionism increases the danger for all Jews

Some claim they are not antisemitic, and use anti-Zionism as a litmus test for defining acceptable Jews. We see this in non-Jewish spaces which only allow in Jews who proclaim they are against Israel and everything it stands for, for instance, in feminist spaces, Black spaces, and even in spaces dedicated to talking about antisemitism – and it is always distressful. All Jews bear the brunt of this purported distinction. In mid-2024, the American Jewish Committee found 27% of all Jews hide their Judaism when meeting someone new and if we look to college campuses, Alums for Campus Fairness found 44% of Jewish students never or rarely feel safe identifying themselves as Jews at their schools while StopAntisemitism found an astounding 72% of Jews feel unwelcome in certain spaces on campus (this sample is from 25 schools).

These numbers demonstrate the insidious impact of these anti-Zionist litmus tests on Jewish people. The words themselves act as a permission slip for people to act on their hatred.

anti-Zionist rhetoric

Exclusionary tactics have spread to professional arenas too. Over 6,000 writers refuse to allow their works to be translated into Hebrew, or work with Israeli publishers or conferences. Notes, the Wall Street Journal, “Some of the world’s leading writers have decided that the best way to change Israelis’ minds is to refuse to talk to them.” Creative Community for Peace organized a letter in response and among the issues the 1000+ writers cited was the prevalence of demonizing Jewish writers in literary spaces.

Jewish Federation leaders drew attention to antisemitism in healthcare as well: “The leaders, most of whom are health professionals, met with members of Congress to tell about their personal experiences and convey alarm over antisemitism in medical professional associations, medical schools, medical journals, and even stories of patients being denied psychological care because they were ‘Zionists.’” Last July, Hadassah, The American Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc., came out with a policy statement denouncing efforts to exclude Jews and Zionists.

The more that Zionism is used as an excuse to exclude Jews, the more all Jews feel targeted.

Complicating this are Jewish spaces which demonize Zionists.

When Jews themselves vilify both Israel and fellow Jews who identify as Zionists – and simultaneously assert their Judaism, e.g., an “Anti-Zionist Passover Seder” or a “Gaza Solidarity Sukkah,” it feels like some kind of theater of the absurd. (Let’s not forget there are also Jews who condemn Israel while simultaneously positing religion is not only at the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but of all bad in the world.)

Whether or not it is Jews or non-Jews who are anti-Zionist, all Jews are at risk when anti-Zionism is present. But that in itself doesn’t mean that anti-Zionism equals antisemitism, only that when one is present, so is the other.

Why is being anti-Zionist and denying Israel’s legitimacy in and of itself antisemitic?

I contend that it isn’t an issue of semantics or of equivalency or of spillover or of simultaneous presence. There is another reason why anti-Zionism is in and of itself antisemitic.

My rabbi talks about feeling Israel in one’s kishkes, one’s guts. That – identifying a connection as emotional – leaves room for an out for Jews who only identify themselves as culturally Jewish or proclaim with certainty that Israel wants to rid itself of all non-Jews.

I contend that those outs are irrelevant – because there is more anchoring Israel in Jewish identity.

So, why does anti-Zionism equal antisemitism? Because Israel is an intrinsic part of Jewish identity.

I posit that Israel is such a part of being Jewish that it does not matter if you are Jewish or not, if you feel Israel in your kishkes or not, if you are religiously observant or not or – even if you do not support Israel’s existence.

1. Let’s start with how Judaism is anchored in the land. There are 26 commandments – mitzvot – which can be carried out only in the land of Israel. That is, only Jews living there are obligated to observe, for example, a year of shmita (literally “release”) which says that agricultural land must lay fallow every seventh year. No other Jew anywhere else in the world is commanded to give land a rest. With 26 commandments tied specifically to Eretz Yisrael (the land of Israel), Judaism is in this sense a land-based religion, demonstrating an intrinsic Jewish connection to the land of Israel.
2. We could also say that Am Yisrael (the people of Israel) are tied to Eretz Yisrael (the land of Israel) through Torat Yisrael (the Torah of Israel). Torah literally means teaching or instruction. In Deuteronomy 7:12, G-D tells the Jewish people that if they keep His commandments, He will keep his promise to them. And in Deuteronomy 8:1, He specifies this promise is for the land, reiterating His instruction and promise in Deuteronomy 8:6-7. Midrashic commentary on this portion dating from the year 200 CE notes that Torah’s home is in Eretz Yisrael. The book of the Jewish people places the land at its core.

But religion is not the only way to argue Israel’s place in the Jewish people’s identity.

3. Being Jewish is not limited to belonging to a religion. We are connected through multiple shared bonds including culture, customs, DNA and thousands of years of history. Jews who are unobservant, agnostic, atheistic – or have even converted to another religion – are still part of the people of Israel. I once blogged about finding what ties Jews together:

We have travelled far and wide throughout history, often due to persecution, but no matter where we have landed, no matter which place am Yisrael [the people of Israel] has sojourned, we’ve experienced life both similarly and differently. As a minority wherever we are, our holidays, foods, customs, religion all provide us communal connections – while differentiating us from the rest…In addition to our teachings, our holidays, our prayer book, we also take this shared history with us no matter where we go. When Jews from a myriad of places and life experiences come together, we see what characterizes each community separately and what unifies us all.

4. Despite exiles and expulsions throughout Jewish history, it is also very much worth noting there has nonetheless been a continuous Jewish presence in Israel dating back 3000 years. And, simultaneously, those in the diaspora have continuously expressed a longing for Zion and for Jerusalem.

That is, not only are Jews a people with both historical and definitional connections to the land, but the Jewish people also have a physical connection.

So, what does this all mean?

Like a mathematical equation (the transitive property of equality), we can spell out how anti-Zionism is antisemitic:

If Israel has always been connected to Judaism
and being Jewish means belonging to a people,
then Israel is a part of all Jews’ identity.

And therefore, the converse is true:

If being anti-Zionist is being against the existence of Israel,
then anti-Zionism is also anti-Jewish
and therefore antisemitic.