Anti-Zionism & Antisemitism

Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism – Why and How They Intersect

The relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism is a topic of heated debate and discourse in Canada and around the world. While not all criticism of Zionism – the political movement advocating for the establishment and support of a Jewish state in Jewish ancestral land – can be classified as antisemitic, there is growing recognition that anti-Zionism, in many cases, serves as a thin veil for more pernicious forms of antisemitism. Indeed, anti-Zionism frequently crosses into antisemitism, especially in the Canadian context, by demonizing the Jewish people and state, holding Israel to a double standard, and denying Jewish rights to self-determination.

The Definitional Context

To begin, it’s essential to differentiate between legitimate criticism of the policies of the Israeli government and anti-Zionism as a broader ideological stance. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism offers useful guidance, noting that criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country is not antisemitic. The problem arises when those seeking to demonize Jews as a whole try to couch their antisemitism as legitimate political criticism. Often, so-called critiques of the Israeli government are, in reality, just displeasure at the existence of a Jewish state at all.

Anti-Zionism, by its nature, opposes the existence of the State of Israel. While this position might initially appear as a political stance, in practice, it often involves treating Israel as a unique evil in global affairs. In the Canadian context, this form of anti-Zionism has led to cases of antisemitic acts, which have disproportionately targeted Jewish individuals and organizations.

The Historical Context of Zionism and Antisemitism

Zionism as a movement emerged in the late 19th century as a response to global antisemitism, with the aim of creating a safe haven for Jews. It was a reaction to centuries of persecution, pogroms, and expulsions, culminating in the Holocaust, which demonstrated the vulnerability of the Jewish people in a world without a national homeland. Therefore, Zionism became intertwined with Jewish survival and self-determination. The establishment of Israel in 1948 was not only a realization of a 2,000-year-old Jewish longing for return to their ancestral homeland but also an essential refuge for Jews fleeing persecution, particularly after the Holocaust.

Anti-Zionism is more than opposition to Israeli policies. It rejects the idea that Jews, unlike other peoples, should have a national home. This opposition is often not extended to other ethnic or national groups, thus leading to the charge that it is a discriminatory double standard targeting Jews. The same logic that drives national self-determination for Palestinians, Kurds, or Tibetans is denied to the Jewish people when it is framed as anti-Zionism.

Examples of Anti-Zionism Crossing into Antisemitism in Canada

In Canada, anti-Zionism has, at times, overtly crossed the line into antisemitism. One glaring example occurs whenever there is a flare-up in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations erupt in major Canadian cities, including Toronto and Montreal. While many of these protests host legitimate expressions of solidarity with Palestinians, some participants – particularly in the months since the October 7, 2023 attacks – engage in violent antisemitic rhetoric and actions. In Toronto, individuals carrying Palestinian flags have been seen chanting, “Death to Jews” and engaging in Nazi salutes, while assaults have been reported on visibly Jewish individuals, particularly during pro-Israel counter-demonstrations. This blend of anti-Zionist protest with explicit antisemitism highlights the blurred lines between the two ideologies.

The Toronto landscape is illustrative of a broader trend where anti-Zionist positions are used to justify antisemitic attacks. For example, in Montreal, a synagogue was vandalized with graffiti and a Jewish day school was hit with gun fire during a wave of anti-Israel protests, while Jewish community centers and businesses have been targeted under the guise of protesting Israeli policies. These actions are clearly antisemitic, as they target Jewish individuals and institutions with no direct connection to the Israeli state, reflecting a desire to punish Jews for the actions of the Israeli government—a classic antisemitic trope of collective Jewish responsibility.

Academic and Social Discourse in Canada

Anti-Zionism is also evident in some segments of Canadian academia, where opposition to Israel often blends into more overt antisemitism. Several Canadian universities have witnessed incidents where anti-Israel discourse crosses the line. In 2017, at McGill University, a Jewish student was voted off a student government body for having participated in a Hillel-sponsored trip to Israel. This decision was later condemned as antisemitic, as it punished a student for her Jewish identity and association with a Jewish organization.

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which has gained traction at several Canadian universities, is another example of how anti-Zionism manifests in ways that can be considered antisemitic. The BDS movement advocates for the economic, cultural, and academic isolation of Israel. In practice, however, it has led to the marginalization of Jewish students and scholars who support Israel or merely wish to engage with their heritage. The movement has created environments where Jewish students are often forced to choose between their support for Israel or their inclusion in broader campus activism. The fact that BDS singles out Israel, while remaining silent on human rights abuses in other parts of the world, further illustrates the double standards often applied to the Jewish state—a key indicator of antisemitism under the IHRA definition.

Intersectionality and the Framing of Jews as Oppressors

One troubling aspect of contemporary anti-Zionism in Canada, particularly on university campuses and within progressive activist circles, is the framing of Jews as “white” oppressors in the context of intersectionality. Intersectionality, a framework for understanding how multiple forms of oppression overlap, has been an essential tool for many in social justice movements. However, in the case of anti-Zionism, it has sometimes been used to paint Jewish people as privileged and complicit in systemic oppression, particularly when Zionism is framed as colonialism.

This rhetoric is dangerous because it erases the historical and ancestral ties of Jews to the land of Israel, while at the same time casting them as the perpetrators of colonialism and racism. It denies the reality that the majority of Israeli Jews have no European ancestry, but are descendants of Jews from the former mandate of Palestine or those who were expelled from Arabized lands after 1948. By falsely labelling Zionism as a European colonial project, anti-Zionists ignore the fact that Jews have existed in the land of Israel for thousands of years. The reality is that England (and the West more generally) opposed Jewish migration to what was then the Mandate of Palestine, and strongly fought the establishment of a Jewish State. Further, to be a colonialist pursuit, the Jewish people must have a host country from which they established the state of Israel – something that is demonstrably and obviously untrue.

Conclusion: The Consequences of Anti-Zionism as Antisemitism

While not all criticism of Israel is antisemitic, anti-Zionism often crosses into antisemitism in ways that are both explicit and subtle. In the Canadian context, we have seen anti-Zionist rhetoric and activism serve as justifications for antisemitic acts, including violence, vandalism, and exclusion of Jewish individuals from academic and social spaces. The IHRA working definition provides a valuable framework for understanding when criticism of Israel becomes antisemitic, particularly when it involves denying Jewish self-determination, holding Israel to double standards, or vilifying Jews as a group.

Ultimately, anti-Zionism often feeds into traditional antisemitic tropes, leading to the further marginalization of Jews in Canada and around the world. By recognizing and addressing these forms of antisemitism, Canadian society can take steps toward ensuring that Jewish individuals are not targeted for their political beliefs or ethnic identity, and that the conversation around Israel and the Palestinians remains rooted in a fair and just approach to human rights for all.