On November 10th, 1975, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 3379, determining that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination“. After intense lobbying by the USA, it was revoked 16 years later by Resolution 46/86, adopted on 16 December 1991. But political developments in Israel and its brutal attack on Gaza have revived the discussion. Read more…
The South African submission to the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide was in part supported by a shocking compilation of statements by senior Israeli political and military leaders showing genocidal intent based on racial differentiation. The Court itself cited some of these in determining that Israel is committing “plausible genocide” in Gaza.
- Prime Minister Netanyahu: “we’re facing monsters… (…) this is a battle against barbarians, it’s a battle of civilization against barbarism”.
- President Herzog: “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. (…) we will fight until we break their backbone.” (The Israeli President is one of many Israelis to have handwritten ‘messages’ on bombs to be dropped on Gaza.)
- Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, announcing a complete siege of Gaza, “No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. We are fighting human animals”
- Israeli Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu: “The north of the Gaza Strip, more beautiful than ever. Everything is blown up and flattened, simply a pleasure for the eyes …
Even more disturbing is the information that racist ideas and the genocidal actions they try to justify are now widely supported in Israel. And any questioning is brutally suppressed.
Within five weeks of October 7th, 110 postsecondary students were facing disciplinary actions, including expulsion, for challenging Israel’s genocidal attack on on social media platforms. More than 90 Palestinian citizens of Israel had been fired, demoted or suspended from their jobs, and over 250 people arrested. All with strong encouragement from the relevant government ministers and senior administrators.
Recent polling indicates that Jewish Israelis strongly support such draconian actions. Two-thirds (68%) oppose the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza, even via international bodies not linked to UNRWA. Only 3% feel that the IDF is using too much force in Gaza, while 43% believe it’s using too little force.
Meanwhile, over 40% of Arab Israelis are afraid of being arrested.
The descent of Israeli society into open expressions of barbaric racism, while still mostly overlooked by the international media, comes as no surprise to locals or to close observers.
U.S. presidents and other world leaders who objected to the “Zionism is racism” resolution back in 1974, would have trouble finding convincing arguments against it today, noted Haaretz columnist Zvi Bar’el in December, who pointed out that :
- Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister is a disciple of Meir Kahane and a former convicted terrorist
- Orit Strock, another cabinet minister claims that doctors can refuse to provide treatment that violates their strict religious beliefs;
- Bezalel Smotrich, minister of finance is horrified at the idea of his wife sharing a hospital room with an Arab woman. Smotrich recently told Israeli Arabs, “You’re here by mistake, because Ben-Gurion didn’t finish the work in 1948 and throw you out”.
These racists were chosen by Israelis in free elections. Not only do they hold key cabinet portfolios in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, but reflect the country’s character, dictate the boundaries of legitimate debate and shape the coming generations through the education system and the government funding they will control.
“They are the founding fathers of the new Zionism, which is racist, primitive and sees democratic values as a historical mistake unsuited to a true Jewish state. They are entrenching a cowardly, panicked Zionism that sees gays and lesbians as an existential threat and minorities as superfluous populations.“, concluded columnist Zvi Bar’el, in December 2023.
For a long time Canadians and Americans were ready to believe that this kind of racist thinking was relegated to Israel’s “extremists’, not representative of most Israelis. We were told, and clung to the reassuring fiction, that “most” Israelis were in favour of allowing the Palestinians to have a state of their own, for example. In fact, nearly two-thirds (63%) of Jewish Israelis oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state.
2022 – the year racism inherent in Zionism gets international attention
But the election of the most right wing Israeli government in history in 2022 – and the explosion of expansionist settler activity in the west bank brought to outsiders a triple understanding:
- Zionism as practiced in Israel is predicated on the racist idea that Jews have more rights to the land than do Palestinians
- Zionism is widely supported across Jewish Israeli society – with very few opponents, and
- Zionists in Israel are prepared to use extreme violence to expand their territory and ensure their domination, including murder and even genocide
The aggressive nature of zionism, long invisible to western eyes, has now become overt. It is so much a characteristic of Israeli society that any form of sympathy for Palestinians is automatically denounced as “antisemitic”. Ha’aretz, the only liberal publication left in Israel reported recently that it has become impossible to even mention the occupation on Israeli television.
So… Is Zionism racist??
“We must expel Arabs and take their place. (…) if we are compelled to use force (…) in order to guarantee our right to settle there – our force will enable us to do so.” – Ben Gurion, October 5, 1937
There are many different variations on Zionism. “Cultural Zionism”. “Liberal Zionism”. “Religious Zionism”. even “Christian Zionism”. Different people may define their Zionism different ways, some of which are quite benign.
But the Zionism practiced by the State of Israel since its founding in 1947 has not been benign. It has been based on racial differentiation and a forced displacement of non-Jews in favour of Jewish Israelis who claim to have more right to the land. It continues to this day in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. No wonder the debate has been reignited.
Canada Talks Israel Palestine (CTIP) is the weekly newsletter of Peter Larson, Chair of the Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine (OFIP). It aims to promote a serious discussion in Canada about Canada’s response to the complicated and emotional Israel/Palestine issue with a focus on the truth, clear analysis and human rights for all. Readers with different points of view are invited to make comment.
Want to learn more about us? Go to Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine.ca
Canada Talks Israel/Palestine 
Absolutely nailed it, Peter! Thank you.
If memory serves, Resolution 3379 revocation in 1991 was a “sine qua none” condition posed by #APARTHEID #israel to accept seating at the table and participate in Madrid talks that later lead to the Oslo Accords. And was heavily pushed by the US since Resolution 3379 was backed by the Soviet Union & Arab League.
In my opinion, the revocation was a blatant error since zionism is BASED in “hafrada”, the israeli varation of #APARTHEID since its early days of “Hebrew Labor” in the 1920’s. zionism is predicated on the concept that Jews have MORE rights than Palestinians and this supremacy of rights is inherently anti-Palestinian RACISM.
All the mainstream Jewish organizations have worked for years – successfully – to plant the indissoluble unity of Judaism and Israel in the public mind. Now, when people blame Jews in general for what Israel is doing, they call it antisemitism.