When we talk about Zionism, we’re not discussing a political slogan or a trending topic. We’re talking about something far older, deeper, and more personal. We’re talking about the longing of a people who spent centuries surviving exile, persecution, and unimaginable loss—and still believed in the possibility of home.
Zionism isn’t a hashtag. It’s not a debate-stage talking point. It’s the story of my grandparents, and maybe yours—who fled war, pogroms, and ghettos with nothing but hope. It’s the reason there was a place to go when no one else opened their doors.
It’s why Jews escaping the Holocaust—or fleeing Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Iran, and Morocco—found refuge. One tiny country, smaller than many U.S. states, took in over half the world’s surviving Jews in less than a century. That wasn’t politics. That was survival.
At its core, Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people have the right to self-determination in the place we’ve always called home. Not instead of others—but as a basic, natural right.
Somehow, that idea has become twisted. Today, “Zionist” is flung as an insult. It’s used to shut down conversations, to paint Jewish identity with a single, hostile brush. I see the jokes—“What are Jews getting blamed for today?”—and even when I laugh, it hurts. Because behind the humor is a deep, weary pain: that our history, our trauma, and our right to exist safely are so easily dismissed.
Let’s be clear: Zionism is not racism. It is not colonialism. It is not white supremacy. It is not an excuse for injustice, and it should never be used as a shield against valid criticism. No government is beyond critique. No nation is perfect. Israel is not perfect.
But when criticism turns into erasure—when people deny the very idea that Jews deserve a homeland, or claim our identity is inherently oppressive—that crosses a line. That’s not activism. That’s antisemitism.
Zionism, for many of us, isn’t even about politics. It’s about family. Safety. Memory. Continuity. It’s about not being afraid to exist.
You don’t have to be Jewish to understand that.
You only have to listen.
You only have to care.
You only have to be human