Why Is Zionism Controversial? Debunking Myths and More
- Uri Pilichowski
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Zionism is a 150-year-old political movement that advocates for the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their own state in their historic homeland, the land of Israel. By all markers of a political movement advocating an independent state, Zionism is a success. A mere fifty-one years after its first congress, the leaders of the Zionist movement declared independence for the State of Israel, the first Jewish sovereign state in their homeland in close to two-thousand years.
Today, the Zionist state is a remarkable success with a strong world-leading democracy, military, and economy.
At the same time, Zionism has been characterized as racist, supremacist, and colonialist. If Zionism was a national liberation movement that secured freedom and independence for historically homeless and persecuted people, how can so many people be critical of it? Why is Zionism controversial?
Accusations against Zionism
On November 10, 1975, the UN General Assembly adopted G.A. Resolution 3379, which declared Zionism to be “a form of racism and racial discrimination.” The resolution, promoted by the Soviet Union, also cited the political declaration adopted at the Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Non-Aligned Countries held at Lima, Peru, on August 25–30, 1975, which had condemned Zionism “as a threat to world peace” and a “racist and imperialist ideology.”
Anti-Israel protesters recently disrupted an event at Sarah Lawrence College with the Jewish New York Times journalist Ezra Klein. Although the event was titled “Building Bridges” and focused on “how we can collectively move beyond polarization toward shared solutions,” and Klein is a noted critic of Israel, protesters called Klein a Nazi and a genocide supporter and accused Klein of being an “apologist of white supremacist views and an accessory to genocidal state violence.”
Zionism is often accused of being a form of colonialism, where European Jewish settlers displaced indigenous Palestinians to establish a state. Critics argue it mirrors historical European colonial projects, involving land expropriation and the imposition of a foreign population and culture on native inhabitants.
Zionists answer their accusers
The claim “Zionism is racism” is based on a 1975 UN General Assembly resolution that was revoked in 1991. The Soviet Union and its bloc led the effort at the UN to link Zionism to racism, basing their accusations on the notorious "Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and arguing that Judaism’s concept of “the chosen people” promoted racial superiority. Saying “Zionism is racism” conveys that the Jewish people – unlike all other people in the world – do not have a right to self-determination.
In an answer to accusations of being supremacist, Zionists explain that Zionism has absolutely nothing to do with race. Zionism is a movement for self-determination for all Jews, regardless of skin color. Early Zionists included figures such as Taamrat Emmanuel, who was an Ethiopian Jew. It’s incorrect to describe the Jewish movement for self-determination as “white supremacy” when white supremacists themselves openly revile Jews.
In everyday parlance, colonialism refers to when an imperialist country takes control of another, weaker country. That is, colonialism is derivative of imperialism. Concerning Israel, precious little of the above applies. For one, late 19th-/early 20th-century Palestine was hardly seized by the army of some Hebrew imperialist state. Jewish settlement in Palestine took place exclusively via land purchases, and often at exorbitant prices. Many experts on Israeli history turn the accusation of colonialism on its head, stressing that the Jewish bid for self-determination was fundamentally an anti-colonial enterprise.
Wrap up
Despite the unfounded accusations of racism, supremacism, and colonialism, rooted in revoked UN resolutions and historical distortions, Zionism stands as a triumphant national liberation movement. Securing self-determination for a persecuted people in their ancestral homeland, it exemplifies justice and resilience, rendering its controversy unwarranted and highlighting its enduring legitimacy as a beacon of freedom.
Uri Pilichowski is an author, speaker, and senior educator at institutions around the world.