Jewish, Zionist: what is the difference?

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between Jewish, Zionist, non-Zionist and anti-Zionist? And what it actually means to be antisemitic? A clear insight is provided in Marilyn Garson’s new book, Jewish not Zionist, says Felicity Laurence. A talk and discussion with the author will be held on 15 February at White Rock Hotel.

Marilyn Garson’s book Still Lives: A memoir of Gaza chronicled the four years from 2011 to 2014 that she spent living and working there as the economic director of a large NGO leading a young Palestinian team. When she came back to her homeland Aotearoa New Zealand, she “brought a mission home from Gaza. I wanted to overturn the dehumanisation of Palestinians.”

As a Jewish person of faith, she returned to her small Jewish community and its synagogue; but there, rather than open minds, she faced sustained abuse for arguing for the equal humanity of the Palestinian people with whom she had worked and then suffered under the devastating Israeli bombardment in 2014. She met with accusations of treachery, and the blindness to the reality of Israeli policy that we are seeing again now.

Marilyn’s newly published book Jewish not Zionist is her account of her survival of this traumatic experience, and the subsequent founding of the group, Alternative Jewish Voices (NZ), in Aotearoa New Zealand. It also includes a seminal and brilliant analysis of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s working definition of antisemitism (IHRAWDA) – a ‘definition’ never intended to be the final word and long renounced by its author – showing its role in underpinning the ongoing suppression of Israel-critical voices; and her argument for the principle of human rights for the people of Gaza. She writes:

“Because they equate the value of all people, human rights constitutes a radical politics for dehumanised Gaza. If Gazans are fully human and the value of human life is indivisible, then the choking blockade must go. […] Human rights rejects the structural power of blockade, not by being anti-anyone but by restoring the full, equal value of each discounted life.”

Launched in October 2024, Jewish not Zionist was written throughout the current onslaught on Gaza and through Marilyn’s own perspective as a person of the Jewish faith who, like so many others of Jewish heritage, proclaims ‘not in my name’.

Her account of what it is to be Jewish but not Zionist, and of what constitutes Zionism itself, is profoundly important for all those of Jewish heritage who are also stepping away from what they may have been brought up to believe – for many, as with her, also a painful path. But more than that, it offers to those who are not Jewish an understanding of the real meanings of Zionism, antisemitism, the values of Judaism – what these are and what these are not.

Hastings-based Circaidy Gregory Press are currently preparing to publish the UK edition of Marilyn’s book; editor Kay Green puts it thus: “For people like me, who are not Jewish, the book brings welcome assistance in the struggle to make sense of and to distinguish between Jewish race, religion and culture, and, when looking at ‘Judaism’ and ‘Zionism’ to distinguish the religious and the political.”

Marilyn will be joining the forthcoming event on 15 February via livestream to speak directly to us here in Hastings. This will be a chance for people to ask the questions they may have, and may even have been apprehensive to ask. Marilyn welcomes warmly those who seek to understand more about these issues, and perhaps to feel less confused about what they can and cannot say in terms of whether criticism of Israeli policy, or of Zionism, is inherently antisemitic.

As Katy Colley, chair of Hastings and District Palestine Solidarity Campaign and member of Hastings Jews for Justice, explains:

“In today’s climate, where identities are weaponised and fears deliberately stoked in defence of nationalist aims, disentangling Jewishness from nationalism can seem like a minefield.

“This is where Marilyn comes in – she is determined to illuminate the space and make it safe for all. As she says, ‘We must keep untangling Jewishness from nationalism, to ensure that Jewishness is understood by our neighbours in an aspirational, loving, forward-looking voice; a voice that seeks to live in the social world of this country at this time… We link arms with others to turn racism back, and we remind our neighbours that the Jewish religion is a bountiful, spiritual inheritance. It predates Zionism by millennia.'”

Public meeting on Marilyn Garson’s book Jewish not Zionist 6pm, Saturday 15 February, White Rock Hotel, 1-10 White Rock, Hastings TN34 1JU.

The meeting is co-hosted by Hastings Jews for Justice and Hastings and District Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Marilyn’s talk will be followed by a Q&A session and teas and coffees afterwards.

Entry is free but donations are welcome to help with running costs. Copies of Jewish not Zionist will be available to buy on the day for £12.

Please see the Facebook announcement here and reviews of Jewish not Zionist here and here.

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