All posts tagged: Zionism

What is Zionism? The different meanings of a contested term

What is Zionism? The different meanings of a contested term

Published by Sam Flores

(The Conversation) — Haverford, a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, has become the latest U.S. school to settle a lawsuit over how it handled allegations of antisemitism. In a statement on Aug. 7, 2026, its president, Wendy Raymond, wrote that “all students including those who identify as Jewish, and/or Israeli, and those who support Zionism: that is, the right of the Jewish people to self-determination and statehood in the land of Israel, are welcome and enjoy equal access to the College and all of its educational programs and activities.” This statement is not unusual. After the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the start of Israel’s war in Gaza, the United States saw a wave of campus protests against Israel. Those protests led to a surge of complaints about campus antisemitism, and numerous lawsuits and federal civil rights investigations. Most of these allegations concerned the alleged mistreatment of Jewish students and faculty who identify as Zionists, or merely refuse to denounce Zionism. That has led some administrations, such as Haverford’s, …

The perversion of ‘Zionism’

The perversion of ‘Zionism’

Published by Sam Flores

Outside Hackney Town Hall last week, while the council was voting to “de-twin” the east London borough from Haifa in Israel, a woman carrying a Palestinian flag threw eggs at two protesters, explaining through the kefiyeh covering her face that they were not welcome because they were “Zionists”. Meanwhile, a cocktail menu allegedly found in a London cinema read: “No sexists, No racists, No transphobes, No Zionists, No Fascists.” These incidents didn’t occur in isolation. Last month, the General Synod of the Church of England voted to “hear” – to consider and engage with – a document produced by Palestinian Christians known as Kairos II, which includes statements such as: “The genocidal war on Gaza is the continuation of the Zionist project to seize all of Palestine, emptied of its Palestinian people.” Last month, the free speech campaign group PEN America reported that many Jewish writers had been “harassed on social media, review-bombed on [the books website] Goodreads, and subjected to online calls not to be read, platformed, or engaged with if they had ever …

Can Zionism be rebranded?

Can Zionism be rebranded?

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — The news hit hard: Only one-third of American Jews identify as Zionist, even as nearly 90% support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state, according to a new survey conducted by Jewish Federations of North America. On the one hand, you might ask, why does it matter, as long as they support Israel? Zionism began as the desire to create a Jewish state. But a Jewish state is already old news — 78 years old, to be precise — Israel is a fact on the ground. When people hesitate to embrace the word “Zionism,” we lose more than a label. We lose an idea. And, without vulgarizing the topic, we lose the “brand.” How did that happen? First, the anti-Zionists and the antisemites stole the Zionist narrative and prevented us from telling the story on our own terms. They recycled Soviet antisemitic propaganda that recast Zionism as imperialism and racism. They borrowed the eliminationist rhetoric of radical Islamist movements that call openly for Israel’s destruction. They repeat academic jargon that labels …