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Zionist as a pejorative

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Since at least the 1990s, the word "Zionist" has been recorded in use as a pejorative, primarily among anti-Zionists. In English-speaking circles, it may be seen shortened to "Zio" or morphed to "Zionazi" in colloquial insults targeting Israelis or supporters of Israel. It is commonly tied to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, with many Palestinians and their supporters regarding it as a way to disparage Zionism and simultaneously avoid calling Israelis by their demonym in an attempt to challenge Israel's legitimacy as a country. However, "Zionist" and "Zio" have also been noted to have been used by certain people or organizations to pejoratively refer to all Jews, whether Zionist or anti-Zionist. Using the word as a pejorative in contexts that do not credibly concern criticism of Israel constitutes an expression of new antisemitism, which encompasses fundamentally anti-Jewish rhetoric that is deceptively presented as political opposition to Israel, thereby obfuscating its racist nature and reducing the chance of it being identified and dismissed as bigotry.

History

The use of the compounded "Zio" as a pejorative is first recorded by the 1990 edition of the American Jewish Yearbook as in the term "Zionazi", spraypainted as graffiti on the campus of SUNY-Binghamton.[1] Ben Samuels, writing for Haaretz, has claimed that the term was popularized first by David Duke and then later by leftists and members of the British Labour Party.[2] The website WikiZio, run by former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) David Duke, uses "Zio" as a noun or as a hyphenated or unhyphenated adjective. Other variations of "Zio-" include "Zio-Communism", "Zio-economics", "Zio-supremacism", and "Zio-occupied America".[1]

In 2010, a report by the UK-based Community Security Trust, cited in The Jerusalem Post, found that "Zionist" was increasingly used pejoratively in mainstream British discourse. It noted that the conflation of "Zionist" with "Jew" was becoming more common and could obscure antisemitic intent.[3] In 2016, the British Labour Party released an inquiry into antisemitism stating that "Epithets such as [...] 'Zio' and others should have no place in Labour party discourse going forward." Speaking at the inquiry's launch, party leader Jeremy Corbyn stated that "'Zio' is a vile epithet that follows in a long line of earlier such terms that have no place whatsoever in our party."[4]

In 2017, the organizers of the Chicago Dyke March faced accusations of antisemitism after their Twitter account used the term "Zio tears".[5][6][7] In April of the same year, Terry Couchman, an election candidate of the British Labour Party, was suspended over his use of "ZioNazi" in a post criticising Israel.[8][9] Tony Greenstein, then a Jewish member of the British Labour Party, was accused of antisemitism and expelled from the party in 2018 for using the term "Zios" among other allegations.[10][11]

During the Gaza war, the term Zionist became a popular pejorative among the political left.[12][13][14][15] For many Palestinians it is an "ugly" term, because, in their view, it implies the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. In July 2024, Meta made the controversial decision to impose restrictions on the use of the term.[16][17] This decision was welcomed by the American Jewish Committee,[18] while 73 organizations sent a letter to the Meta, alleging that such a policy "will also encourage the incorrect and harmful conflation of criticism of the acts of the State of Israel with antisemitism".[19] A pro-Palestinian digital rights group further argued that "Zionism is an ideology. It's not a race."[20]

In 2024, a Canadian graduate school instructor produced a syllabus that declared “this classroom is a space free of sexism, racism, Zionism, homophobia, and all other forms of social violence.” The university president responded that the instructor was discriminating against pro-Israel students based on creed.[21] Support for Israel was noted to be a 'litmus test' leading to social exclusion of Jewish students at many campuses following the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel.[22] In 2024 following many harassment complaints, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign banned the ostracizing of Jewish students from school clubs for identifying as Zionist.[23] According to David Seymour, antizionism’s claim that it is only 'Zionists' and not 'the Jews' who are demonized gains its justification. The ideology of antizionism portrays Zionists as freely choosing evil and its harmfulness, legitimizing the demand for exclusion and passing the responsibility for the exclusion onto the excluded themselves.[24]

In September 2024, Columbia University updated its anti-discrimination policy to classify the use of "Zionist" as a pejorative as potential harassment when directed at individuals based on religion or national origin. The policy cited examples where "Zionist" was used as a coded term to target Jewish or Israeli students and emphasized the distinction between political speech and discriminatory conduct. The update followed a critical report on campus antisemitism and mirrored similar actions by other universities, including NYU.[25]

Reception

According to the American Jewish Committee (AJC), "Zio" is used by antisemites to pass off their antisemitism as "anti-Zionism", pointing out that "Zio" can be a euphemism for "Jew".[12] This view was shared by prominent Jewish civil rights advocacy Anti-Defamation League.[26] Similarly, progressive journals like the Mosaic Magazine referred to "Zio" as a "new anti-Jewish slur".[1] Writer Ariel Sobel of the Jewish Journal also pointed out that "Zio" was an antisemitic slur with roots within antisemitic right-wing extremist circles that had been adopted by some progressives in their activism.[27] Well-known Czech-Israeli Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer succinctly called the "Zio-Nazi" slur hate speech.[28]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Who're You Calling a "Zio"?". Mosaic Magazine. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  2. ^ Samuels, Ben (18 July 2017). "'Violent History' of 'Zio': How Chicago's Dyke March Adopted an anti-Semitic Slur Dear to White Supremacists". Haaretz. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  3. ^ "Anti-Semitic themes found in mainstream British circles". The Jerusalem Post. 12 November 2010. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
  4. ^ "Labour antisemitism report tells members to stop using 'Hitler, Nazi and Holocaust metaphors'". The Independent. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  5. ^ Sommer, Allison Kaplan (14 July 2017). "Chicago DykeMarch Collective Revels in 'Zio Tears' in Twitter Rant". Haaretz. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  6. ^ Stern, Mark Joseph (25 July 2017). "This Is a Safe Space. No Jews Allowed". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Chicago Dyke March Drops Pretense, Deploys Anti-Semitic Term Popularized by Neo-Nazis". Tablet Magazine. 14 July 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  8. ^ "Exclusive: Labour candidate suspended over 'ZioNazi storm troopers' posts". Jewish News.
  9. ^ "Labour Candidate Terry Couchman Reportedly Suspended for Posts Attacking "ZioNazi Final Solution" and "Jewish Organizations"". Campaign Against Antisemitism. 14 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Tony Greenstein's 'notorious antisemite' libel claim dismissed by court". The Jewish Chronicle. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  11. ^ "Britain's Labour expels Jewish anti-Zionist activist over 'anti-Semitic' remarks". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  12. ^ a b "Zionist / "Zio"". American Jewish Committee. April 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  13. ^ "GLOSSARY OF ANTISEMITIC TERMS" (PDF). Antisemitism Policy Trust.
  14. ^ Hirsh, David (2022). "How the Word "Zionist" Functions in Antisemitic Vocabulary". Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism. 4 (2): 1–18. doi:10.26613/jca.4.2.83.
  15. ^ Guyer, Jonathan (12 May 2024). "How 'Zionist' became a slur on the US left". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  16. ^ "In groundbreaking new policy, Facebook says calling someone a 'Zionist pig' is antisemitic". The Forward. 9 July 2024.
  17. ^ "US antisemitism envoy lauds Meta ban on use of 'Zionist' as slur". Jewish News Syndicate.
  18. ^ "AJC Welcomes Meta Policy Cracking Down on Antisemitic and Anti-Israeli Hate Speech | AJC". www.ajc.org. 9 July 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  19. ^ Bhuiyan, Johana; Paul, Kari (10 February 2024). "Meta's review of hate speech policy sparks concern of further censorship of pro-Palestinian content". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  20. ^ Nix, Naomi; Dwoskin, Elizabeth (9 February 2024). "Inside Meta, a debate over when the word 'Zionist' is hate speech". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  21. ^ Consky, Mitchell (21 October 2024). "A newly exposed University of Toronto course syllabus excluded 'Zionism' in classroom and called it a 'form of social violence'". The Canadian Jewish News. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  22. ^ Bernstein, Joseph (22 May 2024). "Some Jewish Students Say Their Views on Zionism Have Affected Their Social Life". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  23. ^ Prince, Cathryn J.; Magid, Jacob; Berman, Lazar; Magid, Jacob (15 September 2024). "4 years after complaint, Illinois university bans harassment of students for Zionist views". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  24. ^ Seymour, David (1 August 2019). "Continuity and Discontinuity: From Antisemitism to Antizionism and the Reconfiguration of the Jewish Question" (PDF). Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism. 2 (2): 21–22. doi:10.26613/jca/2.2.30. ISSN 2472-9906. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
  25. ^ "Columbia University Updates Guidelines: 'Zionist' as a Pejorative Term Classified as Harassment". Haaretz. 24 September 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
  26. ^ "Anti-Zionism as Antisemitism: How Anti-Zionist Language from the Left and Right Vilifies Jews". Anti-Defamation League.
  27. ^ "Why Are Progressives Using an Anti-Semitic Slur Coined by the KKK?". The Jewish Journal. 19 June 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  28. ^ Feinberg, Tali (11 November 2021). ""Hit back hard," Holocaust scholar says of "Zio-Nazi" slur". Jewish Report. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
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