The ADL Motto: If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it!
The Danger of Anti-Zionism (Los Angeles
ADL Letter to Los Angeles Times
Note: This letter appeared in The Los Angeles Times on March 21, 2009.
Letters to the Editor
Los Angeles Times
March 16, 2009
To the Editor:
Two opinion articles addressed anti-Semitism as separate from anti-Zionism. Judea Pearl finds the latter more dangerous than the former. Ben Ehrenreich suggests that anti-Zionism is nothing more than legitimate criticism of Israel.
The Anti-Defamation League views anti-Zionism as a form of anti-Semitism -- and certainly one of its most pernicious.
We agree with Ehrenreich that there is a place for legitimate criticism of Israel. The anti-Zionist movement, as it has become today, seeks to delegitimize Israel as a nation and singles out Jews alone as a people who are not entitled to a homeland.
This position has been co-opted as a front for those who want to blame Jews for the perceived wrongdoings of Israel. It is not mere criticism of Israel but a movement to displace Jews from their internationally recognized homeland.
And it is just the beginning. As we saw during the recent Gaza conflict, there were numerous incidents of people allegedly protesting Israel and Zionism who wound up assaulting Jews and vandalizing Jewish institutions.
Don't be fooled by the term. Anti-Zionism is a form of anti-Semitism, and both are dangerous.
Sincerely,
Amanda Susskind
Director, ADL Pacific Southwest Region