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James Lindsay, anti-Communist @ConceptualJames on x 539.3K followers
Created: 2025-07-25 02:29:32 UTC
As I discussed on Ami Kozak's podcast when I went on a couple months ago, there are in my opinion (at least) four mostly distinct "anti" positions some people hold regarding Jews and Israel. It's clarifying to understand them and tell them apart: anti-Israel, anti-Zionism, anti-Jew(ish), and anti-Semitism.
While these often overlap, and while some of them imply others of them frequently or almost always, they are distinct positions with different ranges of acceptability as positions for a fair-minded, reasonable, respectable person to hold, from none up to a fair amount.
Let's talk briefly about each, including on their implications to the others, then turn to some short commentary. There are noted difficulties with some of these terms, but work with me here.
X. Anti-Israel
Israel is a state. It has a government, and that government has an intelligence agency, the Mossad. Being "anti-Israel" would refer specifically, as I'm using it, to being against the state of Israel not for being a state but for how it acts as a state. (Being against Israel as a state (anti-Israeli nationhood) would be anti-Zionism in this taxonomy instead.)
If you have criticisms of Israel on the level of how it conducts its business to the point where you are against it (while recognizing its nationhood), you are "anti-Israel." You may or may not be anti-Zionist, anti-Jew, or anti-Semitic.
This position is stronger than merely having criticisms of the Israeli state either as it exists now or historically. You can be critical of something you aren't against. Similarly, you can believe Israel is, on balance, a problem (anti-Israel) while respecting its right to exist as a state (Zionism).
X. Anti-Zionism
Zionism refers to believing the state of Israel should exist in something approximately like its current or historic borders. I am aware it also refers to a variety of other things, which complicates matters on this point.
If you think Israel should not exist as a state roughly where it does today, you are an anti-Zionist. Being anti-Zionist almost always implies being anti-Israel, and the reverse implication is common. That is, anti-Israel and anti-Zionist views often cohabitate and feed one another. It is far easier to be anti-Israel and Zionist than the other way around, between those two positions.
Difficultly, Zionism is often also taken to mean at least three other things that, clearly, are not what I'm referring to: (a) that Israel operates as an imperial expansion force to "rule the world," (b) that all or most Jews should return to "Zion," meaning Israel, and (c) that Israel should be an explicit Jewish-religious ethnostate (with implication that it should enforce presumably strict or harsh ethnostate policies). I see these less as "Zionism" and more as various tropes in the specific anti-Semitic universe (discussed below).
X. Anti-Jew(ish)
Anti-Jew(ish) refers to a form of bigotry against Jews. It means not liking Jewish people because they are Jews. This could apply in either or both of the religious or ethnic dimensions, complicating matters.
If you just hate Jews, you're anti-Jewish, and shame on you. Grow up.
Being anti-Jewish probably will not make you warm to Israel or Zionism, but it is possible to have bigotry of one or both forms against Jews while believing their state can/should exist (Zionism) and/or believing their state is on balance good or bad (anti-Israel or not).
Controversially, as we're about to see, one can be anti-Jew(ish) without being "anti-Semitic" if we are strict and careful about our meaning of "anti-Semitism" (and not otherwise).
X. Anti-Semitic
For whatever set of reasons, anti-Semitism has become the most fraught of the terms, but if we restrict it to a particular meaning, this model for increased clarity (thus dealing with people who are a problem for Jews) becomes workable.
Here, being deliberately narrow, anti-Semitism can refer to believing in the conspiracy theory that Jews run the world (and that this is bad to evil).
Obviously, not everyone will accept this, as "anti-Semitism" is (not has become) synonymous with anti-Jew(ish). I'm pulling them apart here for no other reason than to clarify around two issues: the conspiracy theory and the bigotry.
If you believe Jews secretly order and run the world for the worse, like it or not, you're an anti-Semite. It doesn't matter what you think of any given Jew in your life. If that's you, shame on you. Get yourself together.
If you suspect The Jews of running a nefarious cabal to control the world, or plots to that effect, you are anti-Semitic. If that's you, shame on you. Get yourself together.
The bigotry (anti-Jew(ish)) will frequently follow from being anti-Semitic, as I'm using the term here, but with that one twist. It is entirely possible to escape the bigotry toward individual Jews you know while thinking The Jews, rather in the abstract, or abstractly en masse, are up to no good. In fact, most Nazis held this position in the early part of the Reich (early to mid 1930s), though this obviously devolved significantly by later in the 1930s. Anti-Jewish bigotry is a slippery slope most anti-Semites will slide down eventually, though it's possible to thread the needle, at least temporarily.
The reverse implication is not as certain; one could be bigoted against Jews without believing they run anything, much less the world! It's also highly likely, though not as guaranteed, that an anti-Semite, as defined here, will be anti-Israel and anti-Zionist.
That is, while none of the other three positions strongly imply anti-Semitism, as defined narrowly here, this anti-Semitism almost always strongly implies anti-Israel attitudes, anti-Zionism, and anti-Jewish bigotry, most especially anti-Israel sentiment.
Commentary
Despite the difficulties and complexities, pulling these perspectives apart (even if that means coming up with better names than I did) helps us conceptualize who and what we're really dealing with, both within ourselves and others.
For example, we commonly hear statements that seem to go too far in some way or another about Jews or Israel defended with a claim that it's just anti-Israel and not anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic intentions involved. This turns out to matter, as any state is deserving of scrutiny and often criticism for many things, and bigotries and dangerous conspiracies may not be part of that assessment. We should want to be able to tease these apart accurately and fairly.
For another example, we often hear people say they are anti-Zionist but not anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic. That is a tenable position, even if it is rarely true, and having the conceptual tools to suss things out is useful.
At the center of these examples is that some people who are not bigots or anti-Semites (narrowly defined) get accused of it, and those accusations lose their power in the confusion and deflection that are enabled. On the other hand, some people who are bigots and/or anti-Semites (even narrowly defined) can hide behind this confusion and deflection when they are, in fact, deserving of those sterner labels.
Given the stakes, which are extremely serious for the Jewish people right now (as is often the case), this conceptual clarity matters (even if the terms aren't well chosen here). Every anti-Jew(ish) bigot and every anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist should be held to account to the degree that they hold those views, which may be their right to hold but are deeply unacceptable and beneath dignity. This also requires the label not being used in a sloppy "Woke" way to shut down political opposition to Israel or its projects (including its political existence as a state, lo though we might disagree with that for any number of reasons).
My opinion is that while these four are distinct, the bleed-over effect between them is significant in basically all cases. Some of the implications are almost immediate and strong, as noted. Others are less certain and can be held off, perhaps indefinitely (e.g., being anti-Israel may never turn into anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic sentiment). The ability to accept the concrete human Jew while hating the abstract notion of The Jews adds a dimension of complexity to this.
I figure this will get me burned to the ground by a lot of people, but I offer it in the hopes that it helps instead.
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