The Dissolution of the Pro-Israel Agreement Within American Jewish Community: What's Emerging Now.

Two years have passed since the mass murder of 7 October 2023, an event that deeply affected global Jewish populations like no other occurrence following the founding of the state of Israel.

Among Jewish people the event proved profoundly disturbing. For the Israeli government, it was deeply humiliating. The whole Zionist movement rested on the belief that the nation could stop such atrocities occurring in the future.

A response was inevitable. But the response that Israel implemented – the comprehensive devastation of the Gaza Strip, the casualties of many thousands non-combatants – represented a decision. And this choice complicated how many US Jewish community members grappled with the attack that triggered it, and it now complicates the community's commemoration of that date. In what way can people mourn and commemorate a tragedy targeting their community in the midst of an atrocity done to a different population connected to their community?

The Challenge of Mourning

The difficulty surrounding remembrance stems from the circumstance where little unity prevails regarding the significance of these events. Actually, within US Jewish circles, the recent twenty-four months have experienced the disintegration of a decades-long consensus regarding Zionism.

The origins of a Zionist consensus among American Jewry dates back to a 1915 essay written by a legal scholar and then future high court jurist Louis Brandeis called “Jewish Issues; How to Solve it”. Yet the unity really takes hold subsequent to the Six-Day War during 1967. Earlier, Jewish Americans contained a fragile but stable cohabitation among different factions holding different opinions regarding the necessity of a Jewish state – pro-Israel advocates, neutral parties and anti-Zionists.

Historical Context

Such cohabitation continued through the post-war decades, in remnants of socialist Jewish movements, within the neutral Jewish communal organization, within the critical American Council for Judaism and other organizations. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the leader of the theological institution, Zionism was primarily theological instead of governmental, and he prohibited the singing of the Israeli national anthem, the national song, during seminary ceremonies in those years. Furthermore, Zionist ideology the centerpiece for contemporary Orthodox communities until after the 1967 conflict. Jewish identitarian alternatives existed alongside.

But after Israel defeated adjacent nations during the 1967 conflict in 1967, taking control of areas including the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Jerusalem's eastern sector, the American Jewish perspective on the nation evolved considerably. The military success, along with persistent concerns regarding repeated persecution, produced a developing perspective regarding Israel's critical importance within Jewish identity, and generated admiration in its resilience. Discourse about the “miraculous” aspect of the outcome and the reclaiming of areas assigned the Zionist project a religious, even messianic, importance. During that enthusiastic period, considerable existing hesitation regarding Zionism disappeared. In that decade, Writer the commentator famously proclaimed: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Consensus and Its Limits

The pro-Israel agreement did not include Haredi Jews – who generally maintained a Jewish state should only be ushered in via conventional understanding of redemption – however joined Reform Judaism, Conservative, Modern Orthodox and the majority of unaffiliated individuals. The common interpretation of this agreement, what became known as left-leaning Zionism, was based on a belief regarding Israel as a progressive and liberal – albeit ethnocentric – nation. Numerous US Jews saw the control of local, Syria's and Egypt's territories following the war as provisional, thinking that an agreement was forthcoming that would maintain Jewish population majority in Israel proper and regional acceptance of the nation.

Multiple generations of US Jews were raised with support for Israel an essential component of their identity as Jews. The nation became an important element within religious instruction. Israeli national day turned into a celebration. Blue and white banners decorated most synagogues. Seasonal activities became infused with national melodies and the study of contemporary Hebrew, with visitors from Israel educating US young people national traditions. Visits to Israel grew and achieved record numbers with Birthright Israel during that year, when a free trip to the nation was provided to Jewish young adults. Israel permeated nearly every aspect of US Jewish life.

Evolving Situation

Paradoxically, throughout these years after 1967, Jewish Americans became adept regarding denominational coexistence. Tolerance and dialogue among different Jewish movements grew.

Yet concerning Zionism and Israel – that represented pluralism ended. One could identify as a right-leaning advocate or a liberal advocate, but support for Israel as a Jewish state was a given, and questioning that position placed you beyond accepted boundaries – a non-conformist, as Tablet magazine described it in a piece in 2021.

However currently, during of the devastation in Gaza, starvation, dead and orphaned children and outrage about the rejection by numerous Jewish individuals who refuse to recognize their involvement, that consensus has broken down. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer