Zionism ≠ Judaism

Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro, who is the rabbi of a congregation in Queens, New York, explains the relationship between Judaism and Zionism, and sets out the basis of the Orthodox rejection of Jewish nationalism and the Jewish State. First, he defines the Jewish people as being a religious community as opposed to an ethnic or linguistic grouping. He then goes on to explain how Zionism was built on a self-loathing of Judaic piety, an atheistic nationalism, whose very secularism negates the claim to a promised land, and a Christian Zionist eschatology that predates the Jewish Zionist movement. Rabbi Shapiro shows how contemporary antisemitism is sustained by its tethering to antizionism and helps explain the West’s unwavering support of Israel, even as this support approaches complicity in genocide. As of November 9 (07:30 GMT), it is estimated that 10,812 Gazans (including 4,412 children and 2,918 women) have been killed in the ongoing Israeli invasion.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-and-charts-live-tracker

Jewish Voice for Peace

According to Al Jazeera, hundreds of Jewish activists occupied the Statue of Liberty on 7th Nov 2023, to demand a ceasefire in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. They unfurled banners including one that proclaimed NEVER AGAIN FOR ANYONE, while wearing black T-shirts bearing the slogans Jews Demand Ceasefire Now and Not in our Name. Anyone, regardless of which side of this conflict they belong, who conflates Jews with Zionists and antizionists with antisemites is, at best, deeply mistaken.

Image composited from: https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2023/11/7/jewish-new-yorkers-occupy-statue-of-liberty-to-demand-gaza-ceasefire