A boy holds a Torah scroll as in a wheat field before the holiday of Shavuot, May 5, 2013. Photo courtesy of Mendy Hechtman/Flash90.

By DAVE GORDON

JNS

Imagine someone saying that every country in the world, no matter how bloody or concocted their origins, has a right to exist except Israel. Then imagine that person saying it’s not anti-Semitic. By definition, Zionism is the belief that the Jews have a right to return to their historic homeland, and that it should be a haven for independence and sovereignty.

Ever since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, there have been increasingly louder calls from anti-Israel organizations that insist that being anti-Zionist is not the least bit anti-Semitic. They say they simply wish to oppose Israel’s existence. But Zionism and Judaism are inextricably linked, inseparable and cannot exist without each other.

Here are 10 reasons why denying Zionism rejects core aspects of the Jewish collective existence:

Israel is in Jewish prayers: Within the 18 blessings contained in the Amidah prayer, recited three times daily, “Zion” and “Jerusalem” are mentioned five times. The Land of Israel, in Hebrew Eretz Yisrael, is referenced throughout the liturgy, along with a desire to return to the land. The Torah service, recited on Shabbat, as well as on Mondays, Thursdays, and festivals, includes the verse, “For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” The seminal Jewish prayer is Shema Yisrael or “Hear O’ Israel.” At the end of the Passover seder, participants chant “Next year in Jerusalem.” And many synagogue sanctuaries are oriented toward Jerusalem.

Tanach, the Hebrew Bible: There are 152 mentions of Zion and 669 mentions of Jerusalem in the Tanach, which also references the “Holy Land” in Zechariah and Samuel, while the “Land of Israel” appears twice in Ezekiel. The very nature of this repetition indicates its centrality to Judaism.

Holidays and holy days: Nearly every holiday on the Jewish calendar (12 in total) is tied to Israel, either taking place there, celebrating the land, growing fruits and vegetables in Israel, etc. The only exception is the holiday of Purim, during which the Jews were saved in ancient Persia, thanks, in part, to Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai.

The indigenous connection: Zion was always the Jewish homeland, back to the time of Moses. The ancient Israelites (not Theodor Herzl) were the first Zionists. Jews have yearned for a return to Zion since their first exile in 586 BCE and again after their second exile in 70 C.E. Jews have maintained a continuous presence in the Land of Israel for more than three millennia because of how central it was to their identity.

Independence and sovereignty: There’s a water-tight legal case that the Jewish people should have land title to Israel, as they are the only nation to have established sovereignty in Israel and Judea on two separate historical occasions. Archaeological evidence corroborates biblical accounts of Jewish sovereignty.

Jew is from “Judea,” the ancestral Jewish land: The English word “Jew” traces its origins to the Hebrew word Yehudi, meaning “of Judah” or “Judean.” Judah (Yehudah in Hebrew) was the fourth son of Jacob and the name of one of the 12 tribes of Israel; it later became the name of the southern kingdom after the division of the ancient Israelite monarchy. Over time, Yehudi came to refer to all Israelites, not just those from Judah. The linguistic journey from Yehudi to “Jew” proceeded through phonetic changes and adaptations to the sounds and spelling of each language through which the word passed: Greek Ioudaios, Latin Iudaeus, Old French giu or juieu, Middle English Gyw, to the modern English “Jew.” The Arabic word for “Jew” is also Yehud. In an ironic twist, all of those times anti-Semitism is preached from the Arab media, madrassas, mosques and members of the political class, you’ll hear them toss around the word Yehud—the very name that was derived from the very place where Jews originally came from.

Messianic prophecies: Jewish tradition states that in the era of the messiah, Jews in the diaspora will return “home” to the Land of Israel, and the Jewish Temple will be built.

Torah commandments for Israel: There are 26 commandments in the Torah that can only be performed in Israel, including agricultural tithing, setting aside a percentage of farm food for the poor, resting the land on the sabbatical (shmita) year, bringing first fruits to the temple and the laws regarding cities of refuge. No other religion mandates practices to be performed exclusively in Israel.

The eternal bond: Even those Jews who were irreligious, secular, assimilated or atheist were drawn to move to the Jewish homeland before statehood, even when it was predominantly a swampland, undeveloped and sparsely populated. They, too, understood the deep connection the land has to the Jewish nation.

Jewish holy sites: The enduring centrality of the Temple Mount and Western Wall to Jewish faith and identity—sacred sites that have been the focus of Jewish prayer, pilgrimage and longing for millennia—demonstrates that Zionism is not merely a modern political movement but one deeply rooted in the religious, historical and spiritual fabric of Judaism itself. To separate Zionism from Judaism would be as inconceivable as detaching Mecca from Islam or Bethlehem from Christianity.

Jews, Israel and Judaism are all part of the same DNA. By removing Zionism from Judaism or trying to delegitimize Zionism, one is eliminating a critical pillar of Jewish life. Anti-Zionists might trot out token Jews to negate this fact, but a person’s accident of birth or ethnicity does not give their ignorance any moral legitimacy.

Those who say they are anti-Zionist or deny Israel’s right to exist are essentially using it as a shroud for Jew-hatred. As Martin Luther King Jr. said: “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You’re talking anti-Semitism.”