An Abbreviated History of Resistance to Zionism

1885

American Reform Movement of Judaism adopts the Pittsburgh Platform recognizing a “universal culture of heart and intellect” opposed to Zionism.

1897

Union of German Rabbis protests Theodor Herzl’s First Zionist Congress, forcing its relocation from Munich to Basel, Switzerland.

Central Conference of American Rabbis issues resolution denouncing Zionism, affirms the object of Judaism is “peace, justice, and love.”

The General Union of Jewish Workers in Lithuania, Poland, and Russia, known as the Bund, is founded. The anti-Zionist group promotes Yiddish and doikayt (hereness), entailing a struggle for rights in the diaspora and justice for all oppressed groups.

1898

Writer Nathan Birnbaum, originator of the term Zionism, breaks with the movement over its negative view of Jews in the diaspora.

1899

Mayor of Jerusalem Yusuf Diya al-Din Pasha al-Khalidi writes in a letter given to Herzl, “In the name of God, let Palestine be left alone.”

1901

Historian Simon Dubnow, rejecting both Zionism and assimilation, advocates for autonomism as a movement for diasporic rights and Yiddish culture.

1903

Chaim Zhitlovsky, socialist philosopher, rejects Herzl’s request for the Bund to stop its revolutionary struggle against Russian Tsar and embrace Zionism: “We will not renounce the path upon which we have embarked—the path of the revolutionary struggle against the Russian government, which should also lead to the freedom of the Jewish people.”

1905

Satmar Hasidic sect is founded in Hungary. Grand Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum denounces Zionism as an imminent danger to the Jewish people.

Najib Nassar begins publishing anti-Zionist al-Karmil newspaper in Haifa, later shares editing duties with his wife, Sadhij Baha’i.

1913

Ahad Ha’am protests the Zionist boycott of Palestinian labor: “And if this be the Messiah, I do not wish to see him coming.”

1917

Edwin Montagu, only Jewish member of the British Cabinet, sharply pushes back against the Balfour Declaration as an invitation for antisemites around the world to expel their Jewish populations, condemning Zionism as a “mischievous political creed.”

1919

First Palestinian Arab Conference denounces the Balfour Declaration.

1920

Palestinians revolt during the festival of Nebi Musa in response to escalating tensions caused by the Balfour Declaration.

1920s

Sephardic rabbis in Palestine order their communities to refuse the attempt of the British Mandate government to register every Jew under the Zionist National Council.

1921

Palestinian Women’s Union leads demonstrations against the Balfour Declaration.

1922

Palestinian politician Jamal al-Husseini invites Mizrahi Jews to join in forming a united front with Palestinians against Zionism: “To our Jewish compatriots, who have understood the goals of the Zionist movement and the damage it will cause, we open our arms to them today and call: Come to us! We are your friends!”

1925

Martin Buber breaks with the Zionist movement for trampling on Palestinian rights and becomes active in a group called Brit Shalom, for the creation of a bi-national state.

1929

Buraq Revolt takes place in response to the raising of the Zionist flag at the Western Wall and to escalation in immigration and land purchases.

First Palestinian Arab Women’s Congress convenes in Jerusalem.

1932

Leaders of Mizrahi groups meet in Jaffa to discuss holding a Jewish-Arab summit.

Palestinian Independence Party, Hizb al-Istiqlal, is founded in opposition to British imperialism and Zionism.

Arab Youth Congress meets in Jaffa.

1933

Palestinian women demonstrate at holy sites in protest of British General Allenby’s visit.

1936–39

Jews from the Palestine Communist Party and across the world travel to Spain to support the internationalist struggle against Francisco Franco, calling “For your freedom and ours.”

Great Palestinian Revolt begins with a general strike in Jaffa, setting in motion the longest sustained rebellion against the British Mandate control of Palestine.

1938

Neturei Karta, religious group of Haredi Jews, breaks from Orthodox political party Agudath Israel, forming their own anti-Zionist Orthodox sect.

Emma Goldman, the most prominent voice within the vibrant Jewish anarchist movement, denounces Zionism as “machinery to protect the privileges of the few against the many.”

1942

Hashomer Hatzair, socialist-Zionist youth movement, advocates for a bi-national community instead of a Jewish state, voting against the Biltmore Program.

Reform rabbis, led by Elmer Berger, create the American Council for Judaism to oppose Zionism and support a democratic Palestine with equal rights for all.

1943

Broad coalitions of Jews, in face of global indifference to genocide, rise up against the Nazis in Poland’s Warsaw ghetto, as well as ghettos, camps, and forests across Europe, asserting right to live in the diaspora.

1944

National Liberation League in Palestine emerges from the Palestine Communist Party.

1945

Iraqi Jewish intellectuals found the Anti-Zionist League.

Arab League begins economic boycott of goods supporting Zionist political ambitions.

1947

Arab Higher Committee calls for general strike to protest the adoption of the United Nations Partition Resolution.

1947–1948

Arab League forms the Arab Liberation Army, enlisting volunteers to fight back against the unfolding Nakba.

Jewish intellectuals, including Hannah Arendt and Albert Einstein, condemn the terrorist attack on Palestinian village Deir Yassin and denounce Irgun commander Menachem Begin as fascist.

Democratic Arab Women Movement and the Progressive Jewish Women Movement merge to form TANDI, the Movement for Democratic Women in Israel.

Jewish musician and pacifist Joseph Abileah, regarding Palestinians as his brothers and not enemies, becomes the first person in Israel to go on trial for refusing to join the military.

1949

U.S. attorney and author Alfred Lilienthal writes in the Reader’s Digest “Israel’s Flag Is Not Mine.”

Palestinians in Gaza begin crossing the Israeli border to collect crops from their fields, search for family members, as well as participate in militant Fedayeen activity.

1951

Henri Curiel, along with fellow exiled Jewish-Egyptian Communists in Paris, forms the anti-Zionist Rome Group.

1952

Albert Einstein turns down offer to become president of Israel: “My awareness of the essential nature of Judaism resists the idea of a Jewish state.”

1956

Anti-colonial Jews, including Algerian Daniel Timsit, fight against France in the Algerian War of Independence.

1957

Palestinians in Israel found al-Ard underground movement.

1958

Druze youth in Palestine, opposing Israeli conscription, form Free Druze Young People Organization, which later grows into Druze Initiative Committee to support conscientious objectors.

1959

Fatah is founded as the secular Palestinian national liberation movement.

1961

Mahmoud Darwish, national poet of Palestine, faces first of several arrests for poetry and activism.

1962

Matzpen is founded, calling for revolutionary struggle and full equality for Palestinians.

1964

Palestine Liberation Organization is founded as an umbrella political organization of the Palestinian national movement.

1965

General Union of Palestinian Women is founded.

1967

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is founded, advocating for secular democratic Palestine.

Moroccan political prisoner Abraham Serfaty writes “Being a Jewish Moroccan and Fighting Against Israel” (Parti de Libération et Socialisme, al-Kifah al-Watani, July 1967).

1968

SIACH Israeli student movement, influenced by global New Left, grows in opposition to the occupation.

1969

Leila Khaled, PFLP member, hijacks plane in effort to bring attention to the plight of Palestinians.

Anti-Zionist Holocaust survivor Israel Shahak organizes a sit-in of Hebrew University faculty to protest the Israeli administrative detention of Palestinian students. Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights elects Shahak chair.

1970

Black Panther Party issues statement proclaiming support for the Palestinian struggle.

Young Lords publish “Free Palestine Now!” in Palante newspaper.

1971

Inspired by the revolt against racism in the United States, Mizrahi activists form the Israeli Black Panther Party (IBPP) to confront racism in Israeli society and build solidarity with Palestinians.

1972

Palestinian Black September Organization takes Israeli athletes hostage at Summer Olympics in Munich, demanding release of prisoners held in Israel. Eleven Israelis killed.

1973

American Jews found Breira to challenge unquestioned support for Israel.

1974

Mahmoud Bakir Hijazi becomes first Palestinian political prisoner released from Israeli prison, initiating annual Palestinian Prisoners Day (April 17) commemoration.

1976

IDF murders Palestinians protesting land theft, initiating annual commemoration of Land Day (March 30) to honor Palestinian resistance.

1977

Members of the Black Panthers and Israeli Communist Party found Hadash, building a coalition of Mizrahim, Palestinians, and Ashkenazim.

1978

Women’s Work Committee is established in Ramallah on International Women’s Day.

Jewish Alliance Against Zionism, formed in San Francisco in outrage to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and unjust treatment of Palestinians, issues statement of principles denouncing Zionism and U.S. military support for Israel.

1979

Holocaust survivor Felicia Langer defends Nablus mayor Bassam Shakaa against deportation order for criticizing Camp David peace agreement.

al-Haq is established in Ramallah to protect and promote human rights.

Edward Said publishes his essay, “Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Victims” (Social Text, Winter 1979).

1980

New Jewish Agenda is founded as an outspoken U.S. group for the rights of Palestinians and queer Jews.

1981

Committee for Solidarity with Birzeit University protests Israel’s closure of the university.

1892

Committee Against the War in Lebanon is formed.

1983

Mubarak Awad founds the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence in Jerusalem.

1984

The Alternative Information Center-AIC, an anti-Zionist Jewish Palestinian news and political education organization, is formed jointly by Israeli activists from Matzpen-Jerusalem and left-wing Palestinian activists from Beit Sahour in the West Bank.

1987

First Intifada begins period of intense Palestinian uprising, much of which is led by women activists. Women’s committees, local unions, mutual aid networks, student associations, and political party chapters throughout Palestine unify to create localized “popular committees” rooted in radical democratic management of their neighborhood and villages.

The Stone Theater in Jenin refugee camp, predecessor to the Freedom Theater, begins to foster cultural resistance.

Hamas is founded.

1988

Women in Black, a feminist antimilitarist organization, begins weekly demonstrations in Jerusalem.

Clare Kinberg, Irena Klepfisz, and Grace Paley, in the United States, form the Jewish Women’s Committee to End the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Rabbis for Human Rights is founded in Israel.

Ella Shohat publishes “Sephardim in Israel: Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Jewish Victims” (Social Text, Autumn 1988). Initiates wave of Sephardi and Mizhrahi feminist critique of Zionism.

The “New Historians” emerge to interrogate declassified Israeli government papers—evidence of massacres, expulsions, and other crimes against humanity are uncovered within the Israeli government’s own files.

1989

Beit Sahour refuses to pay taxes to Israel.

Reverend Naim Ateek formulates Palestinian Liberation Theology, eventually founding Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem.

The organization B’Tselem forms in Jerusalem to document and combat denial of human rights violations by Israeli forces in the West Bank.

1992

Addameer is founded in Ramallah and begins supporting Palestinian political prisoners.

1993

Students for Justice in Palestine is formed in UC Berkeley and grows into a national network.

1996

Jewish Voice for Peace is founded in the San Francisco Bay Area as a grassroots organization to support justice for Palestinians and receives support from Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky, and Naomi Klein.

Haifa-based Adalah, Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, is formed; over ensuing years, Palestinians of ’48 (those who remained after the state of Israel was established) send several cases to the Israeli High Court.

1997

Four Mothers, an antiwar movement named after the biblical matriarchs and led by Israeli mothers, calls for an end to the occupation of southern Lebanon. Militant offshoot, the Red Line, later emerges.

Nelson Mandela declares, “Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions is founded, advocating for a single democratic state.

Disparate tribes of Bedouin in the Naqab Desert unite, organizing themselves into the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages (RCUV).

1998

Feminist activists in Israel launch New Profile, a movement to demilitarize Israeli society.

1999

Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel is established.

2000

Second Intifada begins intense period of Palestinian uprising.

al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, is founded.

Ta’ayush grassroots movement of Palestinians and Jews is founded.

Coalition of Women for Peace is founded.

2001

U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights builds national network.

Israeli feminist peace activists begin documenting human rights abuses at checkpoints, founding Machsom (or Checkpoint) Watch.

Eyewitness Palestine begins activist delegations to Palestine, originally as Interfaith Peace-Builders project of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

2002

Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, calls for an end to Israeli apartheid.

Zochrot, Israeli organization, begins to challenge Israeli public about ongoing injustices of the Nakba and supports the right of Palestinian refugees to return.

Yaakov Manor, Israeli human rights activist, founds the Harvest Coalition. Solidarity activists accompany Palestinians during olive harvest to fend off settler violence.

2003

In March, an Israeli bulldozer operator kills U.S. activist Rachel Corrie while she defends a Palestinian home from demolition in Gaza as part of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Less than three weeks later, in Jenin, Israeli forces shoot ISM activist Brian Avery in the face and he barely survives. Within a week, ISM activist Tom Hurndall is killed by a sniper while escorting children to safety from Israeli gunfire in Gaza.

Budrus, Palestinian village, begins holding weekly demonstrations against the construction of the apartheid wall, forcing its rerouting. Israelis form Anarchists Against the Wall to take direct action in solidarity with Palestinians rising up against the expropriation of their lands.

Palestinian, Ethiopian, Mizrahi, and refugee communities form Coalition Against Racism in Israel.

2004

Former Israeli soldiers establish Breaking the Silence to protest military occupation of a civilian population.

2005

Palestinian BDS National Committee is founded as a broad civil society coalition leading the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement for Palestinian rights.

Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall begins weekly demonstrations.

Students at the University of Toronto hold the first Israeli Apartheid Week, which spreads to other campuses across the globe.

2006

American Muslims for Palestine is founded in California.

2007

al-Qaws for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society is founded to build a vibrant, just, and queer-inclusive Palestinian society.

Gazans construct tunnels to Egypt and Israel, to defy blockade and procure necessary humanitarian supplies.

2008

Youth Against Settlements begins pressuring for the opening of Shuhada Street and recognition of human rights in al-Khalil (Hebron).

Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem installs massive Key of Return on the entrance gate to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nakba and assert the right of return.

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid is founded in Toronto, Canada, to challenge pinkwashing, the use of gay rights to divert international attention from the violation of Palestinian human rights.

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network is established.

2009

Palestinian Christians issue Kairos Document, a theological statement calling for an end to the occupation.

Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement emerges to stop the forced eviction of Palestinians from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem.

Silwan Defense Committee protests demolition of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem.

Jews Say No! begins holding monthly demonstrations on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

2010

Gaza Freedom Flotilla, sailing from Turkey and Greece, defies blockade, attempts to deliver humanitarian aid and construction materials to the Gaza Strip.

Laylac Palestinian Youth Action Center at the Dheisheh camp in Bethlehem is founded.

2011

Palestinian Freedom Riders, inspired by the tactic used in the U.S. Black Freedom Movement, ride on an Israeli commuter bus and face arrest.

High Steering Committee of the Arabs of the Naqab protests displacement of the Bedouin from this desert region in southern Palestine, also known as the Negev.

Indigenous and women of color feminists delegation from the United States, led by Rabab Abdulhadi, Palestinian-American professor and organizer, visits Palestine.

2012

Chicago-based Palestine Legal begins supporting rights of those who speak out for Palestinian freedom.

Critical educators in Israel launch This is Not an Ulpan to counter Zionist narratives pervasive in Hebrew education programs, and promote language learning as a tool for social justice.

2013

Defense for Children International-Palestine and American Friends Service Committee challenge ill treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention with No Way to Treat a Child Campaign.

2014

Grassroots al-Quds, Palestinian organization started in 2011, publishes Wujood: The Grassroots Guide to Jerusalem, putting Palestinian existence in Jerusalem back on the map.

Young Jews gather in Manhattan to recite the Mourner’s Kaddish for Palestinians killed during the siege on Gaza, founding IfNotNow.

Ferguson Uprising, following the August 9, 2014, police killing of Michael Brown, unarmed Black teen in Ferguson, MO, reinvigorates legacy of Black and Palestinian solidarity embodied for decades by Angela Davis and expressed in the Movement for Black Lives Policy Platform.

2015

Galilean poet Dareen Tatour posts on Facebook and YouTube “Resist, My People, Resist Them” and faces imprisonment for “inciting terrorism.”

International activists replant trees uprooted by the IDF at the Tent of Nations, Daoud Nassar’s farm near Bethlehem, giving birth to the Center for Jewish Nonviolence.

2016

Palestinian Youth Movement issues statement of solidarity against colonization from Standing Rock to Palestine.

2017

Palestinians pray outside the entrance to al-Aqsa Mosque, refusing to enter in protest of the installation of metal detectors and surveillance cameras.

New York communities, including Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, support Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour in delivering commencement addresses at the City University of New York after she is attacked for anti-Zionism.

Sixteen-year-old Ahed Tamimi slaps an Israeli soldier who walks onto her family’s land with a rifle slung around his neck in Nabi Saleh, site of weekly demonstrations since Israeli settlers seized land and a spring from the village in 2009. She was charged with assault, incitement, and throwing stones, and spent months in Israeli prison.

Adalah Justice Project emerges from the U.S. chapter of Adalah—the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

2018

Great March of Return begins weekly demonstrations in Gaza, demanding the right of Palestinian refugees to return, and continues despite violent suppression. Jewish Voice for Peace activists face arrest in the United States for protesting the refusal of U.S. politicians to denounce the bloodshed.

The website “Against Canary Mission” begins countering attacks on anti-Zionist activists.

Marc Lamont Hill delivers impassioned speech to the United Nations, supporting Palestinian right to self-determination, on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

2019

U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib plans congressional delegation to Palestine. Israel ultimately bars their entry.

Josef Gluck, administrator of Orthodox synagogue next door to a Chanukah party in Monsey, New York, prevents massacre by throwing coffee table at machete-wielding attacker. Gluck turns down an award from the Anti-Defamation League because of its embrace of Zionism: “I was not willing to offer my soul.”

2020

Maher al-Akhras, a West Bank resident detained by Israel without charge, goes on hunger strike, a widely used tactic by Palestinian political prisoners, for 103 days to protest his administrative detention.

2021

Broad international coalition calls on Israel to end medical apartheid and provide Covid-19 vaccines to Palestinians.

Palestinian Feminist Collective, a U.S.-based Palestinian and Arab organization, advocates for Palestinian liberation as a critical feminist issue.

Palestinians stage general strike to protest Israel’s latest bombardment of Gaza, round of housing evictions, and escalation in racist attacks. Solidarity demonstrations held across the globe.