Soviet Propaganda and the modern anti-Zionist movement

Propaganda.  It is a word that we are all very familiar with.  In fact, not only are we familiar with the word itself, but we are also familiar with the cultural and political consequences of propaganda.  You see, propaganda is the deliberate and systematic attempt to influence perception and affect behaviour in ways that further the desired objectives of the propagandist.  In other words, propaganda is not just theoretical—it is used to influence actions.   Although propaganda has been deployed against a diverse group of people and nations across the centuries, the greatest victims of propaganda wars have been the Jewish people.  So, if there is a victim, there must be a perpetrator, right?  While we are able to name a few, let’s focus on the political entity which is credited with originally designing and deploying anti-Zionist propaganda—the Soviet Union.

Initially, it appeared that the Soviet Union was supportive of Jews returning to their ancient homeland.  In May 1947, Soviet delegate Andrei Gromyko said: “The fact that no Western European State has been able to ensure the defense of the elementary rights of the Jewish people and to safeguard it against the violence of the fascist executioners explains the aspirations of the Jews to establish their own State. It would be unjust not to take this into consideration and to deny the right of the Jewish people to realize this aspiration.”  Consequently, the Soviets supported the UN Partition Plan of 1947 (Resolution 181) which then led to the creation of the modern State of Israel as we know it today. 

Although the move may have surprised many (particularly given the anti-Israel sentiment that existed within the halls of power), the reasons were obvious—the Soviets were keen to see the British leave the Middle East as soon as possible and the creation of sovereign nations would finally spell a permanent end to the British Mandate.  In addition, the Soviets saw Israel as a potential proxy in the region because the Jewish settlers, many of whom had Eastern European roots, were inclined towards socialism.  Therefore, there was an assumption that a newly created socialist state would naturally align with the Soviet Union rather than the West.  It would not be long before that assumption was not only tested, but ultimately proven incorrect, infuriating the Soviets.

The diplomatic relationship between Israel and the Soviet Union was officially severed on February 12, 1953.  In truth, the relationship had been deteriorating ever since Israel’s declaration of independence.  One of the catalysts which led to the break in diplomatic ties was the infamous “Doctors’ Plot”.  Josef Stalin accused nine doctors, six of them Jews, of plotting to poison and kill the Soviet leadership.  However, Stalin died days before their trial was to begin and the doctors were later declared innocent and released.  Nevertheless, by accusing the Jewish doctors of engaging in poisoning, Stalin was reviving a libel that was common among antisemites—that Jews caused the devastating Black Plague by poisoning the wells of Europe.   

By the mid-1950s, Soviet interest had shifted to Egypt.  Then came the Suez crisis.  After the nationalisation of the Suez Canal, Israel, Britain and France launched a combined attack against Egypt.  If it wasn’t clear beforehand, the Soviets now knew for sure that Israel’s political orientation was pointing westward.  Although anti-Israel sentiment had been thinly veiled, the ensuing propaganda would tear that veil down entirely.  The propaganda was relentless, steeped in long-held themes of Jewish bloodthirstiness, greed, corruption, manipulation and cunning.  Though they supported the Partition Plan only a decade prior, the Soviets would now contend that the very existence of a Jewish homeland was not only an imperialistic plot, but a mortal threat to the peace of the world.  At this, Zionism was recast as a racist, colonialist ideology which was an instrument of Western imperialism. 

However, to avoid charges of racism, the Soviets insisted they did not hate Jews—they only opposed Zionists. You see, the Soviets discovered that the way to legitimise anti-Zionism was to pair it with condemnation of antisemitism.  For example, in a 1971 Pravda article the Deputy Secretary of the editorial board Viktorovich Bolshakov declared that the “struggle against Zionism must not be confused with antisemitism, which is alien to the socialist world…The Soviet Union fights against Zionism as an instrument of imperialism, not against Jews, many of whom are honest workers and patriots.”  In attempting to further legitimise this new policy, they set out to convince Jews that they would be accepted if they were willing to conform to the ideological demands of the day.  Jews, they said, were welcome in Soviet society, provided they abandoned any attachment to national self-determination or solidarity with other Jews beyond Soviet borders.  Sound familiar?  There are distinct parallels in the modern anti-Zionist movement.  In the Soviet Union of the 1980s, brainwashed Soviet young people acted on their antisemitic urges under the façade of fighting anti-Zionism.  Of course, combatting this Soviet hysteria wasn’t helped when a group of eight Jewish war veterans, academics, and members of the artistic intelligentsia decided to support the Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public.  It was an ideological win for the Soviets because in their mind, they couldn’t be accused of antisemitism if Jews were joining their anti-Zionist committees.  It was a masterstroke of manipulation, granting their project a veneer of authenticity and moral credibility while deepening its power of deception. 

The Soviet Union, in developing the anti-Zionist narrative, acted with meticulous precision to engineer a movement that invited endless focus on Israel and Israel’s actions.  It remains the most sophisticated form of Jew-hatred and bigotry because it was deliberately designed to masquerade hatred of Jews as legitimate political criticism.  Sadly, this movement found fertile ground in the minds of Western leftists.  By framing Israel as a colonialist apartheid project, the Soviets effectively tainted Israel with the sins of the West, thereby turning Israel into an effigy against which Western leftists could direct their self-loathing. 

While many in the anti-Zionist movement claim that they are simply seeking justice on behalf of the oppressed Palestinian population, what they fail to realise is that they have fallen victim to a meticulously planned decades-old propaganda movement that was designed to undermine Israel at a time when Soviet expansionism was reaching its peak.  Additionally, because people have been propagandised to believe that anti-Zionism demands total fixation, it blinds the gullible West to true atrocities occurring across the globe.  How else do you explain the unwillingness of so-called human rights activists to champion the rights of, say, Nigerians and Iranians who have been slaughtered in their tens of thousands? 

Soviet anti-Zionism was designed to trap people in an endless discussion about Israel, and Israel alone.  Has it worked?  Given that it has been 35 years since the fall of the Soviet Union and the strategy is still fooling the world today, I would have to say, absolutely.  As Paul Rubenstein, the New South Wales chairman of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council recently wrote: “Supporters of the protests will insist they oppose a state and human rights abuses, not a people. But when a movement treats Jewish self-determination as uniquely illegitimate, elevates compliant Jews to silence the majority, uses human-rights language selectively and mobilises obsessively against Israel while ignoring abuses elsewhere vastly worse than those alleged against Israel, it reproduces the moral logic of Soviet anti-Zionism with chilling precision.” 

Yet, despite the intense decade’s long propaganda war against Israel, when I look at a world map, I see an Israel, but I no longer see a Soviet Union.  More importantly, when I look at my Bible, I see an Israel not only now but also in the future.  You know what I don’t see in the future?  A Soviet Union.  We look forward to that wonderful day when King Jesus rules and propaganda is no longer the dominant force throughout the world.  In that day, people will seek the truth.  Isaiah 2:3: Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.”  For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.