This claim states that Zionism is a form of white supremacy and that Ashkenazi Jews are the most privileged group in Israel and that Sephardi Jews and Middle Eastern Jews are not the same group. After looking into the source of the claim and doing some research I found that this claim mixes historical facts with a contested political interpretation.
The original claim appears in a Bluesky post which presents the statement more as a political argument rather than an actual sourced factual claim. I traced parts of the claim which led me to a scholarship published by the European University Press which was an academic studies document that talked about how Ashkenazi Jews those of European origin held disproportionate political, economic, and cultural power in Israel during the early decades of the state. These sources also distinguish between Sephardi Jews, whose heritage can be traced back to Spain and the Mediterranean, and Mizrahi Jews whose roots are in the Middle East and North Africa.
Primary academic sources also stated that Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews would often experience systemic discrimination in housing, education, and employment more specifically in the mid-20th century. Israeli demographic and sociological data which is often cited in peer-reviewed research support the claim that Ashkenazi Jews historically occupied more privileged positions within state institutions. This evidence supports parts of the claim related to inequality and hierarchy within Israeli society.
However this claim states that Zionism itself is inherently a form of white supremacy which is not supported as a settled fact. Zionism originated as a Jewish nationalist movement which was a response to antisemitism and it included Jews from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. While some scholars may argue that Zionism took some of the framework from European nationalist that marginalized non-European Jews this still remains debated. There is no academic consensus defining Zionism as a racial ideology equivalent to white supremacy.
Potential biases are present across sources. Academic critics of Zionism often seem to approach the topic through a post-colonial or anti-imperialist framework while Israeli state institutions could possibly minimize ethnic inequality to promote national unity. The original Bluesky post appears to reflect political advocacy rather than neutral fact-finding.
