Zionist entity

Zionist entity (Arabic: الكيان الصهيوني, al-kiyān al-Sihyawniyy), Zionist regime (Persian: رژیم صهیونیستی, rezhim-e Sahyonisti),[1][2][3] and Zionist enemy[4][5] are interchangeable pejorative terms used predominantly by Arabs[6][7][8] and Muslims[9][10] in reference to the State of Israel.[11][12][13] Many commentators believe that the terms are used to de-legitimize Israeli sovereignty by promoting the idea that Israel is nothing more than a settler-colonial project. The terms also pin an alternative definition to Zionism (the Jewish nationalist movement that led to Israel's founding), primarily through the implication that Zionism is an ideology centred on racial discrimination.[14][15]

Meaning and intent

The term is described as a means of expressing hostility towards Israel,[16][1] refusing to acknowledge its existence,[17] and denying its legitimacy or right to exist.[18]

Virginia Q. Tilley argues that the term implies condemnation of the idea of a Jewish state, but not necessarily of a Jewish presence.[19] Matthew Gray writes that the term denies Israel the status of a "state", and emphasizes Israel's Zionist philosophy. Its use by Arab state media and leaders, even though other terms are equally "politically useful", "reinforces the state's anti-Israel posture and the perception of Israel as a sinister threat".[20]

Describing it as "derogatory, indirect language", Darrell Jodock states its intent is to "deny Israel any place in the family of nations".[21] Referring to it as a "common epithet", Eric Sundquist indicates that it "echoed the Arab view, repeated in the core doctrine of the PLO, that Israel was no state at all but an illegal colonialist excrescence".[22]

Usage

In Arab media

Before 1967, "Zionist entity" was the standard term used by Arabs and the Arab media to refer to Israel,[23] and was particularly popular in official broadcasts of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan during the 1960s and 1970s.[24] The use of this term has continued since then in Egyptian newspapers.[25][26] the state-controlled press of Syria,[27] Lebanon's Al-Manar,[28] and the Jordanian media.[29] It is also the only term for Israel used on Radio Méditerranée, a French radio station with a daily audience of around 600,000 "mainly French people of Arab descent".[30]

Political

The term "Zionist entity" is used by some Arab states,[31] and by "politicians and intellectuals throughout the Arab world".[32] Lutz Edzard describes it as "the traditional Arabic political term for Israel", stating it is used in Arabic (particularly Iraqi) international documents.[33] Describing its use in Jordan, Joseph Nevo includes it as part of "Arab rhetoric and its traditional reluctance to use the term 'Israel'".[34] Middle East journalist Barbara Victor writes that when she went to Tripoli in 1986 to interview Muammar Gaddafi, it was illegal to use any term except "Zionist entity" to refer to Israel.[35] It has been used regularly at the United Nations, by (among others) Libya, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.[36] It is also used by Iran, and by groups such as Hezbollah,[37] al-Quds Brigades, Hamas,[38] Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian Authority, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Use by the latter became "less prominent" in the late 1980s after the Camp David Accords and PLO recognition of Israel.[39]

Following the Islamic Revolution, Iranian leaders frequently refer to Israel as the "Zionist regime" (Persian: رژیم صهیونیستی).[1][3]

Other

In his book After the Last Sky: Palestinian Lives, Edward Said writes that one of the differentiators between Arab citizens of Israel and other Palestinians was that the former referred to Israel "as a real country, rather than 'the Zionist entity'".[40] In a later essay, he described the phrase's use by Arabs as "a foolish and wasteful policy".[41]

See also

References
  1. Jaspal, Rusi (1 January 2013). "Israel in the Iranian Media: Demonizing the "Zionist Regime"" (PDF). Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs. 7 (1): 77–86. doi:10.1080/23739770.2013.11446536. hdl:2086/8025. ISSN 2373-9770. S2CID 55391947.
  2. Jaspal, Rusi (2016). Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism: Representation, Cognition and Everyday Talk. Routledge. p. 84. ISBN 9781317180319.
  3. Teitelbaum, Joshua. "What Iranian Leaders Really Say about Doing Away with Israel: A Refutation of the Campaign to Excuse Ahmadinejad's Incitement to Genocide". Genocide Watch. Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
  4. Bookmiller, Kristen Nakjavani; Bookmiller, Robert J. (1990). Palestinian Radio and the Uprising. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. Rezaei, Farhad (2019). "Iran and Israel: Taking on the "Zionist Enemy"". Iran's Foreign Policy After the Nuclear Agreement. Middle East Today. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 215. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-76789-5. ISBN 978-3-319-76789-5. S2CID 158854597.
  6. Kirkpatrick, Jeane (1988). Legitimacy and Force: Natural and International Dimensions. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0-88738-647-3.
  7. Cohen, Getzel M. (2006). The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24148-0.
  8. Israeli, Raphael (2002). Poison: Modern Manifestations of a Blood Libel. Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-7391-0208-4.
  9. Selbourne, David (2005). The Losing Battle with Islam. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-59102-362-3.
  10. Nüsse, Andrea (1998). Muslim Palestine: The ideology of Hamas. Harwood Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-3-7186-5283-9.
  11. Suleiman, Yasir (2011). Arabic, Self and Identity: A Study in Conflict and Displacement. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-974701-6.
  12. Lassner, Jacob; Troen, S. Ilan (2007). Jews and Muslims in the Arab World: Haunted by Pasts Real and Imagined. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-5842-7.
  13. Karsh, Efraim (2004). "Arafat's Grand Strategy". Middle East Forum.
  14. Khalidi, Rashid (2009). Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-15075-0.
  15. Gray, Matthew (2010). Conspiracy Theories in the Arab World. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-57518-8.
  16. Kirkpatrick, Jeane (1988). Legitimacy and Force: Natural and International Dimensions. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0-88738-647-3.
  17. Avi Beker (1988). The United Nations and Israel: From Recognition to Reprehension. Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-669-16652-1.
  18. Suleiman, Yasir (2011). Arabic, Self and Identity: A Study in Conflict and Displacement. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-974701-6.
  19. Tilley, Virginia Q. (24 May 2005). The One-state Solution. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-11513-6.
  20. Gray, Matthew (2010). Conspiracy Theories in the Arab World. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-57518-8.
  21. Jodock, Darrell (2008). Covenantal conversations: Christians in dialogue with Jews and Judaism. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-8006-6275-2.
  22. Sundquist, Eric J. (2005). Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, post-Holocaust America. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01942-3..
  23. Suleiman, Yasir (2011). Arabic, Self and Identity: A Study in Conflict and Displacement. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-974701-6.
  24. Oz, Amos (1995). Under this Blazing Light. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-44367-8.
  25. Muravchik, Joshua (2009). The Next Founders: Voices of Democracy in the Middle East. Encounter Books. ISBN 978-1-59403-232-5.
  26. Lindquist, Torkel (2003). A War of Words, from Lod to Twin Towers: Defining Terrorism in Arab and Israeli Newspapers 1972-1996. Uppsala Universitet. ISBN 978-91-554-5591-0.
  27. Miller, Judith (1997). God Has Ninety-Nine Names: Reporting from a Militant Middle East. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-83228-9.
  28. Victor, Barbara (2003). Army of Roses: Inside the World of Palestinian Women Suicide Bombers. Rodale, Inc. ISBN 978-1-57954-830-8.
  29. Terrill, W. Andrew (2010). Global Security Watch—Jordan. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-36619-2.
  30. Wistrich, Robert S. (2010). A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6097-9.
  31. Patai, Raphael; Patai, Jennifer (1989). The Myth of a Jewish Race. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8143-1948-2.
  32. Humphreys, R. Stephen (2005). Between Memory and Desire: The Middle East in a Troubled Age. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24691-1.
  33. Lutz, Edzard (1998). Language as a Medium of Legal Norms: Implications of the use of Arabic as a Language in the United Nations system. Duncker & Humblot. ISBN 978-3-428-09307-6.
  34. Nevo, Joseph (2006). King Hussein and the Evolution of Jordan's Perception of a Political Settlement with Israel, 1967-1988. Sussex Academic Press.
  35. Victor, Barbara (2003). Army of Roses: Inside the World of Palestinian Women Suicide Bombers. Rodale, Inc. ISBN 978-1-57954-830-8.
  36. Liskofsky, Sidney; Donna E. Arzt (1988). Incitement to National, Racial, and Religious Hatred in United Nations Fora. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 978-90-247-3646-1.
  37. Waines, David (2004). An Introduction to Islam. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-53906-7.
  38. Nüsse, Andrea (1998). Muslim Palestine: The ideology of Hamas. Harwood Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-3-7186-5283-9.
  39. Jesse, Neal G.; Williams, Kristen P. (2010). Ethnic Conflict: A Systematic Approach to Cases of Conflict. CQ Press. ISBN 978-0-87289-492-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  40. Said, Edward; Mohr, Jean (1999). After the Last Sky: Palestinian Lives. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11449-3.
  41. Said, Edward (2004). Barenboim and the Wagner Taboo. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-7515-7.
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