hi friends and community,
i know i don't make posts aside from coining posts, but this is important to me. i recently saw a post in the mogai tag from a creator claiming that antizionism is antisemitic. as an antizionist jew, you can assume why this would feel upsetting to me. i want to preface this by saying i don't want anyone to send hate to this person if they see the post i am referring to. i want to talk about this to make sure that people do know that antizionist jews exist and to understand our perspective.
while there is value in bringing up antisemitism in any community, this does not mean that antizionism is what is alienating jews. the main issue that has been bringing lots of antisemitism to the rise recently is with people assuming that zionism and jews are the same thing. which, ironically, by stating that antizionism pushes jews out of the community, you are equating zionism and jews.
the majority of zionists currently are christian antisemites. zionism is not inherently linked to jewish culture, and it in fact is propelled by antisemitism. early zionism, despite having the goal of safety for jewish people, is only brought forth with the idea that jews in the diaspora are inherently more unsafe than jews who move to israel. it is an ideology built out of fear, and does not combat antisemitism in a way that makes sense or actually helps keeping jews safe. it is entirely possible to be against the concept of zionism and a jewish state while also not being antisemitic (which should be clearly proven by my existence and the existence of many other nonzionist jews), and it is also possible to be a zionist and antisemitic. i recommend reading this article (link for accessibility at the bottom of this post) by jewitches about christian zionism to learn more about the subject of antisemitic zionism.
this post also mentioned that zionism was started to combat antisemitism and that zionism is equated to the land back movement. this is fundamentally incorrect considering that despite the jewish history with the area, palestinians are considered indigenous to the area (and even if they weren't, it does not justify the genocide currently happening). i recommend this article (additional link at the end for accessibility) to learn about the subject.
i personally believe that zionism, and any form of colonialism or nationalism, is inherently dangerous. i also believe that we need to do better with making sure our antizionism does not allow antisemitism. these two things can coexist. while fighting antisemitism is very important to me, i do believe that centering a zionist perspective in this debate is very inappropriate considering the current genocide. please listen to palestinians. listen to antizionist jews. please be mindful of how you interact with this topic. do not be insensitive to palestinians or to jews. do not derail from the genocide by encouraging antisemitism. it really is that simple.
linked references:
christian zionism:
https://jewitches.com/blogs/blog/christian-zionism-101
the myth of palestinians not being indigenous:
https://decolonizepalestine.com/myth/palestinians-are-arabs-that-arrived-in-the-7th-century/
website articles:
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/zionism-antisemitism-congress/
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2012/12/24/zionism-anti-semitism-and-colonialism
books:
jews against zionism by thomas a. kolsky
parting ways by judith butler