One of the biggest lies ever told about Zionism is that the subjugation or oppression of the Palestinians is somehow a central tenet of the movement.

Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist organization with chapters at several universities, posits that “the Zionism that took hold and stands today is a settler-colonial movement, establishing an apartheid state where Jews have more rights than others” and that “Palestinian dispossession and occupation are by design. Zionism has meant profound trauma for generations, systematically separating Palestinians from their homes, land, and each other.”

These claims are also spread by chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine on campuses all over the USA, including recently at the University of Chicago and John Jay College. At  UChicago, the local SJP chapter called for a boycott of all Jewish groups remotely affiliated with Israel, including the ADL and the Visions for Peace classes, which discuss peacemaking in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict. At John Jay, the SJP went even further and labeled the recent terrorism against Israeli citizens as “resistance.”