Scenes from the end of Zionism
JVL Introduction
Israel has long mobilised Zionist support for its policies of occupation and apartheid, well before its drive to seek indulgence for genocide in Gaza. It does this with a state’s resources (and with USA resources to deploy as well.
Anti-Zionism depends on the energy of committed individuals and their small, poorly funded organisations. It was a considerable achievement for the organisers of the Vienna Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress to attract so many delegates and a such an impressive range of speakers.
Throughout the Congress two themes recurred. Firstly, the importance of Jews speaking up to remind the world that many Jews reject Zionism and the supremacist, exclusionary Israeli state that the ideology seeks to justify; and that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism despite the massive efforts of Israel’s apologists to promote this false association.
Secondly, despite the importance of Jewish voices, we must remember that we speak in support of Palestinian voices and must not seek to displace the primacy of Palestinians describing their own experience, struggles and visions for the future.
JVL is committed to building an international Jewish anti-Zionist movement, both through its support for future congresses and its work in Global Jews for Palestine
MC
This article was originally published by Mondoweiss on Sun 20 Jul 2025. Read the original here.
Scenes from the end of Zionism: Reflections on the Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress in Vienna
The first Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress, which drew 1,000 anti-Zionist Jews and their allies to Vienna, marked a significant moment in the rising tide against the settler-colonial state of Israel.
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Zionism is most threatened when Jews, Palestinians, and every-one else of like mind, join together to work for a single ultimate aim: to build a land which is safe for Palestinians, governed by Palestinians, and welcoming of all Palestinians where-ever they are in the world. And this land should be welcoming too of those who were never made unwelcome by the Palestinians in the first, the Mizrahim. Then and only then will Israel be truly safe for its own people, be they Jews or non-Jews. It goes without saying that this is not a close or an easy target. But what a target to aim for!
Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn not Vienna which is about 175 miles from Vienna