What is the function of the Zionist movement? Let's start with four statements that together define what the Zionist movement does by adding its functions cumulatively.
The Zionist movement creates and sustains the "Israel lobby" to extend its ideological and political reach, shaping both foreign and domestic policy in the countries where it operates. It provides material support for ethnic cleansing and genocide, funneling millions each year through charities that aid in land theft and war crimes. It grooms children and youth into ideological loyalists through a vast network of schools, synagogues, youth groups and settler recruitment programs, including Birthright tours, the Masa journey and the Lone Soldier Program. Beyond all this, the movement systematically dispatches its adherents into broader society as lifelong agents of Zionist ideology. This is not a metaphor. It is infiltration.
This concept of infiltration extends beyond the traditional intelligence model of recruiting agents for covert missions-though that, too, remains part of it. It also involves utilizing individuals who are, in a sense, sleeper agents, ready to be activated.
But it is more than that in the sense that, in many cases, the sleepers don't need an actual tap on the shoulder to partake in a particular mission. They are already primed to act when the interests of the so-called Jewish state are threatened, or even merely imagined to be.
They are primed by their often decades-long experience of radicalization and grooming to become believing ideological Zionists. In other words, this is a multifaceted and profound level of infiltration cultivated from childhood and reinforced throughout every stage of life.
To understand how such a system came into being, we must examine the origins and evolution of the Zionist movement itself.
The Zionist movement
Even the most hardline Zionists and the most revolutionary socialists agree on one point: before 1948, the Zionist movement functioned as a coordinated political force. It organized and executed the Nakba-the ethnic cleansing and mass displacement of Palestinians-in order to establish what it called the state of Israel. Zionists, of course, reject this terminology, but the historical record is clear.
With its primary objective achieved in 1948, the movement briefly considered dissolving. However, at the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem in 1951, delegates chose to continue and redefine new goals for the future.
This led to the creation of the " Jerusalem Program," which formally codified the movement's new objectives. Alongside it, the Israeli parliament enacted the World Zionist Organization-Jewish Agency (Status) Law to govern the relationship between the "state of Israel" and the Zionist movement. That law remains in effect today, shaping the global Zionist movement's operations and responsibilities.
1951 Congress
At the World Zionist Congress held in Jerusalem on Sept. 24, 1951, the movement faced a crossroads. With the founding of the state of Israel three years earlier, delegates debated whether the Zionist movement had fulfilled its purpose and should dissolve or reconstitute itself with new goals. In practice, by a vote of 286 to 0, with the remaining 438 delegates abstaining, the Congress resolved to continue its proceedings.
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It adopted a new set of objectives to reorient the movement. These were defined as: the strengthening of the state of Israel, the ingathering of the exiles in Eretz Yisrael, and the fostering of the unity of the Jewish people.
This moment marked the transformation of Zionism from a settler-colonial movement into a global ideological infrastructure. It was no longer just about building a state; it was about embedding that state into the hearts, minds, and institutions of Jews worldwide.
The status of the Zionist movement
The law passed by the Knesset to formalize the relationship between the Zionist movement and the state of Israel spelled out the obligations of both parties. It designated the World Zionist Organization as the authorized body responsible for developing and settling the land, absorbing immigrants from the diaspora, and coordinating the work of Jewish institutions operating within Israel.
Crucially, the law affirmed that the state of Israel "expects the cooperation of all Jews, as individuals and groups, in building up the State." It further stipulated that the World Zionist Organization "requires full cooperation and coordination on its part with the state of Israel and its Government, in accordance with the laws of the State." To that end, the law mandated the creation of a formal committee to coordinate activities between the Israeli government and the Zionist movement's executive leadership.
In other words, the state of Israel and the World Zionist Organization, as a matter of law, are required to work together, and, also as expressed in law, both bodies expect the cooperation of "all Jews." The extent to which this expectation is met remains an empirical question.
First established at the 1951 Zionist Congress and enacted in 1953, the Jerusalem Program laid out the operational aims of the World Zionist Organization. This foundational document was later revised in 1968 and again in 2004 to reflect the movement's evolving priorities. These revisions formalized a series of ideological commitments still in effect today, collectively referred to as the "foundations of Zionism."
Among these are the preservation of Jewish unity and its enduring bond to Eretz Yisrael, as well as the centrality of the state of Israel, specifically Jerusalem, in Jewish national life. The program affirms support for mass aliyah from all countries and the absorption of Jewish immigrants into Israeli society. It calls for strengthening Israel as a Jewish, Zionist, and democratic state; promoting Jewish, Hebrew, and Zionist education to preserve the distinctiveness of the Jewish people; and defending the rights of Jews globally while combating antisemitism. Most revealingly, it asserts that "settling the country" remains a core expression of practical Zionism.
These principles are intended to guide Zionist activity both within Israel and throughout the world. To make the role of individual Zionists abroad absolutely clear, the movement later published a separate guide detailing their personal responsibilities outside of occupied Palestine.
Duties of the individual Zionist
The duties of the individual Zionist were first codified in a 1972 policy document "approved at the 28th Zionist Congress." They were later adopted as an integral part of the resolutions of the 29th Congress in 1978. The resolution outlined personal obligations derived from the Jerusalem Program and from formal membership in a Zionist organization.
Among these duties was the call to make aliyah-that is, to become a settler colonist in occupied Palestine. Others included joining local Zionist federations or affiliated groups, actively promoting the movement's ideological program, and ensuring children received Zionist, Hebrew and Jewish education designed to reinforce loyalty to Israel. Zionists were also expected to donate financially through established channels such as Keren Hayesod, the Jewish National Fund or their local branches, in order to consolidate Israel's economy and fund its expansionist aims.
With the exception of physically becoming a settler colonist, all of these duties amount to an explicit call for infiltration of host societies. Perhaps the most direct duty, however, is "to strengthen Zionist influence within the community." This likely refers to the "Jewish community" rather than broader society. Even so, it is still a call to expand the influence of Zionism on society as a whole.
One might reasonably ask how much attention ordinary Zionists pay to such calls. Are these dry, dead words, left to gather dust in the Central Zionist Archives in Al Quds? Or do they still animate the central activities of the movement today? Let us take a look.
Here is a 1961 report from the Jewish Chronicle about a Zionist meeting in Glasgow, which came to hand as I was writing this. I present it as an example of the movement's thinking and practical activities. The meeting was specifically designed as an educational Zionist event and expounded a particular set of ideas.
The measures which would have to be taken if children in the Diaspora were to remain Jews were discussed by Professor Ernst Simon, of the Hebrew University, when he gave an address at a meeting held in the Central Hotel last week in connection with the Zionist Federation's Education Fortnight. Mr. Edward Woolfson, President of the Glasgow Zionist Federation, was in the chair. Outlining a practical programme for bringing up children as Jews, Dr. Simon declared that this would have to start with the education of expectant Jewish mothers and fathers at child guidance clinics. As a result, children from their earliest years would be reared in an atmosphere where they would see all the symbols and customs of Jewish life observed. This would then be followed by the children being sent to a Jewish or Hebrew Kindergarten, and then to a Jewish day school. Another important part in the programme, Dr. Simon went on, would be the creation of a Jewish resurgence...
In this view, Zionist education required that children remain Jewish, making "Jewish education" crucial for the movement. A 1961 report reflected this, the year before the British Zionist Federation founded Scotland's first and only Jewish school, Calderwood Lodge. Is that commitment to inculcating Zionism still present today?
A lifelong commitment to the genocidal ideology
It certainly is. Although Calderwood Lodge was taken over by the local authority in 1982, it remains a Zionist school today. It collaborates with the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA), Maccabi, Mitzvah Day, the Scottish Jewish Youth Alliance (SJYA) and other Zionist groups. (The SJYA is itself a collaboration between Glasgow Maccabi and UJIA Scotland, both Zionist organizations.) The school also marks Israeli Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut) and the "liberation" of Jerusalem (Yom Yerushalayim)-their term for the illegal occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967.
The UJIA is the U.K. outpost of one of Israel's four "national institutions," established to create and sustain the state of Israel. It serves as the U.K. affiliate of Keren Hayesod, which raises funds to finance settlement in Palestine. In its 2018-19 annual report, UJIA described its mission as developing a "lifelong connection" between Israel and the "diaspora" community, beginning with children as young as four. Of 12 school programs run by UJIA, nine are in primary schools, reaching thousands of pupils.
Does it work?
Varying statistics suggest that between 60% and 90% of British Jews-or perhaps more-identify as some form of Zionist.
Research by Pew in the United States in 2021 found that "eight in ten U.S. Jews say caring about Israel is an essential or important part of what being Jewish means to them. Nearly six in ten say they personally feel an emotional attachment to Israel." In the United Kingdom, a 2024 study by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research reported that "73% say they feel very or somewhat attached to the country. However, the proportion identifying as 'Zionists' has fallen from 72% to 63% over the past decade."
Ultra-Zionists often claim that even more Jews identify as Zionist. For example, the so-called Campaign Against Antisemitism conducted a survey in late 2023 that produced even higher figures. It reportedly "revealed that 97% of British Jews feel 'personally connected' to events happening in Israel... 80% of respondents considered themselves to be a Zionist."
It appears that the activities of the UJIA and the wider Zionist movement are proving effective. Yet after two years of livestreamed genocide, there is also growing unrest and dissent within the Jewish community, particularly among the young. A recent poll cited in the Jewish Chronicle found that "only" 57% of Jews in their twenties "identified with Zionism."
Nevertheless, the extent of Zionist adherence is still far too large. This means there are Zionists throughout the social structure of most advanced nations, even when the Jewish population is very small, as in the United Kingdom, where it has fallen to 0.4%. In the United States, Jews make up about 2.4% of the population.
The uncomfortable truth is that the Zionist movement urges its adherents to infiltrate the societies where they live and to display their commitment to its racist ideology at every possible turn. As the UJIA examples above show, they encourage a lifelong commitment to Israel. But is that the so-called dual loyalty "trope"-the allegedly racist claim that Jews are more loyal to the state of Israel than to the countries in which they reside?
Only if we say it, if they say it, it's fine-nothing to see here. As Pat Buchanan once remarked in a debate with Ralph Nader, "dual loyalty would be an improvement."
The fact remains that the Zionist movement promotes commitment to both the ideology and the practice of Zionism, even when this runs counter to the interests of the host nation. In the case of the state, this is true in most instances. In the case of the citizenry, it is true in all.
Meet the Zionist Infiltrators
Some within the movement consider the term "infiltration" outdated, arguing that it implies a deliberate Zionist strategy. Yet this article has shown that such a strategy does exist. The question, however, is how conscious or deliberate it is. The evidence suggests there are different types of infiltration and different kinds of infiltrators.
We can begin with those directly or indirectly engaged in specific forms of infiltration on behalf of agencies of the Zionist entity. Their activities align more closely with the traditional sense of the term. From there, we turn to those with looser ties to the movement as a whole. In what follows, I outline six types of infiltration.
Direct Service to the Zionist Entity
The most obvious form of infiltration is direct service to the Zionist entity through collaboration with its intelligence agencies. One example is the Ofer family, which breached U.S. sanctions to deliver Mossad agents and weapons for subversion and assassination operations in Iran. Another involves activities linked to Jeffrey Epstein, who gathered sexual kompromat for Israeli intelligence.
Mossad also relies on Sayanim, its informal helpers abroad, most famously Robert Maxwell. Beyond this, thousands of Zionists work with the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and its predecessor, the Ministry of Strategic Affairs. Their operations range from propaganda and lobbying to trolling, doxxing and lawfare.
One such network is the Combat Antisemitism Movement, which has nearly 1,000 members and operates in a "joint venture" with Voices of Israel, a company run by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. In total, many thousands of Zionist groups are engaged in this form of activity.
Tech Start-ups as a Zionist Strategy
Service is also given directly to the Zionist entity through the creation of tech start-ups founded by former intelligence personnel. This has long been a strategy of Unit 8200, Israel's signals intelligence agency. Today, there are hundreds of such firms in the tech industry. Some have become widely and controversially known, including Cellebrite, NICE, Toka, and the NSO Group, maker of the Pegasus surveillance product. One online listing of 28 such firms records a combined value of $208 billion.
The covert use of this vast surveillance apparatus by the Zionist regime has been widely noted. Investigative reports also show that significant numbers of Zionist infiltrators-including former occupation forces members, intelligence operatives and others-have secured senior positions across mainstream media and Big Tech. These include Google, Apple, Facebook/Meta, Microsoft, TikTok and more.
Emissaries of the Zionist Project
There is also a civilian equivalent of the Sayanim, known as Shlichim, or emissaries. The Jewish Agency-one of the four pillars of the formal Zionist movement-sends Shlichim from occupied Palestine to build what it calls "living bridges to Israel." These emissaries are placed in schools, synagogues, JCCs, camps, universities, youth movements and Federations across the globe.
In 2021, the Union of Jewish Students, the Zionist student group in the U.K., reported hosting two Shlichim from the Jewish Agency. The recently revealed diary of Israel's ambassador to the U.K. even records a "goodbye breakfast" she hosted in July 2024 for Shlichim returning to the Zionist entity after completing their tours of duty.
Other Zionist groups also send emissaries. The World Mizrachi Movement, for example, sent about 300 last year. The Haredi sect Chabad- described by critics as a genocidal cult-uses the same term for its global network of emissaries. According to Chabad itself, "Today, 4,900 Chabad-Lubavitch emissary families, or shluchim, operate 3,500 institutions in 100 countries and territories, with activities in many more.
Zionist Family Networks
Another form of service to the genocide comes through Zionist family networks in the West, particularly via philanthropic giving. Family foundations funnel money to Zionist organizations, all of which effectively encourage genocide.
One example is the many millions donated by Sheldon and Miriam Adelson to pro-Zionist political candidates. "I'm a one-issue person. That issue is Israel," Adelson said in 2017. In the U.K., millions are given by the Lewis family, which owns River Island, and the Wolfson family, which owns Next, to support the genocide. Their contributions directly fund the occupation forces as well as settlement construction and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.
Millions more are spent by Zionist family foundations to spread Islamophobia-through the Policy Exchange and the Henry Jackson Society in the U.K., and through the so-called Islamophobia network in the U.S. Additional funds go toward indoctrinating Jewish children through nurseries, schools, youth groups, student groups and "Birthright" tours, which promote the racist belief that Jews have a birthright to steal Palestinian land and kill Palestinian children.
Zionist billionaire families dominate this giving, but many thousands of others also contribute through large and small Zionist charities and causes. In the U.K., there are an estimated 3,000 such organizations, and in the U.S., there are likely more than 10,000. A preliminary compilation of data on U.S. Zionist groups is available here.
Defending Zionism Over the Life Course
The final form of infiltration is tied directly to the Zionist strategy of ensuring that all Jews make an enduring, lifelong commitment to Israel. As this article has shown, this has been central to the Zionist movement since at least 1951 and remains so today. Zionists expect all Jews to act on behalf of Israel whenever called upon-or whenever they perceive Zionist interests to be under threat.
Practically, this means service to Zionism through daily professional, political and social activities, wherever Zionists find themselves: in the media, political parties, business, finance, schools, universities and civil society, including left-wing and so-called "anti-racist" organizations.
In other words, Zionists throughout the social structure are engaged in subversion and infiltration. One example is the Jewish network within the U.K. civil service. Although set up by the civil service itself, it is in practice run by and for Zionists rather than Jews. Similar patterns exist in universities, the media, the legal profession, finance, industry and other institutions across society.
When the time comes for the proverbial tap on the shoulder, how many who have passed through Zionist indoctrination will fail to respond "appropriately"? To ask the question is almost to invite disbelief. In many cases, no tap on the shoulder is even required. Across the BBC, the media, the entertainment world, the civil service, politics, finance and other commanding heights of society, there are Zionists who are ideologically committed. For them, it makes perfect sense to "do the right thing" when the moment arrives.
The fact remains that the Zionist movement encourages loyalty to its ideology and its program of action even when these run counter to the interests of the host state-or, in all cases, to the interests of its citizenry.
Can we trust Zionists?
In the end, no Zionist can be trusted. Do we imagine that they are not also infiltrating the left? The Palestine solidarity movement? The anti-war movement?
Zionism is, at its core, a racist ideology. No matter how hard "liberal," "socialist," or "leftist" Zionists try to disguise it, that racism always reveals itself-whether in adopting Zionist positions in their professional lives or in subverting and sabotaging pro-Palestine activism in political life.
This has historically meant that the anti-racist movement and the Palestine solidarity movement have been weak on the question of Zionism. It was a major mistake for the "left" in the U.K. and elsewhere not to confront Zionism head-on earlier. Today, we face a significant struggle to cleanse the left and the anti-imperialist movement of both Zionists and Zionist assumptions-ideas that have seeped out of the movement and into the consciousness of many non-Zionist, or even anti-Zionist, socialist activists.
This process has been underway for many decades. However, this is not the place for a detailed analysis of the Jewish left or of Zionist penetration of the non-Jewish left. A fuller exposition will be needed in another article. For now, it is enough to point to the need for a material and maximalist anti-Zionism.
Infiltration today
The traditional forms of infiltration used by intelligence services continue-covert spies, informers and, in the case of the Zionists, the widespread penetration of the tech industry by alumni of Unit 8200. In addition, the Zionist movement makes extensive use of emissaries, both through the mainstream movement and through more marginal elements such as the Chabad-Lubavitch cult, as we have seen.
But in addition to this-as this article has argued-there is an effort to recruit all Jews into a "lifelong connection" to "Israel." In practical terms, the movement treats all Jews as potential resources. This is why so much effort is devoted to grooming and radicalization through nurseries, schools, synagogues, youth and student groups, and the wide array of Zionist lobby groups and charities.
They attempt to radicalize Jews such that they will put Israel first wherever they end up in the social structure. And given that Jews are systematically advantaged in the social structure across the West, this has the potential to be a very powerful set of relations. I submit that infiltration is a cardinal principle of the Zionist movement, and it helps to explain how Zionist individuals and ideas are so heavily embedded in political, civil, economic and cultural life in Western nations.
Knowing your enemy is the first step toward defeating them-and toward dislodging Zionism from its entrenched status and role in society.
Feature photo |Protestors against the judicial overhaul carry a sign with Theodor Herzl during a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Apr 22, 2023. Matan Golan |AP
Professor David Miller is a non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Zaim University and a former Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Bristol. He is a broadcaster, writer and investigative researcher; the producer of the weekly show Palestine Declassified on PressTV; and the co-director of Public Interest Investigations, of which spinwatch.org and powerbase.info are projects. He tweets @Tracking_Power.