Anti-Zionism Is Antisemitism: The Old Hatred in a New Mask

The State of Israel is a sovereign nation with internationally recognized borders, a functioning democracy, and a vibrant civil society. Like any democratic state, it should be open to critique. But increasingly, Israel is not judged by the standards of other nations. It is vilified, demonized, and uniquely targeted — not for its policies, but for its very existence.

This is not simply criticism. This is a modern mutation of the world’s oldest hatred: antisemitism. And today, that hatred wears the mask of anti-Zionism.

When Anti-Zionism Isn’t Just Politics

Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people, like all other peoples, have a right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland. It is not a party, an ideology of conquest, or a colonial project. It is a national liberation movement that emerged after centuries of persecution — pogroms, inquisitions, expulsions, ghettos, and genocide. It is the expression of Jewish peoplehood in political form.

Opposing particular Israeli policies is not antisemitic — just as criticizing any government isn’t inherently racist. But denying the Jewish people the right to a homeland, labelling their very identity as inherently oppressive, and calling for the dismantling of the world’s only Jewish state — these are not expressions of justice. These are expressions of prejudice.

When anti-Zionism denies Jews a right granted to every other people on earth, it stops being a political stance and becomes discrimination.

The Parallels: A Modern Mirror of an Ancient Hatred

Today’s anti-Zionist rhetoric is not new. It is a repackaging of traditional antisemitic conspiracies and accusations, with updated terminology. The structures are nearly identical. 

The tropes have simply evolved.

This table is not metaphorical. These patterns are happening now, in real-time, with real-world consequences for Jewish communities globally.

The Obsession with Israel

The global community today routinely condemns Israel with a fervour and frequency unmatched by any other country. The United Nations passes more resolutions against Israel than against North Korea, Syria, or Iran — combined. International movements like BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) are fixated exclusively on Israel, ignoring far worse abuses in authoritarian regimes across the world.

In academic and cultural spheres, Israeli voices are silenced, Jewish students harassed, and Jewish identity policed. In the name of anti-Zionism, Jews are asked to disavow the idea of Israel’s existence to be welcome in progressive spaces. This is not activism. It is exclusion.

The hypocrisy is glaring. Every people group is allowed a homeland. Every religion is allowed sacred space. Every refugee crisis is granted empathy. Except the Jews.

Erasing Jewish Indigeneity

The accusation that Jews are “settlers” or “colonizers” in Israel is not just historically inaccurate — it’s a form of identity erasure.

Jews have maintained an unbroken presence in the land of Israel for over 3,000 years. 

Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias, and Safed are not recent occupations — they are ancestral homes. Jewish history is carved into the stones of the land and etched into the world’s oldest books.

To call Jews foreigners in Israel is to strip them of their roots, to cast them again as outsiders — as they were for centuries in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. This narrative doesn’t decolonize. It recolonises Jewish history.

The October 7 Turning Point

On October 7, 2023, Hamas carried out the most brutal massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. More than 1,200 Israelis — mostly civilians — were slaughtered. Infants beheaded. Women raped. Families burned alive.

And how did the world respond?

Instead of uniting against barbarism, anti-Zionist rallies erupted celebrating it. Instead of mourning victims, Israel was blamed. Instead of empathy, there was justification. The pogrom was reframed as resistance.

This grotesque inversion is not an accident. It is a continuation of an ancient pattern: Jews are murdered, and then blamed for their own deaths. That is the clearest definition of antisemitism imaginable.

The Consequences Today

Anti-Zionism has become a justification for targeting Jews, not just in Israel, but everywhere:

• Jewish students are assaulted on college campuses.
• Jewish-owned businesses are boycotted, regardless of politics.
• Synagogues are vandalized.
• Jews are asked to prove they’re “good Jews” by denouncing Zionism.
• Protests call for a second Holocaust—with chants of “From the river to the sea,” and “Intifada now.”

Let’s be clear: Jews are not responsible for the actions of the Israeli government. But anti-Zionism holds them accountable anyway — not because of their politics, but because of their identity.

This isn’t solidarity. It’s scapegoating.

This Is the Time to Speak Clearly

For too long, antisemitism has been allowed to hide behind the veil of “anti-Zionist” language. But its true face is becoming impossible to ignore. It is the same hatred, targeting the same people, using updated slogans and different symbols.

You don’t need to support every Israeli policy to oppose antisemitism. You don’t need to agree with every government decision to affirm that Jews have the right to a state, safety, and self-determination.

To oppose anti-Zionism is not to silence debate—it is to ensure that Jews are not the one people on Earth for whom statehood is deemed unacceptable.

The Hatred Has a New Name, But It’s the Same Disease

It’s time to name it without apology: Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.

It uses different words, but the meaning is unchanged. It wears a new mask, but the hate is familiar. It cloaks itself in justice, but it brings only violence and exclusion.

The world vowed “Never Again.” That vow is hollow unless we recognize this new face of an old hatred — and stand against it now.