(Jewish Group) Why nobody my age knows what Zionism means

[Behind the Aegis]

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP! RESPECT!!)

I was born in 1995, which means a lot of things. The twin towers toppled when I was only in kindergarten. I’m a digital native. In my lifetime, Israel has always existed. And most people, especially my age, have no idea what the word “Zionism” means.

At lunch recently with a friend who is Jewish and deeply knowledgeable about politics, she illustrated just how serious the misunderstanding is. After two hours of talking about progressive activism, her eyes widened in horror when I noted that I am a Zionist.

“Doesn’t that just mean you’re against Palestinian rights?” she asked.

“Of course not,” I replied, and asked her if she knew what the term Zionist actually means. She didn’t.

I explained to her that Zionists are simply people who believe in the right of Jewish people to have self-determination in their ancestral homeland.

Rather than supporting a specific administration or everything Israel does, “Zionism is Jewish self-determination,” Sara Yael Hirschhorn, visiting assistant professor in Israel studies at Northwestern University’s Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies, told me recently. “It’s co-signing that Israel should exist, that Jews have a right to self-determination no more or no less than any other nationality, that Jews are not only a religion but they’re also a people and a nation, that they have the right to have control over their own affairs, that their existence is not only predicated on being a minority in some other country.”

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[madaboutharry]

1. The narrative on Zionism was lost a very long time ago.

When I was in college, long before the author of this article was born, one day there were fliers posted all over the campus of UCLA with a nazi swastika imposed over a of a Star of David. The equation of Zionism = Nazism has been going on for decades, and sadly there is a point in leftist politics where this is the belief.

Not only does it demonstrate a complete lack of understanding of the principles of Zionism, it also seems to show an ignorant misunderstanding of Nazism.

No one cares where the truth lives anymore.

[JudyM]

2. This ought to be pinned on our Group page, IMO.

Thanks for posting it, BtA!