New pro-Israel org. aims to expose antizionism as a rising hate threat - interview

"We would like to see antizionist hate categorized for what it is," he added.

The conversation was prompted by the launch of Louis-Klein's new organization - Movement Against Antizionism (MAAZ) - which is seeking to create a paradigm shift in the discourse around antizionism.

MAAZ launched on Sunday with the tagline “antizionism is a hate movement.” Among some of MAAZ's listed partners are JPPI fellow Samuel J. Hyde, scholar Dr. Naya Lekht and historian Dr. Sheree Trotter. The first MAAZ Conference will take place in Pittsburgh in Summer 2026.

MAAZ describes itself as a non-partisan, emergency-response initiative confronting a rapidly escalating antizionist hate movement that is actively endangering Jewish communities today. It aims to address the spread of harmful narratives - including libels, denialism, and dehumanizing rhetoric -through education, advocacy, and coalition-building.

MAAZ also says it will be advising organizations, community networks, and professional sectors on how to recognize and address antizionist hate in their environments, and will also hold training sessions for professionals and institutions.

MAAZ defines antizionism as a real-life threat and not just an abstract theory. According to MAAZ, "wherever antizionism takes hold, it manifests in the persecution of flesh-and-blood people: families displaced, communities erased, and individuals silenced, imprisoned, or killed."

MAAZ used the example of the Soviet Union - which it says "built the first great stage for antizionism" - to illustrate how antizionism can take the form of state campaigns to extinguish Jewish identity. Whereas in the West, it normalized a discourse that renders Jews conditional citizens.

While many are familiar with the concept of libels in relation to antisemitism, the antizionism libels get less attention. MAAZ outlines several prominent antizionism libels, such as the Colonizer Libel, which paints Jews as the world’s last colonial power, and turns the story of return into a story of invasion; the apartheid Libel; The ethnostate Libel; the genocide libel; the child killer Libel, and others.

According to Louis-Klein, antizionism also perpetuates the cycle of war because it feeds off "the spectacle of Palestinian suffering in order to paint Israel as evil."

Louis-Klein stresses the importance of writing antizionism without the hyphen, saying that it is its own movement. "Zionism, the effort to establish a Jewish state, ended in 1948. Antizionism is also not the same as the internal Jewish and theological anti-Zionism that existed before 1948, which debated the nature of messianic return. That older discourse is often used as a shield, but it has nothing to do with the modern hate movement called antizionism."

Since the launch on Sunday, MAAZ has been met with support by many. One X user tweeted: "Antizionists massacred my uncle's ancestors in Bukhara. Antizionists refused to talk to my cousin in class from the moment she said she was from Israel. An antizionist colleague told me "I don't trust anything written in Hebrew"." Louis-Klein reshared the post.

Mike Fegelman, executive director of Honest Reporting Canada said "At a time when Antizionism has become the socially acceptable disguise for antisemitism, this could not be more urgent or necessary. Count me among those who support MAAZ's mission."

On October 7, Louis-Klein was off-grid in the Amazon, immersing himself in an indigenous tribe. He travelled elsewhere to get online on October 9, which was when he first learned of the Hamas massacre.

"After that, my entire social and professional network ostracized me. I had an up-and-coming career: it was all purged."

Louis-Klein decided he wouldn't "shut up and be quiet" about what he say to be a form of anti-Jewish hate, so he connected with a group of people that felt the same.

"Antizionism takes over institutions, spreads libels, breaks down discourse, outs Jews, puts Jews on trial, makes Jews the objects of debate."

For Louis-Klein, it is time to create a civil rights movements for Jews, something which he said has never happened before in history.

He also wants to separate antizionism from antisemitism, making the former a hatred of its own.

"When we say antizionism is just hidden antisemitism, we are just feeding antizionism because antizionists like to be accused of antisemitism because it feeds into their script," said Louis-Klein. "The only way to break away antizionism from antisemitism is to stigmatize it on its own."

"If we see antizionism as antisemitism, we refuse to see how antisemitism has mutated into this new social phenomenon."

Louis-Klein emphasized this distinction between the two: "antizionism is not a reaction to Israeli policy, it has its own genealogy."

In fact, the separation of antizionism from criticism of Israel is also central to MAAZ's ethos; "we have to make a movement that is non-partisan, where people can stay in their political lane," said Louis-Klein. "Therefore, we can allow progressives to care about Palestinians, to care about justice, but to see antizionism as an injustice too."