The ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel has always been discussed cautiously, for one is often in fear of being deemed prejudicial as a result of how much (or how little) they know about the topic or what they believe the best “international peace solution” to be. Honestly, most spaces where I find myself talking about Israel or the conflict between the two states are tense, condescending, and unproductive.
Not that my ideas are any better, of course, because I, too, am continuing to learn and develop my beliefs. I thought I would articulate them in hopes of helping other people come to terms with their thoughts. I was raised Jewish, have attended a reform synagogue my entire life and was highly active in Hebrew school and youth group activities. I could also mention that I’ve been to Israel and proudly took part in many religious and cultural traditions while there. I consider myself very connected to Judaism spiritually, religiously, and culturally, and my experiences in Israel were crucial to my Jewish development. (Side note: I am not a fan of referring to someone or myself as “a Jew”; I find it too reminiscent of Nazi language, so I will be avoiding that term at all costs.)
I don’t think that being Jewish makes me necessarily any more enlightened on this topic or any more sympathetic to Israel. That is the first misconception that I want to clear up: it is often assumed that because someone is Jewish, they favor Zionism and Israel’s controversial policies. There are certainly people out there who believe that, and I am not going to discuss that. But not at all Jewish people think that. I’m not going to cite a percentage of how many Jewish people believe what, but I am confident that there are a lot of Jewish people, especially in the 18–30-year-old range, who are fervently in favor of liberating the Palestinian people from the oppressive rule of the Israeli state. Please stop assuming that all Jewish people favor the inhumane policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That will immediately make the conversation more open and reflective.
There are varying definitions and interpretations of Zionism. For this article, I will be following the Merriam-Webster definition, which is “an international movement originally for the establishment of a Jewish national or religious community in Palestine and later for the support of modern Israel.” I like this definition because it clarifies the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Obviously, every group of people has the right to live safely amongst themselves. That is not only a basic moral fact but an internationally recognized human rights law. In the case of Israel, Zionism continues to manifest itself as an oppressive colonial state, since from its conception it has been tied to the occupation of another territory. After the First World War, the British acquired Palestine from the disintegrating Ottoman Empire. Already, the ever-expanding arms of Western imperialism were stretching across the Middle East. Then, after the Holocaust, Great Britain and the rest of the liberal world promised the Jewish people a protected state where we could recover from the Shoah and regrow our religion, culture, and quite literally our population. The British and other foreign actors (most notably America) were undoubtedly willing to provide the resources for this, firstly being willing to do anything to crush the Germans further; secondly, because they already occupied the land and the Palestinians themselves; and thirdly to prevent the Soviet Union from having a lasting impact on the traumatized European Jewish population. (The conversation of what could have happened if the Soviets undertook the majority of the Jewish population is an entirely fascinating one on its own.)
My biggest thought is that Zionism is the wrong lens through which to be analyzing the contemporary Israel-Palestine conflict, which is often the way these discussions are framed. At its core, Zionism is the question of whether Israel has the right to exist. In this situation, it does not matter whether you believe Israel has this right. The fact of the matter is that Israel does exist: both as a religious and cultural center for Jewish people and as an oppressive colonial state. In other words, I like to separate Zionism, as a core belief and the righteous and protected existence of the Jewish people, from Israel and its position in the world of 21st century colonialism. There is no reason why we have to lump all Jewish people into one area of international relations that is far more complicated than that. There is an entire history’s worth of politics and beliefs to consider when assessing the Israel-Palestine conflict because, as I detailed earlier, colonialism in Palestine did not begin with Zionism. When you look at it that way, it makes it easier, at least to me, to understand why criticizing the state is not criticizing Jewish people or Judaism. Anti-Semitism is deep, dark, and incredibly jarring. To equate the legitimate and fact-based critique of geopolitical structures to the biologically incorrect and utterly disgusting hatred of Jewish people is not fair and unproductive for all of us.
This is not excusing explicit attacks on the Jewish people who govern Israel and the ordinary Jewish citizens who live in it. There are many people, here in the United States and abroad, who will jump on any chance they have to criticize a Jewish person, especially one in power. That is not okay and is clearly not about how Israel is treating occupied Palestine. However, when making educated, accurate critiques of the Israeli government’s policies, whether past or present, it’s not attacking Judaism or the faith of its people. It is our duty as part of this world system to understand all of its intricacies, and we cannot do that if we intentionally exclude the Israel-Palestine situation.