First anti zionist Jewish Congress attracts over 400 Jews from Europe, America and even Israel

Hundreds of Jewish intellectuals, scholars and activists joined with Palestinian human rights activists at the first anti zionist Jewish congress in Vienna, the birthplace of Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism. Among the participants were a number of Canadian Jews. Watch the CTIP interview with Sid Shnaid, member of Independent Jewish Voices Canada.…

The congress was convened by a “call” signed by over 100 Jewish activists around the world. An excerpt from the call is below, the full text can be found on the site of the Congress.

TEXT OF CALL

Join us at the First Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress
People of all backgrounds are invited to join and support this call

Vienna, June 13th-15th 2025

“The world watches in horror the unfolding genocide against the Palestinian people committed by Zionism in partnership with the West. It is our obligation as Jews to take action, as this is done in our name. We must join our Palestinian brothers and sisters in their darkest hour, and work for decolonising Palestine!

“Jews and people of Jewish descent everywhere – those whom the Zionist state claims to speak for – are coming together and uniting to declare the unwavering opposition to Zionism.

“Zionism is a crime against Judaism and the indigenous people of Palestine, and we are committed to putting an end to it. Over the years, it has been proven that Zionism, instead of protecting Jews, turned into a great danger by committing atrocious acts in the name of Jews and Judaism. Zionism claims the supremacy of Jews and thereby fully adopts the racist assumption inherent to antisemitism that insists on the “otherness” of Jews.

This first antizionist conference is a clear reference and bookend to the First Zionist Conference held in Basel Switzerland in 1897, chaired by Theodore Herzl himself. That conference adopted what was called the Basel Program, which set out the goal of the Zionist movement: “to establish a home in Palestine for the Jewish people”.

“At Basel, I founded the Jewish state”, said Herzl triumphantly in 1897,” predicting it would take 50 years. His words were prophetic as Israel was established in 1947 exactly 50 years later.

Time will tell how long it will now take to overcome Zionism and dismantle the Jewish State.

Program of the 2025 Antizionist conference in Vienna

Among the many speakers were a number of Jews who are well known for their anti zionist positions:

  • Ilan Pappe, Israeli author and historian
  • Professor Yakov Rabkin
  • Katie Halper, American journalist
  • Ronnie Barkan
  • Daniel Gluckstein

Well known Palestinians and other activists also spoke at the conference incuding:

  • Dr. Ramsay Baroud, Journalist
  • Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur
  • Ghadi Karma, Palelstinian author
  • Rima Hassan, Member of European Parliament

We interviewed an enthusiastic Sid Shniad from Vancouver on his impressions about the conference. Shniad told us about a follow up on line antizionist conference featuring Canadian Gabor Mate held on Thursday, July 24th.

Videos of all the speechs and panels during the 2 day program are available HERE. An excellent report is available on Mondoweiss here.

Canada Talks Israel Palestine (CTIP) is the weekly newsletter of the Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine (OFIP). It aims to promote a serious discussion in Canada about Canada’s response to the 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

5 comments

  1. Shniad’s endorsement is enough for me to be distrustful.Sent from my Bell Samsung device over Canada’s largest network.

    1. Hello M. Klein,
      I’m sorry you feel “distrustful”, and I’m sure Mr. Shniad will be disappointed too. Do you question whether such a conference took place? Or the claim that thre were hundreds of delegates? Do you question their enthusiasm? What exactly are you “distrustful” of? If you have contrary information, please feel free to share it.

      1. I obviously don’t deny this conference “took place” but was initially skeptical of its value. An endorsement by Shniad confirms those suspicions.Sent from my Bell Samsung device over Canada’s largest network.

      2. I am sure that many zionists feel/hope this will not be a harbinger of a larger development. A bookend, in some ways, to how non Zionist Jews hoped the first Zionist conference would not lead to anything. But, of course, it did.

  2. I found this video to be a very clear, putting forward a position that closely reflects where I’m at now on this question. The more we hear such clearly-explained material, the better we will be at defending what we know to be right with a clarity and humanity.

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