What does zionist mean in the bible

However, critics of anti-Zionists point out that sometimes particularly harsh criticism of Israel goes further than disagreement with policies, but rather denies the right of the Jewish state to exist. Speaking on The Daily Politics, the former London Mayor said: "Don't confuse anti-Semitism with criticism of the Israeli government policy and treatment of the Palestinians.

It's a debate around which emotions run high. It's also obviously true that being a Zionist and being Jewish are not the same thing. There are Zionist critics of Israeli government policies, such as the occupation of the West Bank, the route of the separation barrier which Israel is building in and around the West Bank and which it says is for security against Palestinian attackers, though Palestinian supporters see it as a device to grab land and the building of settlements.

Equally, there was Jewish opposition to the Zionist movement, which sought to establish a Jewish homeland, long before the state of Israel was declared in Today fringe ultra-Orthodox groups such as Neturei Karta oppose the state of Israel because they believe the true Jewish state will only be established with the coming of the Messiah. Likewise, some make the point that Zionism is a political project supported by plenty of non-Jews, including Western governments and many US evangelical Christians.

But it's been widely argued that the term "Zionist" has, in some circles, become a code word for "Jew" and that bigotry against Jewish people has been expressed using the language of anti-Zionism.

Khadim Hussain, a former Lord Mayor of Bradford, was suspended from Labour after he shared a Facebook post that referred to "the six million Zionists that were killed by Hitler". Nevertheless, it remains true that, in the Old Testament, God commands the Jewish state in the land of Israel to come into being through warfare and violent dispossession of the original inhabitants.

We need hardly say that this comes against a background where every day the Israeli settler movement is grabbing more land in the West Bank and Jerusalem there are now , Israeli settlers in the West Bank alone — aided, abetted, funded and empowered by the current Israeli government — and throwing or forcing more and more Palestinians out, in so many different ways that it would take volumes to describe.

It entails, in the Old Testament itself, a Covenant between God and a Chosen People regarding a Promised Land that should be taken by force at the expense of the other inhabitants of the land and of non-Jews. This idea is not present as such in other religions that we know of. This is a reasonable demand, and it may allay the fears of Jewish Israelis about becoming a minority in Israel, and at the same time not arouse fears among Palestinians and Arabs about being ethnically cleansed in Palestine.

Sari Nusseibeh. Published On 30 Sep More from Author. Most Read. From this it emerges that all the big ideological, political, security and social questions over which we do battle day and night have nothing to do with Zionism. They are similar to the questions that many other peoples, past and present, have had to struggle with, and still struggle with. Hebrew is rich enough to endow every position or action with the appropriate word. An Israel Defense Forces officer who serves in the standing army for many years after his compulsory service, for example, is no greater Zionist than the kiosk owner eking out a livelihood, though we would certainly see him as a greater patriot.

A person who volunteers to help needy children is no more a Zionist than a stockbroker, although he may be a greater humanitarian. To be a Zionist is not a badge of honor, or a medal a person wears on his chest. Medals are connected to actions, not to support of the Law of Return. Nor is there any connection between the size of the country and Zionism. If the Arabs had accepted the partition plan in , the State of Israel within the partition borders would have been just as Zionist as it is within different borders.

If the State of Israel had conquered and annexed the east bank of the Jordan and repealed the Law of Return, it would have ceased being Zionist even though it would be three or four times the size. Politics dictionary Zionist [ zahy - uh -nist ] What does Zionist mean?

What's hot. Where does Zionist come from? Between World War I and the founding of the State of Israel in , decisions were made by the Zionist Movement that continue to provide lessons fro the dilemma facing Israelis and Palestinians today.

Popular now. Who uses Zionist? Zionists calling Lana Del Rey "brave" and "real" for playing an apartheid state There is nothing brave about affirming the supremacist status quo.

Belittling an occupied people's suffering and profiting off of their misery will never be a heroic, humanistic or artistic move — Remi Kanazi Remroum August 20, Others may use Zionist as an offensive, anti-Semitic blanket term for Jewish people more generally, often implying extreme nationalism or racial separatism.

Note This is not meant to be a formal definition of Zionist like most terms we define on Dictionary.