Op Ed
Read the Jerusalem Post op-ed by AJIRI-BBI Board Chair Richard P. Schifter and Executive Director Gil Kapen on the enduring impact of the U.N.’s infamous “Zionism is Racism” resolution 50 years later and the urgent need to confront its toxic legacy.
It struck a blow at the moral credibility of the UN itself, devalued the accusation of racism, and gave ideological cover to a new wave of antisemitism masquerading as anti-imperialism.
Richard P. Schifter is board chair, and Gil Kapen is the executive director of the American Jewish International Relations Institute-B’nai B’rith International (AJIRI-BBI).
When the United Nations shamefully declared that “Zionism is Racism” on November 10, 1975, it did far more than insult the State of Israel and the Jewish people.
It struck a blow at the moral credibility of the UN itself, devalued the accusation of racism, and gave ideological cover to a new wave of antisemitism masquerading as anti-imperialism.
In doing so, it helped unleash a firestorm of hatred and violence against Jews that has never truly abated. More than that, tragically, it has gained renewed steam and momentum over the past two years in the aftermath of October 7.
The “Zionism is Racism” resolution was not merely an act of political theater during the Cold War.
It was a preview of what we now recognize as the toxic Red-Green alliance, the ideological convergence between radical leftist movements and Arab extremists united by their shared hostility to Israel and, often, to Jews themselves.What began as a cynical Soviet and Arab bloc maneuver at the UN has since metastasized into a broader global campaign to delegitimize Israel’s very existence.
Although the USSR is now well ensconced in its (well-deserved) place within the dustbin of history, its propaganda assault on Israel and Zionism is alive and well.
It can justifiably be said that the defamation of Zionism was one of the few – or only – successful enterprises of the Soviet Union.
Zionism is racism: 1975’s toxic legacy
We are seeing the echoes of that 1975 moment everywhere today: in the chants calling for Israel’s eradication on Western university campuses; in the silence or equivocation of leftist protesters who cannot bring themselves to condemn Hamas; and in the revival of antisemitic tropes dressed up as criticism of Zionists.
Increasingly, it is not Israel’s policies or actions that are under attack – it is Israel’s right to exist at all.
It may be that harsh and unique critiques of Israeli actions were always thinly veiled questioning of Israel’s right to exist, but today the mask is off, and many Israel-haters have no problem admitting that they believe its very creation was illegitimate.
The singling out of only the Jewish state, and only the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, for official condemnation was a pioneering form of antisemitism. The “special treatment” of Israel, whether at the UN itself or anywhere else, is an egregious and dangerous expression of antisemitism.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) outlines, in its official definition of antisemitism, now adopted by 46 countries, the following example of the test of antisemitism as it relates to criticism of the State of Israel: “…applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”
This, unfortunately, has been exactly the common practice and tone of so much of the discourse and activity surrounding Israel and the outcome of “Zionism equals racism.”
When it comes to Israel, there is sadly a parallel universe of hypocrisy and hypercriticism that applies to no other country in the world. According to UN Watch, for example, from 2015 to 2023, the UN General Assembly adopted a total of 154 resolutions against Israel and 71 against all other countries combined.
“Zionism is racism” is a motto and a slur that was born in infamy on that day in 1975, but its repercussions reverberate to our day 50 years later.
The tragedy is that this moral inversion has distorted the very meaning of racism. By equating the Jewish people’s national liberation movement with racial supremacy, the UN in 1975 turned truth on its head.
Zionism, at its core, is the belief that Jews – like any other people – have the right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland. To call that racism is not only false but is itself an act of discrimination.
Yet, there is room for hope. Nearly half a century later, much of the Arab world has moved on.
Through the Abraham Accords and other quiet partnerships, a growing number of Arab states now recognize that peace and prosperity lie not in demonizing Israel but in cooperation and coexistence.
Their rejection of the old antisemitic dogmas of the past is a sign that the future need not be shackled to the hatreds of 1975.
It is time for the European and international left to make a similar moral reckoning. Those who genuinely seek peace, justice, and equality must ask themselves what cause they are advancing when they chant slogans born of a UN resolution that equated Jewish self-determination with racism.
If they wish to contribute to peace, they must reject this poisonous legacy outright.
The 1975 “Zionism is Racism” resolution was eventually revoked by the UNGA in 1991, but its pernicious damage endures. The UN can rescind a document, but it cannot so easily undo the lies it helped spread.
The challenge before us now is to confront those lies again – with clarity, courage, and truth – and to reaffirm that the struggle for Jewish self-determination is not racist but righteous.
Richard P. Schifter is board chair, and Gil Kapen is the executive director of the American Jewish International Relations Institute-B’nai B’rith International (AJIRI-BBI).