That is exactly it. Antisemites figured out a while back that they could say whatever they want about Jews as long as they swap out the word Zionist. This has been a feature of white supremacy for ages. It used to be “people with big noses” or “people who wear hats” or even “bankers,” or “globalists.” The latter two are more similar to the use of “Zionist” because they represent actual groups that people criticize. That gives more cover to the actual antisemites.
This is actually a good thing, because it removes that cover from bigots who want to hijack the movement and hide behind it.
Linkerbaan@lemmy.world 4 months ago
No this is banning criticism of israel along with it. Using Judaism as a shield for Zionazis.
If they wanted to ban antisemitism they would not have included the word Zionist.
daddyjones@lemmy.world 4 months ago
You think that dehumanising, calling for harm or denials of Jewish existence aren’t anti-semitism?
Linkerbaan@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Why are you bringing up Judaism?
daddyjones@lemmy.world 4 months ago
You mentioned Judaism. You think Zionism had nothing to do with Judaism? You think dehumanising anyone - including Zionists is ok?
admin@lemmy.my-box.dev 4 months ago
I’m not fully up to date on the details of these, but I was under the understanding that the whole zionism thing was just a racist conspiracy theory regarding a secret society of Jews controlling whatever.
In that case, isn’t the term inherently antisemitic, or are there also non-Jewish zionist theories?
Canary9341@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
Where did you read something like that? Originally it was about the creation of a jewish state, nowadays it’s just for israeli nationalism.
admin@lemmy.my-box.dev 4 months ago
As you can tell - basically deduced from context. I’ve never really seen the term zionist outside of xenofobic rants, so that’s all I had to go on.
alyqz@lemmy.sdf.org 4 months ago
Zionism is a nationalist movement for the support of a Jewish state. Throughout history different people have had different justifications for the need for a Jewish state, some of them antisemitic. It is worth noting that not all Jews are Zionists and non Jews can be considered Zionists.
As the stated goal is the creation of an ethno-state and thus the exclusion of other groups, racism tends to be implicit for many. Since the creation of an ethno-state likely requires the removal of of the current inhabitants, some pretty despicable actions get justified.
It is important to note that many of the most outspoken anti-Zionists have always been Jews. It’s from these that I have often heard the argument that conflating all Jews with Zionism/the state of Israel puts Jews everywhere at risk of getting blamed/punished for the actions of the state of Israel.
Many extremist Christians support the Zionist movement out of either the desire to remove Jews from their country or because they want all of them to return to Israel so that the rapture/end of the word can be realized. Some extremist Christian groups are literally doomsday cults kinda explaining their lack of care for the future…I mean why worry when the end times are nigh.
The US, and much of the west, show unyielding support for the state of Israel and by extension Zionism for several reasons, chiefly geopolitical in nature (oil). Other reasons include racism towards the other peoples of the region, the antisemitism described above, shame over the Holocaust (the Allies all showed some compliancy with it at least in the beginning…antisemitism has deep roots in western culture), and the fact that confronting the wrong of the colonial project of Israel means confronting their own colonial pasts…and often presents.
Linkerbaan@lemmy.world 4 months ago
No Zionism is the religion of israel. It does not have anything to do with Judaism. It’s a white surpremacy death cult akin to Nazism.
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the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
reuters.com/…/i-am-zionist-how-joe-bidens-lifelon…