Jewish Anti-Zionism: A Problem of Diaspora-fueled Identity Crisis

To date, there are three flavors of anti-Zionist: Islamists whose ideology forbids non-Islamic — including Jewish –self-determination in what they perceive as Islamic land, far-left Westerners typically of white European ancestry who feel a moral obligation to uphold social justice out of a sense of guilt for Western imperialism, and Jews who oppose Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. Particularly since the outbreak of the post-October 7 war in Gaza, anti-Zionism among Jews has risen alongside a concerning level of justification for diaspora antisemitism. 

While the convictions driving the first two groups might seem more understandable compared to Jews themselves opposing the existence of a Jewish homeland, anti-Zionist groups appear to operate off one or both of the following talking points: 1) Jews have become part of the white power structure in the West, and therefore, any kind of Jewish entity is inherently oppressing non-Jewish, non-European groups with which it comes at odds, and 2) Diaspora and Israeli Jews alike would be inherently safer without an Israeli state casting Jews as oppressors in the eyes of most of the world.

Perhaps what sets apart anti-Zionist Jews of both persuasions from the so-called “race traitors” of other groups, such as Kanye West, in the case of the Black community, is that anti-Zionism often stems from a genuine sense of oppressor guilt rather than mere desire to assimilate for security’s sake. Much of this guilt can be attributed to confusion among Jews due to the widespread diaspora, which has culminated in different branches falling under different umbrellas in the context of contemporary identity politics and ethno-racial frameworks. Hence, many anti-Zionist Jews are of Ashkenazi descent, meaning they have diaspora ancestry in Europe. As Europe is now widely seen as the major historical colonial oppressor, that diaspora history coupled with the positive experience of many Ashkenazim in the West and specifically the United States today has convinced plenty of these Jews that Israel needn’t and shouldn’t exist. 

Interestingly, the insistence by anti-Zionist Jews and non-Jews alike that anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism — and indeed, even sometimes that Zionism itself is antisemitism due to perpetrators of attacks against diaspora Jews often attributing their attacks to Israel’s actions — fails to acknowledge why, despite many opposing Islamophobic backlash in response to 9/11 or anti-Russian bigotry in response to the war in Ukraine, violence against diaspora Jews is allegedly justified and understandable. Especially in the context of anti-Zionist Jews motivated by anti-imperialist guilt rather than the fear-driven need to assimilate, this hypocrisy could result from a sincere association of Israel and Jews with diaspora history in the West (the majority of Jews) with Western imperialist oppression. According to this viewpoint, Islamic nationalism is the non-Western and therefore weaker party, thus absolving any Islamic radical terror groups of most or sometimes any accountability in what anti-Zionists consider justified resistance to the inherently unethical Zionist movement.