When anthropologist Adam Louis-Klein launched the Movement Against Antizionism (MAAZ) this week with the tagline “Antizionism is a hate movement,” he did more than announce a new organisation — he issued a wake-up call to Jewish communities and policymakers worldwide.
For decades, antisemitism has been dissected, defined, and legislated against. Yet its most virulent contemporary mutation — antizionism — has been allowed to flourish behind the mask of political critique. MAAZ seeks to change that. It calls for a paradigm shift: to recognise that antizionism is not simply “antisemitism in disguise,” but a distinct and dangerous ideology that denies Jews the right to sovereignty, security, and belonging in their ancestral homeland.
A New Language for an Old Hatred
As Louis-Klein explained in his Jerusalem Post interview, classical antisemitism once opposed Jews joining nation-states; antizionism opposes Jews having one. It inverts Jewish history, turning the story of return into a tale of conquest, and casts Israel — the world’s only Jewish state — as uniquely illegitimate.
MAAZ identifies several recurring “libels” that sustain this narrative:
- The Colonizer Libel, portraying Jews as invaders rather than an indigenous people returning home.
- The Apartheid Libel, equating Israel’s defensive policies with racial segregation.
- The Genocide and Child-Killer Libels, designed to demonise Israel while sanitising the violence of its enemies.
These are not intellectual debates; they are propaganda weapons that fuel harassment, exclusion, and violence against Jews globally. MAAZ’s position is blunt: “Wherever antizionism takes hold, it manifests in the persecution of flesh-and-blood people.”
Why MAAZ Is Different
Many Jewish organisations have warned of antisemitism’s resurgence, but MAAZ takes a fresh and necessary approach. It seeks to name antizionism as its own hate movement, rooted in post-Soviet propaganda and amplified by modern Western activist culture. This framing matters.
Louis-Klein argues that simply equating antizionism with antisemitism lets the problem hide in plain sight. “Antizionists like to be accused of antisemitism,” he said, “because it feeds their script.” The solution, he insists, is to stigmatize antizionism itself — not as a policy dispute or moral critique, but as an ideology of hate that strips Jews of collective rights.
MAAZ’s plan is ambitious. It will advise community networks, train institutions to identify antizionist hate, and work across political lines. Its first conference, set for Pittsburgh in 2026, aims to convene scholars, activists, and educators committed to exposing antizionism’s genealogy and confronting its influence in education, media, and politics.
Why This Matters for New Zealand
New Zealand has not been immune to this trend. “Anti-Zionist” campaigns have increasingly blurred into antisemitic activism — whether through university resolutions, protest rhetoric, or “boycott Israel” movements that target Jewish identity under the guise of human rights.
By recognising antizionism as an independent form of hatred, MAAZ gives communities like ours new vocabulary and tools to respond. It reframes the conversation: one can debate Israeli policies, but denying Jewish nationhood or the legitimacy of Israel’s existence crosses into hate.
The Civil Rights Movement for Jews
Louis-Klein calls MAAZ a “civil rights movement for Jews” — something, he notes, that has never existed before. That vision is not rhetorical flourish. It reflects a global need to protect Jews not only from physical attack but from the ideological erasure that antizionism represents.
Antizionism seeks to make Jewish identity conditional, to exile Jews once again — this time from the realm of moral legitimacy. Exposing it as a hate movement is not only about defending Israel; it’s about defending truth, history, and the right of the Jewish people to self-determination.
MAAZ’s launch is therefore more than welcome — it’s long overdue. It represents a moral clarity that has been missing from the public square. As Louis-Klein put it, “Zionism ended in 1948. Antizionism is what began after.” Recognising it for what it is — organised hate — is the first step toward confronting it.
