On February 12, 2026, the X account for Life Site News, a website dedicated to “promoting life, faith, family, and freedom,” made a post which stated “Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism.” Given that the news site is primarily known for its reporting on pro-life issues, the response from many Christians was predictably one of shock. Discussions of Zionism and antisemitism have been ongoing in public discourse for some time and have grown in intensity due to public figures such as Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens, and Carrie Prejean Boller promoting antisemitic views. However, for a Christian news agency known for its predominantly pro-life activism to suddenly make an anti-Israel statement was stunning to most followers.

According to the website, Jewish Center for Justice, Zionism is “the belief in the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in our ancestral homeland of Israel. It affirms that Jews, like all peoples, have the right to live in safety, dignity, and sovereignty in a nation of their own.” The site provides six points regarding Zionism intended to refute many misconceptions and misrepresentations regarding the ideology. However, at the heart of the belief system is the adherents’ belief that Jews have a right to exist in their own nation and the right to govern and protect the people therein. One need not be a full-fledged Zionist to agree that a nation of people, regardless of their ethnic heritage, should be permitted to exist without the interference of other nations, especially those who would be quick to commit genocide if given the opportunity. However, Life Site News seems to think that denying Israel that right is not antisemitic.

Certainly, there are arguments concerning the extent to which the nation of Israel should be permitted to act within its own borders with regard to Islamic terrorism, and also debate how much aid, if any, should be extended to it by nations such as the United States. Having such debates and discussions is not inherently Anti-Zionist. To be anti-anything is to stand in stark contrast to the opposed ideology. Therefore, when someone declares they are Anti-Zionist, they are declaring that Israel does not have the “right to self-determination in [their] ancestral homeland,” or the “right to live in safety, dignity, and sovereignty in a nation of their own.” If Life Site News wants to run stories that present a wide array of arguments, pro and con, about the current state of Israel, that would be one thing. But to make a positive statement about being Anti-Zionist is to uphold a belief that is antithetical to “life, faith, family, and freedom,” for it denies these to the sovereign nation-state of Israel. One cannot imagine how Life Site News can positively argue that such a denial is inconsistent with hatred of the Jewish people, also known as antisemitism.

This obfuscation of terms has been a calling card of many who uphold anti-Zionist and antisemitic ideologies as of late. When antisemitic protests, which included harassment and physical assaults against Jewish students, began occurring on liberal university campuses in the last few years, university presidents and deans hid behind claims of First Amendment rights. When sitting members of Congress, such as Democratic Representative Ilan Omar, made decisively antisemitic and anti-Israel speeches, the media and political pundits defended her actions, claiming no racism or hatred was being inflamed by her words.

Even more recently, conservative political pundits, such as the aforementioned Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens, have made claims that Israel and Jewish persons at large are responsible for the great infiltration of wickedness in the world. They propagate conspiracy theories that Jews are responsible for changing our view of history and manipulating media and governments to maintain their elite status in the world. This ongoing propaganda has become so prevalent that both professing Christians and political conservatives are being caught up in it, to the point that Holocaust denial and claims of Israel’s alleged involvement in the murder of Charlie Kirk are commonplace in their own online forums. And all of this is being hidden behind the claim of being Anti-Zionist.

The simple truth is that Anti-Zionism and antisemitism are walking hand in hand. And one is being presented as the acceptable cover story for the other. This is not to say that every Christian or conservative who has doubts or questions about Israel, or that recognizing the Jewish people, as a religious entity, are falsely worshipping God because they deny Christ, are antisemitic. Rational people who critically examine these issues are going to land in different places as they wrestle with these issues. But those who promote the ideology that Israel as a nation should be treated as an existential threat to the world, who should not be respected and supported as an ally, and who argue that Judaism is a uniquely wicked religion that should be treated with justified malice are claiming they are simply “Anti-Zionist” and “America First.” To deny this is occurring is to deny reality.

Life Site News has just voluntarily stepped into a sociopolitical quagmire by giving cover fire for those seeking to inject unjust hatred of a people group. Regardless of whether or not they allow the post on X to remain (there has been no public statement as of the writing of this article), they have opened the door to antisemitism within the ranks of the pro-life movement. The damage this will bring to the fight against abortion is yet to be seen but judging from how it has impacted political and religious matters in America, it may well be devastating. Christians and conservatives need to open their eyes to the wickedness of antisemitism. Not because Jews and Israel are some special idol to be set upon a shelf and worshipped, as some foolishly claim. But because it is an attempt to sanctify the unjust hatred of a people group simply because they exist. It is time to call this out for the sin it is and put an end to it once and for all.