EXTREMISMAnti-Zionism as Antisemitism: How Anti-Zionist Language from the Left and Right Vilifies Jews

Published 11 April 2023

Seven decades after Israel’s founding, some criticism of the country continues to promote age-old antisemitic tropes. Even before Israel was founded, conversations about the Zionist movement and the creation of the State of Israel at times included explicit anti-Jewish animus or espoused ideas historically wielded against Jewish communities. Today, many anti-Zionist activists continue to perpetuate this language.

It is an unfortunate fact that seven decades after Israel’s founding, some criticism of the country continues to promote age-old antisemitic tropes. Even before Israel was founded, conversations about the Zionist movement and the creation of the State of Israel at times included explicit anti-Jewish animus or espoused ideas historically wielded against Jewish communities (e.g., the claim that a “cabal” is manipulating political affairs). Today, many anti-Zionist activists continue to perpetuate this language.

While anti-Zionism is indeed antisemitism, anti-Zionism is much more socially acceptable than classic antisemitism. The result is that many anti-Zionist activists can embed historic antisemitic tropes in their criticism of Israel without significant pushback. This report attempts to explicate how this troubling issue manifests in the United States and provides numerous examples of anti-Zionists who espouse classic antisemitic themes in their rhetoric.

This dynamic persists in a variety of ways. In some cases, longtime and vociferous Jew-haters like David Duke and Louis Farrakhan may use the language of anti-Zionism for tactical purposes while expressing their antisemitic beliefs. For example, they may swap out the word “Jew” and replace it with “Zionist” in order to avoid censorship by social media companies whose terms prohibit antisemitism, or to appeal to those who might be disgusted by overt attacks on Jews but have fewer compunctions about anti-Zionism. 

In other cases, some anti-Israel activists and ideologues who would normally recoil from overt antisemitism may incorporate classic antisemitic themes into their attacks on Israel and its supporters.

The propagation of antisemitic themes by individuals and organizations across the political spectrum has likely worsened in recent years, as ideas once on the fringe have entered the mainstream; antisemites have become emboldened; and large swaths of the population have become less inclined to seriously examine perspectives different from their own.

To be sure, one can harshly criticize Israel’s leaders and actions without being antisemitic. But accusing “Zionists,” or anyone who supports the existence of the State of Israel, of behavior commonly associated with age-old tropes about Jews (such as greed, bloodthirstiness and power) is antisemitic. Additionally, this rhetoric villainizes the vast majority of Jews around the world who identify with Zionism or feel a connection or kinship with Israel (regardless of their individual views on Israeli policies).