As far as I knew, “Zionist” as a negative was primarily used by the Nazis for all that blood libel stuff. I think it may have been used under Stalinist communism as well. The KKK and other white supremacist groups use it. You also see Zion in hymns, usually as a reference to heaven.
FWIW, I’m not a supporter of Israel or the ongoing Palestinian genocide. I also think that most of the Muslim states are terrible as well. Organized religion and its involvement in the state is a cancer and it doesn’t much matter if it’s Judaism, Islam, or Christianity. Fundamentalism is terrible.
Anyhow, when I see “Zionism” to refer to support of Israel, it pings my bullshit detector. It isn’t a part of normal discourse as I know it in the US. It feels like whomever is spouting it has been propagandized when I see it. It seems to be accompanied by varying degrees of jingoism and anger. Tends to be a very black and white worldview, almost naive. Reminds me of Qanon brainwashing but for the Left.
As this is Lemmy, it’s not coming from neo-nazis.
What is driving this?
Is it tankies? (Which I don’t know a lot about, but they seem to be heavily propagandized and unpleasant.)
Is it Muslims?
Some sort of Left ideology that isn’t common in the US?
Is it politically naive kids that have been fed talking points?
Is it Russian, Chinese, or some other state level disinfo/propaganda?
Oof, get ready for the backlash. I think that in summary, what you’re going to receive is anger about the belief that a group of people based on ethnicity/nationality can expel or eradicate another group from their lands because the initial group supposedly used to live there millennia ago and experienced a recent genocide attempt elsewhere. From the perspective of an outsider, it seems like one group of people (i.e. Jewish) believe they can and have the mandate to genocide another group that had nothing to do with the genocide to avoid their own genocide that is no longer a threat. Imagine if Native Americans started genociding European Americans rn, particularly bombing schools and hospitals. That’s what it would look like, except the Native Americans were here for millennia, were dominant much more recently depending on the specific location, and suffered a much much more extensive genocide over centuries.
Basically, the universal moral code that is being violated is that no one no matter what has the right to genocide anyone. There is no exception to that rule. Not culture, ethnicity, religion, or even genocide. In fact, it seems hypocritical to commit the genocide of a group of people that had absolutely nothing to do with the initial genocide while claiming that genocide is horrible. It’s like saying, “John killed my child, so I get to kill Jenny’s child.” What?? No, you don’t get to kill anyone.
Yeah, that’s what I meant by “My guess is that it’s been revised in the last year-and-a-half to retroactively make what’s happening in Gaza a natural extension of Zionism”.
You’re talking about the Israeli reaction to the Oct. 7th attack, not Zionism. Some people are trying to link these things together, making the very concept of a Jewish state in the area of Israel “genocidal” (while also tying it to white supremacy, as a bonus). That’s not the case.
Yes, some Zionists would like to kill as many Palestinians (a disproportional part of them are a part of the Israeli government). Then again, some people who like to put ketchup on their steaks would also like to kill as many Palestinians. That doesn’t mean liking ketchup on your steak makes you genocidal.