WASHINGTON (MEMO) – The Tzedek Chicago Synagogue has declares itself to be “anti-Zionist” in a statement decrying the creation of the occupying regime as an “injustice against the Palestinian people”.
The synagogue was established to cater for Jews disenchanted with the Zionist regime and skeptical of Zionism generally. It had previously labeled itself “non-Zionist” but changed that to “anti-Zionist” a few days ago.
“Members of Tzedek Chicago voted to affirm anti-Zionism as a core value of our congregation,” the synagogue posted on its twitter account. Prior to holding a vote on the matter, members held a lecture on “Torah Beyond Zionism” with Professor Shaul Magid, Distinguished Fellow of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, who asked, “Is Zionist Hegemony Good for American Jewry?”
Explaining its decision, Tzedek Chicago said that Zionism — which it describes is “a movement to establish a sovereign Jewish nation state in historic Palestine” — is dependent upon the maintenance of a demographic Jewish majority in the land.
“Since its establishment, Israel has sought to maintain this majority by systematically dispossessing Palestinians from their homes through a variety of means, including military expulsion, home demolition, land expropriation and revocation of residency rights, among others.”
Citing the human rights reports labeling the Zionist regime as an apartheid regime, Tzedek Chicago said: “It is becoming increasingly difficult to deny the fundamental injustice at the core of Zionism. In its 2021 report, the Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem, concluded that the Zionist regime is an ‘apartheid’ regime, describing it as ‘a regime of Jewish supremacy from the river to the sea’. In the same year, Human Rights Watch released a similar report stating Israel’s ‘deprivations are so severe that they amount to crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.’
“Given the reality of this historic and ongoing injustice, we have concluded that it is not enough to describe ourselves as ‘non-Zionist’ because this neutral term fails to honor the central anti-racist premise that structures of oppression cannot be simply ignored — on the contrary, they must be transformed.”