When Hating Israel Becomes Hating Jews: The Line No One Wants to Admit

“I don’t hate Jews - just Israel.”

A march was held in Washington, D.C., United States of America, calling for the liberation of Palestine from Israeli occupation. (Shutterstock)

If you’ve been alive in the last several years, you've heard that phrase. It’s the new political shield. A clever little trick to dodge accusations of antisemitism while spewing hate toward the one and only Jewish state on earth. But hating Israel is just the latest, trendiest way to hate Jews. The world has found a convenient scapegoat for its ancient obsession with antisemitism. It doesn’t come as often as during Nazi era dressed in swastikas or slurs anymore, it shows up wearing “Free Palestine” t-shirts and posting threads about “Zionist genocide.” It’s not new. It’s just rebranded.

Israel Is Not “Just a Country”

When someone hates France, French people don’t get attacked on the subway. When someone criticizes China, Chinese students aren’t threatened on campus. But when Israel defends itself against terrorists, Jews everywhere, from New York to Berlin, suddenly become fair game. Why?

Because people aren’t just mad at a country. They’re mad at the Jews who dare to have a country.

Israel isn’t a political project. It’s not some European colony dropped into the Middle East. It is the ancient homeland of the Jewish people. You can open a Bible, a history book, or a DNA report, it all leads back to the same truth. Jerusalem isn’t a symbol. It’s our capital. Hebron isn’t controversial. It’s where our forefathers are buried. The land of Israel is not a vacation destination - it’s home.

So when you say you “only” hate Israel, what you’re really saying is: You hate the Jewish people having power. You hate the Jewish people having a flag, an army, a voice. You hate us when we’re not weak.

You’re not separating Jews from Israel, you’re separating Jews from safety. From freedom. From survival.

Demonstrators wave Palestinian flags as they protest against the Israeli military strikes on Gaza Strip. (Shutterstock)

The Lie of “Anti-Zionism”

“Zionism” is simply the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own land. That’s it. That’s the big scary word people are tearing their hair out over. So if you say you’re “anti-Zionist,” you’re saying Jews don’t deserve what every other nation already has, a home.

No one is “anti-Zionist” because of occupation or borders. If that were the issue, there’d be protests outside the Chinese embassy. Or Iran. Or Syria. Or Turkey.

But there aren’t.

The hatred is laser-focused on the world’s only Jewish state. Not because it’s evil. But because it’s Jewish.

That’s why anti-Zionist protests quickly become antisemitic riots. That’s why Jewish students in the West are spat on, beaten, and harassed when war breaks out in Gaza. That’s why Jewish businesses are vandalized, and synagogues guarded like military bases.

Because Israel was just the excuse. The hate was always there.

You Can’t Hate the Tree and Love the Roots

Judaism isn’t a religion like any other. It’s also a nation, a people, a family. For thousands of years, Jews prayed to return to Jerusalem. We said it at weddings, funerals, and every Passover: “Next year in Jerusalem.”

Well, we made it.

And now suddenly the world says: “Actually, you don’t belong there. You don’t deserve it. That land isn’t yours.”

You want to separate Jews from Israel? Then you don’t know anything about Jews. You don’t understand the Torah. Or our holidays. Or our history. Or our pain.

You can’t claim to respect Jews while calling their nation illegitimate. You can’t say you love Jewish culture while wishing away the heart of it.

You can’t hate the Jewish state and claim to love the Jewish people.

And the opposite is also true: if you hate Jews, then yes, you hate Israel too. Because that flag, that land, that anthem, it’s ours. It belongs to every Jew who ever wandered, wept, or wished for a place to be free.

Katwijk.The Netherlands.14th of may 2025. Pro Palestine protest next to a pro Israel rally held in a church by 'Christians for Israel'.Hundreds of locals showed up and tried to stop the protest (Shutterstock)

Let’s not forget what God said.

In Deuteronomy 7:6, it says:“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession.”

That didn’t come with an expiration date.

Israel’s existence is not just a historical fact, it’s a divine promise. And every time someone tries to erase it, they’re not just arguing with the UN. They’re arguing with God.

That’s why the hatred is so irrational. That’s why Israel is held to impossible standards. That’s why Jewish blood is always negotiable.

Because the fight is not just political - it’s spiritual.

If people support Palestinian rights but only scream when Jews defend themselves, they’re not pro-peace. They’re just anti-Jewish.

If they call for the destruction of Israel while sipping lattes in Western cities, they’re not revolutionaries. They’re cowards.

If they say they love Jews, but only the ones who hate Israel, they don’t love us at all.

And if they think the Jewish people will ever be separated from their land again, they haven’t read history. Or the Bible.

We are one people, with one homeland, and one future.

So yes, hate for Israel is hate for Jews. And hate for Jews is hate for Israel. It’s one and the same. And the sooner the world admits it, the sooner we can call out the hypocrisy, the lies, and the cowardice for what it is.

The Jewish people are rising, not hiding. The mask is off. The truth is loud. And we will never again apologize for existing.