The Pride of Being a Zionist

For too long, in Canada and elsewhere, Zionists and supporters of Israel have been pushed into a posture of permanent defense. We are expected to justify. To explain. To apologize.

Enough.

It is time to say this clearly, without hesitation: Zionism is not something to be ashamed of.

Back to basics: Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people — like any other people — have the right to a homeland. The right to sovereignty. The right to security. The right to dignity.

It is not an extremist idea. It is a democratic one.

And it is one of the most extraordinary stories of national renewal in modern history.

After centuries of exile, persecution, pogroms, and ultimately the horror of the Shoah, the Jewish people did not disappear. They did not surrender to despair. They rebuilt.

Israel is not merely a state. It is the renaissance of a people who were nearly annihilated.

It is the answer to a lesson history taught in blood: Jewish life cannot depend forever on the goodwill of others.

“Never Again” cannot remain a slogan. It must be a responsibility.

This is why Zionism matters.

Yet today, Zionism is increasingly distorted. In some circles, the word “Zionist” has become an insult. Support for Israel is treated not as a legitimate expression of identity, but as something inherently immoral.

We must refuse this inversion.

Yes, of course, criticism of Israeli policies, like criticism of any democratic government, is legitimate. Israelis debate fiercely every day. Disagreement is part of democracy.

But when Israel alone is singled out as uniquely illegitimate, when its very existence is denied, when Jews everywhere are held collectively responsible for it, we are no longer in the realm of political critique.

We are facing a modern form of antisemitism.

Antisemitism adapts. It changes vocabulary. It finds new masks.

And today, one of its most common masks is the radical denial of Jewish nationhood.

No one demands that Ukrainians apologize for Ukraine. No one tells Armenians to justify Armenia. No one asks the Irish to renounce Ireland.

Why, then, must Jews justify Israel?

The answer is uncomfortable, but unavoidable: because the Jewish people are still denied what others take for granted — the right to be a nation among nations.

There is perhaps another reason Zionism unsettles so many today. Zionism is the opposite of wallowing in victimhood. It is the refusal to remain defined solely by suffering.

It insists on agency. On responsibility. On survival through strength, not resignation. As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks once put it, “The antidote to antisemitism is not Jewish victimhood but Jewish pride.”

In an age where moral status is often granted through grievance, Zionism is deeply countercultural: it is the story of a people who chose renewal over despair, life over disappearance, sovereignty over helplessness.

Let us also be honest: Zionists have spent too much time responding to accusations instead of speaking with confidence about what Israel actually is.

We cannot live forever in reactive mode.

Israel is a democracy. Imperfect, like all democracies, but vibrant. A society built by survivors, refugees, immigrants, and dreamers. A place where Jewish history is not only remembered, but lived.

Hebrew was revived. A people returned to its language, its homeland, its future.

Zionism is not colonialism. It is continuity.

Zionism is not racism. It is self-determination.

Zionism is the refusal of a people to vanish.

The real obstacle to peace is not the existence of Israel.

The obstacle is the ideology that cannot tolerate any Jewish state in any borders.

Extremism is the enemy. Whether it comes from the far right, from Islamist radicalism, or from the fashionable so-called progressive activism that turns Israel into the world’s villain while ignoring genuine oppression elsewhere.

The delegitimization of Israel is not only about policy. It is often about the refusal to accept Jews as equals in the family of nations.

That is why Zionism remains necessary.

Israel was born after catastrophe, but it represents something profoundly hopeful: the capacity of a people to rise again.

To rebuild.

To affirm life.

There is pride in that.

Zionists should not apologize for existing. We should not surrender our narrative to those who distort it.

The Jewish people returned to history not only as victims, but as actors.

To stand with Israel is to stand with Jewish continuity, resilience, and dignity.

And that is nothing to be defensive about.