What Does it Mean to Be an (anti)Zionist today?

I want to take a minute to think through what it means to be a Zionist or an anti-Zionist today. I am talking about these as ideologies, not as political movements.

1. The goal of Zionism was to establish Jewish self-determination in the land of Israel.* Once that state is established, what does it mean to be a Zionist? I would argue it means accepting the state of Israel as established, as a historical fact -and not trying to turn the clock back.
2. But I think that there are two issues with that definition. 1. Those who argue for un-doing the State of Israel might argue they aren’t rejecting the fact of Israel’s existence, but simply deciding that the best way to move forward is to move on to the next phase -of a state for all its citizens, Palestinian state in all the territory, bi-national state, etc. 2. If one said, “I am an Americanist” after the American Revolution or the Civil War, that would sound pretty silly,  Does one really need a political catchphrase to signify acceptance of a state’s existence? Surely, if one said “I am an Americanist” that would signify some relation to America beyond mere acceptance of its existence.
3. So then I will modify my definition to denote not just acceptance of Israel’s existence, but also some positive disposition to it – a positive feeling, such as love, or a general wish of well-being towards its residents, etc. Under this definition, to say “I am a Zionist” means: I accept that Israel is a state that exists and I either a) feel some type of positive emotional connection to that state and/or b) hope things are good for its inhabitants. Under this definition, we should all be Zionists, because we should all accept historical facts and all want things to be good for the inhabitants of any country. Does this make it a meaningless category?
4. Now we wade into the waters: What is Zionism? Similar to the word “Feminism” it has so many definitions by so many groups, that at times it can feel meaningless. I can argue for a woman’s right to wear a burka in France in the name of feminism and I can argue against a woman’s right to wear a burka in France in the name of feminism. In such a case, does the term “feminism” mean anything? Some early Zionist activists, such as Berl Katznelson, left room for the possibility of a Zionist state; even Zeev Jabotinsky left room for a rotation between a Jewish Israeli and Palestinian Israeli Prime Minister. Yet both of these views today would not, I think, be thought of as “Zionist” by many who use that term. If you support a bi-national state that enshrines Jewish rights (alongside Palestinian rights) in the constitution, thereby maintaining Jewish self-determination in the Land of Israel, are you a Zionist? I think both many who self-identify as Zionists and many who self-identify as anti-Zionist would oppose the designation of this idea as Zionist -but who gets to decide? Much like with feminism, who gets to decide what the “real” feminism or the “real” Zionism is?
5. To my mind, the strongest case of Israel’s existence, today, is that millions of Israeli citizens exist. They have no foreign citizenship and lack the academic credentials or work experience that would easily obtain them visas abroad. Where are they supposed to go? Are they supposed to illegally immigrate to various countries and make themselves stateless refugees? In such a scenario, we would be creating a new refugee problem of Israeli Jews** to solve a pre-existing refugee problem of Palestinians.
6. Furthermore, after October 7th: If Israel announced it secured visas for all its citizens to move and was voluntarily un-establishing itself, do we think its citizens would be allowed to leave peacefully? Or would Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran et al. send both fighters  and missiles that attack and kill civilians? Since Israel would be sending citizens away and dismantling its infrastructure, it would not be able to maintain a military that could protect its civilians from the attacks they would face in the process of the state dismantling.
7. If there is anti-Semitism in anti-Zionism as an ideology, to my mind, it is primarily that anti-Zionism fails to take these two issues into account -that Israeli Jews have nowhere else to go to and that dismantling Israel would create a Jewish refugee problem at best, a genocide of Jewish Israelis at worst -or maybe of Israelis including non-Jewish citizens, but who would be targeted by virtue of their having citizenship in the Jewish state.
8. This is in contrast to anti-Zionism as a political movement, which I think does have an anti-Semitism problem. This does not mean that all anti-Zionists are anti-Semites***. Here I want to take a moment to discuss one thing: The topic of methods. Even if one wants to claim that Israel should be un-established, it becomes anti-Semitic to claim that the Jewish state may be dismantled by any means necessary, even if doing so involves attacks that target and kill Jewish civilians -such as those of October 7th.*****
9. It also becomes problematic for anti-Zionism as a political movement when it is willing to use any means necessary to get its point across, including harassing people who are visibly Jewish and seen as guilty by association. But in this we must distinguish. A protest in front of a mosque on a random Friday would be Islamophobic, but a protest in front of a mosque having a Hamas fundraiser would be acceptable, as long as the protest is peaceful. Harassing someone on the subway because they wear a hijab and therefore are assumed to support Hamas is Islamophobic. But what about someone in a hijab wearing a watermelon t-shirt with a Palestinian flag on it? I think we would say this isn’t Islamophobic because it is based on a person expressing a clear political affiliation, but it’s unethical because in a civil society people -even with political beliefs we find odious – should be free to ride the subway without being harassed. In fact, harassing individuals in the subway is illegal and whether it was Islamophobia or targeting on the basis of clearly expressed political beliefs, the person being harassed would be within their rights to call the cops.***** I think we can apply the same standard to protesting in front of synagogues or harassing Jews on the subway. When there are repeated instances in which anti-Zionist protests do not meet this standard, and these protests are not condemned by main figures in the movement, it does raise some serious questions.
10. But what does “anti-Zionism” mean? Is it opposition to Israel’s existence that demands it immediately un-establish itself and send its citizens packing? Is it a general yearning for a lack of Israel akin to the general yearning for a State of Israel that characterized Zionism before 1948? Is it about Palestinian self-determination or general human rights? Theoretically, sometimes these two aims might be at odds with each other. Is it a demand for political reform resulting in a bi-national state or democratic state for both Jewish and Palestinian citizens with no distinct national character? If I can make an argument for a bi-national state as both a Zionist and an anti-Zionist, what do either of those designations mean?

So we have gone back to square 1. I am not sure that Zionist/anti-Zionist is a useful framing in a world in which the State of Israel exists. I have so many questions and not enough answers. But it’s 2:30 am, I was already awoken by a missile siren, and I want to go back to sleep. Answers can wait until tomorrow.

*Ever since it rejected the proposal to establish a Jewish state in Uganda

*There could also be Israeli Palestinian refugees but I assume Israeli Palestinians would have an easier time being accepted by a Palestinian state than an Israeli Jew -who know if an Israeli Jew would even be eligible for citizenship or physically safe in such a state. That being said, Israeli Palestinians could also face danger if they are seen by Palestinians as “collaborators” for having lived in Israel.

***  But I do believe that the tone of many anti-Zionist statements and events is often anti-Semitic and that many anti-Semites use anti-Zionism as a politically correct way to express anti-Semitism. 

***** If one wants to “What-about” with Gaza: Yes, it’s problematic to claim that defeating Hamas may be done by any means necessary, including attacks that target and kill civilians. The effort to protect civilian life must be upheld. Only military targets should be targeted. Collateral damage must be minimized and treated as a tragedy. How one does so when military targets are placed in civilian proximity, as a strategic choice by Hamas, and whether the IDF has taken adequate efforts to protect civilians, is a different question beyond the scope of this piece -as are larger questions about whether the Gaza war should have happened/should still be happening. These questions are important and there should be a real conversation happening in Israeli society.

***** Now we get into police brutality, racial profiling, immigration crackdowns -maybe in America right now it is unethical to call the police unless one is in physical danger if the police aren’t called. But again, a topic beyond the scope of this piece.