Green Party leader Zack Polanski stated on Tuesday, “I would support a movement titled ‘Zionism is Racism’ if it were linked to the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza.”
We will not answer the question of whether the Israeli occupation of Gaza is related to Zionism, but we will leave it to you to decide whether it is racism.
First, let’s state this: If an ideology only supports its own people, if an ideology supports a nation that claims superiority based on religion, if an ideology derives its foundations from a religious book and reduces the religious aims in that book to the dimension of land, and implements all its actions according to these religious commandments, that is, if it claims superiority stemming from a religion, then this is racism.
When we say Zionism, only the Torah and its followers, the Jews, come to mind. But what does the Jewish holy book say? It speaks of the holy land for Israel. Where is the holy land? A part of the Middle East, and parts of Iran and Turkey. So, if a race declares itself superior by citing its holy book as a source, that too is racism.
For example, Turks have the Turan ideology. Extreme nationalists demand the unification of all Turkic states and the merging of their territories. This is a Turanist ideology. It proceeds from the premise that Turks are a superior race. Just like Jews, who consider themselves a superior race based on their understanding of the holy land.
If an ideology recognizes no values other than its own, if it only appeals to its own people and its own country, and uses all material and spiritual values only for this country, then that ideology is racist. This is called religiously based racism.
In other words, Zionism is racism because it derives its existence from the superiority of the Jewish people.
Joshua Golden