Why I hate Zionism… and so should you!

Marion Kawas 

Source: Al Mayadeen English

Anyone just waking up to the Palestinian reality in the last two months should know Palestinians have been carrying this burden of telling and re-telling their story for decades, with minimal global response.

Bloodied children with limbs amputated without anesthesia, men rounded up en masse naked and humiliated, women giving birth or losing their babies under the most horrific conditions… this is Gaza today. This is Gaza being pummeled by “Israel” and the ideology that created it – Zionism.

I hate this cruel ideology. One of its basic tenets is that it needs to destroy, or at least decimate, the whole Palestinian population and completely eradicate their history, their dreams, their identity, and their humanity.

I hate Zionism, which feels justified to commit genocide in Gaza right now in real-time with the whole world watching. And I hate the backers of Zionism, in particular the US, that enable and sustain this, as well as their vile propaganda that tells us that the ongoing genocide is less important than whatever Israel claims it needs to do in order to “defend” itself.

I hate this ideology that perpetrates lies and horrific anti-Palestinian racism, simply to cover up its military failure on and since October 7. Pounding and carpet bombing a civilian population, starving them, and forcing them into disease and malnutrition only proves how obscenely entitled "Israel" has become.

The last two months (actually the last century) have been full of massacres against the Palestinian people. Palestinian elders today, especially Nakba survivors, are doubly traumatized by what is unfolding in Gaza. They are reliving the horrors of 1947-8 when they were just kids being dispossessed and terrorized. They see the same thing happening again, in full and agonizing detail, wondering why the international community has not been willing to intervene in any meaningful way.

Can you imagine how tired Palestinians are of trying to explain to the world why they deserve to be treated humanely? How tired they are of constantly having to justify why their voices should be not just heard, but trusted? Anyone just waking up to the Palestinian reality in the last two months should know Palestinians have been carrying this burden of telling and re-telling their story for decades, with minimal global response.

And Jewish people should hate Zionism as much as I do, because, ultimately, they will also be its victims. Western powers are not supporting "Israel" right now because of any love for Jewish people or even for the Zionist entity. They are acting solely out of their own imperial interest, which, at the moment, coincides with redeeming the military capacity of "Israel" and propping up its role in the region. Once that paradigm shifts, expect to see real and very ugly anti-Semitism raise its hackles, especially in the US and Europe.

Zionist ideologues have spent a lot of time and effort in convincing people in the West that they represent “the Jews” by conflating Zionism with Judaism. This is not only profoundly erroneous but also lays the ground for future anti-Jewish racism. 

Yes, I hate Zionism and everything it stands for – supremacist settler colonialism, advancing the US imperial agenda, and complete disregard for all human life. Palestinians, most of the Global South, and even people out on the streets in Western countries are clear on this… Zionism needs to be defeated. It is an obstacle to peace in the region and the world.