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Comment by hashbig | Hacker News Reader

Equating anti-Zionism with anti-semitism is a Zionist idea in and of itself. The fact that many Jews are anti-zionists doesn’t help your argument either.

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Zionism is the idea that Jews should have a homeland in what is (now) Israel. It is not exclusionary - there are non-Jewish (including Muslim) citizens in Israel, and they have full rights (far more than they would have in most of the neighboring Arab countries, and yes there is sometimes racism - just like everywhere else in the world, though that is no excuse - but the that has nothing to do with Zionism).

You can choose not to support Zionism. But if you actively believe "Jews should not have a homeland" that is anti-semetic.

Anti-Zionism is, by your own definition, opposition to the idea that Jews should have a homeland in what is (now) Israel. I don't see any proponents of "Jews should not have a homeland [at all]" here. Perhaps they could have New York, or Florida.

It's hard to separate between Zionism and Judaism in this case, because Israel IS jewish in the sense that it is populated by Jews. So aborting Israel has real immediate consequences (quite likely bad) for 7 million Jews living there. It's very unlikely they will just all get an American citizenship or build a homeland in Florida, I've never heard of such a plan by anti zionists. I know you were kidding but it's worth noting the anti zionist plan is to just abort Israel, that's pretty much it. There is some nice talk about creating one democracy for everyone living there after around 7 million Palestinian will return but there is absolutely no real plan on how to sustain such a state or create a safe environment for jews to live in under those conditions. Let alone what bodies like Hamas have in mind for the future of that area...democracy is not part of the plan. So yes being anti Zionist is being anti Jewish to the Jews living in Israel.

The history of anti-semitic Zionism is not too pretty either

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haavara_Agreement

If you would say that Palestinians don't deserve to live / create a state in Palestine it sure sounds anti Palestinian and maybe even islamophobic to me. In fact many people who deny the right of Palestinian to have their own state use islamophobic arguments.

Saying the same about Jews should be looked at similarly, and yes there is quite an overlap between anti zionism and anti semitism.

Also - Zionism means different things to different people; Bernie Sanders' Zionism (yes, he is a Zionist) isn't the same as Benjamin's Netanyahu.

But simply outright rejecting Jews right to live in ANY borders in that area seems to me quite hard to justify. It may not be racist in and itself but it has big (probably bad) consequences for the jews living there if it's ever realized, and it is an idea that is loved by many people who are anti semitic (either muslims, extreme right or extreme left supporters).

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