...Doesn't Get You Off The Hook For Bigoted Anti-Semitism
Actually, we kind of think that if you're a leftist anti-Zionist then you probably are anti-Semitic, since you likely support self-determination for every ethnic group except Jews. But that's not the point of this post.
There seems to be this weird idea in leftist rhetoric that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are mutually exclusive. Like you can't be both an anti-Zionist and an anti-SAemite at the same time, so if you declare yourself to be an anti-Zionist then you get a pass on anti-Semitism (how convenient...) The result is predictable: UC Irvine Muslims hire speakers who hatefully spit out conspiracies about "Zionist Jews" who control the media, the banks, and the US government. But it's supposed to be OK, because they're talking about Zionist Jews, not all Jews. Except they're not - it's a nudge-nudge wink-wink that everyone gets, and when they say "Zionist Jew" they mean "Jew".
Also, it results in this:
I think I may have missed something important in my initial take on the assault and attempted kidnapping of Elie Wiesel by a Holocaust denier. Are you familiar with this Feb. 1 incident? Don’t be surprised if you missed it; for some reason, this emblematic outrage has been largely ignored by the media... A later report claimed that the police delayed releasing details while they searched for the suspect. The only clue to the cretin’s identity in media reports at the time is from a pseudonymous Holocaust-denier posting on the Web site Ziopedia, which calls itself “anti-Zionist” but turns out to be a cyber-nexus for Holocaust denial.
Now of course, this vicious bigot would have described his assault on Wiesel as anti-Zionist, because the "Holocaust myth" supports Israel. We're not interested in going through a long psychoanalysis of why, no, actually, this guy really is an anti-Semite.
For this post, we just want to establish a very obvious,, very limited point: someone can be anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic at the same time. It's not as if this is a tough concept. And yet anti-Israel activists act as if they get a free pass when they smear Israelis with anti-Semitic accusations of well-poisoning, double-loyalty, etc - all because the Jews they happen to be talking about are also Israel.
So the point bears a little repeating: some people are both anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic. Watch, we can even prove it rigorously:
(1) Some people oppose Israel's existence because they hate Jews
(2) We call people who oppose Israel "anti-Zionist"
(3) We call people who hate Jews "anti-Semitic"
(4) Therefore, some people who are anti-Zionist because they are anti-Semitic. QED.
Declaring oneself to be an anti-Zionist shouldn't get you off the hook for anti-Semitic invective - and yet, in far too many progressive movements, it most certainly does.