Zionist as a pejorative

Since at least the 1990s, the word "Zionist" has been recorded in use as a pejorative, primarily among anti-Zionists. In English-speaking circles, it may be seen shortened to "Zio" or morphed to "Zionazi" in colloquial insults targeting Israelis or supporters of Israel. It is commonly tied to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, with many Palestinians and their supporters regarding it as a way to disparage Zionism and simultaneously avoid calling Israelis by their demonym in an attempt to challenge Israel's legitimacy as a country. However, "Zionist" and "Zio" have also been noted to have been used by certain people or organizations to pejoratively refer to all Jews, whether Zionist or anti-Zionist. Using the word as a pejorative in contexts that do not credibly concern criticism of Israel constitutes an expression of new antisemitism, which encompasses fundamentally anti-Jewish rhetoric that is deceptively presented as political opposition to Israel, thereby obfuscating its racist nature and reducing the chance of it being identified and dismissed as bigotry.

History

The use of the compounded "Zio" as a pejorative is first recorded by the 1990 edition of the American Jewish Yearbook as in the term "Zionazi", spraypainted as graffiti on the campus of SUNY-Binghamton.^[1] Ben Samuels, writing for Haaretz, has claimed that the term was popularized first by David Duke and then later by leftists and members of the British Labour Party.^[2] The website WikiZio, run by former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) David Duke, uses "Zio" as a noun or as a hyphenated or unhyphenated adjective. Other variations of "Zio-" include "Zio-Communism", "Zio-economics", "Zio-supremacism", and "Zio-occupied America".^[1]

In 2010, a report by the UK-based Community Security Trust, cited in The Jerusalem Post, found that "Zionist" was increasingly used pejoratively in mainstream British discourse. It noted that the conflation of "Zionist" with "Jew" was becoming more common and could obscure antisemitic intent.^[3] In 2016, the British Labour Party released an inquiry into antisemitism stating that "Epithets such as [...] 'Zio' and others should have no place in Labour party discourse going forward." Speaking at the inquiry's launch, party leader Jeremy Corbyn stated that "'Zio' is a vile epithet that follows in a long line of earlier such terms that have no place whatsoever in our party."^[4]

In 2017, the organizers of the Chicago Dyke March faced accusations of antisemitism after their Twitter account used the term "Zio tears".^[5][6][7] In April of the same year, Terry Couchman, an election candidate of the British Labour Party, was suspended over his use of "ZioNazi" in a post criticising Israel.^[8][9] Tony Greenstein, then a Jewish member of the British Labour Party, was accused of antisemitism and expelled from the party in 2018 for using the term "Zios" among other allegations.^[10][11]

During the Gaza war, the term Zionist became a popular pejorative among the political left.^{[12][13][14][15]} For many Palestinians it is an "ugly" term, because, in their view, it implies the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. In July 2024, Meta made the controversial decision to impose restrictions on the use of the term.^[16][17] This decision was welcomed by the American Jewish Committee,^[18] while 73 organizations sent a letter to the Meta, alleging that such a policy "will also encourage the incorrect and harmful conflation of criticism of the acts of the State of Israel with antisemitism".^[19] A pro-Palestinian digital rights group further argued that "Zionism is an ideology. It's not a race."^[20]

In 2024, a Canadian graduate school instructor produced a syllabus that declared “this classroom is a space free of sexism, racism, Zionism, homophobia, and all other forms of social violence.” The university president responded that the instructor was discriminating against pro-Israel students based on creed.^[21] Support for Israel was noted to be a 'litmus test' leading to social exclusion of Jewish students at many campuses following the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel.^[22] In 2024 following many harassment complaints, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign banned the ostracizing of Jewish students from school clubs for identifying as Zionist.^[23] According to David Seymour, antizionism’s claim that it is only 'Zionists' and not 'the Jews' who are demonized gains its justification. The ideology of antizionism portrays Zionists as freely choosing evil and its harmfulness, legitimizing the demand for exclusion and passing the responsibility for the exclusion onto the excluded themselves.^[24]

In September 2024, Columbia University updated its anti-discrimination policy to classify the use of "Zionist" as a pejorative as potential harassment when directed at individuals based on religion or national origin. The policy cited examples where "Zionist" was used as a coded term to target Jewish or Israeli students and emphasized the distinction between political speech and discriminatory conduct. The update followed a critical report on campus antisemitism and mirrored similar actions by other universities, including NYU.^[25]

Reception

According to the American Jewish Committee (AJC), "Zio" is used by antisemites to pass off their antisemitism as "anti-Zionism", pointing out that "Zio" can be a euphemism for "Jew".^[12] This view was shared by prominent Jewish civil rights advocacy Anti-Defamation League.^[26] Similarly, progressive journals like the Mosaic Magazine referred to "Zio" as a "new anti-Jewish slur".^[1] Writer Ariel Sobel of the Jewish Journal also pointed out that "Zio" was an antisemitic slur with roots within antisemitic right-wing extremist circles that had been adopted by some progressives in their activism.^[27] Well-known Czech-Israeli Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer succinctly called the "Zio-Nazi" slur hate speech.^[28]

See also

• Anti-Zionism
• Criticism of Israel
• New antisemitism