The Anti-Zionism of Fools: How Scapegoating Jews Serves Zionism
Jonathan Brown
Abstract
This article addresses the growing phenomenon of conservative “anti-Zionism” in the United States, arguing that much of it represents what the author calls “anti-Zionism in reverse”: a form of anti-Semitism that scapegoats Jews for the crimes of Western imperialism. Using a Marxist-Leninist framework, the paper examines the roots of Zionism not in Judaism or theology but in the material conditions of European capitalism and imperialism. It traces how the early Zionist movement emerged as a secular nationalist project aligned with European and later U.S. imperial interests, transforming Jewish identity into a political instrument of capitalist power. The author contrasts this analysis with the rise of right-wing figures who, under the banner of anti-Zionism, reproduce Zionist assumptions by conflating Judaism and Israel. Through historical and theoretical analysis, the paper demonstrates that this scapegoating diverts popular anger away from capitalism and imperialism — the real engines of Israeli aggression — and ultimately strengthens Zionist ideology. The article concludes that communists must reject all forms of racial or religious scapegoating and build a consistent, class-based, anti-imperialist movement in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle.
Keywords
Zionism, Palestine, imperialism, Judaism, Jewish history, anti-Semitism, conservatism
