There have been characterizations of the word Zionist, as well as of various derivations of the word including the abbreviationZio or compounded terms such as Zionist pig[1] or Zionazi, as pejorative terms used to disparage various groups of people, including Jews, Israelis, or supporters of Israel. This is in contrast to the primary definitions of the word Zionist, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, as originally "an advocate or supporter of a movement among Jewish people for the re-establishment of a Jewish nation in Palestine" and later "an advocate or supporter of the development and protection of the state of Israel" after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.[2]
Usage of the word Zionist as a pejorative is commonly tied to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, with many Palestinians and their supporters regarding it as a way to disparage Zionism and simultaneously avoid calling Israelis by their demonym in an attempt to challenge Israel's legitimacy as a country. However, "Zionist" and "Zio" have also been noted to have been used by certain people or organizations to pejoratively refer to all Jews, whether Zionist or not. Using the word as a pejorative in contexts that do not credibly concern criticism of Israel constitutes an expression of new antisemitism, which encompasses fundamentally anti-Jewish rhetoric that is deceptively presented as political opposition to Israel, thereby obfuscating its racist nature and reducing the chance of it being identified and dismissed as bigotry.
History
According to an anonymous columnist by the name of Philologos writing for the pro-Israel magazine Mosaic in 2016, the first recorded use of a compounded "Zio" construction as a pejorative appeared as "Zionazi" spraypainted on the campus of SUNY-Binghamton, first recorded by the 1990 edition of the American Jewish Yearbook.[6] According to an article from the New York Times in 1989, a Jewish student at SUNY-Binghamton named James Oppenheim, the former president of the university's Jewish Student Union, was charged with painting antisemitic slurs himself, including "Zionazi racist,"[7] though the student was later acquitted.[8]
In 2010, the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post published that the British charity Community Security Trust found that "Zionist" was increasingly used as an antisemitic pejorative term in mainstream British discourse.[9] It noted that the conflation of "Zionist" with "Jew" was becoming more common and could obscure antisemitic intent.[9]
In 2016, the British Labour Party released an inquiry into antisemitism stating that "Epithets such as [...] 'Zio' and others should have no place in Labour party discourse going forward." Speaking at the inquiry's launch, party leader Jeremy Corbyn stated that "'Zio' is a vile epithet that follows in a long line of earlier such terms that have no place whatsoever in our party."[10]
An anonymous columnist by the name of Philologos, writing for the pro-Israel magazine Mosaic in 2016, associated the term with the American white-supremacist and antisemite David Duke, whose Ku Klux Klan website WikiZio uses Zio as a hyphenated prefix in terms such as "Zio-Communism," "Zio-economics," "Zio-history," "Zio-supremacism," or "Zio-occupied America."[11]
In 2017, the organizers of the Chicago Dyke March faced accusations of antisemitism after their Twitter account used the term "Zio tears",[12][13][14] later apologizing for the term's "violent history" while maintaining their anti-Zionist stance.[15] In April of the same year, Terry Couchman, an election candidate of the British Labour Party, was suspended over his use of "ZioNazi" in a post criticising Israel.[16][17]Tony Greenstein, then a Jewish member of the British Labour Party, was accused of antisemitism and expelled from the party in 2018 for using the term "Zios" among other allegations.[18][19] Ben Samuels, writing for Haaretz, claimed that the term was popularized first by David Duke and then later by leftists and members of the British Labour Party.[15]
Use during the Gaza war
During the Gaza war, some, including the American Jewish Committee and the head of the London Centre for the Study of Antisemitism, have identified the term Zionist as an antisemitic pejorative, with Jonathan Guyer, a foreign policy reporter and editor for The Guardian, noting its particular popularity as a pejorative among the political left.[20][21][22][23][24][25] For many Palestinians it is an "ugly" term, because, in their view, it implies the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. In July 2024, Meta made the controversial decision to impose restrictions on the use of the term.[26][27] This decision was welcomed by the American Jewish Committee,[28] while 73 organizations sent a letter to the Meta, alleging that such a policy "will also encourage the incorrect and harmful conflation of criticism of the acts of the State of Israel with antisemitism".[29]7amleh, a pro-Palestinian digital rights group further argued that "Zionism is an ideology. It's not a race."[30]
In April 2024, Jonathan Guyer noted in The Guardian that the term Zionism means different things to different people,[31] citing a 2022 survey of American Jews' views on Zionism conducted by Mira Sucharov of Carleton University.[32] The survey showed that a majority of American Jews identified as Zionist when it was viewed as supporting a "Jewish and democratic state", but would reject the label if it was defined as "privileging Jewish rights over non-Jewish rights in Israel".[33]
In 2024, a Canadian graduate school instructor produced a syllabus that declared “this classroom is a space free of sexism, racism, Zionism, homophobia, and all other forms of social violence.” The university president responded that the instructor was discriminating against pro-Israel students based on creed.[34] Support for Israel was noted to be a 'litmus test' leading to social exclusion of Jewish students at many campuses following the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel.[35] In 2024 following many harassment complaints, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign banned the ostracizing of Jewish students from school clubs for identifying as Zionist.[36] According to David Seymour, antizionism’s claim that it is only 'Zionists' and not 'the Jews' who are demonized gains its justification. The ideology of antizionism portrays Zionists as freely choosing evil and its harmfulness, legitimizing the demand for exclusion and passing the responsibility for the exclusion onto the excluded themselves.[37]
In August 2024, New York University updated the anti-harassment guidelines on its website to include the text "For many Jewish people, Zionism is a part of their Jewish identity. Speech and conduct that would violate the NDAH (non-discrimination and anti-harassment policy) if targeting Jewish or Israeli people can also violate the NDAH if directed toward Zionists," and "Using code words, like 'Zionist', does not eliminate the possibility that your speech violates the NDAH Policy," characterizing 'Zionist' as a protected class shielded by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 from "adverse treatment."[38] In response, the Middle East Studies Association's Committee on Academic Freedom sent NYU a public letter expressing concern, describing the new classification as "rooted in the improper conflation of criticism of Israel and of Zionism – a political ideology – with antisemitism."[39]Palestine Legal described NYU's policy change as "draconian" and criticized the claim "that Zionist is an identity meriting protection under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, rather than a political ideology used to justify apartheid and genocide."[40]
In September 2024, Columbia University updated its anti-discrimination policy to classify the use of "Zionist" as a pejorative as potential harassment when directed at individuals based on religion or national origin. The policy cited examples where "Zionist" was used as a coded term to target Jewish or Israeli students and emphasized the distinction between political speech and discriminatory conduct. The update followed a critical report on campus antisemitism and mirrored similar actions by other universities, including NYU.[41]
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