Legitimacy of the State of Israel

{{Short description|Question of whether Israeli political authority is legitimate or not}} {{pp-extended|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Use Oxford spelling|date=July 2022}} [[File:Emblem of Israel.svg|thumb|200px|The Israeli national emblem, showcasing a menorah surrounded by olive branches with "Israel" written in Hebrew below it.]]

The legitimacy of the State of Israel has been questioned since before the state was formed. There has been opposition to Zionism, the movement to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, since its emergence in 19th-century Europe. Since the establishment of the State of Israel and the concurrent Nakba in 1948,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rabea|first=Eghbariah|title=Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept|url=https://columbialawreview.org/content/toward-nakba-as-a-legal-concept/|access-date=2026-01-24|website=|language=en|journal=Columbia Law Review|issue=4|volume=124|date=May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shlaim |first=Avi |date=August 1995 |title=The Debate about 1948 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0020743800062097/type/journal_article |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |language=en |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=287–304 |doi=10.1017/S0020743800062097 |issn=0020-7438|url-access=subscription }}</ref> a number of figures, organizations, and states have challenged Israel's political legitimacy and its occupation of territories belonging to Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. Over the course of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and broader Arab–Israeli conflict, the country's authority has also been questioned on a number of fronts.

Criticism of Israel may include opposition to the belief that the state has a right to exist or, since the 1967 Arab–Israeli War, the established power structure within the Israeli-occupied territories. Israel has also been accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes—such as apartheid,<ref name="Carey 2022" /> starvation{{efn|On 9 July 2024, a group of UN experts released a statement that Israel's "targeted starvation campaign" had caused the death of children in Gaza and that famine had spread from the North to the rest of Gaza. The statement cited the deaths of 3 children who had recently died of malnutrition in Gaza, saying: "When the first child dies from malnutrition and dehydration, it becomes irrefutable that famine has taken hold."<ref name=":11">{{Cite news |last1=Kourdi |first1=Eyad |last2=Said-Moorhouse |first2=Lauren |date=9 July 2024 |title=Famine has spread throughout Gaza, say UN experts |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/09/middleeast/gaza-famine-un-report-intl-latam/index.html |access-date=10 July 2024 |work=CNN |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite news |date=9 July 2024 |title=U.N. experts say Gaza children dying in Israeli 'targeted starvation campaign' |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-n-experts-say-gaza-children-dying-in-israeli-targeted-starvation-campaign/ |agency=CBS/AFP |access-date=10 July 2024 |work=CBS News |language=en-US }}</ref><ref name=":13">{{Cite news |title=UN experts say Israel carrying out 'targeted starvation campaign' in Gaza |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/9/un-experts-say-israel-carrying-out-targeted-starvation-campaign-in-gaza |access-date=10 July 2024 |work=Al Jazeera |language=en }}</ref><ref name=":14">{{Cite web |date=9 July 2024 |title=UN experts declare famine has spread throughout Gaza strip |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/07/un-experts-declare-famine-has-spread-throughout-gaza-strip |website=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights}}</ref>}} and genocide<ref>{{cite web |first=Stephen |last=Bennett |date=23 October 2023 |title=On the Dehumanization of the Palestinians |url=https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1654481 |website=palestine-studies.com |publisher=Institute for Palestine Studies |access-date=3 July 2024 |quote=The current genocidal assaults on Palestinians in the Gaza strip have undoubtedly been enabled by decades of anti-Palestinian racism propagated by both government and military officials and by media outlets. ... This has never been clearer than over the course of the last two weeks as U.S. and Israeli political and military leaders sow fear and paranoia, and trot out the worst anti-Arab rhetoric we have seen since the period following 9/11. This racist rhetoric is intended to dehumanize the Palestinians in order to neutralize public outrage at what may amount to the worst ethnic cleansing since the 1948 Nakba and what constitutes a genocide at the hands of one of the most advanced militaries in the world, all while world powers watch and do nothing. |archive-date=10 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241210204105/https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1654481 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Cordall |first=Simon Speakman |date=3 April 2024 |title=Western allies face genocide complicity if support for Israel continues |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/3/western-allies-face-threat-of-complicity-if-support-for-israel-continues |work=Al Jazeera English |access-date=16 December 2024 |archive-date=14 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241214192641/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/3/western-allies-face-threat-of-complicity-if-support-for-israel-continues |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Amnesty Report News Item">{{Cite web |date=5 December 2024 |title=Amnesty International concludes Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/12/amnesty-international-concludes-israel-is-committing-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/ |access-date=5 December 2024 |website=Amnesty International |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241206011034/https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/12/amnesty-international-concludes-israel-is-committing-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/ |archive-date=6 December 2024}}</ref>—including by scholars, legal experts, and human rights organizations. Israel regards such criticism as attempts to delegitimize it.<ref name="Carey 2022">{{cite news |last1=Carey |first1=Andrew |date=1 February 2022 |title=Amnesty accuses Israel of apartheid over treatment of Palestinians, prompting angry response |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/01/middleeast/israel-apartheid-amnesty-intl/index.html |work=CNN |language=en}}</ref> According to Agnès Callamard, the Secretary General of Amnesty International, Israel has maintained "the longest and one of the most deadly military occupations in the world".<ref name="amnesty occupation">{{Cite web |date=2024-02-19 |title=Israel must end its occupation of Palestine to stop fuelling apartheid and systematic human rights violations |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/02/israel-must-end-its-occupation-of-palestine-to-stop-fuelling-apartheid-and-systematic-human-rights-violations/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=Amnesty International |language=en}}</ref>

On 11 May 1949, Israel was admitted to the United Nations (UN) as a full member state.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/en/members/|title=un.org/en/members/ 3 July 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/1ce874ab1832a53e852570bb006dfaf6/0b3ab8d2a7c0273d8525694b00726d1b |publisher=The United Nations |title=Two Hundred and Seventh Plenary Meeting |date=11 May 1949 |access-date=13 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070912101430/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/1ce874ab1832a53e852570bb006dfaf6/0b3ab8d2a7c0273d8525694b00726d1b |archive-date=12 September 2007 }}</ref> It also has bilateral ties with each of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. {{As of|2025}}, 29 of the 193 UN member states do not formally recognize Israeli sovereignty; 26 of the 29 non-recognizing countries are located within the Muslim world, with Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela representing the remainder. Most of the governments opposed to Israel have cited the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict and Israel's ongoing military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip as the basis for their stance.

In the early 1990s, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian political leader Yasser Arafat exchanged the Letters of Mutual Recognition. Pursuant to this correspondence, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) formally recognized Israel's right to exist as a sovereign state while Israel formally recognized the PLO as a legitimate entity representing the Palestinians. This development aimed to set the stage for negotiations towards a two-state solution (i.e., Israel alongside the State of Palestine), through what would become known as the Oslo Accords, as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process.

==Background== {{Further|Zionism|Anti-Zionism||}}

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 announced British sponsorship of the Zionist aspiration to establish "a national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Renton |first=James |title=The Zionist masquerade: the birth of the Anglo-Zionist Alliance, 1914-1918 |date=2007 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-54718-6 |location=Basingstoke}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Samuel|first=M.T.|date=December 2023|title=The Israel‐Hamas War: Historical Context and International Law|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mepo.12723|journal=Middle East Policy|language=en|volume=30|issue=4|pages=3–9|doi=10.1111/mepo.12723|issn=1061-1924|url-access=subscription}}</ref> When the Jewish population represented less than 10% of the population of Palestine, the League of Nations codified support for the eventual "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" into the foundational document of British Mandatory rule in Palestine, thereby facilitating the Zionist colonization of Palestine.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blois |first=Matthijs de |date=November 2016 |title=The Unique Character of the Mandate for Palestine |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/israel-law-review/article/abs/unique-character-of-the-mandate-for-palestine/9E5788EDFCA20BC2B6536735CCDE2E8B |journal=Israel Law Review |language=en |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=365–389 |doi=10.1017/S0021223716000212 |issn=0021-2237|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|page=xx}}

The British colonial government in Mandatory Palestine recognized Zionist organizations, which created the structure of a quasi state, as self-governing institutions that legitimately represented the Jewish population.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Khalidi |first=Rashid |title=The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood |date=2006 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-0309-1 |location=Boston}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Bazelon |first=Emily |date=2024-02-01 |title=The Road to 1948, and the Roots of a Perpetual Conflict |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/01/magazine/israel-founding-palestinian-conflict.html |access-date=2026-03-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Chief among these organizations were the General Council of the Jewish Community of Palestine ({{Lang|he|ועד לאומי}} {{Lang|he|Va'ad Le'umi}})<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Horowitz |first=Dan |last2=Lissak |first2=Moshe |date=1973-01-01 |title=Authority without Sovereignty: The Case of the National Centre of the Jewish Community in Palestine |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0017257X00014627/type/journal_article |journal=Government and Opposition |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=48–71 |doi=10.1111/j.1477-7053.1973.tb00858.x |issn=0017-257X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and the Jewish Agency for Palestine—originally established in 1908 as the {{ill|Palestine Office|he|המשרד הארצישראלי}} of the Zionist Organization and renamed the Jewish Agency for Israel after the establishment of Israel in 1948—which was extended quasi-official diplomatic status by Britain and the League of Nations, giving the Zionist movement international legitimacy.<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|page=45}} The Jewish Agency, by the Mandate for Palestine, was "recognized as a public body for the purpose of advising and cooperating with the Administration of Palestine," and it was entitled to diplomatic representation in the League of Nations Permanent Mandates Commission in Geneva, as well as in London and elsewhere.<ref name=":0" />

The British colonial government did not similarly recognize the Arab majority in Palestine, which it referred to as "non-Jewish communities," and which did not have any international recognition.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />

==Diplomatic normalization and legitimacy== {{Further|Israeli–Palestinian conflict|International recognition of Israel||}}[[File:Bill Clinton, Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat at the White House 1993-09-13.jpg|right|thumb|280px|Yitzhak Rabin, Bill Clinton, and Yasser Arafat at the Oslo Accords signing ceremony, 13 September 1993]]

On May 14, 1948, in the midst of the 1948 Palestine war, leaders of the Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency, and the broader Yishuv declared the establishment of the State of Israel in what was at the time Mandatory Palestine. The Israeli provisional government (1948–1949) was promptly granted ''de facto'' recognition by the United States,<ref>[http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1948-05-15-04-001&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1948-05-15-04 End of Palestine mandate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100407021535/http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1948-05-15-04-001&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1948-05-15-04|date=2010-04-07}}, ''The Times'', 15 May 1948</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=Milestones: 1945–1952 – Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207123950/https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel |archive-date=7 December 2020 |access-date=11 May 2021}}</ref> followed by Iran (which had voted against the Partition Plan), Guatemala, Iceland, Nicaragua, Romania, and Uruguay. The Soviet Union was the first country to grant ''de jure'' recognition to Israel on 17 May 1948,<ref>{{Cite book |author=Behbehani |first=Hashim S. H. |title=The Soviet Union and Arab nationalism, 1917–1966 |publisher=Routledge |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-7103-0213-7 |page=69}}</ref> followed by Nicaragua, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Poland.<ref>{{cite web |title=Israel International Relations: International Recognition of Israel |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/international-recognition-of-israel |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224210135/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/international-recognition-of-israel |archive-date=24 December 2018 |access-date=31 March 2017 |website=Jewish Virtual Library}}</ref> The United States extended ''de jure'' recognition after the first Israeli election,<ref>[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/israel/large/documents/index.php?documentdate=1949-01-31&documentid=1-15&collectionid=ROI&pagenumber=1 Press Release, 31 January 1949. Official File, Truman Papers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207140829/https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/israel/large/documents/index.php?documentdate=1949-01-31&documentid=1-15&collectionid=ROI&pagenumber=1|date=2017-12-07}} Truman Library</ref> on 31 January 1949.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Recognition of the State of Israel: Introduction |url=https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/israel/large/index.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190208195648/https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/israel/large/index.php |archive-date=2019-02-08 |website=Truman Library}}</ref>

In 1988 the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the official representative of the Palestinian people, accepted the existence of the State of Israel and advocated for the full implementation of UN Security Council 242.<ref>{{cite web |title=S/RES/242(1967) – E |url=https://undocs.org/S/RES/242(1967) |access-date=2 March 2017 |website=undocs.org |language=en }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Ljung |first1=Bengt |title=Arafat accepts Israel's right to exist |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/12/08/Arafat-accepts-Israels-right-to-exist/2333597560400/ph |publisher=UPI |date=8 December 1988}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Arafat Says P.L.O. Accepted Israel |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/08/world/arafat-says-plo-accepted-israel.html |work=The New York Times |date=8 December 1988|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226144042/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/08/world/arafat-says-plo-accepted-israel.html |archive-date=26 February 2022 }}</ref> Following the Oslo I Accord in 1993, the PLO officially recognized the State of Israel and pledged to reject violence, and Israel recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people.<ref>Burhan Dajani. "The September 1993 Israeli-PLO Documents: A Textual Analysis". ''Journal of Palestine Studies'' Vol. 23, No. 3 (Spring, 1994), pp. 5–23</ref> Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas said, while speaking at the UN regarding Palestinian recognition, "We did not come here seeking to delegitimize a state established years ago, and that is Israel."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/29/world/meast/palestinian-united-nations |author=David Ariosto and Michael Pearson |title=U.N. approves Palestinian 'observer state' bid |publisher=CNN |date=30 November 2012 |access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref>

Hamas denies the legitimacy of the Oslo I Accord, but has said it accepts the framework of peace based on two states on 1967 borders.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/haniyeh-calls-for-formation-of-palestinian-state-on-1967-lines-1.207641 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227071123/http://www.haaretz.com/news/haniyeh-calls-for-formation-of-palestinian-state-on-1967-lines-1.207641 |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 December 2011 |title=Haniyeh calls for formation of Palestinian state on 1967 lines |newspaper=Haaretz |date=19 December 2006 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=16 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-25 |title=Hamas again raises the possibility of a 2-state compromise. Israel and its allies aren't convinced |url=https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-gaza-war-f756cc054732eb3f7e0c49a9987560a0 |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hamas accepts Palestinian state with 1967 borders |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/5/2/hamas-accepts-palestinian-state-with-1967-borders |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Hussein Clinton Rabin.jpg|thumb|280px|right|A handshake between King Hussein of Jordan and Yitzhak Rabin, accompanied by Bill Clinton, during the Israel–Jordan peace negotiations, 25 July 1994]] In the 1990s, Islamic and leftist movements in Jordan attacked the Israel–Jordan Treaty of Peace as legitimization.<ref>Paul L. Scham and Russell E. Lucas. "[http://www.gloria-center.org/meria/2001/09/scham-lucas.pdf 'Normalization' and 'Anti-Normalization' in Jordan: The Public Debate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920205104/http://www.rubincenter.org/meria/2001/09/scham-lucas.pdf |date=20 September 2016 }}" Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 5, No. 3 (September 2001)</ref> Significant minorities in Jordan see Israel as an illegitimate state, and reversing the normalization of diplomatic relations was, at least until the late 1990s, central to Jordanian discourse.<ref>Mustafa Hamarneh, Rosemary Hollis, Khalil Shikaki. ''Jordanian-Palestinian Relations – Where to? Four Scenarios for the Future''. Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1997. p. 8</ref>

In 2002 the Arab League unanimously adopted the Arab Peace Initiative at their Beirut summit. The comprehensive peace plan called for full normalization of Arab-Israeli relations in return for full Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied in June 1967.<ref name=LR2003>{{cite book|last=Robertson|first=L|title=Security and Environment in the Mediterranean: Conceptualising Security and Environmental Conflicts|year=2003|publisher=Springer|isbn=3-540-40107-5|page=340|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XvnEatBzEU8C&q=Arab%20Peace%20Plan%20full%20normalisation%20of%20Israel&pg=PA340}}</ref> Turki bin Faisal Al Saud of Saudi Arabia said that, in endorsing the initiative, every Arab state had "made clear that they will pay the price for peace, not only by recognizing Israel as a legitimate state in the area, but also to normalise relations with it and end the state of hostilities that had existed since 1948".<ref name=IB2008>{{cite news|last=Black|first=Ian|title=Time to resurrect the Arab peace plan|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/oct/18/middle-east|access-date=1 April 2013|date=18 October 2008}}</ref><ref name=ORG>{{cite web|title=About ORG|url=http://oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/about|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120507042710/http://oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/about|url-status=usurped|archive-date=7 May 2012|publisher=Oxford Research group|access-date=1 April 2013}}</ref> Subsequently, there are currently six members of the Arab League which unambiguously recognize Israel: Bahrain,<ref name=Baharain>{{cite web|date=11 September 2020|title=Bahrain becomes latest Arab nation to recognize Israel|url=https://apnews.com/e21e371f1b406b209f93df5973d1fa46|access-date=2020-09-11|website=AP NEWS}}</ref> Egypt,<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Sadat and the Road to Jerusalem: Bold Gestures and Risk Acceptance in the Search for Peace|first=Shahin|last=Berenji|date=1 July 2020|journal=International Security|volume=45|issue=1|pages=127–163|doi=10.1162/isec_a_00381|s2cid=220633972 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Jordan,<ref>{{cite web|title=Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Main+Points+of+Israel-Jordan+Peace+Treaty.htm}}</ref> Morocco,<ref>{{Cite news |date=2020-12-10 |title=Morocco latest country to normalise ties with Israel in US-brokered deal |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-55266089 |access-date=2020-12-13}}</ref> United Arab Emirates<ref name=":1">{{cite news| newspaper=Haaretz | title = 'Historic Diplomatic Breakthrough': Read the Full Statement on Israel-UAE Agreement | date = 13 August 2020 | url = https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/historic-diplomatic-breakthrough-read-the-full-statement-on-israel-uae-agreement-1.9070792| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200814051841/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/historic-diplomatic-breakthrough-read-the-full-statement-on-israel-uae-agreement-1.9070792| url-status = dead| archive-date = 14 August 2020}}</ref> and Palestine;<ref name="kd">Khartoum Resolution (1 September 1967), League of Arab States.</ref> and most of the non-Arab members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation also recognize Israel. Mauritania, Oman and Sudan are ambiguous on this question, having publicly retreated or not formally concluded recognition of Israel.

{{as of|2025}}, 29 United Nations member states do not formally recognize the State of Israel. This includes 16 members of the Arab League (Algeria, Comoros, Djibouti, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen); 10 non-Arab members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Niger, and Pakistan); and Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela.<ref name="usres">{{Cite web|author=United States Congress|title=H. RES. 1249|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-110hres1249ih/pdf/BILLS-110hres1249ih.pdf|date=5 June 2008}}</ref>

Starting from 27 June 2024, Germany requires all those applying for naturalization to affirm Israel's right to exist. Opponents of this law say that it infringes on freedom of speech.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tanno |first=Sophie |date=2024-06-27 |title=Germany demands new citizens accept Israel's right to exist |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/europe/german-citizens-israel-right-to-exist-intl/index.html |access-date=2024-06-27 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>

== International law ==

Many jurists, including Henry Cattan, John B. Quigley, question the legitimacy of Israel. They analysed the perceived illegitimacy of the Balfour Declaration, the Britain mandate, and the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.<ref name="Cattan1973">{{Cite book |last=Cattan |first=Henry |title=Palestine and international law: the legal aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict |date=1973 |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-0-582-78038-5 |location=London}}</ref><ref name="Quigley2021">{{cite book |last=Quigley |first=John |title=The Legality of a Jewish State: A Century of Debate Over Rights in Palestine |date=2021-12-16 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-02067-1 |language=en}}</ref>

Cattan stated that claims based on 2000-year-old historical ties have no basis in international law. He cited Lord Sydenham's analogy, Jewish governance of Palestine was not longer than Roman governance of Britain, if this claim could be accepted, Romans can reclaim Britain.<ref name="Cattan1973"/>{{Rp|9}}

Cattan argues that the Balfour Declaration was illegal because Britain did not have sovereignty over Palestine when it issued the declaration. ''Nemo dat quod non habet'' (No one can give what they do not have). Since Britain didn't own Palestine, it couldn't promise it to anyone. It ignored the wishes of the vast majority of the population (Muslims, Christians, and even indigenous Jews who opposed political Zionism). And it contradicted promises Britain made to Arabs during WWI.<ref name="Cattan1973"/>{{Rp|13-15}}

Cattan further argues that the UK mandate violated the Covenant of the League of Nations Article 22, which required mandates to be for the benefit of the local population and lead to independence, and the wishes of local communities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory. Britain treated Palestine as a colony for the benefit of foreign immigrants. The King-Crane Commission showed locals wanted US (not UK) mandate and no Zionism, which was ignored, and therefore contradicted the Article 22.<ref name="Cattan1973"/>{{Rp|30-33}}

Furthermore, Quigley proposed that the principle of self-determination had been a part of the international law in the 1920s. In a decision regarding Åland by the League of Nations, jurists stated that the principle of self-determination cannot apply in Åland because Finland's sovereignty was stable and well recognised. It can apply if the sovereignty is absent, transitory or not fully developed. The sovereign situation of Palestine was fluid after WWI, therefore, the Palestinian people should have the right to determine their fate.<ref name="Quigley2021"/>{{Rp|91-92}}

Regarding the UN Resolution 181, Cattan noted that the United Nations is an organization of states, not a sovereign. It inherited no sovereignty from the League of Nations, nor did it have power to partition land. Partition violated this sovereignty and the UN Charter. Moreover, Harry Truman's memoirs revealed the intense lobbying and pressure campaigns used to secure votes. And pro-Zionist powers repeatedly blocked attempts to refer these legal questions to the International Court of Justice, implying they knew their legal case was weak.<ref name="Cattan1973"/>{{Rp|42-54}}

Additionally, in 1946, Jewish people owned 5.66% of land and were 1/3 of the population, and Palestinians owned 47.77% of land. While the partition gave 57% of the land to the Jewish state, including the most fertile areas. Because Palestinian people owned 47.77% of land, even if UN gave all national and public land to the Jewish state, they can only get 52.23% of the whole Palestine at most, it obviously violates the Palestinian ownership of lands.<ref name="Cattan1973"/>{{Rp|54-56}}

Cattan further pointed out that Israel did not fulfil the requirements of a sovereign state: a people, a defined territory, and a government. The majority of Israel citizens do not belong to this country, they are aliens came from other countries, using force and terror replaced the indigenous. When the Proclamation of the State of Israel was published, most of them even did not hold the citizenship of Palestine. Israel has no recognized boundary, with all territory belonging to Palestine and other Arab countries. Its government does not represent the people of this country, but represents foreign invaders. One of the co-author of the Proclamation of the State of Israel is "World Zionist Movement", who obviously had no power to establish a sovereign state in Palestine.<ref name="Cattan1973"/>{{Rp|85-90}}

Furthermore, despite the illegitimacy of the UN Resolution 181, the ''de facto'' Israel is completely different from the "Jewish State" described in the UN resolution. There are more Palestinians than Jews in the territory originally allocated to Israel. Israel government expelled most Palestinians from their homeland to ensure the Jewish population as the majority. And it seized a large amount of territory that was not originally allocated to it. It is completely different from the Resolution 181 in both population and territory, therefore, regardless of the legitimacy of Resolution 181, it cannot legitimize an entity that is completely unrelated to its texts.<ref name="Cattan1973"/>{{Rp|56}}

==Rhetoric of delegitimization== Following the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and Hamas' governance of the Gaza Strip, the term "delegitimization" has been frequently applied to rhetoric surrounding the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Professor Emanuel Adler of the University of Toronto says that Israel is willing to accept a situation where its legitimacy may be challenged, because it sees itself as occupying a unique place in the world order.<ref>Emanuel Adler. ''Israel in the World: Legitimacy and Exceptionalism''. Routledge, 2012. {{ISBN|0-415-62415-0}} p. 1</ref> Stacie E. Goddard of Wellesley College suggests that the legitimacy of Israeli historical narratives is used as a tool to secure territory.<ref>Stacie E. Goddard. ''Indivisible Territory and the Politics of Legitimacy''. Cambridge University Press, 2009. pp. 18–20</ref>

===Legitimacy rhetoric in regional politics=== Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran's official position has been to not recognize the State of Israel. According to psychologist Rusi Jaspal, Iranian officials and state media often employ pejorative terminology to delegitimize Israel. For example, he says they refer to Israel as the "Zionist regime" and "Occupied Palestine" to imply that it is an oppressive regime rather than a legitimate sovereign state. Jaspal says that such language is not reserved for the state alone, and that Israelis are often labelled "Zionists". Jaspal further says such rhetoric has been consistent in Iranian media, especially in English-language publications targeting international audiences.<ref name="Jaspal2014">{{cite journal |last1=Jaspal |first1=Rusi |title=Representing the 'Zionist Regime': Mass Communication of Anti-Zionism in the English-Language Iranian Press |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |date=2014 |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=287–305 |doi=10.1080/13530194.2014.888261|hdl=2086/8826 |s2cid=144331371 |url=https://cris.brighton.ac.uk/ws/files/31286374/Representing_the_Zionist_Regime.pdf |hdl-access=free}}</ref>

Jordanian linguistics scholar Ibrahim Darwish suggests his own country's language use has changed following the peace treaty signed with Israel on 26 October 1994. Darwish suggests that before the treaty, Jordanian media employed terms like "Filastiin" (Palestine), "al-ardh al-muhtallah" (the occupied land), and "al-kayaan as-suhyuuni" ("the Zionist entity"), mirroring the state of war and ideological conflict. He says that, post-peace, there has been a noticeable shift to terms such as "Israel" and "the state of Israel".<ref name="JordanianJournalisticArabic">{{cite journal |title=Pre-Peace and Post-Peace Referring in Jordanian Journalistic Arabic |journal=Names: A Journal of Onomastics |date=December 2010 |volume=58 |issue=4 |pages=191–196 |doi=10.1179/002777310X12852321500149|doi-access=free |last1=Darwish |first1=Ibrahim }}</ref>

===Legitimacy rhetoric as antisemitism=== Natan Sharansky, head of the Jewish Agency, and Canadian ex-Foreign Minister John Baird have characterized Israel's delegitimization—the third of the Three Ds of antisemitism—as the "new antisemitism".<ref name="Sharansky" /><ref>{{cite news|last=Keinon |first=Herb |url=https://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=255816 |title=Delegitimization of Israel is new anti-Semitism |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |date=31 January 2012 |access-date=28 March 2013}}</ref> Sharansky and Alan Dershowitz, an American legal scholar, suggest that delegitimization is a double standard used to separate Israel from other legitimate nations. Sharansky says "when Israel's fundamental right to exist is denied – alone among all peoples in the world – this too is anti-Semitism"; Dershowitz says "only with respect to Israel does criticism quickly transform into demonization, delegitimization, and calls for its destruction".<ref name="Sharansky">{{cite web |url=http://jcpa.org/phas/phas-sharansky-f04.htm |author=Natan Sharansky |title=3D Test of Anti-Semitism: Demonization, Double Standards, Delegitimization |publisher=Jewish Political Studies Review |date=Fall 2004 |access-date=28 March 2013 |archive-date=12 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190512153310/http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-sharansky-f04.htm }}</ref><ref name="dershowitz" /> According to former Canadian attorney general Irwin Cotler, the number of anti-Israel resolutions passed by the UN is an example of this delegitimization.<ref name="harkov1">{{cite news|last=Harkov |first=Lahav |url=https://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=262664 |title=Delegitimization of Israel masked as good vs. evil |newspaper=Jerusalem Post |date=20 March 2012 |access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref>

Dore Gold, President of the Israeli think tank Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), suggests there is a "campaign to delegitimize Israel" based on three themes: a "denial of Israel's right to security", "portrayal of Israel as a criminal state", and "denial of Jewish history".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://kms1.isn.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ISN/116432/ipublicationdocument_singledocument/43f16e77-6ec1-4500-ac2a-45bcadd0b349/en/WholeDoc_Israel60a.pdf |title=The Challenge to Israel's Legitimacy |access-date=1 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001221/http://kms1.isn.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ISN/116432/ipublicationdocument_singledocument/43f16e77-6ec1-4500-ac2a-45bcadd0b349/en/WholeDoc_Israel60a.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> Israeli philosophy scholar Elhanan Yakira also says portrayal of Israel as "criminal" and denial of Jewish history, specifically the Holocaust, are key to delegitimization.<ref>Elhanan Yakira. ''Post-Zionism, Post-Holocaust: Three Essays on Denial, Forgetting, and the Delegitimation of Israel''. Cambridge University Press, 2009. {{ISBN|0-521-12786-6}}. pp. 36–46</ref> Dershowitz suggests other standard lines of delegitimization include claims of Israeli colonialism, that its statehood was not granted legally, that it engages in apartheid, and that the one-state solution is necessary to resolve the Israel–Palestine conflict.<ref name="dershowitz">Alan Dershowitz. "[http://jcpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Kiyum-dershowitz.pdf Countering Challenges to Israel's Legitimacy]". ''Israel's Rights as a Nation-State in International Diplomacy''. Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 2011.</ref>

===Legitimacy rhetoric as distraction=== US President Barack Obama said, in a May 2011 speech, "efforts to delegitimize Israel" or "isolate Israel at the United Nations" would not work for the Palestinians and would not create "an independent [Palestinian] state".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.globaltoronto.com/world/Full+text+Obama+speech+Middle+East+North+Africa/4815768/story.html |title=Obama Speech, Full Text |publisher=Globaltoronto.com |access-date=30 March 2013 |archive-date=24 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524023001/http://www.globaltoronto.com/world/Full+text+Obama+speech+Middle+East+North+Africa/4815768/story.html }}</ref>

In June 2011, M. J. Rosenberg, writing in the ''Los Angeles Times'', suggested that the term "delegitimization" was a "distraction", whose purpose was to divert attention away from world opposition to the "illegitimate" Israeli occupation of the West Bank and blockade of the Gaza Strip, from the legality of Israeli settlements, and from "the ever-louder calls for Israel to grant Palestinians equal rights". He concludes that "It's not the Palestinians who are delegitimizing Israel, but the Israeli government, which maintains the occupation. And the leading delegitimizer is Netanyahu, whose contemptuous rejection of peace is turning Israel into an international pariah."<ref>{{cite news|last=Rosenberg|first=M.J.|title=Israel: 'Delegitimization' is just a distraction|url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2011-jul-17-la-oe-rosenberg-israel-20110717-story.html|access-date=26 March 2013|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=17 July 2011}}</ref>

===Calls for the dissolution of the State of Israel=== Critics or opponents of Zionism, or anti-Zionists, have called for the dissolution to the State of Israel as a state for Jews. This is often proposed as one-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, in which Israelis and Palestinians coexist as equal citizens with equal rights.<ref name="Al-Ahram Weekly">Edward Said, "Truth and Reconciliation," ''Al-Ahram Weekly'', 14 January 1999

"After 50 years of Israeli history, classic Zionism has provided no solution to the Palestinian presence. I therefore see no other way than to begin now to speak about sharing the land that has thrust us together, sharing it in a truly democratic way with equal rights for all citizens."</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Judt |first=Tony |date=23 October 2003 |title=Israel: The Alternative |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2003/10/23/israel-the-alternative/ |access-date=2023-05-21 |work=The New York Review of Books |language=en |issn=0028-7504}}</ref> In 1996, the idea of Israel as a "state for all its citizens" was raised by the National Democratic Assembly, a Palestinian party in Israel, stoking debates around Israel's characterization of itself as a Jewish and democratic state.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why the Jewish State Now? |url=https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/42443 |access-date=2025-10-11 |website=Institute for Palestine Studies |language=en}}</ref>

Supporters of Israel have said that anti-Zionism—opposition to Zionism, rooted in the belief that the establishment and expansion of the State of Israel has been flawed or unjust and therefore illegitimate in some way—amounts to antisemitism.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bamford |first=James |date=2024-01-31 |title=The Anti-Defamation League: Israel's Attack Dog in the US |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/society/adl-israel-criticism-antisemitism-claims/ |access-date=2025-10-11 |language=en-US |issn=0027-8378}}</ref>

===Calls for the destruction of Israel=== {{See also|Destruction of Israel in Iranian policy}} [[File:راهپیمایی روز قدس در تهران - ۶-۲۸.jpg|thumb|Participants burn a large effigy adorned with the Flag of Israel during Quds Day in Tehran, 2016|287x287px]] Joel Fishman suggests that "the purpose of delegitimization on the international level is to isolate an intended victim from the community of nations as a prelude to bringing about its downfall and ultimate destruction".<ref name="Fishman">Fishman, Joel. "Chapter 14. The Delegitimization—and Relegitimization—of Israel". In Pollack, Eunice G. (Ed.) ''From Antisemitism to Anti-Zionism: The Past & Present of a Lethal Ideology'', pp. 387-404. Boston, USA: Academic Studies Press, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781618115669-015</ref>{{rp|page=389}} Explicit or implicit calls for the destruction of the State of Israel as a political entity have been made in official statements, speeches, charters, or public discourse, and have sought such destruction through military, political or ideological action.<ref name="krell muller 2012">{{Cite book |last1=Krell |first1=Gert |url=https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/31449 |title=Noch ein Krieg im Nahen Osten? Zum misslungenen Anstoß von Günter Grass zu einer überfälligen öffentlichen Debatte |last2=Müller |first2=Harald |date=2012 |publisher=Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung |isbn=978-3-942532-40-2 |series=HSFK-Report |volume=2/2012 |location=Frankfurt am Main |language=de |trans-title=Another war in the Middle East? On Günter Grass's failed attempt to spark a long-overdue public debate |access-date=2024-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240916033710/https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/31449 |archive-date=2024-09-16 |url-status=live |quote=The reassuring assurances in many texts that Islamic/Islamist revolutionary movements are also changing and becoming more moderate in this process of change can be supported by a range of empirical evidence and plausible assumptions. This is in turn countered by antisemitic and violent programmatic statements that are almost unrivalled in terms of radicalness and that have not been retracted or are being articulated anew to this day. [...] In a primitive and history-falsifying, religiously colored nationalism, hatred of the West is preached, the Jews are demonized, and Islam is grandiosely idealized. Again and again, there is talk that the Jews have no rights whatsoever in (all of) Palestine, and that with God's help all Muslim children will one day destroy the accursed Jewish state. It is even said several times that the holy Muslim land must be liberated from the "unclean" Jews, Allah is asked to kill the aggressive Zionists and not to leave any of them behind, and young people are encouraged and indoctrinated to seek martyrdom in suicide attacks. [Automated translation via Google Translate.]}}</ref><ref name="amnesty occupation"/>

Irwin Cotler coined the term "genocidal antisemitism" to describe public calls and incitements to destroy Israel, which he says includes official promotion of anti-Israel sentiments in Ahmadinejad's Iran; the ideologies of groups like Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and al-Qaeda, which have advocated for Israel's destruction or endorsed acts of terror to achieve this goal; and religious fatwas and execution writs which frame genocidal calls against Israelis as religious obligations or portray Israel as a collective enemy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cotler |first=Irwin |title=The Yale Papers–Antisemitism in Comparative Perspective |date=2010 |publisher=ISGAP |isbn=978-1-515057-79-6 |editor-last=Small |editor-first=Charles Asher |location=New York |pages=349–350 |chapter=Global Antisemitism: Assault on Human Rights |access-date=2024-11-20 |chapter-url=https://isgap.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ISGAP-Working-Papers-Booklet-Cotler-09-copy.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241006180557/https://isgap.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ISGAP-Working-Papers-Booklet-Cotler-09-copy.pdf |archive-date=2024-10-06 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Calls for the destruction of Israel have been reported since the 1940s. In October 1947, in response to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) report, Azzam Pasha, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, said:

{{Blockquote|text=Personally, I hope the Jews do not force us into this war, because it would be a war of extermination and momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacre and the Crusades.<ref name="the blind misleading the blind" />}}

Efraim Karsh and David Barnett have characterized this quote as a genocidal threat. Tom Segev contests the interpretation, saying Pasha was resigned to a war which he was not sure the Arabs would win. He further quotes Pasha as saying:

{{Blockquote|text=Whatever the outcome, the Arabs will stick to their offer of equal citizenship for Jews in Arab Palestine and let them be as Jewish as they like.<ref name="the blind misleading the blind">{{Cite news |title=The Makings of History The Blind Misleading the Blind |language=en |work=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/2011-10-21/ty-article/the-makings-of-history-the-blind-misleading-the-blind/0000017f-db5e-d3a5-af7f-fbfe049b0000 |access-date=2023-11-07 |archive-date=2023-12-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231224230443/https://www.haaretz.com/2011-10-21/ty-article/the-makings-of-history-the-blind-misleading-the-blind/0000017f-db5e-d3a5-af7f-fbfe049b0000 |url-status=live}}</ref>}}

In the years running up to the 1967 Six Day War, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser made calls for the annulment of Israel's existence as a solution to the Israel–Palestine conflict, associating Israel with European imperialism. In 1964, he said:

{{Blockquote|text=We swear to God that we shall not rest until we restore the Arab nation to Palestine and Palestine to the Arab nation. There is no room for imperialism and there is no room for Britain in our country, just as there is no room for Israel within the Arab nation.<ref name="freilich 2018">{{Cite book |last=Freilich |first=Charles D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TZNODwAAQBAJ |title=Israeli National Security: A New Strategy for an Era of Change |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-060293-2 |location=New York, NY |pages=34, 37}}</ref><ref name="Sahar 1976">Sachar, Howard M. (1976, 2007) A History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. {{ISBN|0-394-48564-5}}; {{ISBN|0-375-71132-5}}. pp. 615–16</ref>}}

Palestinian Islamist organizations like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have advocated for Israel's destruction.<ref name="jaeger paserman 2006">{{Cite journal |last1=Jaeger |first1=David A. |last2=Paserman |first2=M. Daniele |date=2006 |title=Israel, the Palestinian Factions, and the Cycle of Violence |journal=The American Economic Review |volume=96 |issue=2 |pages=45–49 |doi=10.1257/000282806777212008 |issn=0002-8282 |jstor=30034612 |s2cid=18626011 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10419/33218|url=http://economics.wm.edu/wp/cwm_wp23.pdf }}</ref><ref name="haaretz 2023">{{Cite news |date=1 November 2023 |title=Hamas Official: We Will Repeat October 7 Attacks Until Israel Is Annihilated |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-01/ty-article/hamas-official-we-will-repeat-october-7-attacks-until-israel-is-annihilated/0000018b-8b9d-db7e-af9b-ebdfbee90000 |access-date=2023-11-07 |work=Haaretz |archive-date=2023-12-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217002718/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-01/ty-article/hamas-official-we-will-repeat-october-7-attacks-until-israel-is-annihilated/0000018b-8b9d-db7e-af9b-ebdfbee90000 |url-status=live }}</ref> Elements of pro-Palestinian discourse have also been described as advocating for the destruction of Israel, including slogans, boycotts, proposals for a one-state solution, and calls for the Palestinian right of return.<ref name="WashingtonPost2023">{{Cite news |last=Stripling |first=Jack |date=31 December 2023 |title=Colleges braced for antisemitism and violence. It's happening. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/10/31/antisemitism-college-campuses-jewish-hamas-gaza/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101003739/https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/10/31/antisemitism-college-campuses-jewish-hamas-gaza/ |archive-date=1 November 2023 |access-date=1 November 2023 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en}}: "Defenders of the phrase ['from the river to the sea...'] often say that the line refers to a one-state solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians over that tract of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, in which Arabs and Jews could have equal voting rights. But the U.S. and U.N. position is that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state and that the conflict should be solved with a "two-state solution," one country for each group".</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Halevi |first1=Yossi Klein |title=The 'Right of Return' Dashes All Hope |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jan-04-me-8097-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=4 January 2001 |archive-date=31 July 2024 |access-date=31 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240731184210/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jan-04-me-8097-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=chiller>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iMO9hP0SsPQC&dq=%22right+of+return%22+destroy+Israel&pg=PA100 |title=Tackling the Intractable: Palestinian Refugees and the Search for Middle Peace |first=Michael |last=Chiller-Glaus |publisher=Peter Lang |pages=99–102 |isbn=978-3-03911-298-2 |date=2007}}</ref> For example, Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has described the BDS's 2005 founding manifesto, which calls for an end to the "occupation and colonization of all Arab lands", as a direct demand for "the end to the existence of Israel as a state".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Berman |first=Zachary |date=2024-06-24 |title=German Intelligence Agency Classifies BDS Campaign as 'Extremist' Threat |url=https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/06/24/german-intelligence-agency-classifies-bds-campaign-as-extremist-threat/ |access-date=2024-06-29 |website=FDD |archive-date=2024-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629171758/https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/06/24/german-intelligence-agency-classifies-bds-campaign-as-extremist-threat/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Fink |first=Rachel |date=2024-06-20 |title=Germany Designates BDS as 'Suspected Extremist Group,' Citing Antisemitism Concerns |url=https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/2024-06-20/ty-article/.premium/germany-designates-bds-as-suspected-extremist-group-citing-antisemitism-concerns/00000190-361d-d700-a7f0-bfffd7250000 |work=Haaretz |archive-date=2024-06-22 |access-date=2024-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240622010728/https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/2024-06-20/ty-article/.premium/germany-designates-bds-as-suspected-extremist-group-citing-antisemitism-concerns/00000190-361d-d700-a7f0-bfffd7250000 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-18 |title=Germany's domestic intelligence agency handling BDS movement as 'suspected extremist case' |url=https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-806757 |access-date=2024-06-29 |website=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref>

Anti-Israeli protests in the Middle East often involve the burning of Israeli flags and chants like "Death to Israel".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cohen |first1=Florette |last2=Jussim |first2=L. |last3=Bhasin |first3=G. |last4=Salib |first4=E. |date=April 2011 |title=The Modern Anti-Semitism Israel Model: An empirical relationship between modern anti-Semitism and opposition to Israel |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232591982 |journal=Conflict & Communication |volume=10 |issue=1}}</ref> Pierre Birnbaum says that, in Paris, North African demonstrators have also uttered cries of "death to the Jews, death to Israel".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Birnbaum |first=Pierre |date=March 2006 |title=The French Radical Right: From Anti-Semitic Zionism to Anti-Semitic Anti-Zionism |journal=Journal of Israeli History |language=en |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=161–174 |doi=10.1080/13531040500502502 |issn=1353-1042}}</ref> During Quds Day held in Iran and other countries, rallies and marches frequently result in chants of "Death to Israel, Death to America".<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Seliktar |first=Ofira |date=2023-01-02 |title=Iran's antisemitism and anti-Zionism: eliminationist or performative? |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13537121.2023.2162260 |journal=Israel Affairs |language=en |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=137–154 |doi=10.1080/13537121.2023.2162260 |s2cid=255246946 |issn=1353-7121 |archive-date=2023-11-08 |access-date=2023-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108210425/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13537121.2023.2162260 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="wistrich">{{Cite journal |last=Wistrich |first=Robert S. |date= 2014|title=Gaza, Hamas, and the Return of Antisemitism |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23739770.2014.11446601 |journal=Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs |language=en |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=35–48 |doi=10.1080/23739770.2014.11446601 |issn=2373-9770|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Effect of delegitimization to peace== According to Gerald Steinberg, attacks on Israel's legitimacy are a barrier to the Israeli–Palestinian peace process.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.jcpa.org/brief/brief2-6.htm |title=Starting Over After Oslo |author=Gerald M. Steinberg |publisher=Jerusalem Center for Public Policy |date=22 August 2002 |access-date=30 March 2013 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052938/http://www.jcpa.org/brief/brief2-6.htm }}</ref> Former head of Israeli intelligence Amos Yadlin and Israeli politician and diplomat Tzipi Livni have suggested that delegitimization threatens Israeli security. Yadlin said delegitimization was "a graver threat than war" while Livni said it "limits our ability to protect ourselves".<ref>{{cite news|last=Podolsky |first=Philip |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/delegitimization-of-israel-a-graver-strategic-threat-than-war-former-intelligence-chief-says/ |title='Delegitimization' of Israel a graver threat than war, former intelligence chief says |work=Times of Israel |date=26 December 2012 |access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Lis |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/livni-delegitimization-of-israel-exacerbates-other-threats-1.309993 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100825013236/http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/livni-delegitimization-of-israel-exacerbates-other-threats-1.309993 |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 August 2010 |title=Livni: Delegitimization of Israel exacerbates other threats |work=Haaretz |date=24 August 2010 |access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref> During Operation Pillar of Defense, David Schwartz said that demands for Israel to not enter Gaza were a "delegitimization of Israel's right to defend itself".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-11-20/news/fl-jjbs-protest-1122-20121120_1_israel-rabbi-simcha-freedman-pro-palestinian-supporters |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130323093843/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-11-20/news/fl-jjbs-protest-1122-20121120_1_israel-rabbi-simcha-freedman-pro-palestinian-supporters |archive-date=2013-03-23 |author=David A. Schwartz |title=Israel conflict draws reaction |newspaper=Sun-Sentinel |date=20 November 2012 |access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref>

In 1993, Thomas Friedman, writing in ''The New York Times'', said that a century of delegitimization of the other side had been a barrier to peace for Israelis and Palestinians, and "made sure that the other was never allowed to really feel at home in Israel".<ref>{{cite news|author=Thomas L. Friedman|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/05/weekinreview/promised-land-israel-and-the-palestinians-see-a-way-to-co-exist.html |title=Promised Land; Israel and the Palestinians See a Way to Co-Exist |work=The New York Times|date=5 September 1993 |access-date=28 March 2013}}</ref> Daniel Bar Tal suggests that "mutual delegitimization" in the Israel–Palestine conflict deepens and prolongs antipathy, writing: {{Blockquote|Delegimization allows practices that would otherwise be unthinkable, practices like discrimination, exploitation, expulsion, mass killings, and genocide. Without the justification provided by delegitimization, many people would have great difficulty to commit such acts. Thus, it is absolutely imperative that any movement towards conflict resolution and especially reconciliation requires abolition of the delegitimization.<ref name="bar tal">{{cite web|url=http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/delegitimization/?nid=1080 |author=Daniel Bar-Tal |title=Delegitimization |publisher=Beyondintractability.org |date=September 2004|access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref>}}

Amnesty International says that the peace process is already dead, and is often used as an excuse to violate the human rights of Palestinians.<ref>{{cite news |title=Israel's apartheid against Palestinians |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/ |work=Amnesty International |date=1 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Irwin Cotler, former Canadian Attorney General, says that delegitimization is "masked" in UN resolutions against Israel and abuses of universal jurisdiction, which are "laundered under the cover of human rights" or accusations of racism and apartheid against Israel.<ref name="harkov1" /> Yousef Munayyer suggests it is important for international actors to realize that Israel is practicing apartheid, and accurately describing Israeli policies will motivate the international community to take action against Israel's human rights violations.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Zhou |first1=Li |title=The argument that Israel practices apartheid, explained |url=https://www.vox.com/23924319/israel-palestine-apartheid-meaning-history-debate |work=Vox |date=20 October 2023}}</ref>

Nathan Thrall suggests the most effective way to peace is to pressure Israel to change course. As examples for the effectiveness of this strategy, he highlights the actions of President Eisenhower in the 1956 Suez Crisis, President Ford in 1975, President Carter in 1977 and 1978, and US secretary of state James Baker in 1991.{{efn|In the 1956 Suez Crisis, President Eisenhower leveraged the possibility of economic sanctions to convince Israel to withdraw from Sinai and Gaza. In 1975, President Ford suspended new arms deals with Israel until it agreed to a second Sinai withdrawal. In 1977, President Carter said he would terminate US military assistance to Israel if it did not immediately evacuate Lebanon. In 1978, Carter also told Israel and Egypt that the United States would withhold aid if the countries did not sign an agreement at Camp David. In 1991, US secretary of state James Baker forced Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir to attend negotiations in Madrid by suggesting it would withhold a $10bn loan Israel needed.<ref name="thrall" />}} Thrall has said that "occupation delegitimises Zionism and causes discord within Israel", whereas a long-term peace agreement would hinder "efforts to delegitimise Israel and [facilitate] the normalisation of relations with other nations of the region". He further suggests that suppressing protest makes violence more likely "to those who have few other means of upsetting the status quo".{{efn|Thrall: "When peaceful opposition to Israel's policies is squelched and those with the capacity to dismantle the occupation don't raise a finger against it, violence invariably becomes more attractive to those who have few other means of upsetting the status quo."<ref name="thrall">{{cite news |last1=Thrall |first1=Nathan |title=Israel-Palestine: the real reason there's still no peace |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/16/the-real-reason-the-israel-palestine-peace-process-always-fails |work=The Guardian |date=16 May 2017}}</ref>}}

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links== * [http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Factors_in_delegitimation_of_Israel_and_younger_Jews.pdf Delegitimation of Israel and Israel Attachments Among Jewish Young Adults: The College Campus and Other Contributing Factors], a paper by The Jewish People Policy Institute

Category:Politics of Israel Category:Foreign relations of Israel Category:Anti-Zionism Category:Zionism Category:Politics of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict