“Ceasefire now!”
Remember when that was the prevailing mantra of the pro-Palestinian factions across the country? It lasted all of about five minutes before the rhetoric spiraled into demands for the complete destruction of the Jewish state of Israel.
“From the river to the sea!”
“Land back!”
“We don’t want no (sic) two-state! We want ’48!”
“There is only one solution! Intifada revolution!”
“Hey hey, ho ho! Israel has got to go!”
“Intifada, intifada! Long live the intifada!”
This is just a handful of the kinds of rhetoric chanted by “pro-Palestinian” mobs that have descended on campuses around the nation.
“God Is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, A Curse Upon the Jews, Victory to Islam.” That is what’s written in Arabic on the Houthi flag. It’s the motto of a terror group many Americans have voiced support for in their so-called “pro-Palestinian” protests.
Embroiled in the increasing hatred is the wielding of “Zionism” as a cudgel against any Jew, regardless of their stance on Israel’s right to exist. Zionism is the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel. Hard stop.
Many on the far left and the far right have tried to fit the definition of Zionism with either a white supremacist narrative, or claim that it means “Jewish supremacy,” or that it represents a platform that supports the genocide of Palestinians; that’s objectively false. It’s a very simple platform, and many people of different faiths and ethnic backgrounds consider themselves to be Zionists. There are also people across a spectrum of political ideology who consider themselves Zionists — from far-right hardliners like many in the Likud party of the Knesset to very liberal peacenik Jews, Arabs, and Christians who support the right to self-determination of Palestinians as well.
“Anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism!” anti-Zionists often proclaim, hiding behind the current, en vogue deflection in order to let their Jew-hatred fly freely without having to simply say, “We hate the Jews.”
But that claim has never really held much water, and it certainly has been torpedoed by the actions of those who suggest that the wholesale slaughter of innocent civilians on Oct. 7 was justified, that the taking of hundreds of hostages was “resistance,” or worse, that these things should be celebrated. At this point, more than eight months after the Hamas terror attack on Israeli civilians, it’s become crystal clear that there is no daylight between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.
For those who disagree:
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why was the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York vandalized just a few days ago?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why were synagogues in Utah forced to evacuate due to emailed bomb threats amidst multiple “pro-Palestinian” rallies in the area right after the Oct. 7 terror attack?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why did a Stanford professor single out Jewish students to attack as “colonizers” and debase them in front of their class?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why was the Jewish-owned 2nd Avenue Deli in New York defaced with anti-Israel vandalism?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why were public Menorahs across the United States defaced and destroyed during Chanukah last winter after the Hamas terror attack on Israel?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why did a man send a rabbi in Georgia a threatening postcard that read, “Is there a child rape, torture, and murder tunnel under your house? We have the Zyklon B. Use Code “GASTHEJEWS” for 10% off!” The reverse side of the postcard displayed a hand-drawn image depicting a Jewish man wearing a rat costume and the words “JEWS ARE RATS.”
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why was a Jewish woman punched in the face by a man who said he did it “because she is Jewish?”
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why was a freshman at the University of Denver assaulted for being Jewish?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why was a Jewish Cherry Creek High School student called a terrorist and told to kill himself?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why was a Jewish Holocaust survivor’s home vandalized with antisemitic hate messages?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why were multiple synagogues and Jewish schools in Colorado swatted after the Hamas terror attack on Israel?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why were two women attacked at a synagogue by a man who called them “baby-killer” and identified himself as a Jew-hater?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why was a Jewish-owned Philadelphia bakery targeted for boycott by “pro-Palestinian” groups?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why were the homes of the Jewish director of the Brooklyn Museum and the only two Jewish members of its board vandalized?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why did a man try to run down multiple Haredi Jews with his car in Brooklyn?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why did incidents of antisemitism skyrocket in Colorado in 2023 nearly 200% over the prior year (and around the U.S. and the world) — after the Hamas terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why did a synagogue in Virginia get hate mail saying “Praise Allah! Praise Hamas! Death to Israel! Burn the Jews!”
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why was a rabbi threatened by a man who said, “We all know where you live, rabbi,” while leaving a city council meeting in Colorado?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why did a man spit on an elderly Jewish man in New York, shout anti-Jewish epithets at him, and then say, “Free Palestine?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why did “pro-Palestinians” descend on the University of Colorado Regent — and Jewish woman — Ilana Spiegel’s home to protest her?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why were more than 50 synagogues evacuated in Florida this week due to bomb threats?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why were the doors of dorm rooms inhabited by Jewish students at the University of Denver defaced with pig entrails, and why were their mezuzahs stolen?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why, when the NYU School of Law hosted an event titled “Antisemitism: An Assault on Human Rights and Our Shared Humanity” on April 20 (the birthdate of Adolf Hitler), did a group from Students for Justice in Palestine, stage a disruptive walk out, shouting, “occupation is a crime” and “Palestine will be free…?”
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why have many Jewish-owned businesses and synagogues been vandalized with graffiti messages such as “Free Gaza…?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why did Jewish students at a high school in California have to stage a walkout after a girl was called a “dirty Jew” by a male classmate and then physically assaulted?
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why were at least four Jewish students at a Manhattan Beach Middle School targeted by verbal attacks from the same student in the days after Hamas attacked Israel who said things like, “Kill all Jews…?”
If anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, then why were Jewish-owned businesses in Woodland, CA vandalized, with rocks wrapped in messages including “payback” and “glory” thrown through their glass doors?
This list is a fraction of a fraction of the number of antisemitic incidents that have completely exploded in the United States since Oct. 7.
Meanwhile, none of the above includes what’s been occurring around the world, such as in Canada, where multiple synagogues have been firebombed; in France where a Jewish girl was kidnapped and raped by her ex-boyfriend and two of his friends because she “hid her Jewish identity from him;” in Belgium, where the home of Holocaust survivors was vandalized; in Switzerland where a 15-year-old boy claiming allegiance to ISIS stabbed a Jewish man; in Germany where a “pro-Palestinian” college student severely beat a Jewish student; in London where a man was asked if he was Jewish, then was beaten when he said “yes;” in France where a Jewish woman was abducted and raped by a man claiming it was “vengeance for Palestine;” and on and on and on…
And while the above list is largely tied to far-left activity, it’s critically important to note that the far-right is gleefully participating in the amplification of Jewish hatred, from former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke’s enthusiastic co-opting of the widespread anti-Jewish and anti-Israel rhetoric to increasing activity by neo-Nazi organizations such as the Goyim Defense League and Patriot Front, as well as the Order of the Black Sun and the Blood Tribe, to name a few.
This is a perfect storm — undeniable, pervasive, prolific real-world examples of the Horseshoe theory applied directly to antisemitism.
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes,” said Mark Twain (perhaps apocryphally). Today, we’re plunging headlong once again into the ugliest rhyme scheme in recorded human history. Think long and hard about what’s to come when you start parroting anti-Zionist misinformation.
