Welcome to the Movement Against Antizionism (MAAZ)
Confronting the antizionist hate movement through truth, education, and collective courage
Dispatch No. 1: Breaking the Silence
Dear colleagues and friends,
Welcome to the Movement Against Antizionism. We are energized by the remarkable response to this initiative; within days of announcing it, hundreds of people from around the world—scholars, educators, students, community leaders, and concerned citizens—expressed interest in participating. The breadth of engagement confirms the urgent need for rigorous, public work on this subject.
Antizionism is among the most pervasive and least examined ideological formations of our time. It exerts social pressure and moral intimidation so powerful that many hesitate even to name it. Yet our task begins precisely there: to name it, to analyze it, and to expose it as a contemporary iteration of an ancient hatred. Silence only allows it to broaden its reach.
This publication will appear as a series of dispatches. They may contain insights from our founder Adam Louis Klein, contributions from guest writers and scholars, as well as documentation of antizionism’s history, rhetoric, and current-day expressions. We will also provide practical guidance on responding to antizionist discourse in academic, civic, and communal settings. As a general principle, do not engage committed ideologues directly. Persuasion is rarely possible. Instead, focus on the uncommitted audience—the healthy onlookers who can still learn.
Antizionism is a corrosive ideology. It undermines Jewish life in the diaspora, endangers Israeli Jews, distorts Palestinian aspirations, and erodes moral coherence in liberal societies. Our work begins by seeing it clearly, and naming it.
Jew-Hatred in Three Acts
For this inaugural dispatch, we draw upon the framework of Dr. Naya Lekht, a scholar whose family endured the Soviet antizionist campaign. Her model identifies three primary configurations of Jew-hatred across history. Each possesses its own libel and logic; together, they form a recurring cycle.
1. Religious Antijudaism
Religious Jew-hatred first appeared in the theological conflicts of late antiquity and the medieval world. Within both Christian and Islamic contexts, certain clerics and commentators portrayed Jews as obstinate rejecters of divine truth, accusing them of moral blindness and cosmic disobedience. These narratives justified exclusion, forced conversion, and occasional violence. Common libels charged Jews with desecrating sacred objects, poisoning wells, or committing ritual murder. These ideas established a durable myth: that Jewish persistence in its own covenantal identity constituted a threat to the world’s redemption.
2. Racial Antisemitism
In the modern era, theological accusations gave way to pseudoscientific theories of race. Writers and politicians cast Jews as an alien and corrupting strain within European society. This ideology claimed that Jewishness was biological, immutable, and inherently subversive. Conspiracies such as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion depicted Jews as secret orchestrators of finance, revolution, and modernity itself. By reframing moral prejudice as scientific fact, racial antisemitism provided the rationale for exclusionary laws, pogroms, and genocide.
3. Nation-Based Antizionism
In the contemporary world, Jew-hatred targets the Jewish collective. Antizionism casts the Jewish nation-state as uniquely illegitimate, imperial, or malevolent, and recasts Jewish peoplehood as a moral offense. Its rhetoric condemns not only Israel but Jews everywhere who affirm the Jewish collective, labeling them “Zionists” and subjecting them to social and institutional exclusion. This pattern is not new: the Soviet Union purged Jews as “Zionists,” as did regimes across the Middle East and North Africa, and communist Poland in the 1960s.
Each version of Jew-hatred imagines itself as moral-political movement, claiming to oppose only a particular behavior or structure. In reality, all three reduce the Jew—whether as person, people, or polity—to a symbol of evil.
Today, the term antisemitism has become a colloquial shorthand for nearly all expressions of hostility toward Jews — an instinct which obscures these important distinctions. Just as medicine differentiates between leukemia and lymphoma rather than speaking only of “cancer,” our moral and analytical vocabulary must distinguish between the theological, racial, and nation-based forms of Jew-hatred. When every act of hostility is labeled “antisemitic,” the word loses diagnostic value and persuasive power. Worse, its overuse can appear emotionally manipulative, even to those otherwise sympathetic, because on some level it is. Effective moral language requires accuracy. To confront hatred truthfully, we must describe it truthfully.
Upcoming Event: Adam Louis Klein at CUNY
Our founder, Adam Louis Klein, will deliver a public lecture at CUNY next week on the theme “Antizionism as the Third Era of Jew-Hatred.”
Take Action
This week, take one deliberate step to break the silence on antizionism. Choose one of the following actions:
Name antizionism when you see it. In a classroom, conversation, or publication, use the term antizionism precisely and without apology.
Share this dispatch. Forward it to colleagues or friends who might benefit from a clearer framework for understanding contemporary Jew-hatred.
Ask a question. Reply to this email with an antizionism-related question or dilemma you’ve encountered—your experiences will guide future dispatches.
Each voice that speaks makes it safer for the next to do so. The courage of a few becomes the confidence of many.
We invite readers to respond to this dispatch and to share what topics or questions they would like addressed in future editions. The Movement Against Antizionism will continue to build a repository of scholarship, moral analysis, and strategic guidance. Your engagement will shape its direction.
With appreciation,
The Movement Against Antizionism (MAAZ)
Note: The Movement Against Antizionism (MAAZ) is in the process of obtaining 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and will soon be able to accept tax-deductible donations. If you are interested in supporting our work, please contact us at exec@maazaction.org.