In a March 7th UK Media Watch post (cross posted at The Algemeiner), we refuted the claim by Peter Beinart, in his Guardian op-ed published earlier in the day, that anti-Zionism is not in fact antisemitic.
Here’s a brief excerpt from the UKMW post:
Zionism is the belief that Israel has a right to continue to exist. Anti-Zionism is the belief that says Israel has no right to exist and shouldn’t continue existing. It is not a theoretical position. It’s an effort to forcibly dispossess over six million Jews of a right they currently have. It doesn’t say that nation-states shouldn’t exist, just that the Jewish state – the only safe-haven for Jews around the world – shouldn’t exist.
It also seems predicated on the premise that millions of Israeli Jews in the Middle East would, in the long run, be safe and have their rights protected in a country with a Palestinian majority and a Palestinian government – confidence that only makes sense if you ignore endemic antisemitism in the region and the experience of hundreds of thousands of Jews expelled from Muslim majority countries since World War 2. Anti-Zionism isn’t just antisemitic in theory. In practice, it would almost certainly have a profoundly dangerous antisemitic impact.
On April 1st, Israel Talk Radio host Tamar Yonah interviewed UK Media Watch managing editor Adam Levick about the op-ed, as well as the broader issues concerning the surreal debate over Israel’s very right to exist.
