FAQ: Zionism = Racism???

In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution that said bluntly:

• Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination

Passed by a coalition of Arab, African and Soviet bloc countries, the resolution was condemned by America's UN Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan who said:

• The United States, rises to declare before the General Assembly of the United Nations and before the world that it does not acknowledge, it will not abide by, it will never acquiesce in this infamous act

More than 15 years later, the UN repealed this infamous slander, but in recent years many of Israel's adversaries have worked hard to revive it.

So what's the truth? Is Zionism a form of racism? Or isn't it?

Let's take a look at the definition of Racism:

a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

And now let's look at the definition of Zionism:

The belief that Jews should have their own nation; Jewish nationalism. Zionism gained much support among Jews and others in the early twentieth century, and the hoped-for nation was established in the late 1940s in Palestine, as the state of Israel

If you accept that the Jews are a people -- much like the French, Italians, Australians and Americans -- and Zionism is this people's nationalism, then Zionism is no more racist than any other people's form of nationalism.

And even though Israel is the world's only Jewish state, it guarantees rights and equality for all its citizens. The Declaration of Independence guarantees:

complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture

Israel may not be perfect -- what country is? -- but its national liberation movement is surely not racist.