Mark Rowley@MarkWRowley
THE SOVIET UNION, THE KGB, AND ‘ZIONISM’
The Soviet Union and its successor state, Russia, have a long history of weaponising the term ‘Zionist’ (and ‘Zionism’) as a political tool to disguise antisemitism, attack Israel, and discredit Western influence.
This strategy involves equating Zionism with negative ideologies such as Nazism, racism, and imperialism to make it a social taboo and a target for condemnation.
WHAT IS ZIONISM?
‘Zionism’ correctly understood, refers simply to the return of Jewish people to ‘Zion’ — one of several names given to Jerusalem and the surrounding lands in which the Jews lived and governed in ancient times.
In the late nineteenth century, the idea of returning to those lands shifted from a seemingly intangible ideal and wistful age-old expression of yearning for freedom, to a precise, secular, political movement.
The aim of ‘Zionism’ was to reconstitute a Jewish state in the territory the Jews knew as Eretz Yisrael (The Land of Israel), which had been renamed ‘Palestine’ (Syria Palaestina) following the suppression of the final Bar Kokhba revolt by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the year 135 CE.
The renaming was intended to diminish Jewish connection to the land following the revolt, referencing the ancient Aegean enemies of the Jews, the Philistines.
The Balfour Declaration, United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 (II), and a succession of binding instruments of international law from the San Remo Resolution to the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, had all recognised that the Jews were a distinct people with an unbroken connection to the land and a right to reform their state in some part of that land.
‘Zionism’ therefore was the foundational movement of the modern state of Israel.
As such, those determined to erase an autonomous Jewish presence from the Middle East have assessed that if they can succeed in depicting Zionism as something loathsome and unjust, the case for Israel can be dramatically undermined.
COLD WAR PROPAGANDA:
Following Israel's victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, the Soviet Union launched an intense anti-Israel campaign, which was officially sponsored by the Communist Party and the KGB.
Soviet propaganda sought to equate ‘Zionism’ with ‘Nazism’ - arguing that if Zionism is a form of racism, and racism is a form of Nazism, then Zionism is a form of Nazism.
‘ZIONOLOGY’
The Soviets coined ‘Zionology’ to frame their anti-Zionist propaganda as scholarly study, creating a new genre of literature that portrayed Zionists as evil conspirators.
UN RESOLUTION 3379:
The USSR was instrumental in orchestrating the 1975 UN General Assembly Resolution 3379, which declared Zionism to be “a form of racism and racial discrimination,” a move that mainstreamed the demonisation of the term.
DISGUISED ANTISEMITISM:
While the Soviet government often claimed to be ‘anti-Zionist’ rather than antisemitic, studies show that in practice, the campaigns were antisemitic, leading to harassment, surveillance, and job loss for Jewish people.
MODERN USE:
The Kremlin has continued to use these techniques to serve its interests, particularly by fanning antisemitic sentiment and using the ‘anti-Zionist’ narrative to accuse the Ukrainian government (which is led by a Jewish president) of being supported by Zionists.
Contemporary antisemites and ‘anti-Zionists’ today employ the definition of Zionism established by the Soviet Union, as it enables the demonisation of Zionism by linking it to Nazism, racism, apartheid, and global conspiracies, transforming it from a national liberation movement into a proxy for "evil".
This tactic is considered a "highly effective political tool" that has been used to stir up a wave of anti-Jewish sentiment by hiding it under the guise of ‘geopolitical criticism’
2021-2025.state.gov/more-than-a-ce….
