anti-Zionism

noun

: opposition to the establishment or support of the state of Israel : opposition to Zionism
The author also suffers from a reflexive anti-Zionism that, fortunately, mars only a few portions of his text.Randall Rothenberg
anti-Zionist adjective
One week later two orthodox Jews were badly beaten one block from the UC Berkeley campus, and anti-Zionist graffiti appeared on sidewalks and buildings near the school. Karen Alexander
anti-Zionist noun
Hans Morgenthau was an anti-Zionist … until the 1967 war, when his pride in Israel's triumph led him gradually to redefine his Jewish identity. Monroe K. Spears

Examples of anti-Zionism in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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But coming just four months after the October 7th Hamas attack, tensions were high, misinformation was rife, and Israel’s decades-long conflation of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism had burrowed deep into the Western psyche. Jay Weissberg, Variety, 10 Sep. 2026 Although El-Sayed has never said anything nearly as inflammatory as the sorts of comments Piker makes routinely, his mixture of anti-Zionism and populism treats pro-Israel activism as a nefarious and all-pervasive force. Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 28 Aug. 2026 Piker, as Klein pointed out in his April column, has also condemned antisemitism and tries to make a distinction between antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Sara Dorn, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2026 Some say the line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism can blur when opposition to Israeli policies veers into prejudice against Jewish people, in some cases tapping age-old anti-Jewish tropes about money and power. Dina Kraft, Christian Science Monitor, 22 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for anti-Zionism

Word History

First Known Use

1898, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of anti-Zionism was in 1898

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Cite this Entry

“Anti-Zionism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anti-Zionism. Accessed 24 Sep. 2026.

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