Obama implies anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism

In his interview with The Atlantic, Obama links between the Jewish national movement, and the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, and African Americans’ ongoing fight for equality in the US.

“There’s a direct line between supporting the right of the Jewish people to have a homeland and to feel safe and free of discrimination and persecution, and the right of African Americans to vote and have equal protection under the law,” he says. “These things are indivisible in my mind.”

He adds that failure on the part of Israel critics to acknowledge the Jewish right to a state is “a problem.”

Implicitly equating anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism, Obama says that if one acknowledges an anti-Semitism that isn’t “just something in the past, but it is current,” then one “should be able to align [oneself] with Israel where its security is at stake… when it comes to making sure that it is not held to a double standard in international fora… when it comes to making sure that it is not isolated.”