Antisemitism has surged up by 48% in the United States over the past two years, according to the American Defamation League (ADL). 70% of religion-based hate crimes target Jewish people, according to the FBI. Antisemitic incidents have increased by 21.2% globally, according to the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM). It’s easy to see those numbers and find a crisis: that the Israel-Hamas war poured gas on an antisemitic fire. If you look a little closer, though, you’ll find a fundamental misconstruction of what antisemitism is. Antisemitism is not antizionism, and Zionism—the belief that Jewish people need a national home in the region of Palestine—should not be equated with Judaism. Any notion to the contrary is an attempt to legitimize and apologize for a genocidal Israeli state.
While the aforementioned numbers are alarming, they fail to include what these organizations qualify as antisemitic; the ADL, for example, considers the statement that Israel is committing genocide to be antisemitic, as does the FBI and CAM. To these organizations, Zionism is an intrinsic part of Judaism, and critiquing Israel is therefore antisemitic.
The problem is that Zionism is a separate ideology from Judaism and should be treated as such.
The Zionist movement was pioneered in the late 1800s by Jewish political theorist Theodor Herzl. While Herzl sought safety for Jewish peoples, other early adopters of Zionism sought the opposite. The Third Reich, for example, encouraged Jewish immigration to what is now Israel, and top Nazi officials were self-proclaimed Zionists. That a Zionist state is intrinsically supportive of Jewish people is revisionist history.
Zionism as a feature of Judaism is not only historically incorrect, but also a harmful notion in light of current events.
Israel is committing genocide. This is not an opinion, but a fact, corroborated by the United Nations, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights, and other leading authorities. To conflate Judaism with Zionism is to say Judaism must intrinsically support colonialism, and that Jews must support Israel’s genocide, which is itself an antisemitic charge of blood libel. 61% of Jews believe Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza, according to a Washington Post poll—are they antisemitic too?
This is not to say antisemitism no longer exists; in contrast, it’s an ongoing epidemic deserving of attention. Rep. David Taylor of Ohio was recently found to have an American-Swastika flag in his congressional office, which he says was placed there without his knowledge. Elon Musk performed something eerily similar to the Nazi salute on national television. Organizations designed to protect Judaism and stop antisemitism ought to focus on these incidents instead of calling wolf.
When Zionism is conflated with Judaism, it takes away attention from actual antisemitic incidents and dismisses legitimate critiques of the Israeli state. Being Jewish doesn’t necessitate Zionism, and vice versa. Without this understanding, a true dialogue about Zionism will never be possible.
This piece was originally published in Zephyrus’ print edition on Nov. 6, 2025
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated Theodor Herzl’s name as Joseph Herzl and late 1900s as late 1800s. Zephyrus regrets this error.
