(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 Israel an “apartheid” regime and a “settler-colonialist” project, and they hurl the charge of “genocide.” They present themselves as social justice warriors while laundering hatred as ethics.
As Adam Louis-Klein has argued, anti-Zionism operates as a hate movement, borrowing heavily from classic medieval anti-Judaism, which demonized Jews as uniquely evil and spiritually corrosive, and from modern antisemitism, which portrays Jews as a hidden conspiracy poisoning society from within.
Anti-Zionism transfers those patterns onto the Jewish state. It casts Israel as the singular embodiment of evil among the nations and casts Zionists as the unique source of global harm.
So, yes: The haters stole the narrative and polluted it. But they aren’t the only ones.
The xenophobic rhetoric and policies of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have emboldened West Bank settler hoodlums who terrorize Palestinians. Moreover, there is the ongoing disgusting behavior of the hareidim — this time, a mob attacking women soldiers.
This is bizarro Zionism — a distortion of Jewish nationalism and, frankly, a distortion of Judaism itself.
Many Jews look at that version of Zionism and say: Count me out. Who could blame them? That recoil carries horrific implications for support of Israel and, by extension, for the moral standing of Judaism itself.
In fact, a truer version of Zionism would be to refute such malignancies of Jewish nationalism — just as the best form of American patriotism right now would be to refute MAGA.
To be a Zionist is to wrestle with Israel, which is what Yisrael means in the first place. We wrestle with Israel because we are part of its story. We want a better Israel.
What do we need to do to reboot the Zionist “brand”?
First, let’s reclaim the narrative. We say to the anti-Zionists and antisemites: We will not let you distort the meaning of Zionism.