The Collapse of the Pro-Israel Consensus Among American Jewish Community: What's Taking Shape Today.

Marking two years after the horrific attack of October 7, 2023, an event that deeply affected global Jewish populations like no other occurrence since the creation of Israel as a nation.

Within Jewish communities the event proved deeply traumatic. For the Israeli government, it was a significant embarrassment. The entire Zionist project had been established on the assumption that the Jewish state would ensure against things like this from ever happening again.

Military action was inevitable. However, the particular response Israel pursued – the comprehensive devastation of Gaza, the killing and maiming of tens of thousands of civilians – constituted a specific policy. This particular approach complicated the perspective of many US Jewish community members processed the initial assault that precipitated the response, and presently makes difficult the community's commemoration of the day. How can someone honor and reflect on an atrocity targeting their community in the midst of an atrocity done to other individuals in your name?

The Complexity of Remembrance

The difficulty in grieving stems from the reality that there is no consensus regarding what any of this means. Actually, for the American Jewish community, this two-year period have seen the disintegration of a half-century-old unity on Zionism itself.

The beginnings of Zionist agreement among American Jewry can be traced to writings from 1915 by the lawyer and then future high court jurist Louis D. Brandeis named “The Jewish Question; How to Solve it”. Yet the unity truly solidified following the Six-Day War in 1967. Earlier, Jewish Americans maintained a delicate yet functioning coexistence across various segments that had different opinions about the necessity for Israel – Zionists, non-Zionists and opponents.

Historical Context

This parallel existence endured during the post-war decades, in remnants of Jewish socialism, through the non-aligned Jewish communal organization, among the opposing Jewish organization and comparable entities. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Zionism had greater religious significance rather than political, and he forbade singing Israel's anthem, Hatikvah, at JTS ordinations in the early 1960s. Nor were support for Israel the central focus for contemporary Orthodox communities until after the six-day war. Alternative Jewish perspectives coexisted.

But after Israel overcame neighboring countries in the six-day war that year, taking control of areas comprising Palestinian territories, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish connection with the country underwent significant transformation. The triumphant outcome, coupled with enduring anxieties of a “second Holocaust”, produced an increasing conviction in the country’s essential significance within Jewish identity, and generated admiration for its strength. Language about the “miraculous” aspect of the outcome and the freeing of territory assigned the movement a theological, even messianic, meaning. In those heady years, much of previous uncertainty regarding Zionism vanished. During the seventies, Publication editor the commentator declared: “Everyone supports Zionism today.”

The Unity and Restrictions

The unified position did not include the ultra-Orthodox – who typically thought Israel should only be established by a traditional rendering of the messiah – but united Reform, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and the majority of unaffiliated individuals. The predominant version of this agreement, identified as liberal Zionism, was founded on the idea about the nation as a progressive and free – while majority-Jewish – state. Many American Jews saw the administration of local, Syria's and Egypt's territories after 1967 as temporary, assuming that an agreement would soon emerge that would maintain a Jewish majority in pre-1967 Israel and Middle Eastern approval of the nation.

Several cohorts of Jewish Americans were raised with Zionism an essential component of their identity as Jews. The nation became a key component in Jewish learning. Israel’s Independence Day turned into a celebration. National symbols adorned most synagogues. Youth programs integrated with Israeli songs and education of modern Hebrew, with Israelis visiting and teaching American teenagers national traditions. Travel to Israel expanded and reached new heights with Birthright Israel by 1999, when a free trip to Israel was offered to young American Jews. The nation influenced nearly every aspect of Jewish American identity.

Shifting Landscape

Ironically, in these decades post-1967, US Jewish communities became adept in religious diversity. Open-mindedness and dialogue among different Jewish movements expanded.

Except when it came to support for Israel – that’s where pluralism found its boundary. You could be a rightwing Zionist or a liberal advocate, but support for Israel as a Jewish state was a given, and criticizing that position categorized you beyond accepted boundaries – outside the community, as Tablet magazine termed it in writing that year.

However currently, amid of the devastation of Gaza, famine, child casualties and anger over the denial within Jewish communities who decline to acknowledge their responsibility, that consensus has disintegrated. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer