"It's Giving Evangelical"

Antizionist Jews and the messianic ideal of "collective liberation"

Spend five minutes with antizionist Jews, and you’ll be enlightened with the latest gospel, a fervent sermon rife with messianic zeal, their proclamations usually preaching some iteration of:

• “Safety through solidarity”

• “Nobody is free until everybody is free"

• “All forms of oppression are interconnected”

• “Our liberation is bound together”

These expressions implicate a belief system predicated on “collective liberation,” which is the idea that oppression anywhere precludes freedom everywhere. In other words, no person or group can truly be considered free while oppression anywhere exists. 

The implication is that all lives matter discrimination matters. Antisemitism isn’t special. This sentiment echoes itself after every Jewish tragedy, when we inevitably hear the words “we condemn antisemitism, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and all forms of hate". Antizionist Jewish organizations around the world champion this idea. In fact, they can’t even stomach the idea of defining antisemitism. 

In 2021, a coalition of fifteen progressive Jewish groups condemned the IHRA definition of antisemitism. They released a statement advising that in lieu of defining antisemitism, progressives should “commit to dismantling [antisemitism] alongside all forms of oppression and bigotry.” 

So there you have it, it’s okay to fight antisemitism, but don’t define it, because that may ignore the “context.” Also, ensure antisemitism doesn’t overshadow any other kind of prejudice. The fight against antisemitism must be “situate[d] within the broader struggle against all forms of racism and oppression,” Jews are never to be center stage. The message is clear: we must be well-behaved, know our place, and never put on our own oxygen masks first. 

In a phenomenon not unlike messianism, those pushing the “collective liberation” idea consistently reference a utopia they are building: a world free of oppression, violence, and all evil. If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s simply a rebranding of the Messianic Age. Only this time, instead of waiting for moshiach, those pushing this narrative are narcissistic enough to believe that they themselves are the saviors who will bring about eternal salvation. So, of course the statement wouldn’t be complete without a little gospel.

“We believe in a world where we are all safe and cherished—a world without racism, without antisemitism, and without Islamophobia..We are more committed than ever to the work of building [this] world …it is up to all of us [to] achieve the just future we want…Our history shows that freedom and safety for any of us depends on freedom and safety for all of us.”

This nauseating self-righteous saviorism is woven into the very fabric of every Jewish antizionist performance. Consider the film Israelism – which, by the way, is 84 minutes of IfNotNow founder Simone Zimmerman proclaiming “the Jews lied to me at summer camp!” Israelism’s twitter account recently posted a video of Palestinian activist Sami Awad likening antizionist Jews to prophets. He explains,  “as prophets, they will be first rejected by their own community, but that’s what prophets have done throughout history.”

Like Jesus, whose 12 apostles celebrated Pesach with him during the Last Supper, this year, the “prophets” of our time joined forces for the Freedom for All Seder. The initiative, complete with a website, Haggadah, and even playlist, regularly invoked Jewish poet Emma Lazarus, which is hilarious considering she was a zionist.

Rabbis for Ceasefire advertising the “Freedom for all Seder”

The very Jews who claim to live by Lazarus’ words are precisely the reason she is rolling in her grave. Epistle to the Hebrews, the poem where she penned the iconic, “until we are all free, none of us are free” line was actually a critique of assimilated Jews who downplay and justify antisemitism.

In a sonnet that reads like it was written for the “prophets” of our time, Lazarus points to Jews who “justify the taunts” of antisemites, who fear that condemnations would make us appear too “tribal”, “narrow”, and “Judaic,” unlike the “humane and cosmopolitan” gentile; this is eerily reminiscent of Jews who in 2024 who insist that even defining antisemitism is a step too far. Lazarus’ message that Jewish communities everywhere are harmed by antisemitism anywhere - was very specific. Yet, antizionists deliberately obfuscate her message to fit their bizarre messianic mission. Still, they are not leading a fight for justice; they’re starring in their own delusional gospel.

In the end, the antizionist Jews' narcissistic savior complex is nothing short of a messianic fantasy gone awry. They parade around with their holier-than-thou rhetoric, sounding like Evangelical Christians, obsessed with their own self-image as the enlightened prophets of our time.