Is “Anti-Zionism” the New Name for Antisemitism?
In the twenty-first century, something deeply unsettling is unfolding in public discourse. A word once associated with Jewish self-determination and survival “Zionism” has been transformed into a political weapon. More troublingly, hostility toward Zionism is now being used to disguise something far older and far more dangerous: antisemitism.
Let us be clear about what Zionism actually means. Zionism is not a political party, a military strategy, or a religious dogma. It is the belief that Jewish people have the same right to self-determination as every other people on earth. It is the belief that Jews, who endured centuries of exile, pogroms, and genocide, should have a homeland where they can live in safety and dignity.
To oppose that right, and that right alone, is not a neutral political position. It is discrimination.
No one questions the right of Pakistanis to Pakistan, Turks to Turkey, or Palestinians to seek self-determination. Yet when Jews assert that same right, it is singled out as illegitimate, racist, or colonial. That double standard is not coincidence. It is the defining feature of modern antisemitism.
History makes this unmistakably clear. For centuries, Jews were persecuted in Christian Europe. In the modern era, they were exterminated in Nazi death camps. After the Holocaust, the Jewish people created a single small state in their ancestral homeland. Instead of being accepted as a normal nation, Israel became the one country on earth whose very existence is endlessly debated.
This is not about criticism of Israeli policies. Every government should be criticized when it acts unjustly. Criticizing Israel’s leadership, military actions, or laws is not antisemitic. But denying Israel’s right to exist, holding it to standards no other country is held to, or portraying Jews as uniquely evil or illegitimate crosses a line.
That line is antisemitism.
Today, many people claim they are “anti-Zionist, not antisemitic.” Yet the outcome is the same. Jewish synagogues are attacked. Jewish students are harassed on campuses. Jewish families are told to “go back to where they came from.” Jewish identity is treated as suspect and dangerous. All of this is fueled by the idea that Jews are uniquely undeserving of a homeland.
Words matter. When antisemitism became socially unacceptable after World War II, it did not disappear. It simply changed its language. Where once Jews were accused of being racially inferior or conspiratorial, today they are accused of being colonial, apartheid, or illegitimate as a people. The labels have changed. The hatred has not.
We must also recognize a painful truth: anti-Zionism often erases Jewish history. Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel. Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, and Tiberias are not foreign to Jews they are the cradle of Jewish civilization. To deny this history is to deny the Jewish people themselves.
At the same time, acknowledging Jewish self-determination does not negate Palestinian rights. Two truths can coexist. Palestinians deserve dignity, freedom, and self-determination. But that does not require the destruction of Israel. Peace is built through mutual recognition, not through the erasure of one people.
When someone calls for a world without Israel, they are calling for a world without Jewish sovereignty. In practice, that means a world where Jews are once again at the mercy of others. History shows us exactly how that ends.
If we care about human rights, if we care about justice, if we care about truth, then we must name things honestly. Anti-Zionism, when it denies Jewish self-determination, is not a progressive cause. It is the modern face of an ancient hatred.
Antisemitism did not vanish. It learned to speak a new language.
And it is our moral responsibility to call it what it is.