A Breakdown of the Pro-Israel Consensus Among American Jewish Community: What Is Taking Shape Now.

Two years have passed since the deadly assault of the events of October 7th, which shook Jewish communities worldwide unlike anything else following the establishment of Israel as a nation.

For Jews the event proved profoundly disturbing. For the Israeli government, it was a profound disgrace. The entire Zionist movement was founded on the assumption that the Jewish state would prevent things like this from ever happening again.

Military action appeared unavoidable. But the response Israel pursued – the comprehensive devastation of the Gaza Strip, the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands of civilians – represented a decision. This selected path complicated how many American Jews grappled with the initial assault that precipitated the response, and it now complicates their observance of the day. How does one honor and reflect on an atrocity targeting their community in the midst of an atrocity done to another people attributed to their identity?

The Difficulty of Remembrance

The challenge of mourning exists because of the reality that there is no consensus regarding the significance of these events. Actually, within US Jewish circles, the recent twenty-four months have witnessed the disintegration of a decades-long agreement on Zionism itself.

The origins of a Zionist consensus across American Jewish populations dates back to an early twentieth-century publication authored by an attorney subsequently appointed Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis named “Jewish Issues; Addressing the Challenge”. But the consensus really takes hold following the six-day war during 1967. Before then, American Jewry housed a delicate yet functioning parallel existence among different factions that had different opinions about the need for a Jewish nation – pro-Israel advocates, neutral parties and opponents.

Previous Developments

Such cohabitation persisted through the mid-twentieth century, through surviving aspects of leftist Jewish organizations, within the neutral US Jewish group, in the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism and similar institutions. For Louis Finkelstein, the leader of the theological institution, Zionism had greater religious significance rather than political, and he prohibited performance of the Israeli national anthem, the national song, at religious school events in those years. Furthermore, Zionist ideology the central focus within modern Orthodox Judaism before that war. Different Jewish identity models existed alongside.

Yet after Israel overcame neighboring countries in that war that year, taking control of areas such as the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Golan and East Jerusalem, US Jewish relationship to the nation changed dramatically. The triumphant outcome, combined with persistent concerns about another genocide, resulted in a growing belief about the nation's essential significance for Jewish communities, and created pride regarding its endurance. Language concerning the “miraculous” quality of the outcome and the “liberation” of land gave Zionism a spiritual, even messianic, meaning. In those heady years, much of previous uncertainty about Zionism vanished. In the early 1970s, Writer Norman Podhoretz declared: “Everyone supports Zionism today.”

The Agreement and Its Limits

The unified position excluded strictly Orthodox communities – who largely believed a Jewish state should only emerge through traditional interpretation of the messiah – yet included Reform, Conservative, Modern Orthodox and the majority of non-affiliated Jews. The predominant version of the consensus, identified as liberal Zionism, was established on the idea regarding Israel as a progressive and democratic – while majority-Jewish – state. Many American Jews saw the administration of Arab, Syrian and Egypt's territories post-1967 as provisional, believing that a resolution was forthcoming that would ensure Jewish population majority within Israel's original borders and Middle Eastern approval of Israel.

Multiple generations of US Jews were thus brought up with support for Israel a core part of their identity as Jews. The nation became a central part within religious instruction. Israeli national day became a Jewish holiday. Blue and white banners decorated many temples. Summer camps integrated with national melodies and learning of modern Hebrew, with visitors from Israel instructing American youth Israeli customs. Trips to the nation expanded and peaked with Birthright Israel in 1999, offering complimentary travel to Israel was offered to young American Jews. Israel permeated almost the entirety of Jewish American identity.

Shifting Landscape

Paradoxically, in these decades post-1967, American Jewry became adept regarding denominational coexistence. Tolerance and discussion between Jewish denominations grew.

However regarding the Israeli situation – that represented diversity found its boundary. One could identify as a rightwing Zionist or a leftwing Zionist, however endorsement of the nation as a majority-Jewish country remained unquestioned, and challenging that perspective positioned you outside the consensus – an “Un-Jew”, as Tablet magazine described it in a piece that year.

Yet presently, under the weight of the devastation of Gaza, food shortages, young victims and frustration regarding the refusal within Jewish communities who decline to acknowledge their responsibility, that agreement has collapsed. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer