A sentiment often heard in debates about Israel and the Middle East conflict is “I’m not antisemitic, I’m just anti-Zionist.” But what I hear when people say this is “I’m not antisemitic, I’m just antisemitic.” Yes, you read that correctly. I’m firmly convinced that anti-Zionism isn’t the “new” antisemitism because anti-Zionism is just plain antisemitism. It’s nothing innovative or particularly novel; it’s just the same old anti-Jewish hatred in a new guise.
First of all, yes, it is true that in the history of Zionism there was a discourse within the Jewish community that included voices of opposition to the project of establishing a national home for the Jewish people. Anti-Zionist Jewish voices exist today, too. But at least since the Shoah – which was not the decisive factor in the founding of Israel but nonetheless starkly demonstrated the need for a protected space for Jewish people – these voices have been marginalized.
What they often have in common today is a broader affinity for extreme positions. Many of them either occupy the leftmost extreme of the political spectrum or are religious fundamentalists. In any event, such positions are found very rarely, if at all, in the Jewish mainstream anywhere on Earth. Not all Jews are explicit Zionists, but very few are hostile to the notion of a Jewish and democratic Israel.
So when present-day antisemites, masquerading as “anti-Zionists,” invoke Jewish support for such a position in order to evade accusations of anti-Jewish hatred, this is unfair and disingenuous.
Why is anti-Zionism just a regular hatred of Jews?
WHAT, THEN, are the grounds for my conviction that anti-Zionism is just ordinary anti-Jewish hatred in a veiled form?
Over the course of history, hatred of Jews has shown itself to be remarkably adaptable. Antisemitism adeptly shapes itself to fit the context of a given country or society. But the tactics of antisemitic narratives always remain the same: different treatment, demonization, and delegitimization.
When Christianity was the major influence on society – and often on politics as well – in Europe, antisemitism correspondingly expressed itself in religious terms. Jews were demonized as Christ-killers who murdered Christian children and, accordingly, were treated differently: They were not permitted to practice certain professions, were confined to living in ghettos, and generally had fewer rights than other members of society. Ultimately, their very humanity was denied, and numerous pogroms deprived them of the right to live.
With the advent of the Enlightenment, science and politics became more influential in society as spheres accessible to all. Anti-Jewish hostility adapted to this shift: Jews were then demonized in pseudo-scientific terms as “parasites” and, at the same time, in political conspiracy theories as secret rulers of the world; they were treated differently from others, for example, in being denied equality before the law, in suffering extensive societal discrimination, and ultimately in being forced to wear a yellow Star of David which made their Jewish identity visible to all. Here, hatred of Jews culminated in the deepest, most fundamental form of delegitimization: industrial mass murder with the intention of ending the existence of all Jewish life.
Both forms of antisemitism continue to exist. The primacy of human rights and the democratic norms which have become ever more important – at least in Europe and North America since the end of the Second World War – have, however, caused these open forms of hatred to retreat from the political and societal mainstream.
But this doesn’t mean that antisemitic narratives are less prevalent. They have simply found a new form of expression as they did many times before. They now refer primarily not to “the Jews” as such but to the State of Israel as a Jewish collective. This is reflected in a name that very deliberately purports to have nothing to do with antisemitism, claiming rather that it is solely directed against Zionism – that is, the striving of the Jewish people for a national home.
Demonized without any factual basis as a child-murdering, genocidal apartheid state, Israel is treated differently than every other country in the world. In international organizations, for example, it is subjected to especially harsh scrutiny and is singled out for criticism; its governmental action is held to higher moral standards than any other country in the world.
The slogan “From the river to the sea” is ultimately one of many forms of delegitimizing Israel’s right to exist; it is a call to annihilate the Jewish state and its population. This delegitimization also takes place in indirect ways; for example, by denying Israel the right to self-defense that every country has. A country that is not permitted to defend itself and its people will perish sooner or later. Considering Israel’s geographical location and its neighbors, it seems likely this would happen sooner rather than later if Israel were to stop defending itself.
ALTHOUGH THEIR justifications shift over time, the patterns of antisemitism have remained the same for centuries, if not millennia: It’s the same set of ideas, the same narratives. And today, they are applied to Israel – not exclusively, but frequently.
Since October 7, we have been seeing in real time how purported anti-Zionism actually expresses itself as antisemitism. Unlike so-called anti-Zionists, the Hamas terrorists make no bones about their clear antisemitism. In their public statements, they generally refer to “the Jews,” not to Israelis or Israel; and as soon as they had the opportunity, they followed their genocidal words with horrific deeds.
And even outside of Israel, theoretical musings on the fact that anti-Zionism is actually just ordinary antisemitism play a rather minor role in real life. Because for Jews in Germany, France, the UK, the US, and elsewhere, it doesn’t make any difference to their practical reality whether it’s called anti-Zionism or antisemitism.
What they have had to endure since October 7 is a hatred justified primarily by their purported opposition to Israel. A hatred that has been expressed in arson attacks on synagogues, in calls for violence, in hate speech, physical assaults, and even in planned terrorist attacks against Jewish people and institutions.
According to RIAS, an NGO that monitors antisemitic incidents in Germany, antisemitic incidents increased by 314% between October 7 and November 9. Almost all of these incidents were connected to the Middle East conflict. Or, to put it in another way, almost every one of these acts was committed in the name of anti-Zionism.
So I stand by my conviction that antisemitism is antisemitism is antisemitism, regardless of how it’s dressed up. I’m glad that I am not alone in my understanding of this issue. In 2017, Germany’s Federal Government endorsed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s working definition of antisemitism. This definition clearly and unmistakably names Israel-related incidents antisemitism. It offers a foundation for us to protect Jewish life from every form of antisemitism – including anti-Zionism.■
The writer is Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Antisemitism.