Can a party be leftist and Zionist?

What the report says

Al Jazeera opinion columnist Tamam Abusalama argues that “leftist Zionism” is a contradiction, and uses recent Israeli youth politics to illustrate the point. The piece refers to Israel’s Young Democrats and Austria’s Young Greens exploring joint activity, while another Israeli youth movement, Hamahanot Haolim, is said to be considering a new kibbutz in the occupied West Bank near Jericho. The author frames these examples as part of a broader effort to present Zionism in progressive language.

The article traces the argument back to Zionism’s origins in 19th-century Europe and says socialist rhetoric was later absorbed into the movement without abandoning its settler-colonial aims. It cites Labour Zionist parties and institutions, including Mapai and the Histadrut, as historically central to state-building in Israel while excluding Palestinians. The essay also points to UN General Assembly Resolution 3379, which in 1975 described Zionism as a form of racism, though that resolution was later revoked.

Abusalama’s central claim is that a political project built on Jewish supremacy, dispossession and occupation cannot be reconciled with left-wing principles such as anti-racism, equality and decolonization. The piece argues that focusing blame only on Israel’s right wing, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, can obscure the continuity of settler-colonial policies across different Israeli administrations. More generally, the article says Palestinians experience little meaningful difference between Zionism on the left and on the right.