Zionism

Zionism is a mass ethnonationalist political movement, originating in the 19th century, to establish a political and geographic nation-state for the Jewish people so they could escape the persecution and anti-Semitism that was then so prevalent throughout the world, as it had been throughout the preceding centuries. By the early 20th century Palestine would be chosen as the location. Zionism has long been a political movement and is typically synonymous with Jewish nationalism. Indeed, the two are identical in the most salient aspects – "backing of a national identity with credible force"http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/31/weekinreview/nationalism-with-a-zionist-twist.html – whatever less salient or theoretical distinctions some may make between them. The movement was named for Mt. Zion, one of the mountains that Jerusalem was built on. "Zion" is also a synonym for the Holy Land or the Jewish national homeland. Prior to World War II, there was a non-Zionist movement that supported emigration of Jews to Palestine, but did not the establishment of a Jewish state, mainly because of the fear that establishment of a Jewish state would incite more violence.Jewish leaders a century ago had complicated feelings about Israel by Daniel Schulman (November 19, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. EST) The Washington Post.
In more recent times, the term Zionism is often used to denote Israel's ongoing settlements in areas beyond the Green Line (that is, in the West Bank and Gaza), commonly referred to as the Palestinian territories. Jewish settlers have been aggressively staking claims on Palestinian land, especially in the last decade.http://europe.newsweek.com/israeli-settlement-tenders-reach-10-year-high-309151
 	 	
Conversations about Zionism, and opposition to it, are charged by decades of geopolitical conflict and centuries of painful history. Good old-fashioned anti-Semites also use "Zionist" as a snarl word to refer to anything they don't like done by anyone (supposedly or actually) Jewish. It used to be the word of choice utilized by neo-Nazis to describe things ranging from homosexuality to anti-racism to communism - since 2015, however, the Z-word has gradually fallen out of fashion in favor of "cultural Marxism." Anti-Zionism, meanwhile, is sometimes decried as intrinsically anti-semitic. But meaningful discussion of Zionism – including criticism, not infrequently made by Jewshttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/25/1315062/-Empathizing-w-Gaza-does-NOT-make-me-anti-Semitic-nor-pro-Hamas-or-anti-Israel-It-makes-me-humanhttps://theintercept.com/2015/07/08/israel-gaza-anniversary-interview-max-blumenthal/http://mondoweiss.net/ – can and does occur outside of the precincts of Stormfront-ville.
==Historical background==
===Herzl and Der Judenstaat===
Theodor Herzl, a Serbian/Austro-Hungarian Jewhttp://www.geni.com/people/Theodor-Binyamin-Ze-ev-Herzl/6000000009503350243 and a journalist, published in 1896 a work entitled Der JudenstaatDer Judenstaat at Project Gutenberg which laid out the foundational principles and goals of Zionism. Central to his argument was the claim that:
These words were penned in the wake of such incidents as the Dreyfus affair in France, and into the face of a growing movement among Jews supporting assimilation into other cultures. Indeed, during Herzl's day, hatred towards Jews which had briefly looked to be subsiding with more and more states "emancipating"i.e. granting equal civil and social rights to Jews and gentiles Jews, was growing again. For centuries, Jew hatred – often called "anti-Judaism" – had existed, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a new form of "racial" hatred emerged, which was coined then as anti-Semitism.http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/anti-Semitism.aspx While old-style, religious Jew hatred offered at least the theoretical way out by converting to the dominant religion of the time (usually Christianity or Islam), anti-Semitism left no escape. Zionism arose in that milieu and as a response to it.
As to location of a Zionist state, Herzl exhibited flexibility in Der Judenstaat: "Shall we choose Palestine or Argentina? We shall take what is given us, and what is selected by public opinion." However, shortly before his death in 1904, Herzl declared that the Jewish State he envisioned must be in Palestine.http://www.zionism-israel.com/bio/biography_herzl.htm Moreover, by 1902, when Herzl wrote a letter to Cecil Rhodes, he had explicitly adopted a European, colonialist model for Zionism:
===The Balfour Declaration===
In the midst of World War I, when many Jews supported Germany as it was fighting Russia (as many antisemitic programs occurred there before), Great Britain came under increasing pressure to attempt to secure the support of American Jews, and in turn influence the US towards the allied side. To this end, the UK's foreign secretary issued a memo known as the Balfour Declaration,http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/modern-world-history-1918-to-1980/the-middle-east-1917-to-1973/the-balfour-declaration-of-1917/the-balfour-declaration-of-1917/ reading as follows:
Of course, the British Empire's notions of what constitutes not "prejudicing" the rights of an existing population had not generally met especially rigorous standards of justice, a reality that might have given some pause concerning this proposal. Moreover, it's almost quaint how the British felt that the land of Palestine was theirs to divvy up and award to others.
Long story short, the British Empire defeated the Turks in WWI and the League of Nations gave the former control over what would be Mandate Palestine – under British rule until 1948.http://lostislamichistory.com/how-the-british-divided-up-the-arab-world/ For those several decades the British would permit varying levels of Jewish immigration and oversee the struggle between two mutually antagonistic peoples: Zionist Jews whose increasing numbers seriously annoyed Arabs who weren't asked for their opinion of the project.
===Jabotinsky, the Iron Wall, and the legacy===
Ze'ev Jabotinsky (Russian: Владимир Евгеньевич Жаботинский - Vladimir Yevg'enevich Zhabotinskiy), a Russianhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1396237?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Jew (now honored in Israel,https://www.knesset.gov.il/lexicon/eng/zabotinski_eng.htm but who for a time was controversial there,http://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/02/nyregion/400-faithful-laud-jabotinsky-as-zionist-visionary.html) developed a more extreme faction of Herzl's political Zionism; his "Revisionist Zionism" opposed British control over Palestine (see below) and advocated the establishment of a Jewish state in that land by military means.https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Zionism/Revisionist_Zionism.html Jabotinsky moved to Palestine in the 1920s and published various works supporting his Revisionist Zionism, including The Iron Wall,https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Zionism/ironwall.html a 1923 piece elaborating on the political and military requirements of making a Jewish state happen. Despite including an introduction stating that he is politely indifferent to Arabs, Iron Wall declares "[t]here can be no voluntary agreement between ourselves [Zionist Jews] and the Palestine Arabs", asserting that no peaceful exchange could ever secure for the Jewish people a homeland in Palestine. He continues, "we keep spoiling our own case, by talking about 'agreement' which means telling the Mandatory Government that the important thing is not the iron wall [of soldiers], but discussions. Empty rhetoric of this kind is dangerous." Jabotinsky makes it clear that military force, e.g. "bayonets," is necessary to bring about the Jewish State, whether these are "Jewish bayonets" or "British bayonets." 
Moreover, Jabotinsky explicitly defended the "morality" of stealing land from an existing population:
Let us consider for a moment the point of view of those to whom this seems immoral. We shall trace the root of the evil to this – that we are seeking to colonise a country against the wishes of its population, in other words, by force. Everything else that is undesirable grows out of this root with axiomatic inevitability. What then is to be done?
The simplest way out would be to look for a different country [other than Palestine] to colonise. Like Uganda. But if we look more closely into the matter we shall find that the same evil exists there, too. Uganda also has a native population, which consciously or unconsciously as in every other instance in history, will resist the coming of the colonisers. 
[...]
Yet if homeless Jewry demands Palestine for itself it is "immoral" because it does not suit the native population. Such morality may be accepted among cannibals, but not in a civilised world....Self-determination means revision – such a revision of the distribution of the earth among the nations that those nations who have too much should have to give up some of it to those nations who have not enough or who have none, so that all should have some place on which to exercise their right of self-determination. 
Although Jabotinsky was initially viewed by many of his contemporary Zionists as a fringe character, his views eventually became the basis for right-wing politics in Israel. In short, if you want to find the origins of the present policies of Israel vis-a-vis Palestinians – e.g., ever-increasing Jewish settlers taking over Arab land – Jabotinsky is a good place to start.Although, to be sure, even before Jabotinsky Zionist violence was contemplated. Israel Zangwill, an ardent Zionist, realized that trying to form a Jewish majority in Palestine would require force. In 1905 Zangwill stated, "Palestine proper has already its inhabitants. The pashalik of Jerusalem is already twice as thickly populated as the United States, having fifty-two souls to the square mile, and not 25% of them Jews ..... [We] must be prepared either to drive out by the sword the [Arab] tribes in possession as our forefathers did or to grapple with the problem of a large alien population, mostly Mohammedan and accustomed for centuries to despise us". Benny Morris, Righteous Victims, p. 140
Zionist continuity with Jabotinsky's Revisionist Zionism is in some ways literal. Benzion Netanyahu, Benjamin Netanyahu's father, served as Jabotinsky's personal secretary, and a young Menachem Begin – who would one day be elected prime minister of Israel – was a primary Jabotinsky disciple.http://worldview.carnegiecouncil.org/archive/worldview/1978/06/3048.html/_res/id=sa_File1/v21_i006_a002.pdf
Jabotinsky even straight up admitted that Zionism is a colonial movement:
Herzl does however recognize that cleansing all Palestinians from Palestine would be "impossible." He follows that admission up with a qualification that all a Jewish state in Palestine would require is a Jewish majority.
===Spiritual Zionism, Judah Magnes===
Some Jews rejected and were even horrified by Jabotinsky's vision of political Zionism and bayonets. Prominent among these was Judah Magnes, the president and founder of Jerusalem's Hebrew University. The California native, who had moved to Palestine in 1922, Judah Magnes: A Disappointed American Zionist http://www.acjna.org/acjna/articles_detail.aspx?id=356 wrote in 1929 that "a Jewish Home in Palestine built up on bayonets and oppression is not worth having, even though it succeed, whereas the very attempt to build it up peacefully, cooperatively, with understanding, education, and good will, is worth a great deal, even though the attempt should fail." To this end, he advocated "a pacific policy that treats as entirely secondary such things as a 'Jewish State' or a Jewish majority, or even 'The Jewish National Home.'" Magnes advocated a "spiritual Zionism" entailing development of a Jewish spiritual, educational, moral and religious center in Palestine:
Magnes had too few allies and did not prevail. But history seems to have borne out his concerns: He accurately predicted that a state that did not take into account the political strivings of both peoples would be doomed to perpetual strife. Magnes never surrendered, and until his death in 1948, he fought to establish a binational state in which Jews and Arabs could live as equals.Judah Magnes: A Disappointed American Zionist (page number needed)
===Zionist terrorism===
 Radical elements of Zionists have adopted terrorism; in our era, it is common to associate terrorism with Muslims, but radical Zionist Jews actually introduced a great deal of terrorist methods and ideology to modernity.https://www.amazon.com/State-Terror-Terrorism-Created-Modern/dp/1566560683/ref=pd_sbs_14_1/131-2233485-5277620?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1566560683&pd_rd_r=e52915fb-785c-11e9-91a5-9bf57843c05e&pd_rd_w=ToBDu&pd_rd_wg=imEIe&pf_rd_p=588939de-d3f8-42f1-a3d8-d556eae5797d&pf_rd_r=1VMW4R9757ZAHAK8PK69&psc=1&refRID=1VMW4R9757ZAHAK8PK69 In 1954, Israel hijacked a Syrian airways civilian jet to obtain hostages,https://books.google.com/books?id=O-uMJuYdDxwC&pg=PT92&lpg=PT92&dq=1954+Israel+hijacked+Syrian&source=bl&ots=eTLGLwAwLS&sig=nPi--hsWEXHTYAZWXHuHAqbS6bo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEwQ6AEwCTgKahUKEwiI5ZTew5vJAhXEeD4KHXDGBz0#v=onepage&q=1954%20Israel%20hijacked%20Syrian&f=false and in 1956, Israel shot down an Egyptian civilian airplane, killing 16 civilians, in order to assassinate a military leader.International Terrorism: Image and Reality by Noam Chomskyhttps://books.google.com/books?id=O-uMJuYdDxwC&pg=PT92&lpg=PT92&dq=1954+Israel+hijacked+Syrian&source=bl&ots=eTLGLwAwLS&sig=nPi--hsWEXHTYAZWXHuHAqbS6bo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEwQ6AEwCTgKahUKEwiI5ZTew5vJAhXEeD4KHXDGBz0#v=onepage&q=1954%20Israel%20hijacked%20Syrian&f=false Moreover, without terrorism, the State of Israel likely would not have come to exist in 1948. Zionist terrorism demonstrated that "terrorism can, in the right conditions and with the appropriate strategy and tactics, succeed in attaining at least some of its practitioners’ fundamental aims.”https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/assessing-role-of-terrorism-by-jewish-underground-in-founding-of-israel/2015/03/13/9ac811fe-b938-11e4-9423-f3d0a1ec335c_story.html Indeed, "[i]n the end, the [Zionist] terrorists got what they wanted."http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/189264/israel-original-terrorist-state
Pre-state Zionists carried out extensive terror against Arab civilians, the British and politically unacceptable Jews. They also murdered UN mediator Folke Bernadotte, who as head of the Swedish Red Cross during WWII had rescued thousands of concentration camp survivors.http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2014/06/killing-count-20146282143931887.html In 1943, Yitzhak Shamir wrote the article Terror for the journal of Lehi — the terrorist organization he headed — and therein advocated the "dismiss[al of] all the 'phobia' and babble against terror with simple, obvious arguments." "Neither Jewish morality nor Jewish tradition can be used to disallow terror as a means of war," he wrote, and "We are very far from any moral hesitations when concerned with the national struggle." "First and foremost, terror is for us a part of the political war appropriate for the circumstances of today, and its task is a major one: it demonstrates in the clearest language, heard throughout the world including by our unfortunate brethren outside the gates of this country, our war against the occupier."Chomsky, ibid.
Additionally, Menachem Begin slaughtered many Arabs in pre-state Israel and was responsible for the infamous massacre of innocent Palestinians in their village of Deir Yassin. Both Begin and Shamir appeared on Palestine Police wanted posters for crimes of terrorism,http://www.palestineremembered.com/images/IsraeliJewishTerroristsWanted.html and both would some day be elected prime minister of Israel. So, although Israel doesn't negotiate with terrorists it evidently has no problem making them chief executive.
The Jewish Defense League, a group labeled as terrorists by the FBI, has also been active in Israel in the past several decades. It was founded by Meir Kahane, an Orthodox Rabbi and ultra-nationalist politican convicted for terrorism, in 1968. In 1994, JDL member Baruch Goldstein slaughtered 29 Muslims who were kneeling in prayer in a Hebron mosque.https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/jewish-defense-league Goldstein is revered as a hero by many Israelis, especially settlers.http://mondoweiss.net/2013/07/murderer-baruch-goldsteinhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/hebron-settlers-shed-no-tears-after-slaughter-militant-jews-are-turning-mass-killer-baruch-goldstein-into-a-folk-hero-writes-sarah-helm-from-kiryat-arba-1397002.htmlhttp://www.jpost.com/Israel/Sheikh-Jarrah-Jews-sing-Purim-praises-of-Baruch-Goldstein
 Zionist terrorism has erupted among settlers staking claims on Palestinian land in the West Bank (and many of them were born in America).http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/opinion/sunday/israeli-terrorists-born-in-the-usa.html?_r=0 According to Yuval Diskin, Israel’s former internal security service chief, many settlers "apply some level of violence or terrorism against the persons or possessions of Palestinians" and that these stand ready to also commit violence against Jews who are, in the terrorists' view, insufficiently Zionist. Diskin states that Jewish terrorists act with near impunity, that there are "two justice systems, one for Jews (Israeli law) and the other for Palestinians (martial law). Whether we want it or not, these two justice systems have divergent measures to adjudicate identical offenses."http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/193237/the-two-jewish-state-solution For instance, Israeli citizens are subject to civilian trials and lesser legal penalties if convicted. Palestinians are subject to military trials and higher penalties.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJX1rPFGZQc&index=152&list=FL7F-qYxU3FznIcf4hFqRC8g
One example of this seeming double standard is a 2015 arson attack by settlers upon a family, killing a mother, father and toddler. For months, no one was charged for these murders, although a number of suspects were detained.http://mondoweiss.net/2015/09/palestinians-charged-murders On December 3, 2015 three Jewish settlers were arrested for indirect involvement, and one was quickly released to house arrest in his home in an illegal settlement; another three were held for allegedly being directly involved.http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769287http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/suspects-duma-arson-attack-all-have-dual-citizenship-663467810#sthash.U2h7a3ez.dpuf In contrast with Israel's collective punishment policy for Palestinians,In a typical example "Israeli forces on Monday demolished the family home of a Palestinian attacker killed in October and sealed off the home of another attacker's family with cement...The homes...belonged to relatives of Alaa Abu Jamal and Baha Elayyan who were both shot dead on Oct. 13 [2015] after carrying out separate attacks that left four Israelis dead. Israeli forces reportedly stormed the homes and ordered the families to evacuate them before they proceeded with the demolitions." http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769642 the homes of the accused Jewish terrorists have not been demolished. A member of the Dawabshe family said "We don’t have any trust in the Israeli justice system any more – neither the courts, nor the army."
===The transfer policy===
The concept of transfer was essential to the ideology of Zionism; to create a Jewish state in an area that was overwhelmingly non-Jewish, removing the Arabs was required. Predictably, this component of Zionism exacerbated fear and anger among the Palestinians at the prospect of being dispossessed. Israeli historian Benny Morris notes "[f]or many Zionists, beginning with Herzl, the only realistic solution lay in transfer. From 1880 to 1920, some entertained the prospect of Jews and Arabs coexisting in peace. But increasingly after 1920, and more emphatically after 1929, for the vast majority a denouement of conflict appeared inescapable. Following the outbreak of 1936, no main- stream leader was able to conceive of future coexistence and peace without a clear physical separation between the two peoples—achievable only by way of transfer and expulsion".Benny Morris, Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conﬂict, 1881–1999 (New York, 1999), p. 139
David Ben-Gurion promoted the benefits of compulsory transfer, writing in 1937 "The compulsory transfer of the [Palestinian] Arabs from the valleys of the proposed Jewish state could give us something which we never had, even when we stood on our own during the days of the first and second Temples . . . We are given an opportunity which we never dared to dream of in our wildest imaginings. This is MORE than a state, government and sovereignty-this is national consolidation in a free homeland".Benny Morris, Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conﬂict, 1881–1999 (New York, 1999), p. 142
Ben-Gurion's enthusiastic support for transfer continued in the lead-up to the 1948 war, stating to the Mapal Council in February 1948: "From your entry into Jerusalem, through Lifta, Romema [East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhood]. . . there are no [Palestinian] Arabs. One hundred percent Jews. Since Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, it has not been Jewish as it is now. In many [Palestinian] Arab neighborhoods in the west one sees not a single [Palestinian] Arab. I do not assume that this will change. . . . What had happened in Jerusalem. . . . is likely to happen in many parts of the country. . . in the six, eight, or ten months of the campaign there will certainly be great changes in the composition of the population in the country".
Moshe Sharett, the first Israeli foreign minister, declared in 1947 "Transfer could be the crowning achievements, the final stage in the development of [our] policy, but certainly not the point of departure. By [speaking publicly and prematurely] we could mobilizing vast forces against the matter and cause it to fail, in advance". He also added "[W]hen the Jewish state is established—it is very possible that the result will be transfer of [the Palestinian] Arabs".Benny Morris, Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conﬂict, 1881–1999 (New York, 1999), p.254
Israeli historian Benny Morris' conclusion regarding the transfer policy was: "[it] was inevitable and inbuilt into Zionism — because it sought to transform a land which was “Arab” into a “Jewish” state and a Jewish state could not have arisen without a major displacement of Arab population; and because this aim automatically produced resistance among the Arabs which, in turn, persuaded the Yishuv’s leaders that a hostile Arab majority or large minority could not remain in place if a Jewish state was to arise or safely endure".Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited (Cambridge: 2004), p. 60
===The State of Israel is Founded, Nakba occurs===
In 1948, upon the expiration of the British mandate, the Jewish Agency declared an independent Jewish state over the objections of Palestinian Arabs.
In 1914 Palestine, Jews had only constituted 7.6% of the population with Arabs constituting the huge remainder. By 1931, the Jewish percentage had more than doubled due to the Zionist immigration project. As of 1941 Jews were 30% of the population.http://israelipalestinian.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000636 Some Zionists claimed divine entitlement to the land based on the Hebrew Bible's being virtually the Almighty's land deed, while others claim a continuous Jewish DNA presence over the centuries – however fractional – constitutes some "place-holding" claim.http://www.jewfaq.org/israel.htm Whatever their motives, the steady influx of Zionist Jews who were advocating the establishment of a Jewish national state – and discriminating against Arab workers via the Histadrut, the Jewish labor federationhttp://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/.premium-1.645483?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.216%2C2.218%2C – 
pissed off the Arab population, which was outraged when the State of Israel was declared in 1948.
==Myths==
Zionism, like any political ideology, is not immune from criticism and empirical analysis. Some of the claims promoted by Zionists constitute pseudohistory. 
Historian Yosef Gorny wrote of Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, who was influential in formulating Zionism's politics, that he acted 
Gorny also writes that Weizmann attempted to persuade "the British leaders that a large Jewish community in Palestine would effectively further British imperialist interests in the Middle East and elsewhere".Finkelstein, Beyond Chutzpah, p. 300 Additionally, sociologist Uri Ben-Eliezer mentions that among the Jewish settlers of Palestine they felt the "worker-ﬁghter was...the archetypal ﬁgure...conquer[ing] the land with a popular, militia-like army which would complete the work of settlement", whereas the kibbutzniks preserved the "ideal and perfect fusion between the plow and the rifle."Uri Ben-Eliezer, The Making of Israeli Militarism, pp. 62,89
==="It was a wasteland!"===
A relatively common talking point is the claim that the land of Israel was relatively unpopulated and undeveloped, exemplified by the phrase referring to it as "https://www.meforum.org/1877/a-land-without-a-people-for-a-people-without In reality, not only was the place populated, the Palestinian Arabs who lived there sought for national independence at a time when nationalism was on the rise. A British royal commission report chaired in 1936 by Lord William Robert Peel was charged with determining the causes of conflict in Mandate Palestine. The report found that 
==Jews and Zionism==
===The effects of WWII, support for Zionism increases===
For the first half-century of its existence, Zionism was overwhelmingly a movement of secular Jews. Herzl himself was not particularly observant and actually considered himself rather assimilated until the anti-Semitic rage that followed the Dreyfus affair (see above) convinced him that even the most assimilated Jews would always be perceived as "other". But secular Jews often had commitments to liberal internationalism or socialism, and regarded Zionism as subversive of those values.
Orthodox religious Jews (especially Haredi and Hasidic) believed that the re-establishment of a Jewish state in Israel was a task to be undertaken by the Messiah alone — Zionists, by attempting to hurry up the divine plan of redemption, were committing a sin. They pointed to various rabbinical passages which prohibited the return of Jews to Israel en masse prior to the coming of the Messiah. 
The case of secular American Jews is illustrative of the change: they were not especially supportive of Zionism before WWII, but they largely became so after the abomination that was Hitler's Germany. The Holocaust seemed to have blinded a great many liberal Jews to what political Zionism entailed. In his review of John Judis' recent book,Genesis: Truman, American Jews, and the Origins of the Arab/Israeli Conflict, Paul L. Scham addresses Judis' puzzlement that liberal American Zionists in 1948 "evinced no recognition that Zionism involved, in practice, dispos­sessing the Palestinian Arabs of their own homeland." Scham, however, observes:
 	
Judis documents in his book that against his better judgment Truman recognized the State of Israel in 1948. Though he privately expressed concern that doing so could help launch WWIII, he said the fact was that he and his fellow Democrats didn't face Arab voters while there were significant blocs of Jewish ones. According to Judis, this was when America's Israel Lobby first made its pressure felt in American politics.http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116215/was-harry-truman-zionist
Religious Jews underwent a similar change of theological opinion after WWII."Undoubtedly the growth and importance of such groups as the World Jewish Congress and the fact that longtime critics of Zionism .... Rabbi Louis Wolsey (who was originally associated with the Euclid Avenue Temple in Cleveland) went over to the Zionists in 1945 may be attributed to historic pressures: after World War II and the Holocaust, the establishment of a Jewish state seemed both necessary and just. (The Palestinians were peripheral to this decision; many Americans believed Palestine was largely unsettled before European Jews went there to live.)" http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/jews-against-israel/
===Secular opposition reemerges===
Though he invokes the Jewish "prophetic tradition," Jesse Alexander Meyerson writes in The Village Voice that younger Jews are rejecting Zionism; his endorsement and defense of the phenomenon is fundamentally nonreligious.Sorry, Forward, You're Wrong About Bernie Addressing his liberal Zionist critic, J.J. Goldberg, Meyerson declares that Goldberg gets him right on some things: 
My insistence on "linking...anti-Zionism with the prophetic tradition of social justice" implies that I think "Zionism is...somehow opposed to the best in Judaism." Bingo! He is also correct to associate me with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which I support. BDS is "gaining adherents at an alarming rate," Goldberg hyperventilates, "turning well-meaning young Jews into enemies of the Jewish state." The alarm this causes Goldberg is complemented by the apprehension he feels about the "worrisome rifts between Israel and American Jews" that are opening up.
He should have seen it coming. These rifts were prophesied as early as 1948 by the sage Hannah Arendt, when she predicted that the "Palestine Jewry would eventually separate itself from the larger body of world Jewry and in its isolation develop into an entirely new people." 
Meyerson argues that many, if not most, young American Jews are pretty well to the left, and they find Zionism incompatible with their worldview. These younger people, claims Meyerson, understand "that Jewish ethnocentric nationalism is no different from other forms of ethnocentric nationalism, and that ethno-nationalist endeavors inevitably favor right-wing politics."
See also:
*International Jewish Anti-Zionism Network
*Jewish Voice for Peace
==Christian Zionism==
Many Christians in the United States and elsewhere, particularly fundamentalists, support the State of Israel for their own religious reasons, calling themselves "Christian Zionists". They believe that the return of the Jews to Israel is vital to fulfilling prophesies of the end times and the Second Coming of Christ.An example. Don't read while sober. Some of them even believe that all but 144,000 (male, celibate) Jews and everyone else in the world who is not a Christian will die in a hellfire, as per their interpretation of the Book of Revelation. 
The underlying belief system generates political support for Israel in the United States, but this conceals an anti-Semitic corehttp://mondoweiss.net/2015/03/confirms-christian-semitic that includes John Hagee's depraved notion that God's "loving plan" for Jews caused God to send the Holocaust to make them found Israel.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/aipac-cheers-an-antisemit_b_43377.html Dispensationalists believe that in a coming Rapture, all the world's Christians, or at least the ones that are fundamentalist enough, will be magically poofed up to Heaven.Either that or Jesus will come back over Jerusalem -not Rome (read: the Vatican), New York (read: the UN building), or any other place of power- just to be blasted out of the sky by Israel's Iron Dome system This, in turn, will be the cue for the world's surviving Jews to abandon Judaism and convert to Christianity, thus -being forced to- accept Jesus as their Messiah and savior. These converted Jews will remain to evangelize the world while Israel endures the hostility of the Antichrist and suffers through the plagues of the Tribulation period. Eventually, the world's armies will muster against Israel at the battle of Armageddon. Jesus will then return to defeat these hordes, kill billions of people, and establish the remaining converted Jews as rulers of an earthly Zion, while the saved Christians enjoy the kingdom of Heaven.Boyer, Paul, Bible Prophecy Belief in American Culture and Its Political ImplicationsLindsey, Hal, The Late Great Planet Earth (Bantam, 1969) 
These Christian Zionists believe that the return of Jews to Israel light the fuse that leads to the end of the world, a notion that suddenly seemed plausible in the born-again world after the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War.https://raptureready.com/who/Hal_Lindsey.html The prophecy also means that attempts to achieve peace between Jews and Palestinian Arabs are foredoomed. Middle Eastern conflict is ordained by God, and peace proposals for the region may in fact be the work of the Antichrist. These beliefs lead these Christians to applaud Israeli belligerence and support settlements in the occupied territories. Non-Christian Arabs are doomed and damned anyways (Christian Arabs are simply ignored). They also believe that alliance with Israel will spare the United States the worst of the Tribulation, even if the United States plays only a minor role in biblical prophecy, while others as mix in characters of the Book of Revelation as to identify the red dragon described there with the Soviet Union/Russia and her Arab(-European) allies, who will attack Israel -in turn defended by the United States-.
In modern times Israel has been willing to take Christian Zionist money to fund Zionist projects in the West Bank.http://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/an-afternoon-in-the-jerusalem-studio-of-god-tv-the-christian-zionist-ethnic-cleansing-network Further, Israel enjoys their tourist dollars; wingnuts such as Mike Huckabee and many others conduct Christian Zionist tours of the Holy Land.http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mike-huckabee-tour-guide-in-the-holy-land/2015/02/22/f0395335-1716-4f7f-9ce6-5e12c781d823_story.html
As for Christians actually from the Middle East, well, it's mixed. Some lukewarmly support Israel because and other Christians . The Maronite community experienced their own series of ethnic cleansings at the hands of Pan-Arabists, including the . At the same time, Robert Kennedy was murdered by upset about Robert's support of Israel and the Six Day War. Maronites committed their own massacres (allegedly with Israeli support) of Palestinians, such as Sabra and Shatila. The Damour massacre was itself a reprisal for the Maronites' .Noam Chomsky, Edward W. Said (1999) Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians South End Press, pp 184–185
==Islamic Zionism==
Some Muslims support Israel's existence,Canadian Imam claims Muslims should learn English, accept Israel as part of Quran and some consider themselves such as Major Ala Wahib, the highest ranking Muslim in the Israel Defence Force."An officer and a Muslim Zionist", Israel Hayom, 2012.
But throughout the rest of the Islamic world, Zionism is a fringe opinion. It was for a short time much more popular during the (though never a majority opinion), when Jews were still considered fellow Arabs of a sort; specifically, highly educated Arabs, with connections in the European world that would enable the Arab world to modernize without being subject to European rule. However, Arab Nationalism aimed at creating a united super-state dominated by Arabs, something that was incompatible with Zionism's goal of an independent Jewish state, so the two views were ultimately at odds. Any significant amount of support for Zionism from the Islamic world was thus short-lived.
Within Israel itself, according to a 2015 poll, 48% of Arabs preferred that Israel returned to its 1967 borders with an independent Palestinian state next door, 19% were not interested in answering the question, 14% chose one state for two peoples between the Jordan River & Mediterranean Sea, 11% chose Israel as it is today, while 8% would like to have a country that is part of a larger Islamic Caliphate.http://knessetjeremy.com/2015/10/16/comprehensive-maarivpanels-poll-jews-blame-arabs-arabs-blame-jews-for-terror-wave-separate-polling-splits/ For comparison, 52% of Israeli Jews support returning to the '67 borders with adjustments[http://972mag.com/what-do-israelis-think-of-1967-borders-with-swaps/14896/ Polls on Israeli opinion of '67 borders and more support some sort of independent Palestinian state but, well, domestic and international politics are in the way.
==Anti-Zionism==
Several anti-nationalists and universalists reject Zionism for being rooted in tribal affiliation;"Hostages to Zionism". Mondoweiss. 14 February 2011."A Zionist Changes His Mind". Tikkun. 1 November 2007. Tony Judt wrote in the NYRB that Zionism's problem is not its colonialist method, but its separatist ethnocratic nature that no longer belongs in "a world of individual rights, open frontiers, and international law.""Israel: The Alternative". The New York Review of Books. 23 October 2003. Despite what some may say, it must once again be stated unequivocally that, as seen with Jewish organizations against Zionism and Orthodox movements against Zionism, that anti-Zionism is not automatically anti-semitic.
===Decolonization and Palestinian nationalism===
Opposition to Zionism often stems from the belief that the Palestinian people should have autonomy and sovereignty. Israel's settlement is seen as oppressive, resulting in subjugation and apartheid. Within Palestinian politics, this stance is held both by extreme wings such as Hamas and by more moderate parties, such as those found in the PLO. This form of anti-Zionism is fundamentally concerned with the emancipation of Palestinians. However, anti-semitic currents can still be found, such as in the now-obsolete (changed in 2017https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-2017-document-full) 1988 Hamas charter.https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp There also are some religious elements to some factions; Muslims hold Palestine sacred for various reasons.https://onepathnetwork.com/why-palestine-is-important-to-muslims-according-to-the-quran-sunnah/ This form of anti-Zionism is deeply influenced by the decades of conflict and settlement in the region. These anti-Zionists typically call for an end to settlements in the West Bank, an end to the occupation/blockade of Gaza, the right to return for Palestinians, and they may support a binational solution.
Such anti-Zionism is found outside of Palestine, as well. Many far-left movements in the USA and UK identify with anti-Zionism. Jewish Voice for Peace is a major American anti-Zionist organization led by Jewish activists. In addition, there is also the International Jewish Anti-Zionism Network. BDS (described further below) is also a major international movement opposed to Zionism.
===White Supremacist anti-Zionism===
Many conspiracy theories, particularly those that revolve around the supposed "New World Order," refer to a Zionist conspiracy to establish and maintain a "Zionist government" in the U.S. Adherents will often claim that "Zionists" control the United States for the purpose of realizing fiendish plots involving world domination. Thus, the U.S. is saddled with the Zionist Occupation Government, or ZOG. When used by these cranks, the term "Zionist" is an obvious stand-in for "Jewish" — the groups using the term are anti-Semitic and/or neo-Nazi.
===Religious anti-Zionism===
A number of fringe Jewish groups believe that Zionism is a form of heresy and is incompatible with true Judaism;https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/ultra-orthodox-anti-zionist/ such are usually found among Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) Jewish sects, many of which teach that Zionism goes against the Three Oaths, found in a midrash in the Talmud, and that Israel thus is an attempt to restore the Land to the Jews that only the Messiah was supposed to do (when HaShem feels good and ready).
Some Jewish religious websites opposed to Zionism include:
*Jews Not Zionists
*True Torah Jews Against Zionism
*Neuteurei Karta Orthodox Jews United Against Zionism (and against gays for that matter)
*Israel Versus Judaism
However, it's not like many of these Jews are peace-loving hippies. Many of them would be happy to clear out Arabs when the Messiah comes and establish a state according to Jewish law. Several anti-Zionist Hasidic theologians have blamed the Holocaust on Zionists and other forms of secular Jewish culture. In more recent times, these extremists have also compared the State of Israel to Nazis, and blamed civilian victims of Palestinian terrorism on "Zionists".
===Comparing Zionism and Nazism===
thumb|Protest sign in Edinburgh, Scotland calling Israel "New Nazis" and "Facist Murderers"
Many opponents of Zionism often compare it to Nazism, given the perceived opportunity to call Zionists hypocrites and the extreme nationalism in Israel's popular, very right-wing government. 
Even Israelis have made this comparison, such as Avraham Shalom, former director of Shin Bet, who said Israel had become "a brutal occupation force similar to the Germans in World War II","The Gatekeepers: In New Film, Ex-Shin Bet Chiefs Denounce Occupation, Compare Israel to Nazi Germany". Democracy Now!. 29 January 2013. and Ofer Cassif, political science lecturer and politician, who called Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked "neo-Nazi scum."Israeli professor: Justice minister is 'neo-Nazi scum' - ynetnews Yeshayahu Liebowitz, an Israeli intellectual, was also extremely critical of Israel, and referred to their actions as "Judeo-Nazism", and said about Israeli military that if "the law... can allow the use of torture as a way of getting confessions out of prisoners, then this testifies to a Nazi mentality."MAVERICK ISRAELI PROFESSOR GIVES UP STATE PRIZE AMID FLAP. Hoffman, David. Washington Post. 25 January 1993.
While Zionism and Nazism are both forms of ethnic nationalism with an expansionist project to "repossess" ancestral lands in the name of ""An Ethical Tradition Betrayed - Holocaust survivor, Hajo Meyer. HuffPost."Netanyahu’s Blood and Soil: The Racist-Nationalism of his “Jewish State” Ideal". Informed Comment. 5 June 2014.Land and Desire in Early Zionism - Brandeis University. PDF versionZionism and the Quest for Justice in the Holy Land from the "savage" indigenous people,Even proponent of "spiritual Zionism" Judah Magnes referred to the native Arabs as "savage." an argument could've been made that Israel did not intend to elimininate the Palestinian population, "merely" expel them so they can die somewhere else. However, the actions of Israel in Gaza during the have been directly labeled as "genocidal" by experts.https://jewishcurrents.org/a-textbook-case-of-genocide The UN has also warned of a "new instance" of mass ethnic cleansing in Palestine as a result of this war.https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/10/un-expert-warns-new-instance-mass-ethnic-cleansing-palestinians-calls
==Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement==
Palestinians nationalists founded the anti-Zionist movement in July of 2005, "when a broad alliance of more than 170 Palestinian political parties, trade unions, refugee networks, NGOs and grassroots associations published an open boycott call to international civil society organizations and people of conscience."http://972mag.com/interview-the-man-behind-the-bds-movement/107771/ BDS's stated goals are three:
Liberal BDS critics have said that while many liberal Zionists might support the first two goals, the third is a deal-breaker: "[it] means putting an end to Israel as a Jewish state. This is a demand that virtually no Israeli Jews, even the most liberal, would accede to"; BDS is, then, anti-Zionist.http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/187221/academic-boycotts Some liberal Zionists, however, such as the organization J Street, strongly urge acceptance of BDS supporters, taking the positions that:
Zionists, however, argue that BDS is antisemiticOn August 17th 2015, , the ultra-Orthodox reggae singer, was banned from a Spanish reggae festival because he did not sign a letter stating his support for the BDS movement. Matisyahu, who is not Israeli and was the only obviously Jewish artist present, was the only person asked to sign any statement. http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.671389 because it "singles out Israel."http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/03/19/simon-wiesenthal-center-report-bds-a-thinly-veiled-anti-israel-and-anti-semitic-poison-pill/
Nevertheless, there are many Jewish BDS supporters such as Jewish Voice for Peace,http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/jewish_voice_for_peace_jvp_ a phenomenon which is causing controversy within the Jewish community.http://forward.com/opinion/319908/stop-excommunicating-jews-who-support-bds/
Indeed, in the 21st century, many Western Jews have become very critical of Israel, and even rejecting of Zionism.
In January 2023, Jewish-German artist and BDS activist Adam Broomberg was alleged to be an antisemite by the antisemitism commissioner of Hamburg, reportedly because of his solidarity with Palestine. Broomberg, who denies the allegations, reported that his life was put "in danger" by these allegations. Apparently the remarks by Broomberg that led him to be accused of being an antisemite was to (accurately)"Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel system of domination and crime against humanity" - Amnesty International accuse Israel of being an apartheid state. Broomberg notably grew up in South Africa.
===Israel's reaction to BDS===
In late March of 2016, Israel's best-selling newspaper held an international conference in Jerusalem for brainstorming about how to combat BDS.In Israel, BDS is winning That BDS is impacting Israel economically and destroying its reputation is evidenced by the extreme proposals expressed there:
Speaker after speaker stepped up to the podium and said, in the same breath, that although BDS is succeeding, it is not a success; that it is not a threat but must be taken as a serious threat; that it has not negatively impacted Israel’s economy but that Israel must allocate more of its budget to fighting it. Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said (Heb) that Israel should engage in “targeted civil eliminations” of BDS leaders with the help of Israeli intelligence, intentionally using language that plays on the Hebrew term for “targeted assassinations.” 
Around that same time, Bar Heffetz, an Israeli farmer and peace activist wrote on Facebook:
Contrary to what you get told, the boycott and BDS are working, and how. At you can feel it everywhere, at least in my field of agricultural exports to Europe. And that’s apart from the fact that you must sign a document that your produce does not come from the settlements, with aerial photographs attached. Even plain Israeli products [from inside the Green Line] encounter a lot of problems because the buyers cannot think of a reason why they need all that hassle.... The conclusion? The road to South Africa has never been shorter.http://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/road-to-south-africa-has-never-been-shorter-as-u-of-chicago-launches-divestment-campaign/
In the United States, even some Zionists are coming out in favor of BDS.We are lifelong Zionists. Here’s why we’ve chosen to boycott Israel.http://mondoweiss.net/2016/04/liberal-zionists-are-losing-control-of-us-discourse-and-they-know-it/ The controversy within the Jewish community can, then, be expected to continue as more Jews sign on to BDS while Israel is gearing up to combat it, and allocating significant funds to do so.
==Weaponizing antisemitism==
Zionists will often weaponize allegations of antisemitism as a silencing tactic against legitimate criticisms of Israel. Some Zionists actually warn against engaging with discussions of the Israel-Palestinian conflict as a whole, as "it is difficult to win there":
This is called hasbara by Israel, and is part of a longstanding strategy to control the narrative around Israel-Palestine in the popular discourse. The antisemite label has even been applied to Jews who are critical of Israeli policy or are Anti-Zionist.
==See also==
*Apartheid
*Benjamin Netanyahu
*Greater Israel
*Holocaust profit controversy
*Palestine
==External links==
*Der Judenstaat, by Theodor Herzl. Free for download.
==Notes==
==References==
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Category:Antisemitism
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