A little while back I posted Top Ten Signs Your ‘Criticism of Israel’ Is Really Just Antisemitism. Number Three on that list was “You use the word ‘Zionist’ as an insult”.

It would be hard to find a more straightforward example of using the word “Zionist” (or, in this case, “Zionism”) as an insult than the article Western Buddhist Dharma Has a Zionism Problem by Weyam Ghadbian. This brief article is found in the pdf document Gaza: Calling for a Dharma Response, dated April 27, 2024.

Ghadbian gets right to the point in the second paragraph of the article.

While several of these Western Buddhist dharma institutions have expressed commitments to ending racism and gender oppression (thanks to the work of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color within them), none have included Zionism within that commitment. I have now come to expect Zionist remarks and/or microaggressions by teachers and students on every retreat I attend at such institutions.

Soon after this, Ghadbian declares that

many of the founders and practitioners of Western convert Buddhist centers are unquestioningly Zionist.

This is clearly intended to be heard as a damning accusation. Ghadbian soon wraps up her argument as follows:

But it’s time for us to move beyond our individual witness bearing, collectively and explicitly name Zionism as a form of oppression and commit to freeing Palestine as part of our greater commitment to justice and liberation.

In just a few paragraphs Ghadbian has managed to

  1. Equate Zionism with racism.
  2. Demand, therefore, that Buddhists who claim to be against racism must denounce Zionism.
  3. Claim that she is the constant victim of “Zionist remarks and other microagressions … at every retreat I attend.”
  4. Insinuate that Zionists and Zionism exert a pervasive and pernicious influence within “Western convert Buddhist centers”.
  5. Demand that Western Buddhists must “explicitly name Zionism as a form of oppression.”

This is precisely the kind of crypto-antisemitism that has long held sway in the Western left, and especially in the “Palestine Solidarity” movement. It is perhaps not surprising to now see it being propagated in the West by self-proclaimed “engaged Buddhists”.

It is important to emphasize that the same document contains a lengthy article by Bhikkhu Bodhi, a very prominent Western Buddhist teacher and scholar. And the document has also received rather glowing approval from Jon Kabat-Zinn who stated on X (the misinformation platform formerly known as Twitter) that the document constitutes

An incredibly thoughtful and necessary series of challenges to the global dharma community….

The fact that Bhikkhu Bodhi and Jon Kabat-Zinn are willing to lend their voices to give credence to the accusation that Western Buddhism has a “Zionism Problem” is proof that Western Buddhism certainly has an antisemitism problem.