Anti-Zionism, Anti-Semitism, and Zionphobia

Yitzchak

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday March 08, 2007 · 9:10 PM PST

2007/03/08 · 21:10

Claims made by people calling themselves "Anti-Zionists" often parallel traditional Anti-Semitic claims such as control of the media. For this reason, many people object to the term anti-Zionism as a rationalization of Anti-Semitism or a euphemism for it. Zionism, in its historically conscious sense, means the political movement that sought to establish a modern nation-state in Israel. This has now been achieved and the original immediate aim of Zionism has now become a moot point. Partially because of this, the word "Zionism" is often used now, especially by Anti-Zionists, to designate any support at all for the state of Israel. Since there is a spectrum of possible meanings for the word "Zionism," there is also a spectrum of possible Anti-Zionisms. Thus, I think it makes sense to separate the word "Anti-Zionism" from the word "Anti-Semitism."

RSS