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A couple of weeks ago Virginia Assemblymember Sam Rasoul, who had risen to become chair of the Assembly Education Committee announced that Zionism was "evil".
To many Palestinian refugees, Zionism was the motivating factor behind what displaced their families during the War of Independence, or "Nakba" (meaning tragedy) as they call it. Rasoul's family was displaced from the West Bank after the 1967 War, not the War of Independence. The West Bank was not occupied by Israel until Jordan began shelling Israeli positions joining the war started by Egyptian closure of the Suez to Israeli shipping and an aborted Egyptian invasion.
While result of Zionism was not, in fact the reason for the war reaching Rasoul's family in 1967, for many it was. However as we know, Zionism reached its goal of re-establishing a Jewish state only after Pan-Arab forces refused to accept the UN mandate for a Jewish state next to an Arab Palestinian one.
While the duality of Israel's creation having a different effect on Palestinians can be acknowledged, some Palestinians and advocates for Palestinian rights have tried to conflate Zionism with its most extreme elements and keep the false narrative running that Israel was a "colonial project of Jewish supremacy."
But Zionism in itself does not envision diminishment or loss of rights for non-Jews. Most versions of Zionism do not view a Jewish state as being exclusive of rights for non-Jews, just like Argentina, the United Kingdom and Switzerland have state religions.
Our sister organization (California Jewish Democrats) has developed a short "Guide to Zionism" page and graphic to educate and put a stop to this libel.
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