There’s a new bad word in town, and guess what? You already know what it is. It’s being thrown around to describe all that is evil and wrong with our world. It’s a word that describes a person as bad if not worse than a cold-blooded racist — a living, breathing Zionist. We’ve seen it everywhere in our personal lives and on the news. Even scrolling through dating apps I’ve often come across profiles with prompt responses such as, “Something that’s a non-negotiable for me is… anti-zionists only please & thank u <3” or texts like this, ”haha smooth, as long as the opinions aren’t that you’re a racist or a zionist I’m in.”

So what is a Zionist anyway; and why has it become a word that is correlated with so much disgust that it needs to be declared as a non-identity — an anti-identity?

Let’s go back to the Early Iron Age, dating back to around 1200 BCE. In the Southern Levant region, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, reigned the Ancient Israelite Kingdom. The word Zion is first mentioned in the Tanakh, the Old Testament. It’s mentioned over 152 times. Psalm 132:13-14 states, “For the Lord has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his dwelling,” and Psalm 87:2, “The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwellings of Jacob.” Zion is a place, a mountaintop near the rolling hills of Jerusalem. Thus, to the ethno-religious Israelites, Zion became the symbol representing the spiritual connection to the indigenous land in which they lived starting thousands of years ago.

As the ancient Israelites were forced into the Jewish Diaspora, prayers for yearning to return to Zion and Jerusalem became embedded in their religion. In the Amidah Prayer, recited three times daily, there is a blessing for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the restoration of the kingdom of David. In grace after meals, there is another prayer for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Every Passover Seder concludes with a powerful heartfelt song simply repeating the four words, “Next year in Jerusalem.” If you happen to wish your friend Happy Hanukkah, you are acknowledging the historical event in which the Ancient Israelites defeated their colonizers, the Hellenistic Greeks, and re-established sovereignty in the Ancient Israelite Kingdom over 2100 years ago. The link between the Israelites, Jewish people and the Kingdom of Israel and Judah is undeniable. Still, what does this have to do with the term, Zion-ist?

The term Zionist refers to believers in Theodore Herzl’s infamous modern political movement of Zionism. As progroms ravaged diasporic Jews in Europe and the Dreyfus affair unleashed a new wave of antisemitism in France starting in 1894, Herzl argued that antisemitism cannot be defeated. Herzl concluded that the only way for diasporic Jewish people to live in peace was through self-determination. In his seminal 1896 pamphlet “Der Judenstaat” (The Jewish State), he wrote, “The idea that I have developed is a very old one; it is the restoration of the Jewish State.” It is here where the term Zionism first originates. Zionism is belief in the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their indigenous land. To be anti-Zionist simply means the latter. Anti-Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people do not have a right to self-determination in their indigenous land. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs. However, while Zionism or anti-Zionism may have been relevant stances before the founding of the Jewish State, it no longer holds any significance. Because here’s the kicker: Israel, the world’s only Jewish-majority state, was founded!

Today there are around 10 million people who call Israel their home. Living, breathing people, thriving in Israeli culture. Israel, with its indigenous population, the Jewish people and the many other ethnicities that make up this tiny country, exists. Israel’s Declaration of Independence states, “[The State of Israel] will ensure 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,” and “it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions.” This is Israel. Whether or not one agrees with Israel’s politics and actions has nothing to do with being Zionist or anti-Zionist. Because, as stated above, Zionism is belief in the creation of a Jewish state. There already is one. Being anti-Zionist today is like being a Royalist in regards to the French Revolution. The Old Regime has been knocked down! It’s too late! Being “Royalist” today does not change the fact that the French Republic exists, and that about 68 million people are living in France.

So, what could anti-Zionist mean now? The working definition posits that anti-Zionism is the belief that Israel should not exist. But, since it already does, the definition entails the eradication of an entire nation of people. It means the genocide and ethnic cleansing of an indigenous people and its diverse citizens. Being anti-Zionist is racist and violent towards Israelis. It is simply stating that all Israelis and the State of Israel must be eradicated.

Some may think that being anti-Zionist means standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people. This is not the case. Just as Pakistan and Bangladesh split; just as there is a North and South Cyprus and a North and South Korea, so too there can be two groups of people that have their states in one area of land. Standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people should not equate to standing with the eradication of the Israeli people or Israel. In fact, 20% of Israelis are Arab citizens, many of whom identify as Israeli Palestinians.

While college campuses like Stanford are ripe grounds for social justice and change, it’s important to know what it is exactly you are chanting. Whether I am Zionist or not does not matter. Zionism is no longer relevant. The fact on the ground is that there is a large nation of people who are living in Israel. Every single day. Declaring that you are anti-Zionist, that you are against their very existence is the same as declaring that you are for their demise. I urge you to reconsider: is anti-Zionism what you stand for?

Miriam Haart ’23 is the chief technology officer of Stealth Fashion Robotics Company and the host of the podcast “Faking It.”