(Photo by Alisdare Hickson via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED)
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The crises in Palestine have reached the height of disparity as the Israeli powerhouse continues its brutal assault on the largest open-air prison globally. For nearly a century, Palestinians of all religions have suffered under the yolk of the colonial and genocidal Israeli regime. Supported by Western powers such as the United States, the government and security services of Israel have undertaken psychological, physical, and economic colonization of Palestine.
Currently, Gaza is bleeding as the Israeli government seeks to take revenge for the actions of Hamas on October 7th. Amid the constant bombing of, among many other things, buildings, schools, places of worship, and hospitals, the Israeli government has implemented a successful infiltration of the media that allowed them to control the narrative of the conflict.
The government has successfully produced and circulated propaganda regarding the conflict, Palestinian history, and the narrative of the issue.
The Origins of Zionist Ideas
The crux of the Israeli and Zionist propaganda machine lies in their notion that anti-Zionism is equivalent to anti-Semitism. The irony of this intended movement for emancipation and self-determination is that it is not possible without a settler colonial ideology. For Zionists to create a separate homeland for only Jews would require the systematic exiling and extermination of the various Christian, Muslim, and Jewish communities in Palestine that oppose the regime. It is the arrogance of the state that claims the Zionist project is a final solution to the Jewish Question, with disregard for other national questions arising in consequence.
The present conflict between Israel and Palestine can be traced back to the origins of Zionism in the 19th century. The Zionist movement was a critical political development that fueled the establishment of the state of Israel and what ultimately fuels their policies in the Middle East today. Zionism, a term coined in 1890 by the journalist Nathan Birnbaum, is a socio-political movement that contains elements of ethno-nationalism. Zionism, in essence, was born as a result of the changing political and social climate of the nineteenth century.
Jews have historically believed in the divine covenant between them and the land of Israel. Essentially, Jews believe that the Prophet Abraham made a deal with God and that God agreed to provide Jews with land and protection as long as they followed in his path. Around 2000 years ago, Jews were exiled by the Romans and forced to migrate to other lands in Europe and the Middle East. For many centuries, Jewish communities lived in exile, still with the hope of Israel, but with a quiet approach that did not condone any affirmative action. After the French Revolution in 1791, which called for the emancipation of French Jews, the Jewish community finally saw equality before French Law. During this period, discussions emerged among the intelligentsia that led to the creation of Zionism.
The Evolution of Zionist Propaganda
The 19th century was a hotbed of growing ideas and ideologies. It was during this time that the growth of ethnic nationalism around Europe and elsewhere, and the rise of anti-semitism, convinced many Jews living in Europe that there was a need to change the otherwise passive approach to the Israel question. Many secular Jews became convinced that the only solution to the problem would be to create a homeland for the exiled Jewish communities.
From the start of the mid-twentieth century, whenever there was a discussion of Palestinian movements for liberation among politicians and academics, the Zionists would often respond with the notion that the only way to stop anti-Semitism was colonization. Any opposition to the project would be, in essence, anti-Semitic.
One of the most notable elements of Zionist propaganda is the nuances that target Judaism as a religion. Zionism uses biblical myths to their advantage by appealing to Jewish citizens that Palestine was and is their ancestral homeland. This idea overlooks the fact that for centuries, Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities had lived and thrived together in Palestine for centuries.
Propaganda has been a defining feature of the Zionist machine in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. One recent example is the International Court of Justice (ICJ) case against Israel, led by South Africa. The historic proceedings were circulated across the world and gained major international attention except in the West. Channels such as the BBC portrayed less of South Africa’s case and more of the Israeli rebuttal; however, popular newspapers in Israel-allied states such as Canada, the United States, and Great Britain, had a significant lack of coverage when it came to the case. It was yet another example of the Israeli government’s manipulative propaganda machine that seeks to hush the voices of Palestinian resistance across the world through different mediums.
Since the events of October 7th, the Israeli government has been using a propaganda tool known as hasbara to manipulate the depiction of facts and information about the conflict. Hasbara, roughly translating to ‘explaining’ in English, is a twentieth-century notion that utilizes the media supported by the Israeli government to dispel narratives for the conflict.
Among the functions of hasbara is to justify certain actions of the state that may otherwise arouse discontent and opposition from Palestinians and their supporters. An example of this is shifting the blame of the number of civilian deaths in Gaza caused by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to that of Hamas and justifying the initial deaths. To do this, Israel manipulates satellite imagery and photography to portray the events in favour of their narrative. Furthermore, hasbara positions Israel as the victim and Palestine as the oppressor in this conflict, essentially justifying their right to self-defence.
Social media is an especially relevant tool that the Israeli government uses to dispel their narratives. The IDF regularly takes to platforms such as X (formerly known as Twitter) to post pictures, videos, and infographics that highlight their anti-Palestinian activities and sentiments. Moreover, the Israeli government has mass circulated ads on platforms such as X and YouTube to justify the many war crimes they have committed so far during the current assault, which has provoked widespread condemnation.
Hasbara has been a successful tool used by the Israeli government in many different sectors to establish its goals. By targeting public servants and through the medium of research centers, government agencies, institutions, universities, and lobbying firms, the Israeli government is promoting a selective understanding of events in its favour.
Opposition to Zionism
Opposition to Zionism is not just within Muslim and Arab communities. Indeed, much of the opposition came from Jewish communities themselves. Many liberal Jews at the time believed that an ideology such as Zionism would result in higher instances of Anti-Semitism. Those of the Orthodox community believed that “Jews had been exiled in ancient times because of their sins and would return only with God’s will and in messianic times.” They felt that the proposed plan to return to Palestine was nothing short of heresy and would lead to bigger issues.
Many Jewish communities instead looked to more secular and political means to achieve emancipation and self-determination. Socialism, an ideology that appealed to oppressed people around the globe, touched the minds and souls of many Jews in Eastern and Western Europe. For most Jewish works, colonizing the idea of Palestine was ridiculous. In Eastern Europe, proletarian Jews would often sing songs mocking the Zionists and formed an anti-Zionist workers organization known as the General Jewish Workers League.
Upon arriving in Palestine, many Jewish proletarians found the idea of Israel a reactionary utopia and instead advocated for resistance against British imperialism and unity among Jewish and Palestinian workers.
To this day, there have been multiple streams of religious and secular Jewish groups who both oppose and advocate for Zionism. The struggle against Zionism by Arab and Muslim communities is well-documented by journalists and media outlets globally; however, Zionist propaganda has been successful in erasing the role of the many initial critics of the ideology.
Another aspect of Zionist propaganda is the framing of their movement as a primarily Jewish one, as opposed to a settler-colonial movement. The Zionists use many means to accomplish this, such as manipulating the media and the history of the conflict. Zionist historians manipulate the historical traumas of the Jewish communities to garner cult-like support for their policies against Palestinians. Through the framing of the Zionist movement as a Jewish movement, Israelis and their supporters can relate any anti-Zionist sentiments as anti-Semitic.
With that said, many Jewish people are speaking against Zionism and in support of Palestinian resistance. The Jewish Voice For Peace, an organization whose core idea is to support justice, equality, and peace for all people, has stated on its website that it fundamentally opposes Zionism as it goes against its mission. Moreover, they make the distinction that Zionism is a political project and that today, it takes form as a settler-colonial movement.
The suggestion that any opposition to Israel is the same as the denying of Jewish people their rights to self-determination is another aspect of the Israeli propaganda narrative. To equate anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism is to establish the notion that all Jews support Zionism. Not only is this a dangerous precedent, but it is also an oversimplification and generalization of the relationship between Zionism and Judaism. In December 2023, the House of Representatives passed a vote that equates anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism. Many observers voted regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a measure to eradicate the voices of Palestinians and supporters of the resistance in the United States. The action the United States took is a reminder of the dangerous game that is Israeli propaganda. The inherent push for Jewish self-determination does not mean that it has to come at the expense of Palestinian people, yet this is how Israeli propaganda is mitigating the narratives surrounding its occupation of Palestine and practice of many forms of oppression against Palestinian people.
Zionism – A Colonial Project
What has happened in Palestine since the end of World War I is nothing short of a colonial and genocidal project. Playing the victim narrative by conspiring to draw a connection between anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism is what the US-backed Israeli state has maintained since its creation. During the post-World War II era, Zionist communities took on an anti-colonial conflict against the British while at the same time colonizing Palestinian lands. Hypocritical and ironic are a few words that can apply to describe this act. Moreover, Zionist propaganda would rewrite the Palestinian anti-colonial struggle against Zionist settlers as an anti-Semitic project.
The Zionist movement is, in essence, a white supremacist movement. The Zionist model is that of an ultranationalist state. Through mechanisms that pervert social mobilization and civil liberties, the Israeli state today has coined an artificial connection between Zionism and Judaism to thwart any ideological resistance against its movement.
As we live and breathe, Palestinian people are suffering. More than two million people who are trapped in Gaza face impossible odds. It is only the strength of the Palestinian people that carries the fight. It is up to those of us who are educated and have the luxury of using logic to see through the Zionist lies and advocate for a future free of genocide, occupation, and ethnic cleansing.
Edited by Ashley Renz
