Zionism: The hijacking of a word
I grew up in the shadow of the Second World War, in South Africa, a sunlit land far from the killing fields of Europe and the Holocaust which consumed so many Jews, including some of my relatives. But even in South Africa, the tentacles of antisemitism crept into the far reaches of the country, gaining purchase through white Afrikaner nationalism and centuries-old Christian myths about Jews as Christ killers.
Through all of this, Zionism was a beacon, lighting the way to a new dawn in Israel. There was always a flourishing Zionist life in the community. I remember the South African Zionist Federation, an agency which assisted Jews wanting to make aliyah and which still exists, and the ‘Zionist Record’, a popular weekly newspaper. At my university, the Student Zionist Association offered talks and cultural events which brought Jewish students together in an atmosphere of camaraderie.
There were probably few Jewish children of school-going age who did not belong to one or other of the several youth movements promoted by factions from across the ideological spectrum of Zionism. On the Far Left was Hashomer Hatzair, nurtured by its Israeli parent, Mapam. Leaning more to the centre, but still socialistic in outlook, was Habonim, inspired by Ben Gurion and his Mapai Party, and an offshoot, Bnei Zion, to which I belonged for a short while, proudly sporting my deep blue shirt with its white striped collar, scarf and military-style cap.
On Sunday mornings we would troop up and down a play area, responding untidily to a few commands shouted in Hebrew. We would study maps of Israel, learn how to construct a ‘migdal’ (watchtower) and form a pack to wrestle to the ground one of the sturdier ‘Madrichim’ pretending to be an Arab terrorist. On the whole, the atmosphere was friendly and easygoing. However, not being much of a joiner, I soon got bored with the whole routine and dropped out.
Further to the Right was Betar, a more disciplined, militaristic outfit whose members followed in the footsteps of Ze’ev Jabotinsky and his disciple, Menachem Begin. And yet another Zionist-oriented movement, Bnei Akiva, brought together religious youngsters with Zionist aspirations.
That was more than seventy years ago. No one then could have predicted that in 2025 we would be seeing hordes of protesters bandying about the term ‘Zionism’ as a synonym for Nazism and Fascism. And the more fanatical elements among those crowds, those who chant for the destruction of the Israeli state, make no distinction between ‘Zios’, Jews and Israelis. They are all conglomerated into a single Satanic entity.
In fact, Zionism was an enlightened concept from the outset. It was nurtured through harrowing times by humane thinkers like Theodore Herzl, Shmaryahu Levin and Chaim Weizmann. These pioneers and many others wanted nothing more than a safe haven for the Jewish people in the form of a national home in Israel. That was always the unifying principle despite the schisms which divide any social movement.
There was a ray of hope in 1948, when Israel narrowly won endorsement for statehood from the UN, by the joy was short-lived. From that day to this, the longed for security was never achieved and the country has been forced to live in a state of constant readiness for attacks from all directions.
There is still a mountain to climb. The majority of states in the region still regard Israel as a foreign body in their midst. Some prefer to use the term ‘the Zionist entity’, thereby refusing even to confer on the country its right to exist as a sovereign state. The repeated shouting of a lie tends to acquire the verisimilitude of truthfulness, and we have yet to find a way of countering vile untruths being paraded before the public gaze.
My own understanding of Zionism is that it is a spiritual, cultural and democratic movement whose main aim is to strengthen Israel’s right to exist as a sovereign state in cooperation with other nations. Accordingly, I am happy to pronounce myself a Zionist.
