Is Zionism 'settler colonialism'?

Israel’s critics and enemies often refer to Zionism as “settler colonialism.” This accusation intensified after Hamas broke a ceasefire, invaded southern Israel, and brutally murdered more than 1,200 people on October 7, 2023, prompting Israel’s declaration of war. Within weeks, pro-Palestinian protests erupted worldwide, displaying slogans such as “Zionism Is Settler Colonialism” to describe the State of Israel.

Though Israel’s earliest Zionist settlers—those immigrating in the late 1800s and early 1900s—sometimes called themselves colonists, it was in the broad sense of establishing settlements in a territory they previously inhabited. The real questions are who had inhabited that territory previously, and when.

What Is Settler Colonialism?

Colonialism is when a nation takes control of another territory to exploit its people and resources, imposing its culture, language, and religion often by force. The colonizers advance the interests of their “mother country.” Settler colonialism goes further—it replaces the indigenous population with settlers who intend to establish permanent sovereignty over the land.

An example is the British Empire’s rule over India, which imposed British culture and governance on native populations while exploiting their resources to enrich the empire.

In contrast, Zionism was not conquest but a movement for the Jewish people’s return to their ancestral homeland.

Settler Colonialism and Zionism

Those who claim Zionism is settler colonialism portray Jewish immigration as an effort to displace Arabs and create an exclusive ethno-state. However, Zionism—the belief that the Jewish people have a right to self-determination in their historic homeland—does not fit that definition for several reasons.

1. No “mother country.”
   Jewish settlers were never agents of any imperial power. The early Zionists were refugees escaping persecution, not representatives of a “mother country.” Redefining refugees as oppressors ignores the Jewish people’s ancient connection to their land and the continuous presence of Jewish communities that never left. Those who came in the late 1800s left Russia to build a new society rooted in their heritage, not to advance Russian interests.
   

2. Land purchased legally.
   Early Jewish settlers legally bought land across Ottoman Palestine from absentee landowners, many of them Arab. They did not expel Arabs but hoped the economic progress they brought would uplift everyone. Many Arabs worked alongside Jews and benefited from the new opportunities that came with Jewish development.
   

3. Return to ancestral land.
   The Jewish people were not entering foreign territory but returning to the land of their ancestors, where a Jewish presence had endured for centuries. They sought to reestablish a society, culture, and language that had flourished nearly three millennia earlier. Hebrew, once limited to prayer and study, became a living language again. Communities like Petah Tikvah (founded in 1878) and Tel Aviv (1909) were built by Jewish pioneers reviving their ancient homeland.
   

4. The land was sparsely populated.
   Nineteenth-century accounts describe the region as largely barren and depopulated. When Mark Twain visited, he wrote, “Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes … it is a barren, desolate land ... Her greatest need is that of a population.” As Jewish communities developed agriculture and industry, Arabs from neighboring regions migrated to Palestine seeking work. Jewish and Arab populations therefore grew side by side.
   

5. Jews are the indigenous people.
   The indigenous people of the Land of Israel are the Jews, whose presence dates back 4,000 years to Abraham. Archaeological discoveries—such as artifacts in Jerusalem’s City of David—confirm continuous Jewish life and governance there. The Dead Sea Scrolls, found in 1947, further prove the existence of Jewish religious practice more than two millennia ago.
   

6. Most Israelis are Middle Eastern Jews.
   Much of the Jewish population in Israel today is not even from Europe but the Middle East, expelled from Arab countries upon the State of Israel’s birth in 1948. Some 800,000 Mizrachi (eastern) Jews fled persecution and arrived in Israel with little more than the clothes on their backs, leaving behind billions of dollars in property and businesses where their ancestors had lived for centuries.

Conclusion

Characterizing Zionism as a “settler colonial” enterprise is based on false information and a skewed view of history. It is a lie political in nature that does not describe Israel’s origin or current population.

The media and academia’s attempts to frame Zionism as settler colonialism reveals this generation’s elevation of political activism over critical inquiry. It is yet another smear campaign bent on undermining Israel by challenging its founding and disconnecting it from the family of nations.

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