The controversial claim that '''Zionism is racism''' has recurred many times in [[United Nations]] debates and resolutions, especially since 1975 when the PLO was granted observer status at the UN where it vigorously protested the occupation of the [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza]] by the State of [[Israel]]. It is part of an overall and consistent condemnation of Zionism by the Arab states and other enemies of Israel in the UN.
Jewish conspiracy theories in Europe and the nations that would later constitute the [[Soviet Union]] had existed for many years, but became much more accepted by the public in many nations after [[World War I]], and even more so after the [[Bolshevik]] revolution in Russia. Through the publication of the infamous forgery, the [[Protocols of the Elders of Zion]], many people took it as a "proven" fact that Jews were secretly conspiring to rule the world. This anti-Jewish attitude took on a stronger form during the reign of [[Joseph Stalin]]. Stalin was initially supportive of Zionism; many early Zionists were socialists or communits, and many people in the Soviet Union believed that the [[State of Israel]] would be an ally. As time passed, Stalin realized that Israel would not become the communist nation he hoped it would become; he eventually became staunchly anti-Zionist, and thus made anti-Zionism the official doctrine of the Soviet Union.
By the 1950s the Soviet Union was funding the publication of many anti-Semitic [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]]. It funded the publication of thousands of tractates, articles, and books promoting the viewpoint that all Jews were part of a conspiracy to rule the world, and that Zionism was one of their tools for world conquest. Early versions of this theory held that "the Jews" were merely tools of the Freemasons or some other group; after the [[Six-day War]] it became fashionable to hold that the Jews were really in charge, and that the Freemasons (or other groups) were merely tools of "international Jewry". In all post-1960 variants of these conspiracy theories, Soviet indoctrination held that Zionism was a tool used by the Jews for racist imperialism. Zionists were referred to as "running dogs" as American imperialists. It was only with the death of Stalin in 1953 that anti-Zionist propaganda went into a temporary eclipse.
In the 1967 Six Day War, Israel emerged victorious and the Soviet Union's proxy nations lost; as a response, the Soviet Union increased its anti-Zionist campaign. Soviet television stations, radio stations and newspapers ran hundreds of editorials and articles stating that "Zionism is racism"; these ideas were pushed in all Soviet client states, including many third world nations and Arab nations.
(''More here needs to be written on how Arab leaders and nationalists accepted as factual European and Russian conspiracy theories, and came to believe that Zionism was part of plot to rule thr world, and how this ties into the social phenomenon in which many Arabs came to believe that all Zionists were racists.'')
In some circles, the phrase has become an [[idiom]] or [[stock phrase]] to signal rejection of this occupation and demands for [[Israel]] to withdraw to the UN-mandated "Green Line". It seems to arise in part from a long [[history of anti-Zionism]], and the unique claims made by the people, nation or state of Israel regarding its history and religion, in which they are a "chosen people" claiming a "promised land".
On [[November 10]], [[1975]] the [[United Nations General Assembly]] adopted, by a vote of 72 to 35 (with 32 abstentions), its [[UN Resolution 3379]], which states as its conclusion "Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination." The resolution also endorsed an August [[1975]] statement by the [[Conference of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Non-Aligned Countries]] (Lima, Peru), that "...severely condemned Zionism as a threat to world peace and security and called upon all countries to oppose this [[racism|racist]] and [[imperialism|imperalist]] ideology."
This was one of many incidents that reflect a long-standing [[UN condemnation of Zionism]], ironic considering that it was a UN resolution that established that state.
The resolution was actively debated and had a turbulent history; It remained explosively controversial all through this debate, and remains so; to see all Zionism as racism is considered by most Jews and many non-Jews to be [[anti-Semitic]] and thus itself racist. Furthermore, it was seen as a threat to the existence of the state of [[Israel]], which rendered resolution of regional conflict difficult.
Israel made revocation of the infamous resolution a condition of Israel's participation in the Madrid Peace Conference in progress in the last quarter of 1991. Under pressure from the [[George Herbert Walker Bush]] administration of the [[United States]], on December 16, 1991 when the UN General Assembly finally revoked Resolution 3379, with a vote of 111 to 25 (with 13 abstentions). Accordingly it appears that for 25 states, at least, this view of Zionism remains their policy, and is in those states more than a slogan.
Furthermore, majority votes of various UN agencies and bodies continued to assert the phrase "Zionism is racism" as the consensus in their agendas and conclusions, reflecting persistence of this view apart from the resolution:
Under pressure from the [[George W. Bush]] administration, the phrase was omitted from the agenda of the [[United Nations Conference on Racism]] in [[Durban, South Africa]], and its final communiqué. Subsequently, under further pressure from this administration, the [[Palestinian Authority]] and rival groups have backed away from the claim's original form.
However, this does not appear to reflect actual opinion, either within the PA or indeed globally, as continued condemnation of Israeli [[colonization]] of the West Bank, occupation of territory the UN has long consider to be Arab, and a defiance of many UN resolutions regarding nuclear weapons and other activities, and the dual citizenship and 'right of return' held by its Jewish citizens, continues to be regarded with very high suspicion by probably most people.
Enemies of Israel, particular Arabs, continue to claim that the basis of the land claim and immigration that established the modern state of Israel is not one that could be made and enforced by any other group on Earth, although as the Peace Encyclopedia points out, "the Arab states define citizenship strictly by native parentage. It is almost impossible to become a naturalized citizen in many Arab states, especially Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Several Arab nations have laws that facilitate the naturalization of foreign Arabs, with the specific exception of Palestinians. Jordan, on the other hand, instituted its own [law of return]] in 1954, according citizenship to all former residents of Palestine, except for Jews."
[[Danial Moynihan]] said:
:"In logic, the State of Israel could be, or could become, many things, theoretically including many undesirable things. But it could not be and could not become racist unless it ceased to be Zionist." [http://www.yahoodi.com/peace/zisr.html]
==External link==
*[http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_un_zionism_racism.php Background on original resolution]
See: [[Ethiopian Jew]]s
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