WHY DO SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT ZIONISM IS RACISM?
Zionism is the opposite of racism. It is an answer to the racism directed at the Jewish people throughout history.
Zionism is a movement of national liberation - based on the idea that the Jewish people - just like any other people - are entitled to live in their homeland with independence, self-determination, and freedom from persecution.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote that: 'Zionism is nothing less than the dream and ideal of the Jewish people returning to live in their own land... the fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord to all other nations of the globe.'
Zionism is an ideology rooted in the idea of equality.
In the State of Israel's Declaration of Independence it states;
"The State of Israel... will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants, irrespective of creed, race or gender; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education, and culture."
Israel today is a beacon of equality in the Middle East, providing the full rights of citizenship for people of all cultures and faiths.
Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, B'hais - all these faiths and more coexist.
All places of worship are respected and protected.
In fact, the B'hai faith has its headquarters in Israel!
And while across the Middle East Christians are being persecuted and driven out, in Israel there is a thriving Christian community..