A travel diary in Jewish communities after the US presidential election

As Israelis, we must confront the dangerous phenomenon of Jewish anti-Zionism, understand it, and think creatively about responses.

By NADAV TAMIR DECEMBER 22, 2024 03:12

US PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump delivers remarks in Palm Beach, Florida last week. (photo credit: BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS)

For the most part, American Jews are worried and confused following the US elections and after more than a year of war in Israel, the effects of which are also very noticeable in the United States.

In Boston, I met a couple of friends I have known since my time as Israel’s consul general in that city, more than 15 years ago. They are warm Jews who have nurtured their love for Israel since childhood, pillars of the Jewish community in the city. As “progressive” Jews in American parlance, over the years they have had quite a lot of criticism toward the policies of Israeli governments, and this has always stemmed from concern and love for the Jewish people’s nation-state.

This time, I found them more anxious and worried than ever. Not only because of the future awaiting them in the US under the Trump administration, or because of the ongoing war in Israel, the hostages who do not return, and the harsh images from Gaza, but also for a much more personal reason. Their daughter, a student at an elite university, recently joined the JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace), a movement which, despite its pleasant-sounding name, is an anti-Zionist BDS organization that has turned the struggle for “peace” into a struggle against the very identity of the State of Israel.

As lovers of Israel, my friends find themselves struggling to talk to their daughter and at the same time, are horrified when organizations in the Jewish community accuse their daughter of being antisemitic when she protests against the war and the policies of the Israeli government.

The situation that my friends’ daughter finds herself in characterizes many of the younger generation in the United States, who were raised as Zionists. Many find it difficult to continue to relate to Israel as their parents did because they believe that Israel has changed and does not meet the moral standards they learned at home and that stem from their Jewish values.

American Jews and their supporters participate in the March for Israel in Washington, DC, earlier this month. (credit: LEAH MILLIS/REUTERS)

Meetings across the US

I HELD a series of meetings in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Washington DC, and Georgia, where I met Jews who are concerned about the future of democracy in the two countries they love, the US and Israel. 

Their media expose them daily to horrors in Gaza and they are troubled by the moral and strategic implications for Israel. At the same time, they still mourn the consequences of the barbaric terror attack of October 7, empathizing with the families of the hostages, the evacuees, and the parents of the soldiers who continue to die without a clear purpose.

Most of these Jews are also concerned about the implications of Trump’s election since he represents values opposite to those held by the vast majority of the American Jewish community. Of American Jews, 71% supported Vice President Kamala Harris in the elections, and are appalled that about 80% of Israeli Jews prefer Trump.

They are concerned about the future of the Zionist vision under our right-wing government with the backing of Trump’s American Right. They are concerned about the rise in antisemitic incidents in the US – those that some MAGA Republicans around Trump are promoting as well as the antisemitic voices in left-wing protests.

These Jews are frustrated by the ignorance of too many young people on the fringes of the progressive movement, who see Zionism as a colonialist and racist movement. They find it difficult to communicate with the younger generation that is not familiar with the original progressive and secular Zionism of the founders of the state, with which the Jewish community so strongly identified. This is a younger generation that only sees and hears the current Israeli government.

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At the same time, they are horrified by the way the American Right and the Israeli Right resort to accusations of antisemitism against those who express legitimate criticism of Netanyahu’s government policies, or against those who are simply ignorant.

Many of them do not find answers in Jewish federations, synagogues, and the legacy organizations that demand that they align with the Israeli government on both the struggle for democracy in Israel and on the approach to the Palestinians.

As Israelis, we must be sensitive to those feelings and must not give up on the younger generation in the US. We must act together with our partners in there to create change. The liberal public in Israel proved its strength in the unprecedented protest against the government, and we must export this experience to our friends on the other side of the ocean, in order to help them rise from their “mourning” over the election results and to engage in political action.

This political action will express the aspiration of the majority of American Jews to save Israel from the catastrophe of a binational state, toward which it is heading in the absence of a political settlement, and of course to fight for the democracy which is under threat on both sides of the ocean.

We, liberal Israelis, share goals with many partners in the US, and we must act together against common threats. We must encourage their actions in order to integrate and enhance our struggle to save the democracy of the nation-state of the Jewish people, which is also their historical homeland.

Strengthening the connection between the liberal public in Israel and in the US will also help show the American public the diverse faces of Israeli society and help distance them from those who use Netanyahu’s government’s policies to delegitimize the State of Israel and to push young Jews towards the anti-Zionist side.

As Israelis, we must confront this dangerous phenomenon, understand it, and think creatively about responses. These will give parents the tools to explain to their children and to their friends that while Israel deserves criticism, its very existence does not come into question.

The writer is J Street-Israel’s executive director. He has served as an Israeli diplomat in Washington and Boston and as a political adviser to the president of Israel.