ANTI-ZIONISM AND ANTISEMITISM: IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?
Yale Zussman, PhD, (MIT, Political Science)
The question of whether anti-Zionism is inherently antisemitic has received much attention since the beginning of the current Gaza war, mainly from forces that seek to deny that their attitude toward Israel is basically racist. The answer is more complicated than is generally acknowledged, reflecting the roles of “anti-Zionism” and “antisemitism” in the wider confrontation between cultures.
“Zionism” is both the belief that Jews have a right to govern themselves and the movement established to bring that about. “Anti-Zionism” is the belief that Israel has no right to exist and should be destroyed, and thus that Jews should be denied a right accepted for all other peoples. Definitions of antisemitism include having different standards for Jews and others, so, since there is no “ism” rejecting national claims for any other people, the belief that Jews alone should be denied the right to govern themselves is necessarily antisemitic. The double-standard is blatant and undeniable. That “anti-Zionist” activists offer this concept as justification for attacks on individual Jews indicates that even those who publicly deny the link accept it. That this question is taken seriously is another example of the success Leftist sophistry has had in presenting their case for perpetual “revolution,” a.k.a. “globalizing the intifadah.”
