It is anti-semitic to oppose Israel's right to exist
Criticism of Israeli Government policy and actions is not only legitimate but is a vital and important aspect of any democracy. Israel should be challenged and scrutinised in the same way as any other country, yet too often this is not the case. Other countries, no matter how they came into being or how they behave, do not have their legitimacy or right to exist questioned or their outright destruction called for.
Anti-Zionism should not be conflated with mere criticism of Israeli policy. Anti-Zionism rejects the very idea of a Jewish state.
Zionism is the belief in the right to self-determination of the Jewish people (a right guaranteed to them by international law) in their historical and spiritual homeland, Israel.
It acknowledges the Jewish people as indigenous to the land and Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, although all citizens, including Israel's 20 per cent Arab population, have equal civil rights. There are some people who identify as Jews who are anti-Zionist, but they are a tiny fringe. For most Jews, Zionism is core to their identity.
Zionism is often deliberately and falsely labelled by its opponents as a colonialist, racist ideology. Had a Jewish homeland been set up anywhere else, for example in Uganda which was "offered" to the Jewish people, then the accusation of colonialism would have legitimacy. But in the land of Israel, where Jewish people are the Tangata Whenua, accusations of colonialism are made to delegitimise the Jewish presence in their ancestral homeland.
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https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12203072
Eta Tangata whenua (Māori pronunciation: [ˈtaŋata ˈfɛnʉ.a]) is a Māori term that literally means "people of the land".
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