US News Metro Long Island Politics

Sports NFL MLB Olympics NBA NHL College Football College Basketball WNBA

Business Personal Finance

Entertainment TV Movies Music Celebrities Awards Theater

Lifestyle Weird But True Sex & Relationships Viral Trends Human Interest Parenting Fashion & Beauty Food & Drink Travel

Health Wellness Fitness Health Care Medicine Men’s Health Women’s Health Mental Health Nutrition

Science Space Environment Wildlife Archaeology

Today’s Paper Covers Columnists Horoscopes Crosswords & Games Sports Odds Podcasts Careers

Email Newsletters Official Store Home Delivery Tips

Switch between CA and NY editions here.

This Passover, call me a Zionist —and I’ll wear it as a badge of honor

Zionism has become a scarlet letter — a catch-all accusation hurled at protests, in classrooms and online to discredit rather than describe.

There’s no better time than this week to reflect on why.

During Passover, we celebrate Jews’ liberation from hundreds of years of enslavement in Egypt, followed by 40 years wandering in the desert.

That’s when the Jewish tribes adopted a political structure and received religious laws — acting as a nation even before they entered the Promised Land, today’s Israel.

It’s been the Jews’ ancestral home ever since, with roots going back more than 3,000 years, sustained by generations of Jewish life and pilgrimages to the Temple, the holiest site for Jews across the globe.

Celebrating Passover is an early expression of the Jewish attachment to a homeland that Zionism later formalized.

Julie Menin’s solid plan to fight mushrooming Jew-hate in New York

Campaigning Dems across the country are rejecting Israel to stand out from the progressive pack

Ex-student body president sues California college over alleged antisemitism

But in recent years the word has been transformed — bastardized into something hateful or violent.

Today, the label “Zionist” comes with a price.

And as a civil-rights advocate who works to combat antisemitism and protect the rights of Jewish people, I’ve been repeatedly asked whether I wish to deny that I am one.

Until now I’ve declined to say anything in response, for the same reason that some straight people decline to deny that they’re gay.

Because there’s nothing wrong with that, and why make it seem like there is?

But there’s another reason: It’s because I am a Zionist.

I’m a Zionist in a minimalist sense.

To some, Zionism is nothing more than the belief that Israel deserves to exist and defend itself.

It’s not a particularly inspiring sense of the term, but if that’s all it means, then it’s difficult to see why it’s controversial.

I’m a Zionist in a euphemistic sense.

To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr., the term “Zionist” is sometimes used as a stand-in for “Jew.”

I am a Jew, proudly, and pleased to be called a Zionist by those to whom the two terms are synonymous.

I’m a Zionist in a pejorative sense.

Increasingly, opponents on the far left deploy Zionism as a blanket condemnation.

If that’s how you use the term, count me in. 

I’m a Zionist in a religious sense.

Drawing from the Mizrachi movement, I view the flourishing of Israel as part of Jewish spirituality.

The return to Zion fulfills a promise, enables fuller performance of good deeds tied to the land, and positions the Jewish people to live out prophetic ideals of justice and holiness in a sovereign nation.

I’m a Zionist in a cultural sense.

Following the great philosopher Ahad Ha’am, I see the Jewish return to the ancestral homeland as essential to reviving and sustaining a vibrant, secular Jewish culture, rooted in Hebrew language, literature, history and ethical tradition.

Without a living center in Israel, Jewish identity faced pressures of dilution and assimilation in the diaspora.

I’m a Zionist in a political sense.

In the tradition of Theodor Herzl, I believe Jews, facing persistent antisemitism and exclusion, require sovereignty in their historic homeland to secure normal national existence, dignity and self-determination.

Herzl’s vision was a pragmatic response to persecution, a publicly recognized home where Jews could live as equals, not supplicants.

I’m a Zionist because I’m an American.

According to John Winthrop’s famous sermon, Americans aspire to be “as a city upon a hill.”

Winthrop called the new Massachusetts Bay Colony to be a moral exemplar, a model of charity and justice that would inspire the world — or, if it failed, become a cautionary tale.

In that sense, both the United States and Israel share an aspiration, however imperfectly realized, to model a society grounded in moral purpose. 

So call me a Zionist.

Do so as an insult if you must, or as a euphemism if you need, or as a cultural or religious observation.

Or call me a Zionist because we are Americans seeking the best for our nation.

Regardless of your reasoning, I will wear the title proudly.

Because what is being labeled “Zionism” today is not simply a set of views about Israel; it is increasingly a way of singling out Jews themselves.

We are repeatedly told that Jews cynically conflate antisemitism and anti-Zionism — even as synagogues in the United States are attacked, Jewish communities in the United Kingdom are surveilled and intimidated, and Jewish volunteer ambulance services are firebombed.

The same voices that insist “it’s not antisemitism, just anti-Zionism” are often the ones directing hostility at Jews in their own countries over Israel.

This is not merely a misunderstanding, it is a contradiction. 

Don’t fall for it: Join me.

Next year in Jerusalem.

Kenneth L. Marcus is chairman and CEO of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.

Michael Goodwin Democrats are revving up to raid New Yorkers pockets for freebies

Democrats are revving up to raid New Yorkers pockets for freebies

Michael Benjamin Mamdani's blatant disregard for the middle class has put him at odds with black New Yorkers

Mamdani's blatant disregard for the middle class has put him at odds with black New Yorkers

Cindy Adams New York City will always be the greatest — but scaffolding is a misery that nails me down

New York City will always be the greatest — but scaffolding is a misery that nails me down

Front Cover Back Cover

Trending Now on NYPost.com

This story has been shared 83,932 times. 83,932 Kristi Noem weighs in on report husband lives cross-dressing double life: 'The family was blindsided by this'

Kristi Noem weighs in on report husband lives cross-dressing double life: 'The family was blindsided by this'

This story has been shared 65,818 times. 65,818 7-month-old dead after being struck in the head by stray bullet during broad-daylight NYC shooting: cops

7-month-old dead after being struck in the head by stray bullet during broad-daylight NYC shooting: cops

This story has been shared 48,288 times. 48,288 How Kristi Noem's lover Corey Lewandowski is reacting to pics of her husband's cross-dressing fetish leak

How Kristi Noem's lover Corey Lewandowski is reacting to pics of her husband's cross-dressing fetish leak

Heather Graham reveals her shockingly low monthly mortgage for NYC penthouse

Stream It Or Skip It: 'Jo Nesbø's Detective Hole' On Netflix, Where A Troubled Detective Tracks Down A Serial Killer Who Is Terrorizing Oslo

Kristi Noem weighs in on report husband lives cross-dressing double life: 'The family was blindsided by this'

Sections & Features US News Metro World News Sports Sports Betting Business Opinion Entertainment Fashion & Beauty Shopping Lifestyle Real Estate Media Tech Science Health Travel Astrology Video Photos Alexa Covers Horoscopes Sports Odds Podcasts Crosswords & Games Columnists Classifieds

Post Sports+ Subscribe Articles Manage

Newsletters & Feeds Email Newsletters RSS Feeds NY Post Official Store Home Delivery Subscribe Manage Subscription Delivery Help

NY Post Official Store

Home Delivery Subscribe Manage Subscription

Help/Support About New York Post Editorial Standards New York Post Awards & Recognition Customer Service Apps Help Community Guidelines Contact Us Tips Newsroom Letters to the Editor Licensing & Reprints Careers Vulnerability Disclosure Program

New York Post Awards & Recognition

Contact Us Tips Newsroom Letters to the Editor Licensing & Reprints Careers Vulnerability Disclosure Program

Letters to the Editor

Vulnerability Disclosure Program

Apps iPhone App iPad App Android Phone Android Tablet

Advertise Media Kit Contact

© New York Post