In Behavioral Science, variables are defined "operationally" as if-then statements. Whatever the founding figures of Zionism claimed, whatever its early idealism, perceived necessity, distinctions between cultural, political or colonial Zionism, whatever its declared intentions, it has clearly defined itself operationally over the last century. If people who call themselves Zionists speak and act in a consistent way toward others, then that is Zionism. The collective political behavior of Zionists is comprehensively described throughout this site. Here are some of their statements.
"There is no such thing as a Palestinian people...It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They never existed." -Golda Meir, 1969 "This country exists as a result of a promise made by God himself. It would be ridiculous to ask it to account for its legitimacy." -Golda Meir, 1971 "Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the state of Israel on trial." -Arial Sharon, 2001 The arrogance, self-importance and delusional sense of entitlement to immunity from the rules that regulate others has been a consistent worldview of the Zionist project, illustrated in the above two quotes, unmodified over 30 years.
This worldview is perfectly consistent with Israel's contemptuous responses to UN resolutions, the International Court of Justice, and less formal expressions of world opinion, and corresponds clinically to the attitudes of those suffering from antisocial personality disorder (aka sociopaths).
"We have to kill all the Palestinians unless they are resigned to live here as slaves." -Chairman Heilbrun of the Committee for the Re-election of General Shlomo Lahat, 1983 "We declare openly that the Arabs have no right to settle on even one centimeter of Eretz Israel... Force is all they do or ever will understand. We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours." - Rafael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, 1983 "(The Palestinians) would be crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed against the boulders and walls." – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, 1988
"If we thought that instead of 200 Palestinian fatalities, 2,000 dead would put an end to the fighting at a stroke, we would use much more force...." - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, 2000. Understandably, therefore, many Israeli thinkers are recognizing that Zionism is the obstacle to any reasonable solution. The insistence on a Jewish majority is an intrinsically racist objective, a 19th-century model essentially identical to Jim Crow Mississippi and Apartheid South Africa. There cannot be a "Jewish" and "democratic" state and none exists.
"There is no Zionism, colonization, or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands." -Ariel Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister, 1998.
The internationally recognized and repeatedly affirmed right of all Palestinian refugees to return and/or compensation - at their choice - is hysterically characterized by Israel as "annihilation of the Jewish state." This "annihilation" simply means loss of a Jewish majority. With constitutional protections like those in the US, all minorities would be protected, as former AIPAC editor AJ Rosenberg acknowledged by observing that "America is the best home Jews have ever had" with only some 2% of the population.
Israel's Apartheid system and abuse of the Palestinians appears to be predictably eroding the spirit and collective self-respect of the society, requiring oblivious denial or stunningly crude anti-Arab racism to defend the practices.
"[The Palestinians] are beasts walking on two legs." – Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, 1982.
"Jewish blood and a goy’s [gentile’s] blood are not the same." -Israeli Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg, 1989
"The Palestinians are like crocodiles, the more you give them meat, they want more." - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, 2000.
"There is a huge gap between us (Jews) and our enemies not just in ability but in morality, culture, sanctity of life, and conscience. They are our neighbors here, but it seems as if at a distance of a few hundred meters away, there are people who do not belong to our continent, to our world, but actually belong to a different galaxy." - Israeli President Moshe Katsav, 2001
Given this worldview, Israeli massacres from Deir Yassin in 1948 to Cast Lead launched in 2008 are consistent and predictable. In a therapy group - or collectively, the UN General Assembly - grandiose, criminal and delusional thinking can be corrected by consensual invalidation and lack of social reinforcement. However, when the patient is shielded from corrective influence by others and delusional thinking is instead reinforced within a folie à deux relationship (Israel/US), cure can be long delayed as the world has seen.
"Don’t worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it." -Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, 2001
We highly recommend the above displayed title, "Zionism, the Real Enemy of the Jews" by long-time Middle East correspondnet and author Alan Hart, a 3-volume set.
Demand Freedom, Justice and Equality in the Holy Land