Summary
In Jewish Voice for Peace’s statement, anti-Zionism is “a loose term referring to criticism of the current policies of the Israeli state, and/or moral, ethical, or religious criticism of the idea of a Jewish nation-state”, with a Jewish history as long as Zionism itself (Our Approach to Zionism, line 195).
Details
- Jewish anti-Zionists, as JVP presents them, span a political and religious spectrum: religious and secular progressives who view opposition to Zionism as an anti-racist praxis, ultra-Orthodox Jews who oppose Jewish dominion until the time of the Messiah, and anarchist Jews who oppose the very concept of nation-states (line 195).
- Non-Jewish anti-Zionists’ perspectives may be informed by moral criticism of Israeli government policies, the impact of Zionist thinking in Israel on non-Jewish residents, and criticism of ethno-nationalism more broadly; many Palestinians take anti-Zionist positions because of the current and historical practices of the Israeli state (line 195).
- JVP learns from “the anti-Zionist Jews who came before us” and holds that “as long as Zionism has existed, so has Jewish dissent to it” (line 171).
- JVP’s own position is unequivocal opposition to Zionism, reached after a two-year curriculum process and finalized by its board over the summer and fall of 2018 (lines 153, 207-215).
- “Criticism of Zionism is not to be conflated with antisemitism” (line 197).
Related pages
Zionism, Antisemitism, Jewish Voice for Peace, Our Approach to Zionism