Anti-Zionism is the new face of antisemitism

By Mike Evans
Real Clear Wire

I stood just a few feet from President Trump’s team as thunderous applause and standing ovations erupted again and again during his speech to the Knesset. It was a historic moment, and as Trump spoke, word spread that all the hostages had been released. 

From Jerusalem, the President then traveled directly to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to meet with Muslim leaders and the nations of the world. Astonishingly, they united behind his peace plan. There is no question — the war in Gaza is over. 

But now comes a different kind of battle, namely, the battle for hearts and minds.  

Study after study show a dramatic rise in antisemitism, especially following the October 7th attacks. The Anti-Defamation League has been tracking antisemitic incidents for nearly 50 years. Their 2024 audit was extremely troubling, showing incidents increasing 5% from 2023, 344% over five years and 893% over 10 years. Last year’s audit was the highest since the ADL began their yearly studies in 1979. 

Across American campuses, student protestors call for the obliteration of Israel with their hate-filled chants of “From the river to the sea.” 

What will the campus protesters do now that there is peace? The answer is simple: they will double down. Their protests were never just about policy or politics; they were built on a hatred of Zionism itself. “Zionists are genocidal baby killers,” they chanted. “Zionists don’t deserve to live.” 

I understand that hatred personally. I was raised by a Jewish mother who told me that Christians kill Jews, and that Christians hate Jews. She named me after her grandfather, Rabbi Michal Katznelson, who was burned alive with 2,000 Jews inside a synagogue. Years later, the late President Shimon Peres, who served as international chairman of the Friends of Zion Museum, told me that his own grandfather had been one of the synagogue’s leaders. 

Growing up in America, our home was vandalized with the words, “Jew Witch.” Neighbors hurled eggs and tomatoes at my mother as we walked home from the grocery store on Friday nights. I was beaten for being a “kike” — a word I didn’t even understand. 

My father, even though he went to church every Sunday, was consumed by antisemitism. When I was 11, he strangled me and left me for dead for defending my Jewish mother against his physical abuse. That trauma became my calling. More than 45 years ago, I began building a bridge between Christian Zionists and the State of Israel, starting with my dear friend, Prime Minister Menachem Begin. 

Zionism is not an ideology of hate. It is simply the belief that the Jewish people have the right to self-determination in their ancient homeland — a right rooted not only in history, but also in Scripture. Anti-Zionism, therefore, is not a legitimate political position; it is the modern mask of antisemitism.

After the horrors of October 7, Israel’s enemies accused her of genocide — a grotesque lie. No matter what Israel did to defend herself, the anti-Zionists twisted truth into propaganda. They deny the historical and biblical connection of the Jewish people to the land. They flood social media with conspiracy theories and blood libels. And tragically, even some voices within the MAGA movement have begun to echo those same lies. 

Jews are not killed because of land. They are killed simply because they are Jews. 

Since October 7, my organization, Friends of Zion, has worked closely with the families of the hostages. They told me how their captors viewed them — not as human beings, but as animals. Children in Gaza are still taught that Jews have horns and tails, that they are the seed of Satan, and they grow up singing, “The rock is crying out to you, there’s a Jew behind me — come and kill him.” 

That is why this December, I am leading 1,000 American evangelical pastors on an historic trip to be commissioned as Ambassadors for Israel — to reach the next generation and to confront antisemitism with truth. 

The ground war may have ended but the ideological war is just beginning. Israel may have won on the battlefield, but the lies are winning on the airwaves. It is time for a moral awakening — to say with courage and clarity that anti-Zionism is the hideous new face of antisemitism.

Dr. Mike Evans is one of the world’s foremost experts on Israel and the Middle East. He is the author of 117 books, a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and a cherished friend of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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