A founder's story

I Know What Antizionism Looks Like. I Lived It.

A personal message from our founder - Natasha Pein

The Fifth Line: Soviet passports listed your "nationality." For Jews, that single line closed doors to entire professions, university departments, and careers — silently, and without appeal.

Your gift supports education, research, and advocacy — so the next generation does not have to face this alone.

I grew up in the Soviet Union, where Jew-hatred was disguised as antizionism — a state-sponsored ideology that repackaged centuries-old hatred of Jews in the language of politics, liberation, and social justice.

As a Jewish child, I was called zhidovka — a vicious slur. My Jewish identity, stamped into the Fifth Line of my Soviet passport, could determine which universities, professions, and opportunities were open to me.

I learned early that Jew-hatred does not begin with violence. It begins with words, accusations, and exclusion.

Today, I recognize the pattern. The language has changed, but the hatred has not. What I experienced in the Soviet Union is now resurfacing across the free world.

Dr. Naya Lekht and I founded Stop Antizionism because we have lived in both worlds — under Soviet oppression and in Western democracies. We know firsthand how Jew-hatred operates, and history has taught us that silence has never protected the Jewish people.

That is why we are committed to exposing this ideology, educating people to recognize it, and equipping future generations to confront it.

Natasha Pein
Co-Founder, Stop Antizionism