I didn’t always understand the difference between these words. Hearing them in conversations about Israel, I sometimes wondered: are we talking about the same people, or different groups altogether?
We encounter “Jew,” “Zionist” and “Israeli” in the news, on social media and in our own conversations about religion and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. It is easy to enter those discussions without stopping to ask what each word means.
For me, understanding the difference is a useful place to begin. These identities can overlap, but we cannot use them interchangeably.
So, who are Jews?
Jews are members of the Jewish people. Jewish identity can involve religion, ancestry, culture, family and belonging to a community. Describing Jews only as people who practise Judaism leaves out those whose Jewish identity is cultural or secular.
Research helps illustrate this. In Pew Research Center’s 2020 survey of Jewish adults in the United States, 22% described being Jewish mainly as a matter of culture, 21% mainly as ancestry and 11% mainly as religion. Others described combinations of these, or answered differently. These are American findings, but they show why religious practice alone cannot explain Jewish identity. Pew Research Center, published 2021
People can belong to the Jewish community through birth or conversion, although Jewish movements do not apply identical rules. For example, traditional Jewish law recognises Jewish descent through the mother. A 1983 resolution adopted by American Reform rabbis also recognises children with a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother, provided they are raised exclusively Jewish and their identity is established through appropriate public and formal acts of Jewish identification. Union for Reform Judaism
That difference matters: recognition by one Jewish movement does not necessarily settle the question for every other community.
What does it mean to be a Zionist?
Broadly, a Zionist supports Jewish national self-determination in Israel—the Jewish people’s ability to maintain a national home and govern themselves there. Historically, the movement worked towards establishing that homeland. Since Israel’s establishment, it has continued to support the country’s existence as a Jewish homeland. This understanding is reflected in the World Zionist Organization’s own statement of principles, the Jerusalem Program. World Zionist Organization
Modern political Zionism developed in the nineteenth century. Theodor Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress in 1897, while Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948. These dates establish an important historical point: the movement existed decades before the Holocaust. The Holocaust and the situation of its survivors shaped the later struggle for statehood, but Zionism did not begin with those events. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
You do not have to be Jewish or Israeli to be a Zionist. Non-Jewish supporters may arrive at that position through religious beliefs, historical understanding or political convictions. The Anti-Defamation League’s explanation of Zionism explicitly includes non-Jewish supporters. ADL
Nor does the label tell us everything about someone’s politics. Zionists can disagree about Israeli governments, settlements and Palestinian statehood. Supporting Israel’s continued existence does not automatically mean endorsing every decision made by its government. The ADL, a Jewish advocacy organisation, makes this distinction in its account of the movement. ADL
Then there is “Israeli.”
Israel is the country; an Israeli is a person from that country. In this comparison, the word describes national belonging. It does not identify a particular religion or political position.
Israelis include Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze, among others. Jewish Israelis themselves are diverse. Pew’s research describes four major Jewish identity groups in Israel: secular, traditional, religious and ultra-Orthodox. Its findings also document substantial differences in religious practice and political views. Sharing a country does not mean sharing the same beliefs. Pew Research Center, 2016
How, then, do these identities overlap?
One person can be Jewish, Israeli and Zionist. Another can be Israeli and Muslim, or Jewish and a citizen of another country. A non-Jewish person can support Zionism without becoming Jewish or acquiring Israeli nationality.
Research shows that the overlap is substantial, but not automatic. In a Pew survey conducted in Israel in 2014–2015, 74% of Jewish adults said “Zionist” described them very or somewhat accurately. That is a historical survey result, rather than a current estimate. It demonstrates that many Israeli Jews identified with the term, while others did not. We should also avoid treating everyone who declined the label as an opponent of Israel; that is a different question. Pew Research Center, published 2016
For those of us following Israel from Papua New Guinea and the Pacific, these distinctions help us understand who—and what—we are discussing. Jewish identity concerns belonging to a people. Zionism concerns support for Jewish national self-determination. Israeli identity concerns belonging to a country.
Learning the difference has reminded me to ask better questions and make fewer assumptions. Before deciding what someone believes, it helps to understand the words we are using—and then listen to the person behind them.