The freedom to fully live by our covenant in the land of our ancestors is an expression of the human right to choose the very order of one’s earthly existence.
It does not preclude other rights or others’ rights – but it is an inalienable right nonetheless.
If you deny my brothers and sisters that freedom, then you are maintaining a prejudiced belief towards them.
Criticism of a policy, of a politician, of a government, of a state is one thing.
So is criticism of the ways in which minorities in diasporas use and abuse the scanty social privileges granted to them in the hierarchical societies in which they’re enmeshed.
But blanket denial of the freedom to fully live by our ancestral covenant in the land of our heritage, free from foreign colonialism, imperialism, oppression, persecution, intolerance, and hierarchies, is something else entirely.
It’s taken decades of thinking and rethinking and rethinking this issue again and again for me to come to the simple conclusion that yes,
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Anti-Zionism is a form of antisemitism.
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May the war in Gaza stop, may Hamas be uprooted, may the hostages be freed, may the occupation end, and may we rebuild our Home – together.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.