Most Americans confuse zionism and Judaism.

While many assume that zionism simply means allowing the Israeli nation to exist, many zionists in high positions within the Netanyahu and Sharon administrations advocate for very different policies altogether, including the use of offensive wars throughout the  Middle East.  See this, and read the section entitled “Securing the Realm” here.

In reality, many devout Jews are against zionism as being antithetical to traditional Jewish values.  As such, many Jews say that criticizing zionism is not anti-semitism. … and some zionists themselves admit that even non-Jews have the right to criticize Israel.

Zionists can be also be Christian. Indeed, millions of fundamentalist Christians – including many in the American military -  want to start WWIII to speed the “second coming” of Jesus Christ.

As such, the common practice of American politicians and media of interchanging Iran’s words about the “zionist regime” with the word “Israel”  is disingenuous.  For example, AP reported today:

Israel‘s existence is an “insult to all humanity,” Iran’s president said Friday ….”The existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to all humanity,” Ahmadinejad said.

Criticizing a particular “regime” in Israel is akin to criticizing the “Bush administration” or the “Obama administration”.  For example, saying that Bush should have been impeached is notcalling for the American government to be overthrown.

Similarly, the AP story repeated the old canard: