Israel’s election and what comes after

One recurring theme of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has been Virginia Bell’s interrogation of a fundamental question: is antizionism a form of antisemitism?

At its core, Zionism is the right of the Jewish people to determine their own future. History has shown the consequences when that right is denied.

The vehicle for this is the Jewish state, in the Jewish people’s ancestral homeland – a land in which Jews are indigenous and have maintained an unbroken presence.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly sought or accepted a two-state solution. Palestinian leaders, however, have yet to accept any resolution that recognises the permanent legitimacy of a Jewish-majority state, whatever its borders.

Support for a genuine two-state solution, however unrealistic it currently seems, is neither antizionist nor antisemitic. Support for a binational or single state, intended to end Jewish self-determination, is both.