“I am Anti-Zionist not Antisemitic!” How many times have I heard a statement along those lines? “I don’t hate Jews, but I’m strongly opposed to apartheid Israel.”
There’s a list of different reasons, excuses and platitudes for standing against Israel, and siding with the Palestinians that people give. “If Israel wants peace, give the Palestinians back their land,” a relative once remarked to me. What about, “Stop killing Palestinian children!” Or, “Israel turns off the electricity and water.” Or, “Stop the rich Israeli colonialists from settling Palestine. The Palestinians are struggling to eke out a living.”
Then this: “No wonder Hamas and the P.A. must resort to terrorism. They’ve been driven to desperation by need!”
This line of defense for barbarism was applied to the perpetrators of 9/11. It has been used to excuse the behavior of well-dressed, well-fed mobs bearing expensive cell phones when they break into department stores to steal anything but food.
You are what you do
“I don’t hate Jews, but I’m strongly opposed to apartheid Israel.” I’ve tried to counteract these allegations by providing resources which sort out the facts and myths. Yet the resistance to viewing the Palestinians as anything but victims of Israeli oppression (even by academics and professing Christians) never fails to frustrate me. See the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis
People appear to be too lazy to factcheck for themselves, or are suspicious of anything contradicting “popular” narrative. Perhaps something sinister lies in their hearts. Oppression and genocide occur around the world (Sudan, Nigeria etc); why do anti-Zionists focus outrage on Israel, imagining it is happening there, and why is it generally ignored in other places?
If you’re an avowed anti-Zionist, have you challenged yourself to prove that what you think regarding Israel and the Jews is true? If you refuse to do so, and if you hate the term “Jewish State” then I’d lay good odds that you’re insincere, and an antisemite.
Perhaps you are what you do and don’t do.
Perry Trotter’s Article
Following is an article by Perry Trotter which discusses how anti-Zionism and antisemitism inexorably interact. More can be found in his book “Israel in the Biblical Worldview.”
In many cultures, antisemitism is a given. This is exemplified by the above statement, believed to have originated in Hungary.
The fact of antisemitism may be a constant. Its form, however, morphs and adapts from age to age and culture to culture. This brief article provides a survey of some of antisemitism’s current manifestations and some of the social groups in which antisemitism is prevalent.
By most accounts, the term anti-Semitism was first coined by German journalist Wilhelm Marr in 1879 as a functional equivalent to Judenhass—Jew-hatred. While the term is modern, the hatred itself dates back more than 3000 years…continue reading
Bible Verses
O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Psalm 130:7-8
For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the LORD, who has mercy on you. Isaiah 54:10
For thus says the LORD of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. Zech 2:8
But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” Rev 5:5
Maranatha!
More Resources
Learning about Evangelical Zionism
A Special Kind of Hatred (Quote below)
It also means speaking the truth and spotting the lies. Christians should discern when anti-”Zionism” is but a thin veil for Jew hatred. And Christians must not be shy in pointing out the telltale sign of antisemitism: the double standard. Israel should be held to the same standard as other nations and accorded the same benefits—of charity, the benefit of the doubt, and the right to self-defense—that apply to others. One need only inject the Russia-Ukraine conflict into the Harvard students’ statement—“we hold the Ukrainian regime entirely responsible for the unfolding invasion”—to see the absurd double standard too often applied to Israel.
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