Why Zionism is racism

Asa Winstanley -15 May 2020

“Zionism is the belief that Palestinians can and must be expelled from their homeland so that settlers can take their place.”

In this short video, my colleague Ali Abunimah explains the true meaning of Zionism in a nutshell.

As the United Nations General Assembly determined by a large majority in 1975, “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.”

Although that resolution was repealed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, due in part to US and Israeli pressure, it is as true today as ever.

As Ali explains, in recent years, Zionist organizations have attempted to muddy the waters using a debased form of indentity politics.

As I have reported for the last several years, this has been particularly successful on the left in the UK, with lifelong anti-racists like Jeremy Corbyn smeared as anti-Semitic due to their Palestine solidarity activism and their leftism.

“You made me feel unsafe”

As Ali explains, they have been trying to “convert Zionism into some sort of personal identity thing. So that if you say I’m a Zionist, and then I say to you, well Zionism is racism, it’s like: Oh my God, you attacked me, you hurt my feelings, you made me feel unsafe.”

I found this observation particularly astute after the Israel lobby’s campaign against the Labour Party from within over the last few years.

Even a minority on the Labour left – such as Momentum founder Jon Lansman – argue that Zionism should have immunity from criticism.

The video clip is from last week’s online discussion panel, “From Corbyn to Sanders: Are Zionist Organizations Targetting Progressive Politicians?” It was hosted by anti-Zionist Israeli campaigner and author Miko Peled.

Also participating in the discussion were US author and radio host Dr. Wilmer Leon and former Labour MP Chris Williamson – who was himself smeared and ultimately forced out of the party.

You can watch the entire panel in the video below.

I spoke on the panel for part two of the discussion on Wednesday night. You can watch the video of this second panel on Miko Peled’s YouTube channel now.