Since 2017, up to 1.8 million people from the Uyghur ethnic minority have been kept in internment camps by the Chinese government. [2] Where are the stickers saying “Free Uyghuristan”? Why are Israelis scared to travel to Europe [3], but Chinese people are not expected to personally answer for their government?
The October 7th massacre of 1,300 Israelis — mostly civilians — was, proportional to Israel’s size, 15 times worse than 9/11. Almost everyone in Israel knew someone affected by it. Hamas officially promised as many further massacres as it could achieve — a promise widely seen on Israeli television[4]. Its official charter, quoting a religious hadith calling for wholesale slaughter of Jews, is explicitly genocidal.[5]
Gaza does not act alone. Its war infrastructure was largely paid for by Qatar and Iran. Iran’s dictatorial politics depend so heavily on scapegoating Israel that a prominent square in Tehran features a clock counting down to Israel’s destruction. [6]
This attitude is pervasive throughout the Arab world. Israel was attacked by a coalition of Arab states twice: at its founding in 1948, and again in 1967. After the 1967 war the Arab League passed a famous resolution: “No peace with Israel / no recognition of Israel / no negotiations with Israel.” Since then, brutal terrorism from Palestine, Yemen, and Lebanon has attempted to slowly wear Israel down.
Israel has strong reasons to believe it must fight to survive. It is a tiny country — roughly the size of New Jersey, or half the size of the Netherlands — and only around 1% of the size of the Arab world.
The Effect of Antizionism
Again and again since October 7, Jews and Israelis have been murdered throughout the world by people shouting “Free Palestine”.[7] Synagogues have been burned by pro-Palestinians and defaced with pro-Palestinian rhetoric.[8] While the phrase “Free Palestine” may seem harmless to some, the violence associated with it means that many Jews experience it as a hate slogan.
The popular slogan “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free” is often shown on bilingual posters next to the Arabic text “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Arab”.[9] In Arabic, the campaign for Palestine is openly a campaign to replace Israel with a theocratic state governed by sharia law. Neither Gaza nor the West Bank have Western-style freedoms: no democracy, no women’s rights, no LGBT rights, and no freedom of religion. For the two million Arab citizens of Israel who enjoy full citizenship and equal rights under the law, “From the River to the Sea” would mean losing their freedom on a grand scale.
Zionism is, as defined by Jews — the only people who have the right to define it — the belief that Jews have a right to national self-determination in their ancestral homeland.[10] Essentially: the idea that Jews should have a state. If you don’t think Israel should be wiped off the map, congratulations! You’re a Zionist.
In practice, Zionism is motivated far less by religion than by safety. Around 90% of Israeli Jews are refugees or the descendants of refugees. This includes Holocaust survivors, many of whom were forced to remain in concentration camps after WWII because no country would accept them. It also includes nearly a million Jews expelled from countries across the Arab world in violent pogroms over the last century.
Scapegoating Israel and Zionism demonstrably leads to violence against Jews — and even if that violence were only directed at Israelis, would that not also be racism? Israel is home to roughly half of the world’s Jews, and many diaspora Jews have close family or friends in Israel, as well as a religious and cultural connection to the land. Around 90% of diaspora Jews identify as Zionist.
You cannot hate Israel without hating Jews — and antisemites know it. Antizionism is the modern, socially acceptable mask for antisemitism.
Media Bias
There was a time when antisemitism was considered a respectable school of thought. It may seem difficult to understand how most Germans once became Nazis — but the point to understand here is that “Nazi” didn’t sound like “Nazi” back then!
Today, obsessive hostility towards Jews is laundered through the idea that there is a “good” Judaism and a “bad” Zionism. Media coverage maintains a laser-focus on Israel’s alleged crimes while omitting crucial context, making it appear as though Israel acts without cause. At the same time, the constant and flagrant crimes of Hamas receive far less scrutiny.
Most people agree that there are times when a war must, regrettably, be fought. If the media ignores Israel’s good reasons to believe that it must defend itself, then every regrettable civilian casualty appears to be a crime. But against a provably genocidal enemy like Hamas and the proxy system it is a part of, Israel must fight for survival.
During the Gaza war, Israel sent out millions of SMSs, phonecalls and leaflets to inform Gazan civilians of where they would strike, giving up the element of surprise. Although there are a few racists in Israel like in any country, the overall atmosphere is one of great compassion for Gazan civilians. Anti Israel activists will always find a racist to focus on. That doesn’t speak to the big picture, however.
There is a media war being waged against Israel — a tiny country created to defend the world’s most persecuted people. If you believe in social justice, support Israel.
I urge you to read HonestReporting’s responses to different instances of flagrant media bias: Fake Massacres, Skewed Stats & Misleading Claims: The 25 Lies The Media Told You About The October 7 War