The recent rise in “Anti-Zionist” activity on campuses all throughout North America and Europe has raised the alarm for many Jews both in Israel and the Diaspora. The message is clear if you are a Jewish student be prepared for demonstrations against you, regardless of your personal opinion on Israel. This new reality for Jewish students has created an interesting double standard when combining it with other antisemitic rhetorics and practices; ‘We will collectively punish you as a united people, but forbid you from claiming nationalism.’

A recent policy meeting by a BDS-supporting student union, belonging to Scarborough of Toronto University, perfectly exemplifies this absurd double standard. Between all the politically correct filler content on the published meeting summary such as “Protect the right of Jewish students to enjoy their charter rights of a freedom of expression on campus”, lies a deeply concerning motion the union plans on executing. The SCSU 2022 annual general meeting stated that “efforts should be made to source Kosher food from organizations that do not normalize Israeli apartheid…”

In addition to potentially limiting the availability of food to Jewish students, notice that only Kosher food is mentioned. It is only Jews who are subjected to the anti-Israel litmus test- in this case just in order to eat.

— Jewish on Campus (@JewishonCampus_) November 26, 2021

Between all the sweet talk, a student union in North America is actively moving forward with a motion to limit Jews from following their religious dietary restrictions. Virtually by definition, all those who produce Kosher meats, or a “Shochet”, will follow strict Jewish law that requires them to be sympathetic at the very least to the Land of Israel, if not fully outspoken about their Zionism. In regards to other Kosher restrictions such as dairy products, the orthodox level of Kosher is called “Cholov Yisroel”, which literally translates into “Milk of Israel" despite the milk not actually coming from Israel. The term refers to specific practices of ensuring the milk comes from an unblemished cow and is not mixed in with the milk of other animals.

To answer the question of whether anti-Zionism is antisemitism one need only look at our college campuses. Israel is vilified and Jew-hatred is at all time highs.

Those who don’t see it don’t want to see it. https://t.co/MtW2nTM9O9 pic.twitter.com/pG80KFnsIa

— Dumisani Washington (@DumisaniTemsgen) December 19, 2022

This is not the only case of restricting or attempting to restrict Kosher products on campus. The City University of New York branch of “Students for Justice in Palestine” (SJP) condemned the university system that “offers food and beverage products for purchase on campus that are notorious for violating Palestinian human rights, including PepsiCo and Sabra Hummus.” The Kosher dietary restrictions remain the most significant religious prohibition on food and beverage today. Observant Jews cannot just pray for food to be Kosher, as offered by Islam’s Halal guidelines, but actually need the “OU” or "Chav-K" stamp of approval on products offered by companies like PepsiCo and Sabra Hummus. 

Meet the ‘Most Violent Non-Violent Group’ on Campus. Students for Justice in Palestine claims to be a ‘non-violent’ initiative. But it is not just vehemently anti-Israel, but also antisemitic, as it calls for the murder of Jews & show support for terrorismhttps://t.co/UAlVQnv6pq

— Jay Sadian (@DrJayinLA) December 22, 2022

Choking Jewish livelihood as an entirety on campuses is only natural for the “anti-Zionist” organizations. If you include the fact all Jewish students worldwide carry some sort of connection to modern Israel,  both willingly or not, Palestinian organizations in North America by definition reject any Jewish presence on campus. 

As these calculated measures against all those who practice Judaism in the name of Palestine are being implemented, Palestinian activists, and frankly the general public, refuse to recognize the Jewish people as one united ethnicity. Jews have grown accustomed in the western world to carrying an identity of “Mizrahi-Jewish”, Ashkenazi-Jewish”, whether they are Zionists or not. What turns this identification system so frustrating is its complete ignorance of what is actually the reality. 

Funny oven jokes. Idk how those mf can simultaneously be viewed as victims while using a genocide to personally attack ppl

— A Literal Rat (@RandomSunBro) December 24, 2022

Collectively, Jews in the modern world are born into a household that teaches them specific practices and customs; collectively, observant Jews will follow the Torah’s guidelines which focus entirely on the land of Israel; collectively, Jewish students will face discriminatory laws, and then miraculously, individually, Jews are asked to categorize themselves into separate sub-factions. The entire outlook is hypocritical to its very core. The sub-factions of Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi affect traditions such as prayer style, holiday foods, and synagogue customs. All of them say the same prayers, albeit not necessarily in the same order (prayer style) and all of them celebrate the same holidays which revolve around the Land of Israel, albeit not in the same way (holiday foods).

To top it all off, Palestinian campus groups will pretend as if these irrelevant sub-groups make any difference in the treatment and discrimination you will receive from them as if Jewish dietary restrictions or traditional regard to the land of Israel defers between each one. Mizrahi Jews, being primarily from Arab-speaking nations apparently get a little more of a pass because their skin is darker, however that pass is revoked once any symbolism of Israel such as a Star-Of-David necklace is spotted by the anti-Israel students.

When we say anti-Zionism is antisemitism and just replaces the word Jew with the word Zionist, well, this is as clear an example as you’re gonna find. https://t.co/HCyBryKObY

— ShipofTheseus (@JewishSpaceLazr) December 26, 2022

Perhaps it is time for anti-Zionist movements all over to adopt their true definition, that being antisemitic organizations actively attempting to rid public campus spaces of any Jewish presence. It would benefit them by freeing them from bouncing around their true intentions and finally opening the eyes of so many blind Jews living in the Diaspora who think Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism are two different things.