The Intellectual Trap of Anti-Zionism: Simulated Subversiveness and Identity as a Placeholder

How Performative Activism of the Online Left Impacts Jewish Identity

Anti-Zionism became the latest trend among the online Left in 2024. You’re not a Zionist though, right?, is a question I’ve received too often post-October 7th from former friends and complete strangers alike. To non-Jews (and pick-me Jews), this question is merely a harmless way to gauge safety—an everyday way of ‘standing against oppression’. For Jews that once stood alongside them, however, it serves as a stark reminder that their acceptance and support of our people is purely conditional. I’ve personally found that answering in an honest and nuanced way does nothing except evoke suspicion of me being ‘one of the bad ones’. Any answer except an unequivocal ‘no’ could mean being completely cut off, shunned from your own social circles, or even events being canceled over your participation.

As is the case for most leftist movements, Anti-Zionism quickly became the social litmus test of this past year. From dating apps to city council meetings, this ideology has deeply permeated American online leftist culture, and simultaneously served as a symbol of moral virtue. Some coalitions have even planned speed-dating events around their opposition of Zionism alone:

I won’t lie, when I first received this photo from Roots Metals in my DMs, I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity. My mind began buzzing with questions shortly thereafter. What a strange thing to center your life around, I thought to myself, these people have nothing else to bond over, do they? Why would anyone base a romantic connection on something that quite literally has nothing to do with them?

Then it hit me.

Their staunch support of Anti-Zionism is neither altruistic nor righteous—it’s completely self-serving. This movement is less about ‘caring about Palestinians’ and more about fulfilling their own needs of community, identity, and genuine belonging. The combination of the US’s highly individualistic culture and the online left’s rejection of religion—often an act of rebellion against a predominantly Christian culture—creates a perfect void-storm of loneliness and directionlessness.

Adhering to this ideology not only provides a sense of belief and belonging to something bigger than them, but also serves as a means of identity-formation and moral righteousness. In Christianity¹, effective piety is rooted in disciplines such as prayer, worship, and self-reflection. Because Christianity dominantly shapes American culture, far-left American Anti-Zionists subconsciously use a parallel structure, while altering the verbiage to match their own belief system. Instead of justifying their ‘goodness’ through a belief in Jesus, they claim their own moral virtue through their dedication to ‘collective liberation’. Instead of bible verses, they recite infographics with out of context quotes from the civil rights era (or ironically enough, Emma Lazarus). Instead of worshipping Jesus, they glorify and overly-idealize those they’ve deemed oppressed. Instead of going on mission trips to spread the Truth of Jesus Christ, they actively seek to convert others to their worldview, while harshly condemning and ostracizing those who even slightly dissent. Disagreement becomes a moral failing, igniting a collective vendetta against the perpetrator.

I suspect there’s a prevalence of eternal adolescence in this crowd of people, an arrested development of sorts. Perhaps due to the Coronavirus pandemic’s emotionally stunting effects, this new generation of leftist thinkers remain stuck in their teenage years. That is to say, they are stuck in Erikson’s 5th stage of psychosocial development.

Here is a brief summary of the Identity vs. Confusion stage:

As they transition from childhood to adulthood, teens may begin to feel confused or insecure about themselves and how they fit into society. As they seek to establish a sense of self, teens may experiment with different roles, activities, and behaviors. According to Erikson, this is important to the process of forming a strong identity and developing a sense of direction in life.

One of the main elements of Erikson's psychosocial stage theory is the development of ego identity. It is the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction, which is constantly changing due to new experiences and information we acquire in our daily interactions with others.

Kids who are not allowed to explore and test out different identities might be left with what Erikson referred to as role confusion, which can result in the following:

• Being unsure of who you are and where you fit

• Drifting from one job or relationship to another

• Feeling disappointed and confused about your place in life

—Kendra Cherry, MSEd

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Because the Identity vs. Confusion stage is heavily dependent on social interaction with peers, it’s understandable that the teens of 2020—who were dominating TikTok’s algorithm due to spending most of their newfound free time online—might be developmentally stunted. So what are the consequences of a generation of teens (many of them now entering adulthood) spending a large chunk of time using algorithmic validation as a substitute for peer interaction? Anti-Zionism evidently becomes cool. Misinformation spreads like wildfire—for likes of course! C'est la vie!

This brings up the ultimate paradox of our teenage years: needing to rely on the parent(s) while simultaneously desiring full autonomy. Similar to the teenager, the online leftist seeks both intellectual subversiveness and validation from a coalition that leaves no room for dissent. Participation in this group means partaking in the facade of intellectual subversiveness while craving applause and accolades from a strict in-group. In other words, if any of them were truly ‘subversive’ or ‘free-thinking,’ they wouldn't care about following any form of strict doctrine. Instead, they are able to perform subversiveness for social currency without facing any of the real consequences that true subversiveness entails.

Adopting Anti-Zionism as an identity-marker allows them to embrace this performative subversiveness. Because most liberal and left-leaning news outlets reinforce this stance to some extent, while their social circles, nightlife venues, bookstores, and cafes applaud their beliefs, it’s apparent that the ability to even support this ideology largely depends on the widespread agreement of those around them. Paradoxically, Jewish people are punished for our own intellectual subversiveness (you know, the thing the online left purports to accept)—that is, our unwillingness to fully align ourselves with both far-left and far-right ideology.

This simulation of subversiveness has become a method of recycling antisemitism, and is yet another way of maintaining the centuries-long status quo that forces Jews to either assimilate or be exiled entirely. Surprise, surprise. I’ve started calling it ancestral audacity—a foil character to our ancestral trauma that’s equally persistent. Perhaps naming this insidious, invisible dynamic will make it less powerful, or at the very least, easier to identify.

1. I continuously reference Christianity because of its dominance in American culture. The Founding Fathers were greatly influenced by Christian ideology, therefore significantly impacting modern United States’ culture at large.