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1. It is quite possible to condemn Israel’s barbaric (and possibly even genocidal) actions in Gaza, whilst not endorsing *absolute* anti-Zionism. The following except may be of interest:

   Mary Davis: ‘The Contested Relationship Between Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism’ (excerpt from article in Communist Review 108, Summer 2023

   Anti-Zionism ‘per se’ is not anti-Semitic. Many Jews are not Zionists or are anti-Zionist, including some sects within the Charedin (ultra-orthodox Jews) and some socialist Jews – inheritors of the Bundist tradition. But there is currently a strain of anti-Zionism which has moved into mainstream discourse and which has normalised hostility to Israel as a Zionist entity founded by Jews. It is this strain of leftist anti-Zionism which, whilst not necessarily motivated by anti-Semitism (although it sometimes is), can and often does lead to anti-Semitism. Challenging the existence of Israel and maintaining an undifferentiated view of Zionism which identifies it solely with the policies of the Israeli government can and often does mutate into anti-Semitism for the following reasons.

   Firstly, because it singles out Israel for special treatment. It is true that Zionism, like all forms of nationalism, bears responsibility for the oppressive and chauvinistic treatment meted out to the indigenous peoples whom it excludes from its national/ethnic definition. However, the white settlement of what is now the US was accomplished by the displacement of Native Americans and the enslavement of Black Americans, followed by the subsequent racist atrocities committed against them. A similar pattern can be discerned in the settlement of the white Commonwealth, where Maoris and Aborigines, the indigenous populations of New Zealand and Australia, were displaced by force. But no-one today argues that, despite the crimes committed against their native populations, the countries now called the US, Australia and New Zealand should cease to exist – the argument is only applied to Israel.

   Secondly, questioning the existence of the State of Israel ignores the motivation for its foundation as a refuge for Jews fleeing pogroms, antisemitism and attempted extermination by the Nazis. Fidel Castro understood this when he asserted Israel’s unequivocal right to exist due to “the unique history of antisemitism … the consequences of 2,000 years of theological antisemitism”, which has resulted in the obvious fact that Jews “had ample reason to fear for their existence”. Castro added: “Jews were expelled from their land, persecuted and mistreated all over the world as the ones who killed God … I don’t think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews.”

   Inevitably, denying the right of the State of Israel to exist must mean that the objective of two-state solution is deemed redundant since only one state remains and that is not the Jewish state. The preamble of the 1988 Covenant of Hamas calls for the destruction of Israel, replacing it with the creation of a Muslim state “over every inch of Palestine” (article 6). Article 13 rejects outright any possibility of a negotiated peace, asserting that no solution to the Zionist problem is possible except by Jihad.

   Thirdly, the failure to distinguish the historical evolution of Zionist ideology from the unacceptable aspects of its lived form has resulted in the blanket identification of Zionism with racism, apartheid, colonialism and worse. Thus, Jews are clearly associated with rapacious capitalism and its attendant evils. Israel is a Jewish state, so unless Jews renounce any allegiance to it they are guilty by association. This has become the predominant discourse of left anti-Zionism. It is predicated on a non-Marxist analysis of capitalism which associates its crimes with individual perpetrators, many of whom are named Jews. These ‘rich Jews’ together with American and British imperialism support and bankroll the Zionist settler colonialist state of Israel. The mechanism for this is the ‘Jewish/Zionist lobby’ – a shadowy frequently invoked anti-Semitic trope. Thus, for some on the left, the term Zionist is a term of abuse.

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   • There are, of course, some similarities between the development of capitalist United States and capitalist Israel. As Jim Denham points out, there was the slaughter and dispossession of the American Indians, which in many ways is comparable to what was done to the Palestinians. As for today, if the United States government were controlled by the Christian nationalists, who explicitly claim that the US is a Christian nation, then the comparison would be complete. But that is exactly the point. Christian nationalism is an outlier ideology in the U.S. whereas Jewish nationalism is central to Israel from its very roots. In fact, Zionism IS Jewish nationalism. It is the Jewish version of Hindutva. And there’s something further. Joe Biden once said that “If there were no Israel, we’d have to invent one. independent Israel, secure in its own borders is in the practical strategic interest of the United States of America.” In fact, “we” did invent it in the sense that imperialism – British imperialism – did “invent” the forerunner to Israel – the “Jewish homeland”, and the first advocate of an independent state for Jewish Palestine – Jabotinsky – was absolutely clear that that state would have to depend on imperialism.

     That Zionism IS racism will come out clearly in this series on its history.

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