Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November/December 2026, p. 36
Two Views: Conflating Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism
By Caitlin Johnstone
THE MORE THE WORLD hates Israel, the more we get told that “anti-Semitism” is some worldwide prejudice baked into every facet of our society like misogyny or white supremacy. Most non-Jews spend very little time thinking about Jews and Judaism (and spent even less prior to 2023), but we’re now being told that this is actually a massive condition which affects us all in ways we might not be fully conscious of.
And it’s so funny because, like, I know my own thoughts and feelings. I know I rarely thought about Jewishness at all until a live-streamed genocide began and people started calling me an anti-Semite for opposing it. And the same is true of the overwhelming majority of non-Jews throughout our society. We all know we don’t “hate Jews” or have any special feelings about them one way or the other, but we’re being aggressively told to believe this is a major problem we all have.
We’re being told to disbelieve our own knowledge of our own thoughts and feelings, and trust that there is actually something closeted deep inside us which secretly hates the members of a small Abrahamic faith. It’s a really obnoxious form of gaslighting, if you think about it. It’s not OK to do that to people.
The best way to dispel your belief that anti-Semitism is a major problem in our society is to go online and publicly oppose well-documented Israeli atrocities. The people in your replies will explain to you that what you are doing is what’s meant by the word “anti-Semitism.”
Here’s what would need to change for me to believe anti-Semitism is a major threat that needs to be taken seriously:
- “Anti-Semitism” would have to stop meaning “criticism of a genocidal apartheid state,” which is what Israel supporters have caused that word to mean by constantly accusing Israel’s critics of anti-Semitism.
- I would need to see some actual, tangible reason to believe Jews are disadvantaged and discriminated against in our society in ways that are comparable to actual marginalized groups.
- Anti-Semitism watchdog groups would need to stop pumping up their numbers on reported incidents of anti-Semitism by classifying instances of pro-Palestine speech as “anti-Semitic incidents.”
- Zionist Jews would need to stop getting caught faking anti-Semitic hate crimes— an extensively documented phenomenon which is indisputably happening.
- The push to “combat anti-Semitism” would need to stop manifesting as a push to stomp out pro-Palestine speech.
- Israel would have to stop doing things likely to foment actual anti-Semitism, like committing genocide under the banner of the Star of David.
Change these six things, then get back to me.
Jewish Zionists are always going “I was hate crimed, someone screamed ‘Heil Hitler’ at my synagogue,” but whenever they post actual video footage of an “anti-Semitic incident” it’s always something like an angry Israeli filming a Burger King employee telling them “Free Palestine!”
This nonsense is getting a thousand times more energy and attention than it should.
Caitlin Johnstone is a crowd-funded journalist, essayist, poet, artist and digital street philosopher based in Melbourne, Australia. Along with her soulmate Tim Foley, she creates inspiring and seditious anti-establishment content for evolutionary revolution.
