Michelle Goldberg in the New York Times recently cited the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance that in 2016 defined the rejection or demonization of the Jewish state as a form of anti-Jewish bigotry. Others have said that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. It’s a misleading and false assertion. Antisemitism is the historical hatred, hostility, persecution and genocide of Jewish people because of their cultural and religious beliefs. It was and is egregious bigotry beyond the unthinkable.
Anti-Zionism is a response to the state of Israel’s treatment of indigenous Palestinians and its policy of displacing the Palestinian population to allow the resettlement of Europe’s Holocaust survivors and any others wishing to escape persecution. The intention was to establish a state exclusive to a Jewish population. The violence and hostilities from this policy forced many Palestinians to abandon their homes. Others who objected to the policy were forced from their homes to be re-occupied by Jewish citizens.
After that no one but an Israeli citizen could own a home or property. While the property restriction was eventually removed, the remaining Palestinians who had been displaced were relegated to impoverished and overcrowded refugee camps that exist today. Most were never allowed to return.
That is what the debate about anti-Zionism should be about, not antisemitism.
Jack Allen, Roy
