3 ms·

I downvoted for equating anti-Israel sentiment with anti-semitism. There are lots of other reasons to dislike Israel.

adrianN 7y ago
Ah yes, that's something that always annoys me too. Sorry for that. But I think the implication in the direction anti-semite -> anti-zionist is pretty strong, so for this particular question I think that surveys about antisemitism provide a good basis for discussion. I'd assume that anti-zionists form an almost perfect superset of anti-semites. edit: or maybe not, you could imagine someone who really doesn't like Jews and wants to send all of them to Israel.
- anigbrowl 7y ago
  Please reconsider this position.There are large numbers of Jewish anti-Zionists, whose motivations range from religious to Palestinian solidarity to just not wanting to be seen or treated as an extension of Israel. As well, there's a great many people who don't mind the existence of Israel as such but object strenuously to its expansionist settlement policy, including a large number of Israelis. As well as that, there's a phenomenon called Christian Zionism that's popular among conservative evangelicals, which views the establishment of the state of Israel and a number of related milestones as a fulfilment of Biblical eschatological prophecy. Their enthusiastic support for the relocation of the US embassy (and others) to Jerusalem is rooted in a belief that it signals the End of Days and forthcoming battle between good and evil on the field of Armageddon. While a minority position, it's one that's in ascendancy at the moment and counts the US Secretary of State (by conviction) and the President (by transaction) among its adherents. In short, it's complicated. This is not to say that everyone who's anti-Zionist is good or has valid reasons, many such are indeed anti-Semitic, from casual to virulent. Neo-Nazis often leverage ambivalence or antipathy towards Israel to convert people to anti-Semitism and recruit them, a technique known as entryism. And there are anti-Semitic currents on the left too, particularly among dogmatic types who think Stalin did nothing wrong (sometimes loosely referred to as 'tankies').
  - andrewaylett 7y ago
    I think you may be reading the GP's implication in a different direction to me. While it's not completely controversial to observe that not all anti-Zionists are also anti-Semites (although I do hear some who would hold that view) it's more believable that anti-Semites would pretty much automatically also be anti-Zionists.
  - throwAway029943 7y ago
    I'm a former anti-Zionist Jew, I still have many close Jewish family and friends who are heavily involved in anti-Zionist activism, with JVP and if not now, etc.. On the low end of polls I've read in the past few years a Gallup review of US Jews found "about nine in 10 American Jews are more sympathetic to Israel than to the Palestinians" and "95% of Jews have favorable views of Israel, while 10% have favorable views of the Palestinian Authority." Polls of how many American Jews are Zionist are not generally conducted, since no one agrees on exactly what constitutes Zionism. For instance I oppose settlements and Bibi, but call my self a Zionist because I believe Jews and Palestinians should have the right of self determination in there respective states. While I will not attempt to pin down a definition of Zionism, I think we can all agree a Jew who has a overall favorable view of Israeli is not going to identify as an anti-Zionist. I have met almost all the actively anti-Zionist Jews in a small city at numerous rallies and Sabbath dinners and not once have any of them expressed that their view of Israel is favorable. In theory anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, however if someone told you they were not anti-black they just disliked black people who did not vote for Trump, what would you call them? It is tragic that I had to write this from a throwaway, but I do not want my career to be damaged by a public association with Zionism.

Ah yes, that's something that always annoys me too. Sorry for that. But I think the implication in the direction anti-semite -> anti-zionist is pretty strong, so for this particular question I think that surveys about antisemitism provide a good basis for discussion. I'd assume that anti-zionists form an almost perfect superset of anti-semites. edit: or maybe not, you could imagine someone who really doesn't like Jews and wants to send all of them to Israel.

anigbrowl 7y ago
Please reconsider this position.There are large numbers of Jewish anti-Zionists, whose motivations range from religious to Palestinian solidarity to just not wanting to be seen or treated as an extension of Israel. As well, there's a great many people who don't mind the existence of Israel as such but object strenuously to its expansionist settlement policy, including a large number of Israelis. As well as that, there's a phenomenon called Christian Zionism that's popular among conservative evangelicals, which views the establishment of the state of Israel and a number of related milestones as a fulfilment of Biblical eschatological prophecy. Their enthusiastic support for the relocation of the US embassy (and others) to Jerusalem is rooted in a belief that it signals the End of Days and forthcoming battle between good and evil on the field of Armageddon. While a minority position, it's one that's in ascendancy at the moment and counts the US Secretary of State (by conviction) and the President (by transaction) among its adherents. In short, it's complicated. This is not to say that everyone who's anti-Zionist is good or has valid reasons, many such are indeed anti-Semitic, from casual to virulent. Neo-Nazis often leverage ambivalence or antipathy towards Israel to convert people to anti-Semitism and recruit them, a technique known as entryism. And there are anti-Semitic currents on the left too, particularly among dogmatic types who think Stalin did nothing wrong (sometimes loosely referred to as 'tankies').
- andrewaylett 7y ago
  I think you may be reading the GP's implication in a different direction to me. While it's not completely controversial to observe that not all anti-Zionists are also anti-Semites (although I do hear some who would hold that view) it's more believable that anti-Semites would pretty much automatically also be anti-Zionists.
- throwAway029943 7y ago
  I'm a former anti-Zionist Jew, I still have many close Jewish family and friends who are heavily involved in anti-Zionist activism, with JVP and if not now, etc.. On the low end of polls I've read in the past few years a Gallup review of US Jews found "about nine in 10 American Jews are more sympathetic to Israel than to the Palestinians" and "95% of Jews have favorable views of Israel, while 10% have favorable views of the Palestinian Authority." Polls of how many American Jews are Zionist are not generally conducted, since no one agrees on exactly what constitutes Zionism. For instance I oppose settlements and Bibi, but call my self a Zionist because I believe Jews and Palestinians should have the right of self determination in there respective states. While I will not attempt to pin down a definition of Zionism, I think we can all agree a Jew who has a overall favorable view of Israeli is not going to identify as an anti-Zionist. I have met almost all the actively anti-Zionist Jews in a small city at numerous rallies and Sabbath dinners and not once have any of them expressed that their view of Israel is favorable. In theory anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, however if someone told you they were not anti-black they just disliked black people who did not vote for Trump, what would you call them? It is tragic that I had to write this from a throwaway, but I do not want my career to be damaged by a public association with Zionism.