Tactics of Antizionism
Antizionism presents itself as "critique." But beneath the language of justice and liberation lies a coordinated set of attentional, rhetorical, social, and violent tactics designed not merely to oppose a state, but to stigmatize, isolate, and endanger an entire people.
Antizionism is an obsessive, predatory gaze — a sustained, malicious gathering of attention that fixates on Jews, particularly when they act collectively or exercise power. This gaze does more than observe; it hunts. It isolates Jewish self-determination as an anomaly, dissects it with disproportionate intensity, and frames it through a lens of suspicion that virtually no other people on earth are subjected to. The result is not analysis, but extraction — of missteps, symbols, and statements, all repurposed to confirm a preordained conclusion of guilt.
What makes this gaze so dangerous is not just its intensity, but its asymmetry. While it magnifies every real or imagined flaw in Israel or Jewish political life, it deliberately turns away from the violence, supremacism, and theocratic authoritarianism of groups and regimes that define themselves by their hostility to Jews and Israel. Attention is not neutral; it is political. And antizionism, at its core, is an attention project — one that turns Jewish existence into an object of perpetual indictment while shielding its antagonists from view. To resist this gaze is not to demand immunity from critique, but to reject a framework that treats one people’s survival as a threat and another’s genocidal aggression as the natural order.
Antizionism depends first on story: the relentless projection of Jews, recast as “Zionists,” as uniquely malevolent.
ANTIZIONIST LIBEL — The core tactic of antizionism. Not legal libel, but a modern version of classical antisemitic libels: genocide libel, colonizer libel, apartheid libel, famine libel, organ theft libel, baby killer libel. Many are outright lies. Others are distortions, or decontextualized facts delivered with such obsessive malice, repetition, and theatricality that the intent is clearly to cast “Zionists” as symbols of evil, so that killing them can be framed as “justice.” Libel isn’t misinformation; it’s a weaponized narrative – and the primary tactic on which all others depend.
CONSPIRACY – The spreading of myths about a shadowy “Zionist” cabal controlling global events. These narratives blame “Zionists” for everything from American police brutality to housing crises to climate change. By projecting an image of near-omnipotent “Zionist” power, antizionists create an abusive dynamic in which empathy for “Zionists” is unthinkable. A key subtactic is white coding, where antizionists label all Jews as “white oppressors” in order to erase their minority status, history of persecution, and present-day vulnerability.
IDENTITY ERASURE – The systematic denial of the ancient connection between Jewish identity and the land of Israel. Antizionists insist “Zionism” is a mere political stance rather than a core part of Jewish identity. This erases thousands of years of Jewish history, liturgy, culture, and longing for return, recasting Jewish belonging as foreign, fabricated, or colonial. By reframing Jewish identity as “optional” or illegitimate, this tactic works to delegitimize Jewish peoplehood and reframe self-determination as something to be unlearned, apologized for, or abandoned. It is the modern version of telling Jews they don’t belong – anywhere.
ATROCITY DENIAL – The denial, dismissal, or demand for proof of Jewish suffering, through statements like “show me the rapes” or “October 7 never happened.” This is a modern form of classical antisemitic denialism, echoing Holocaust denial. This tactic erases Jewish pain and fabricates the illusion that “Zionists” are safe, whiny, or exaggerating. It works to strip them of empathy, justify continued hostility, and absolve the perpetrators of their crimes. It dehumanizes “Zionist” victims a second time – first through violence, then through denial.
DOUBLE STANDARDS / MORAL ASYMMETRY – The fixation on Israel with a level of scrutiny, suspicion, and moral condemnation applied to no other nation on earth. Captured institutions, from the mainstream media to the UN, frame every alleged Israeli misstep as proof of inherent evil, while excusing, minimizing, or ignoring similar or far worse actions by others. They treat even ordinary behavior by Israel as suspect, and mock or dismiss its humanitarian efforts. This obsessive antizionist gaze – “all eyes” on Jews and “no eyes” on anyone else – doesn’t just demonize Israel; it diverts valuable attention from crises elsewhere, from Sudan to China.
Antizionism is not just a narrative project — it is a social one. It seeks to cleanse public life of those who do not conform.
PURGING / CLEANSING – The frantic, ritualistic drive to root out and expel “Zionists” from social circles, workplaces, activist spaces, or public platforms. It’s a fear-driven performance, meant to distance the “in group” from the libels and conspiracies projected onto Jews. This often includes compiling blacklists of “Zionists” to shame, isolate, or exclude. While classical antisemitism used medical metaphors (implying Jews are an “infection” to be cured), antizionism uses moral metaphors, framing “Zionists” as sinners, racists, or enablers of evil. This echoes historical patterns of expelling or ethnically cleansing Jews from societies in Europe and the Middle East; it’s a deeply ingrained reflex, endlessly reinvented in new forms.
TOKENIZATION – The strategic parading of fringe antizionist Jews as moral cover, while silencing and discrediting the vast majority of Jews who care about Israel. Antizionists don’t hold up these tokens to foster inclusion, but to shield their hate movement from accusations of antisemitism as it relentlessly advances. Remember: antizionism is a global, cross-ideological hate movement that includes Western leftists, Islamists, Arab nationalists, far-right groups, captured institutions like the UN and Amnesty – and yes, antizionist Jews.
When narrative and social control aren't enough, antizionism turns up the volume — overwhelming public space with imagery, slogans, and emotional warfare. These tactics aim to drown out dissent, destabilize clarity, and psychologically overwhelm.
THE FLOOD – Antizionist organizers often call on their followers to “flood” a space — a protest, a classroom, a comment section. The term signals their intent to overwhelm, not to engage. Across social media, this strategy unleashes a torrent of images, slogans, casualty counts, and visceral footage — some real, some doctored, others lifted from unrelated wars. These are designed to short-circuit reason and provoke a raw emotional response. In the streets, flooding takes the form of mass disruption: flags, chants, smoke, props, and noise designed to destabilize the environment and dominate attention. The flood is not just volume; it is a strategy of saturation. By surrounding every surface — digital and physical — with a single, emotional narrative, it pushes dissent to the margins and wears down resistance through repetition, confusion, and intimidation.
RHETORICAL ASSAULT – In one-on-one encounters — online or in person — antizionists often unleash a dense barrage of accusations: apartheid, genocide, organ theft, baby-killing, settler colonialism, and more. These attacks bypass dialogue entirely, functioning as rhetorical weapons rather than arguments. Referred to by some internet activists as “libelvomit,” this tactic floods the space with venom so rapidly that no response is possible. The sheer pace and volume aim to disorient and humiliate, leaving the targeted Jew overwhelmed, cornered, and psychologically shaken.
When narrative and social pressure are insufficient, antizionism escalates. Its ultimate goal is not persuasion, but intimidation and elimination.
STALKING / HUNTING – Targeted campaigns of intimidation in which Jewish spaces (synagogues, schools, restaurants, cultural events) are marked, vandalized, and invaded. It begins with surveillance, graffiti, threatening symbols, or doxxing to signal that Jews are being watched. Then comes the escalation: mobs arrive uninvited, filming attendees, brandishing signs, and flooding the space to create fear and chaos. The goal is to make “Zionists” feel surveilled, exposed, and unsafe. In its most extreme form, this morphs into open calls to “hunt” Zionists worldwide and “hold them accountable,” turning Jews into prey.
CALLS FOR VIOLENCE – When “Zionists” are cast as irredeemable embodiments of evil, death threats and violence against them is rebranded as moral duty. Slogans like “intifada,” “river to sea,” “by any means necessary,” “bomb Tel Aviv,” “repeat October 7,” or “throw Zionists in the river” aren’t cries for justice, but incitements. Though some antizionists pretend these are metaphors, they legitimize violence against “Zionists,” turning it into a cause to be celebrated.
ACTUAL VIOLENCE – Physical attacks on “Zionists” – spitting, choking, beatings, pogroms, shootings, bomb plots – aren’t antizionism. They’re the outcome of antizionism. Because at its core, antizionism is an eliminationist movement. Its goal is not peace or reform, but the destruction of Israel. And when it can’t reach Israel directly, it targets Jews, allies, supporters – wherever they live. If you're only noticing the violence, you've already missed it. By then, it’s too late.
Learn about antizionism's core tactic.