David P. Silverman: My Journey from Anti-Zionism to Zionism
One man's journey, published here with permission.
I’ve always been a proud atheist and a proud Ashkenazi Jew. To me, these two identities were separate but compatible. My “Jewness” was a matter of culture, of heritage, of lox and bagels and a specific brand of cynical humor. My atheism was a matter of principle - a belief that reason should trump faith and that no religion deserves special privilege in the halls of power.
It was this principle that fueled my anti-Zionism.
This guest essay was originally posted on Facebook by David P. Silverman and is republished here with his permission. I am always curious about people who change their minds. I do, when holding a particular opinion seems no longer tenable to me. So let us see where Silverman began and where he is today.
He is Former president of American Atheists and former Executive director of Atheist Alliance International. Creator of the 2012 Reason Rally and author of Fighting God (McMillan ,2015)
For decades, I saw Israel through a purely atheistic lens. Why should I, an atheist, support a state built on a religious identity? To me, supporting Israel just because it was a "Jewish State" seemed like a betrayal of my own core belief that religion deserved no honor. It felt like privileging Judaism over others. I saw the conflict in the Middle East as a territorial dispute complicated by ancient faiths, and I believed that secular, universalist values were the only way forward. I also believed that antisemitism, while historically horrific, was a monster largely confined to the history books or the fringes of society. It wasn't a driving force in modern geopolitics.
Wow I was wrong.
October 7th shattered that illusion. It wasn't just the horror of the day itself - the medieval barbarism, the slaughter of civilians. It was the aftermath. It was the world’s reaction that served as a brutal, clarifying slap in the face.
I watched as so-called progressives, people I once considered my ideological peers, found ways to justify, excuse, or "contextualize" the rape and murder of Jews. The Left went “Free Palestine” before those babies’ bodies were cold. The open Jew hate followed. I saw a global wave of what could only be described as a smear job against Israel, a desperate attempt to create a moral equivalence between a democratic nation defending itself and a genocidal terrorist death cult.
Suddenly, the anti-Zionism I once saw as a principled stance felt like a naive, dangerous fiction. I realized that for a vast portion of the world, criticizing Israel was never about secular principles or borders. It was about the Jooz who lived there.
You can see it in the sheer, unadulterated double standard. The world's media and activists obsess over Israel’s every move. They call the Prime Minister of Israel "Bibi," a nickname dripping with a contemptuous familiarity they afford no other world leader. They breathlessly share every accusation against him and the IDF, regardless of the source. Yet, ask these same people who the leader of the Palestinian Authority is, or who runs the day-to-day government in Gaza, and you’ll get a blank stare. Has Palestine acted wrongly recently? Got a comment on Hamas’ behavior last week? There is no critique for that side, no accountability. This isn't political analysis; it’s a targeted obsession. It’s antisemitism wearing a progressive mask.
My old argument, that this was about protecting a religion, crumbled. I now see it’s not about protecting Judaism. It’s about protecting Jews. It’s about protecting religious people like my family, and atheists like me. We are the ones who would be on the front lines if that state fell.
The speed at which countries like Canada and others in Europe have rushed to reward the Palestinian leadership with recognition of statehood, right after the most vicious pogrom since the Holocaust, is utterly terrifying. It sends a clear message: terrorism works, or at least it works when its used against Jews.
If Israel were to disappear, where would the Jews go?
Look at the map of countries (add Australia) who support the formation of a Jew-genocidal state. The answer is nowhere - we would not be safe, fucking anywhere.
I was wrong. My atheist principles are not in conflict with Zionism; they are protected by it. Israel is the shield. It is the one place in the world where a Jew’s right to exist isn't up for debate. It is the lifeboat.
Looking at the map of nations lining up to fellate terrorists, I realize how utterly alone the Jews are. We have no true allies, no one who will stand with us when it really matters.
My journey wasn't one of newfound faith. It was one of lost innocence. I no longer see anti-Zionism as a legitimate political position. I see it for what it has become: a socially acceptable pseudonym for the world's oldest hatred. And I am a Zionist now not because I believe in a god, but because I believe in the survival of my people.
It always amazes me that an intelligent person need the holocaust or October 7 to wake up. And by the way Judaism is both a religion and a nationality so Israel is not only a Jewish state but the National home of the Jews!
Antizionism is illegitimate. It can't be said enough.