Noam Chomsky
Linguist and left political theorist; a Labor-Zionist activist in his youth
Chomsky was a self-described Zionist activist in the 1940s — when his Zionism meant a binational, socialist Palestine without a Jewish state — and says that under the post-1942 meaning of the word his position would now be called anti-Zionism. A case where history and present self-ID diverge.
What happened
Asked repeatedly about Zionism, Chomsky explains that as a youth he identified as a Zionist, but that his Zionism was explicitly opposed to a Jewish state — a mainstream position in parts of the movement before the 1942 Biltmore Program. He argues the word changed meaning, not primarily his views.
I was a Zionist activist in my youth. For me, Zionism meant opposition to a Jewish state. The Zionist movement did not come out officially in favor of a Jewish state until 1942. (1997)
Under each definition
He owns his Zionist youth but says the label as used today does not describe him.
He opposed and opposes a Jewish state, favoring binational/one-state arrangements.
He does not support the Jewish-state project; he is a prominent critic of it.
Secular; his family’s Zionism was cultural (Ahad Ha’am), not a return theology.
The case that they're a Zionist
He identified as a Zionist historically, grew up in a cultural-Zionist household, and lived on a Hashomer Hatzair kibbutz — so on his own account he was a Zionist in the pre-1942 sense.
The case against / their own view
Every substantive lens now reads “no”: he opposes a Jewish state, is a prominent critic of Israeli policy, and says the current label “would be considered by most as anti-Zionism.”
In their words
Chomsky… notes that his definition of Zionism would be considered by most as anti-Zionism these days, the result of… a shift (since the 1940s) in the meaning of Zionism.
The verdicts above are how each definition would most likely classify this person — illustrative guidance, not official rulings. The lenses diverge most on the difference between a self-label and a substantive commitment, and between “Zionism” meaning a Jewish homeland versus a Jewish state. See the Definition tab for each definition’s full text. Inclusion is documentation, not a finding.