Anti-Tzionism

Anti-, is a prefix used in the formation of compound words to insinuate being against or opposite to the literal interpretation of something.

Tsade, is is the eighteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, usually rendered as (z) in common English Bible translations, hence the spelling ‘Zion’ (rather than “Tzion”) an awkward transliteration of the Hebrew word. This convention apparently originates in German orthography, where (z) stands for the consonant (t?s) in pharyngeal articulation.

Tzion, is a place-name (meaning raised up; "highest point"), often used as a synonym for a pre-Israelite Canaanite name of the hill upon which a Jerusalemite neighborhood synonymous with ‘Jerusalem’ (generally referred to in poetic and prophetic literature as “Bat Tzion” transliterated as ‘Daughter of Zion’) was built, as well as for the ‘Land of Israel’ as a whole. The name as commonly translated, appears at least 157 times in the Hebrew Bible.

Tzionism, is an international movement originally for the establishment of a Jewish national or religious community in Palestine and later for the support of modern Israel. From 1897 to 1948, the primary goal of the Zionist movement was to establish the basis for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and thereafter to consolidate it.

Anti-Tzionism, is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of a modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish State in Mandatory Palestine—a region in-part coinciding with the biblical Land of Israel—was flawed or unjust in some way.

Jews criticizing or opposing Zionism have been predominantly from Orthodox Jewish sects and maintain that Israel can only be regained miraculously.

Until World War II, anti-Zionism was widespread among Jews for varying reasons. Orthodox Jews opposed Zionism on religious grounds, as pre-empting the Messiah, while many secular Jewish anti-Zionists identified more with ideals of the Enlightenment and saw Zionism as a reactionary ideology.

Opposition to Tzionism in the Jewish diaspora was surmounted only from the 1930s onward, as conditions for Jews deteriorated radically in Europe and, with the Second World War, the sheer scale of the Holocaust was felt.

Thereafter, Jewish anti-Tzionist groups generally either disbanded or transformed into pro-Tzionist organizations, though many groups, and bodies like the ‘American Council for Judaism’ (ACJ), conserved an earlier Reform tradition of rejecting Zionism, likewise the ‘Jewish Voice for Peace’ (JVP), established in 1996, calling itself as the "largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world".

While most ultra-Orthodox Jews oppose Zionism in some way, controversially, groups like ‘Neturei Karta’ (Guardians of the City) and the ‘Satmar Hasidim’ do not recognize the modern State of Israel...

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Food for thought!