These words are used a lot because of the war in Gaza and the support given to the Palestinians in recent weeks. But what do they mean precisely and how did they evolve? Dominique Vidal, journalist and historian, author of “Anti-Zionism = anti-Semitism?” answers questions from franceinfo.
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“Anti-Zionism today is the modern form of anti-Semitism,” said the journalist Anne Sinclair Monday April 29, on France 5 when she was invited to react to pro-Palestinian student demonstrations, at Sciences Po in particular. “I never would have thought that all these young people would be so anti-Semitic”for his part declared Élisabeth Badinter on April 26 on France 5 always about the mobilization of Sciences Po students. But what exactly do the terms anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism mean? Are we talking about the same thing? Franceinfo interviewed Dominique Vidal, journalist and historian, author of Anti-Zionism = anti-Semitism?.
franceinfo: What is the difference between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism?
Dominique Vidal: Anti-Semitism is racism against Jews. There are significant roots in France historically, since this is what actually motivated the Dreyfus affair. Anti-Zionism is the refusal or criticism of Theodor Herzl’s idea in 1896 of campaigning for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. When we look at history, until 1939, the vast majority of anti-Zionists were Jews. In fact, anti-Zionism is a Jewish movement opposed to Zionism. There are several reasons for this. The most important is the idea that Judaism is first and foremost a religion and that a religion is not a nation, it is not a people. For the ultra-Orthodox, there cannot be a Jewish state until the Messiah arrives.
Has there been an evolution of anti-Zionism over the years?
Obviously yes. The change is not new. It dates from the Second World War where the terrible genocide organized by the Nazis created a completely new situation, including in Palestine, since the Zionist movement obviously found a tragic legitimacy there, which at the time pushed the United Nations to vote on a partition plan, therefore to vote so that there is a Jewish state and an Arab state in Palestine. We know what happened next: the Jewish State was born, but not the Arab State and its territory was divided. So the situation was different from an international point of view. There was support from the international community for the idea of creating not just one Jewish state, but two states.
Then there is another very important thing that cannot be overlooked, and that is the fact that there were approximately 300,000 Holocaust survivors who were grouped together in the so-called camps at the time. “displaced people”. Most of them did not want or could not return to their countries, particularly to Poland and Central Europe where anti-Semitism remained extremely strong. They wanted to go live in the United States, but the Americans had adopted laws severely restricting immigration since the 1930s. So most of these displaced people ultimately responded to the call of the Zionist organizations who took them to Palestine and then to Israel.
Which means that today, for example, we cannot say that the anti-Zionists such as they exist are for the disappearance of the State of Israel. This is nonsense. They are for a transformation of the State of Israel, no longer into a State of the Jewish people, but into a State of all its citizens, such that all Israeli citizens can live in equality.
What do you think of the speeches which assert that being anti-Zionist is necessarily being anti-Semitic?
It exists. But tracing this equality seems to me to be a form of historical illiteracy. As I said, anti-Zionism is first and foremost a Jewish movement and it was, in its harshest formulation, developed until the Second World War but not after. It is dangerous to put an equal sign between the two, in the sense that there is no offense of opinion in France, in French law. It does not exist. To condemn anti-Zionism is to create a violation of French constitutional law. Or we also condemn anti-communism or anti-Gaullism. It all doesn’t make sense.
However, we can obviously criticize Israel’s policy, for example at the moment in Gaza, without necessarily saying that we are anti-Zionist. You don’t have to be anti-Russian to criticize Putin’s policies. We are in two different registers in my opinion. On the other hand, obviously, there are a certain number of people who are known for their anti-Semitic or negationist theses, I am thinking of Alain Soral or Dieudonné, and who use the term “anti-Zionism” to hide their anti-Semitism. This is a real problem that all those who declare themselves anti-Zionists should ask themselves. Of course, there are anti-Semites who hide behind anti-Zionism.
But above all there is a change in the nature of anti-Zionism. Until 1939, anti-Zionism was in the majority among the world’s Jews, very widely. Zionism was a very minority movement until the war. So at the time, for example, Sigmund Freud made comments and wrote anti-Zionist texts, that is to say opposed to the idea of creating a Jewish state. Albert Einstein is the same thing. This type of thinking was obviously modified by the creation of the State of Israel, that is to say, no one, to my knowledge, is today proposing that we dissolve the State of Israel. We can imagine sanctioning it for its violations of international law, but not destroying it. Today, anti-Zionism consists of advocating equality in national, individual and religious rights for all inhabitants of Palestine. I know people who possibly regret that the State of Israel came into being in the conditions in which it did, that is to say where there was not a second State as planned – because basically , all these conflicts are about the rights of the Palestinians – but we can be for the rights of the Palestinians without being against those of the Israelis, obviously.