Today, Congress passed H. Res 894 which: “clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism“.
The resolution conflates different terms, merges different meanings and attempts to legally equalize Anti-Zionism with Anti-semiticism.
This dangerous resolution could be used to criminalize Israel critics or the Zionist movement including tens of thousands American Anti-Zionism Jews.
Anti-zionism is a term used to refer to the opposing views of the Zionist movement that led to the creation of the state of Israel.
According to Britannica : “Zionism, Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews (Hebrew: Eretz Yisraʾel, “the Land of Israel”)”.
Therefore, Zionism is a political movement that led to the creation of a political entity. And Anti-Zionism, accordingly, is a political opposition to a political movement.
The Anti-Israel views, to some, is a result of their Anti-Zionism views. The most prominent example of this type of Anti-Zionism is the Hasidic Satmar and Torah Orthodox Jewish community.
To the majority of the people worldwide, their anti-Israel views are a result of the crimes and the violations committed by the Israeli government. That is, they do not oppose the Zionists desire to have a national homeland for the jews but rather the actions of the current Zionists and the Israeli government. Jewish Voice for Peace group is one of the famous examples of this type.
Anti-Semiticism on the other hand, is itself, linguistically, a loose term.
According to Britannica “Anti-Semitism, hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious or racial group. The term anti-Semitism was coined in 1879 by the German agitator Wilhelm Marr to designate the anti-Jewish campaigns underway in central Europe at that time” and;
“Semite, name given in the 19th century to a member of any people who speak one of the Semitic languages, a family of languages spoken primarily in parts of western Asia and Africa. The term therefore came to include Arabs, Akkadians, Canaanites, Hebrews, some Ethiopians“
Yes, Semites are 5 different ethnicities but they defined Anti-Semitism to mean exclusively hatred toward the Jewish people even if they are atheists (like most of the founders of the Zionist movement) but descend from Jewish people.
H.Resolution 894, will make opposing the political views of the Zionist movement equal to hatred toward a religion, or a hatred toward a race (racism). Criticizing the state of Israel could be regarded now as a religious hatred or a racial hatred.
In other words, it is a government censorship on behalf of a foreign nation that could throw people in prison.
We condemn it.
Oregon's coalition for Peace 