Speaking about Zionism is considered controversial in today’s political climate. The antisemitic label is thrown out relatively easily whenever anyone dares to criticize the state of Israel, conflating the Israeli government with the Jewish religious identity. This blog post will focus on defining Zionism and analyzing the ways Israel continues the Zionist project through some of its current laws that enhance the apartheid state.

Zionism was born out of a desire to maintain a “cohesive group identity” for Jews who were often excluded from the newly emerging national bodies of European nations in the 19^th century.[1] Founded by Theodor Herzl, Zionism advocated for the “establishment of a modern, European homeland for Jews” that would serve as a “refuge for a persecuted people…”[2] The idea sought to eradicate antisemitism[3] from this land, and free the Jewish people.[4] Zionism demanded a location to establish this new homeland. Although Argentina and East Africa were both considered, the dream location was the Holy Land of Palestine. Not only did Zionists consider “the area known as Palestine” their homeland[5], but they deemed the Palestinian people living there to be expendable. As one of Israel’s Prime Ministers stated in the 60s, “Zionism demands… the dowry, not the bride.”[6] In other words, Zionists wanted the land of Palestine without any Palestinians existing on it.[7] 

In his manifesto, The Jewish State, Herzl refers to Palestinians as barbarians.[8] Zionist theorist Ze’ev Jabotinski, referring to Palestinians as the “Arab race” needing to be colonized in order to create the Israeli state, stated that “[c]ulturally they are five hundred years behind us” and that “[t]hey have neither our endurance nor our determination.”[9] Even when faced with opposition, Herzl insisted that Zionism would benefit Palestinians because the property, honor, and freedom of those of different faiths would be protected.[10] But in order for Zionism to succeed, Zionists had to adopt the “European settler colonial thinking…”[11] Not only did Zionists talk about conquering the land[12], but they even compared the existence of Israel to a European colony, much like “the British presence in India.”[13] With this mentality, Israel was created by depopulating Palestine through ethnic cleansing, the prevention of the return of stateless refugees, the destruction of towns and villages, and the appropriation of Palestinian property.[14] For Zionism to succeed in its creation of a Jewish nation state, it needed a “terra nullius”, or a land without a people.[15] By the systematic separation of Palestinians from their homes, the destruction of ancient villages and olive groves, and the massacre of Palestinian people, Zionism attempts to make this land without a people a reality. 

The practice of Zionism is not confined to the history of its foundation and the creation of Israel. Rather, it is alive and well through the systematic establishment of “an apartheid state where Jews claim more rights than others.”[16] Amnesty International has declared Israel an apartheid state, claiming that it has “laws, policies and practices” in place that maintain “a cruel system of control over Palestinians, have left them fragmented geographically and politically, frequently impoverished, and in a constant state of fear and insecurity.” First used to refer to the political system in place in South Africa that disenfranchised Black South Africans, apartheid is now used to describe any system that “explicitly enforce[s] segregation and the domination and oppression of one racial group by another.”[17] Apartheid is considered a violation of international law and a crime against humanity.[18] Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (“Rome Statute”), the crime of apartheid involves inhumane acts committed as part of “an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination” by one racial group over another.[19] The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (“Apartheid Convention”) similarly defines the crime of apartheid.[20] Both the Statute and the Convention list several inhumane acts that fall under the category of apartheid, including the purposeful imposition on members of a particular racial group “of living conditions calculated to cause… their physical destruction in whole or in part”, any legislative measures with the purpose of preventing a particular racial group from taking part in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country, any legislative measures that divide the population along racial lines, the deportation or forcible transfer of a particular group of people, and the persecution against any particular group of people on the basis of politics, race, nationality, ethnicity, culture, religion, or gender.[21]

According to Adalah’s[22] Discriminatory Laws Database, there are more than 60 laws in place that actively discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel[23], strengthening the apartheid state and reinforcing the Zionist project. The Absentee’s Property Law (APL), enacted in 1950, provided for the permanent expropriation of property left by Palestinian refugees after they were forced out of their land during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[24] Not only did this law successfully extend Jewish control over Palestinian land, but it also made it virtually impossible for Palestinian refugees to return because they had nowhere to go back to.[25] APL deemed anyone who abandoned their home an “absentee”, including those who stayed in Israel but left their homes, thus creating the “present absentee.”[26] APL directly laid the foundation of Israel’s apartheid system, and displaced 750,000 Palestinians as a result of the war.[27] According to legal geographer Sandy Kedar, about 40-60% of Palestinian land was expropriated through APL.[28] One estimate says that between 1948 and 1953, 350 of the 370 Jewish towns were built on expropriated Palestinian land.[29] In 2015, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld the APL as applied to properties located in East Jerusalem, but owned by Palestinians in the West Bank.[30] Through APL, Israel has not only secured the domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians both within Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT)[31], but has forcibly displaced Palestinians “without grounds permitted under international law”, a plain violation of the Rome Statute and the Apartheid Convention.

 Another law, the Land Acquisition for Public Purposes Ordinance, facilitates the confiscation of Palestinian-owned land by claiming the land is being taken for public purposes.[32] Amendment 10 guarantees state ownership of the land even if it is not being used “for the original purpose for which it was confiscated…”, in order to prevent Palestinian citizens of Israel from suing to reclaim their stolen land.[33] The Amendment includes two important provisions: the state does not have to use the land for the original purpose for which it was confiscated for 17 years, and citizens cannot demand a return of the land because it was not used for the purpose for which it was confiscated if more than 25 years have passed or if ownership was passed to a third party.[34] This Amendment, passed in 2010, bypassed a 2001 precedential Israeli Supreme Court decision stating that authorities were obligated to return confiscated land that was not being used for the original purpose for which it was confiscated.[35] Amendment 10 contributes to the forced displacement of Palestinians from the land in which they were once lawfully present, a clear infraction of the Rome Statute.[36]

The Admissions Committee Law, passed in 2011, enables the exclusion of Palestinian applicants for residency “who don’t meet vague ‘social suitability’ standards.”[37] These admissions committees are present in approximately 700 “agricultural and community towns inside Israel”, and actively contribute to the inequality in land access Palestinian citizens are subjected to.[38] Admissions committees are in direct breach of the Rome Statute’s persecution provision, which includes the targeting of a particular group based on racial, national, or ethnic grounds, i.e., the deprivation of Palestinian’s right to residence.[39]

In tandem with these laws, there are also discriminatory planning policies in place that make it difficult for Palestinians “to build or expand their homes or the boundaries of their towns.”[40] Israel requires Palestinians to obtain a permit in order “to build or even erect a structure…”, but rarely grants them permits.[41] As a result, Palestinians build their homes without permits, and these homes are subsequently demolished by the Israeli government.[42] This creates a situation where Palestinians are once again forced to leave their homes, and the Jewish settlement continues to expand.[43] These discriminatory policies delineate a clear racial divide in which Palestinian citizens are relegated to “densely populated towns and villages that have little room to expand”, all the while the Israeli government actively supports the growth and expansion of Jewish communities, most likely “built on the ruins of Palestinian villages destroyed in 1948.”[44] Further, these policies directly lead to the “creation of separate reserves and ghettos” for Palestinians, a clear violation of the Apartheid Convention.[45]

There are also laws in place that discriminate in family reunification and immigration[46], an unequivocal infringement of the Apartheid Convention’s prohibition of any legislative measures that prevent any racial group from participating in the social and cultural life of the country.[47] The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, enacted by the Knesset[48] in 2003, “denies the right to acquire Israeli residency or citizenship status to Palestinians” from the OPT, even if they marry Israeli citizens.[49] This law clearly targets Palestinian citizens, since most of the Israeli citizens who “marry residents of the Palestinian territories are Palestinian citizens…”[50] Further, it forces Palestinian citizens to choose between leaving Israel or living apart from their spouses and families.[51] This law further legitimizes the apartheid state by denying Palestinians their right to freedom of association and reinforces their geographic fragmentation.

Lastly, the Jewish Nation State Law of 2018[52] clearly illustrates the aims of Zionist ideology. The three main parts are as follows: the right of national self-determination is reserved for Jewish citizens only, Hebrew is the sole official state language (when before, both Hebrew and Arabic were official state languages), and expanding Jewish settlement is committed as a national value whose establishment and consolidation Israel will encourage and promote.[53] This law can be understood as the amalgamation of Zionist ideology, enabling a system of segregation against Palestinians that facilitates the domination of Jewish Israelis. Further, it violates both the Rome Statute and the Apartheid Convention by denying Palestinians both their right against forced displacement through the promotion of Jewish settlement and their right to nationality.

At its inception, Zionism was not the answer to solve antisemitism, and it certainly is not the answer now. By promoting the second-class treatment of Palestinians in Israel and the OPT, Zionists are ignoring their own Jewish history of oppression.[54] Opposing the Zionist policies in Israel that purposely target Palestinians and create a racial hierarchy is the morally sound position. It is not antisemitic to be anti-Zionist because anti-Zionism rejects “Jewish separatism and nationalism – specifically through the colonial creation of a Jewish nation-state in Palestine – as a solution to the problem of antisemitism.”[55] By conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism, Israel is shielded from valid criticism of its racist policies and the erasure of the Palestinian experience.