Ditching the word “Zionist”

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Way back on episode three of being

Jewish I urged you all to stop using the

word anti-Semitism because I feel the

confusion around its meaning is

hindering Us in the fight against

anti-bigotry not helping well I'm back

again with another ubiquitous term that

I think we need to put out to pasture

and it's not for the reason you think

I'll give you two seconds to shout out

guess and then like Dora the Explorer

I'll respond to you as if I heard you

ready

go that's right it is Zionist

AI yes I think the term Zionist is a

dead weight dragging us down and holding

us back but before we can get into why I

want to ditch it let's define it simply

put a Zionist is one who believes in

Zionism which is essentially a Jewish

nationalist movement the belief that the

Jewish people who are not a random

religious group but a single tribe going

back thousands of years should have the

right to their own state where they have

self-determination and thus safety from

the whims of another ruling Society in

some part of the ancestral Homeland to

which Jews are indigenous and have had a

continuous

presence that's a lot to pack into a

single term which may be fine for a deep

academic dive or a highlevel

well-informed discussion but it's not

suitable for the everyday vernacular of

a society accustomed to communicating

with emojis and encapsulating Big Ideas

in 140 characters or less like the word

anti-Semitism Zionist is too opaque

takes too much talking to explain

requires a deep well of understanding

that it's unreasonable to expect the

world to have when we're talking about a

nationalistic movement for 2% of the

global population in fact according to

an October 2024 survey conducted by

Jewish Think Tank boundless Israel just

onethird of the American public was even

familiar with the word at all tough to

correctly Define something you've never

heard of similarly again like the word

anti-Semitism Zionist is Tangled Up in

its historical Roots try to discuss its

definition and you'll be drowned out by

shoutings of herzo or the world Zionist

Congress or some quote from a news

article from the

1930s it's not that those things are not

related or unimportant to a complete

understanding of the terms Origins

they're just not gerine to the way the

word is being tossed around today in

casual convers ation public discourse

and anti-israel

demonstrations now I would assume that

most of you think the main reason I feel

the way I do about this term is because

of how completely and horrifically it

has been co-opted by anti-israel and

anti-jew haters it isn't the reason but

the fact remains that countless bigots

Andor ignorant westerners have

conveniently dispensed with the word's

true meaning and substitute it for one

of several they've conjured up on their

own most obviously and most egregiously

ly Zionist has been weaponized and

transformed into a derogatory term for a

Jew whether we're actually talking about

Israel or not now what's important to

note here is the intent because it is

true that by far the majority of Jews

we're talking 85 to 90% around the world

are zionists and why wouldn't they be of

course most Jews believe in the Jewish

nationalist movement for safety and

self-determination to do otherwise is

undoubtedly self-injurious no matter how

much one may intellectualize it to

actively root against the

self-determination of a people is by

definition to be acting against the

interests of those people whether those

are some other people or your own but

when the term is used now is certainly

not meant as a benign standin for Jewish

people for one thing Jewish people have

never asked to be identified this way

Jews are Jews so for people who are

against the Jewish nationalist movement

to be the ones so doggedly using the

term belies its malice secondly they've

even got a catchy nickname for it zos

because it's 2025 and to use any words

full length is totally sus but Jokes

Aside you don't nickname a group you're

antagonizing as a display of affection

we've been called Hees and yids and

all abbreviated terms none of them

friendly thirdly some have tick to using

the term zis which is a perfect example

of Highly racist anti you inversion a

concept I dug into in episode 8 and also

I think it's safe to say that any term

you can slide the word Nazi in or out of

without changing its intended meaning is

not meant to be very

friendly so why do the haters use these

terms in this way because it allows them

to talk as much as they want about

Jews without having to use the word Jew

that's it gives them probable

deniability amongst the rest of the

uninformed and or jew-hating public it

may have meant Jews it may be using a

word that includes nearly every Jew on

Earth and they may very openly despise

Jews but since they didn't actually say

the word Jews the burden of proof now

falls on the Jews

themselves similarly another incorrect

meaning the haters have ascribed to the

term Zionist is Israeli well it is

indeed true that like 99% of Israelis

believe that their own country should

exist it is not a simple substitute nor

one Israelis have asked for the danger

here is that such substitution allows

haters to paint Israel as something

nefarious untrustworthy and detached

from normal Humanity it's not the

democratically elected Israeli

government it's the Zionist regime it's

not Israeli missiles in defense of

Israeli civilians it's Zionist weapons

if they wanted to say Israeli they'd say

Israeli but again it's the intent that

matters and the intention here is

demonization referring to anything

Israeli by this other term to which

they've ascribed an ominous negative

connotation is done with purposeful and

calculated ill

intent yet another bogus definition is

that to be a Zionist is to be part of or

stand with BB netanyahu's current

government specifically obviously

supporting Israel in no way means you

agree with every single thing its

government does I'm a big supporter of

America and certainly don't agree with

every single thing my government does

and never have nobody does And yet when

it comes to Israel instead of

criticizing the government like we do

for every other country which is by

singling out a specific political party

Administration individual or even the

nation itself haters just call the whole

thing Zionist thereby obfuscating the

word's meaning and heaping more negative

associations upon it which only buries

the truth even further and because we've

now lumped all Jews all Israelis and

BB's government under a single umbrella

anybody who stands by Israel in any way

is in the mind of the hater someone who

supports BB's government in every way

which is completely unfair and in

acccurate whether you support him or not

but still dear friends I've not yet

explained my primary reason for

believing we should dispense with this

ball and chain of a word for me the

issue is not the word's definition or

misappropriation but the detrimental way

in which the word frames the entire

conversation around Israel itself Israel

became an independent nation in 1948 and

since that faithful day the Jews have

had self-determination and safety in

terms of their place with in their own

Society on some portion of the land to

which they are indigenous they have

successfully defended that Nation from

genocidal enemies on numerous occasions

and somehow also found time to become a

thriving pluralistic liberal Society

with Untold life-changing contributions

to the fields of Technology medicine and

Science and more NASDAQ listed companies

than any country in the World Behind the

US and China friends we no longer need a

term to describe someone who believes

the state of Israel should exist as the

Jewish homeland because the state of

Israel as the Jewish homeland already

exists as Theodore Herzel the father of

the Zionist movement once wrote Inu Enzo

a if you will it it is no fairy tale

Israel is no fairy tale it is there in

all its glory for everyone to see and

it's not going

anywhere why then do we continue to play

the game of those who want to see it

destroyed it reminds me of the pro-life

proo CH nomenclature topic Patricia heon

and I got into in a prior episode people

who support a woman's right to choose

are not anti lifee but that's the way

they've allowed the frame around them to

be drawn in any context we should never

allow those who fundamentally disagree

with us to describe who we are and what

we believe I'm an American who lives in

America I don't continue to call myself

a colonial Rebel centuries after our

independence Was Won history is in the

past there's no changing it Israel is

here and it ain't going anywhere and

look of course I realize that mine is a

Don kotes pursuit of the unachievable

the word is too ubiquitous and too

convenient a shorthand for one who loves

and supports Israel to be ditched by the

entire world but I would argue that if

you support and love Israel you should

Define yourself as a supporter and lover

of Israel not as someone who believes

Israel should exist when in fact it

already has for almost 77 years by

continuing to defend the right to exist

of a place that already exists we are

insinuating that we accept a paradigm

where the possibility of non-existence

is on the

table that at some point with enough

fighting or bullying or convincing we'll

go yeah I guess you're right let's tear

it all down kick everybody out Pretend

This Never Happened not existing is not

an option so we must stop defining

ourselves by a term that implies it

is Zionist is our word which means it is

ours to retire so please join me in the

present in reality with the complicated

and beautiful country of Israel exists

and always will because for the first

time we Jews are in charge of Our Own

Destiny and that's something that will

never be undone no matter what you call us