Few concepts in public discourse about Israel and antisemitism generate as much confusion as “anti-Zionism.” This is especially true in the West. In Israel itself, other terms are often used instead, such as “Israel-hater,” “enemy of Israel,” or sometimes simply “antisemite.” In the West, by contrast, “anti-Zionism” has in recent years become a political identity in its own right. Some people are accused of it, while others proudly embrace the label.

Hovering over all of this is a question that has become one of the most central and contentious issues in contemporary discussions of antisemitism: Is anti-Zionism antisemitism? One could write an entire book about that question. Here, I would like to offer three more limited observations.

First observation: Not everyone who calls themselves an anti-Zionist is actually an anti-Zionist

It is worth beginning with the obvious, which nevertheless gets lost time and again: criticism of Israel is not anti-Zionism. Even very harsh criticism of Israel is not anti-Zionism. Opposition to the Israeli government is not anti-Zionism. Opposition to the settlements is not anti-Zionism. Support for the establishment of a Palestinian state is not anti-Zionism. Even waving a Palestinian flag is not, in itself, anti-Zionism.

One can believe that the Israeli government is pursuing destructive policies, that a particular war it is fighting is unjustified, that the occupation must end immediately, or that the Palestinians have suffered an ongoing historical injustice, and still believe that Israel has a right to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people. Such a person may be an extremely harsh critic of Israel, but is not an anti-Zionist.

Anti-Zionism begins somewhere else: with the rejection of the basic legitimacy of Zionism, meaning the rejection of the right of Jews to national self-determination in the Land of Israel, or opposition to the continued existence of Israel as a Jewish state. Anti-Zionism does not necessarily require burning hatred in an emotional sense. One can be a reasoned, dispassionate, thoroughly ideological anti-Zionist. The test is not how angry a person is at Israel, but what that person thinks about the legitimacy of the Zionist project and of Israel as a Jewish nation-state.

This creates a somewhat strange situation in both directions. On the one hand, people who are not anti-Zionists are labeled as such simply because they criticize Israel harshly. On the other hand, and no less interestingly, some people describe themselves as anti-Zionists, yet when asked what they actually mean, it turns out that they support a two-state solution, recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, and mainly want to bring about a fundamental change in its policies. One may disagree with them profoundly about Israel, but it is difficult to understand in what sense they are anti-Zionists.

Concepts matter. Not everything negative that can be said about Israel is anti-Zionism, and not everyone who wishes to identify with the anti-Zionist camp actually holds an anti-Zionist position in the full sense of the term.

Second observation: Anti-Zionism can be objectionable even when it is not antisemitic

Once we have defined anti-Zionism, another mistake emerges. Public discourse sometimes creates a kind of binary test: if we can prove that a particular form of anti-Zionism is antisemitic, then it is objectionable; if we cannot prove that, then it must be a legitimate political position with nothing inherently wrong with it.

But “not antisemitic” is not a certificate of approval. Not every objectionable position is antisemitic. Not every form of hatred is antisemitism. Not every form of nationalistic hostility is antisemitism. Likewise, anti-Zionism does........

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