Chronicle poll results: Anti-Zionism
We asked our readers if anti-Zionism is a hate movement. Here's what they said.
Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an online poll the following question:” Is anti-Zionism a hate movement?” Of the 283 people who responded, 82% said yes and 18% said no. Comments were submitted by 90 people. A few follow.
Yes. Anti-Zionism is barely veiled Jew hatred with a more politically correct sounding name.
I wish people would stop talking about Zionism and anti-Zionism. Just because you do not support Israel in everything she does, does not mean you hate Israel.
This has been an active and premeditated movement beginning with education in our K-12 schools approximately 30 years ago. We’ve seen an entire generation indoctrinated and now many of them are teaching in our colleges and universities, and raising children of their own.
Yes and no! For some it is a hate movement. But I think for others it’s a complete lack of understanding of what Zionism means to Jewish people.
The new label of anti-Zionism is just a subterfuge for antisemites; it is another in a long line of clever attempts to “put lipstick on a pig” and try to hide actual anti-Jewish motivation.
Being opposed to the current Israeli government and hating Jews are different. There are many Jews worldwide who dislike the policies of Israel’s leadership and are not in a “hate movement.”
Anti-Americanism would be viewed as a hate movement against America or Americans. In contrast, anti-Zionism goes beyond being a hate movement directed against Israel and its supporters. It is a thinly veiled “socially acceptable” means of expressing hate for Jews everywhere. Notably, anti-Zionism isn’t directed at Arab, Muslim or Christian Israelis, only Jewish Israelis and supporters of Israel.
To combat antisemitism, people should be taught about Judaism and its unique fusion of a people, their religion and the land in which they are indigenous inhabitants. That fusion is why anti-Zionism is in fact anti-Judaism.
If Zionism is for the land of Israel, then anti-Zionism is against the land of Israel. Israel is the only democratic country in the Middle East. It is a Jewish country that welcomes all people and religions. Any movement that wants to destroy a county and its people is a hate movement. Anti-Zionists want to destroy Israel, therefore it is a hate movement.
In the early 20th century, the Jewish socialist Bund completely dwarfed the Zionist Jewish movement worldwide. Most Jews treated Zionism not only as a joke but as an insult to the deep and powerful culture Jews had developed in the Diaspora for thousands of years. Nationalism of any sort has been harmful to the Jewish people throughout history. The Jewish Bund was right then and is right now.
You can disagree with and question actions of the politics and policies of a country. Questioning the right of Israel to exist is anti-Zionism. Dressing up the old Jewish blood libel as “genocide” is anti-Zionism as a hate movement.
It is political. It is an effort to bring equality to everyone within Israel’s border.
The empirical evidence is clear: Demonizing and delegitimizing Israel leads to attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions. PJC
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