Introduction
Did you know that in the last century, wherever and whenever anti-Zionism was allowed to become the dominant ideology of any country, any society, any political party, ultimately no Jews were left?
For many years now, I participated in quite a few high-profile debates over the question of whether anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. I lost those debates because when you make the blanket statement, the other side will speak of the Satmar Jews who are theologically opposed to secular Zionism. They bring the JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace). I don’t think they’re Jews, but JVP Jews, and then the whole blanket statement falls.
So after a few of those debates, especially seeing the response of the audience that seemed to be so thrilled that they can now pretend that anti-Zionism is a benign idea, I decided to look at history. I wanted to see what happens to real-life Jews when anti-Zionism becomes the governing ideology of a place.
The Historical Record
Here, the historical record is definite. Wherever, in the last century, anti-Zionism was introduced as the governing ideology, distancing itself from the old, discredited anti-Semitism, everywhere it happened, within a short while, the place became hostile to Jewish life, individually and collectively. If it was not stopped within a few short years, no Jews were left.
Case Studies
The Arab World: Exhibit A
In the 1940s and 50s, the Arab world literally organized itself around anti-Zionism. It was only unified in so far as they were all against the existence of a Jewish state. It became their governing ideology, and Palestinianism became the secular theology behind which it hid. They claimed they loved Jews, they had nothing against Jews, but within those two decades, when anti-Zionism became the governing ideology of the Arab world from Morocco to Afghanistan, no Jews were left.
Complete Ethnic Cleansing
This was a complete ethnic cleansing of about a million Jews, some from communities predating the Arab and Muslim conquest of the 7th century of the Middle East and North Africa. In Iraq, for example, these were communities that date back to the Babylonian exile.
The Soviet Union: Exhibit B
Literally the place that invented anti-Zionism as the respectable mask, the Soviet Union does not get enough credit for its introduction of anti-Zionism into the global mainstream and really taking it global. When the Soviet Union was established, replacing Tsarist Russia, it wanted nothing to do with anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism belonged to the Tsar.
Replacement with Respectable Anti-Zionism:
So the Soviets replaced Tsarist anti-Semitism with the word Zion, creating respectable anti-Zionism. You could get academic degrees in anti-Zionism. All the Palestinian leaders in the 60s, 70s, 80s, all the operatives, were trained and educated in the Soviet Union. Abu Mazen got his PhD in one version of that: Holocaust denial. From there, the Soviet Union exported it to the West, where it flourishes on campuses today.
Soviet Union’s Playbook:
Another element of their playbook was to vilify Zionism with ideas such as “Zionism equals racism, apartheid, colonialism, genocide, Nazism.” None of these accusations are new. They introduced the idea of giving it respectability by laundering it through international bodies. We know how the Soviet Union treated its Jews while claiming it was just against Zionism.
Other Examples
Iran
A community of 150,000 Jews reduced to 8,000.
Poland
In 1968, some Jews remained in Poland after the Holocaust, believing in the promise of socialism and communism. But in 1968, Poland was gripped by anti-Zionism, inspired by the Soviet Union, removing Jews from academic positions. Whatever Jews still were left in Poland all left, and some even committed suicide, unable to bear the second persecution.
Venezuela and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party
Every place that made anti-Zionism its governing ideology became inhospitable to Jewish life, and ultimately no Jews were left.
The Situation on American Campuses
This dynamic is playing out on American campuses today. It actually doesn’t matter what the students believe. The students can genuinely believe that they love Jews, have nothing against Jews; in fact, they could be Jews themselves. It doesn’t matter because they are participating in something with a much longer lineage, something that started much before they were even born—a process of vilifying everything that is Zionism or Israel, making it so evil that people believe that all means are necessary and justified to eradicate that evil.
The Placard Strategy
Did you see the placard that says “Keep the world clean” with the Star of David in the trashcan? This is the logical conclusion of what I’ve come to call the placard strategy. The placard strategy is what the Soviets did: very simple. It says “Israel/Zionism/Star of David” then an equation sign. The placard strategy has been so successful and ingenious that you all know what’s on the other side of that equation sign: colonialism, imperialism, racism, apartheid. Then it escalates to Nazism, genocide. If you’re in America, they’ll give it a local flavor of white supremacy.
The Strategy’s Success
These words are not chosen because they reflect reality, even though they’ll try to pretend they do. They’re chosen because they are all universally agreed to be evil. Israel/Zionism/Star of David equals evil. A young person on campus today wants to do good, and there’s no greater good in this world than eradicating evil. So yes, of course, they mobilize.
The Dangerous Ancient Idea
What they don’t understand is that the sentiment of “Keep the world clean”—the idea that the collective Jew stands between this world and Utopia—is one of the most ancient and dangerous ideas.