Adding to that, the conflation of Zionism and Jewishness via claiming anti-Zionism = anti-Semitism implies that Israel is the expression of Jewishness at the level of a nation state and thus it’s evils are not the action of a rogue state currently controlled by far right zealots, or even simple (psychopathic) political goals, but a representation of Jewishness.
Also conflating jewishness with zionism makes it so that if you’re not zionist then you must be a bad jew. There is a lot of pressure in synagogues and Jewish cultural societies to support Isreal in word (monetarily Isreal gets enough support that it doesn’t really push the donation angle hard - though settlement societies and natural preservation organizations will). A few of my friends describe it as “making you feel weird” if you don’t support Isreal. It really depends on region though, I heard that from Jewish friends in Vermont but never from Jewish friends in Boston or New York.
Adding to that, the conflation of Zionism and Jewishness via claiming anti-Zionism = anti-Semitism implies that Israel is the expression of Jewishness at the level of a nation state and thus it’s evils are not the action of a rogue state currently controlled by far right zealots, or even simple (psychopathic) political goals, but a representation of Jewishness.
Also conflating jewishness with zionism makes it so that if you’re not zionist then you must be a bad jew. There is a lot of pressure in synagogues and Jewish cultural societies to support Isreal in word (monetarily Isreal gets enough support that it doesn’t really push the donation angle hard - though settlement societies and natural preservation organizations will). A few of my friends describe it as “making you feel weird” if you don’t support Isreal. It really depends on region though, I heard that from Jewish friends in Vermont but never from Jewish friends in Boston or New York.