Editor’s note: With Israeli Independence Day approaching, we are publishing a series of op-eds on the contemporary meaning of Zionism.
In ancient Israel, our ancestors were free to build a society based on their own traditions, culture, faith, and values. The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE took that away from us for nearly 2,000 years. Stateless, we became sometimes welcomed, but more often persecuted guests in the societies of others. If the story of our people were a car, our ancestors went from being in the driver’s seat to being forced into the role of reluctant passengers.
Centuries and centuries later, as the skies darkened and we headed into the worst chapters of European Jewish history, it became clear that we Jews needed to drive our own car again, just as our ancestors had in our indigenous homeland.
For me, this is Zionism: Jews at the wheel, driving our own future.
Since the establishment of Israel, sadly, forces have repeatedly attempted to take that steering wheel back away from us. Some of these forces seek the destruction of the Jewish people, such as the ayatollahs in Iran and their proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as the world’s white nationalists and neo-Nazis. The motivations of these groups are driven by naked antisemitism and hardly worth considering — I’ll spare your mental health. Suffice to say, they hate Zionism because they hate Jews.
However, there are other groups — including some Jewish groups — who call themselves anti-Zionists for a more complex reason. They contrast the actions of Israel and its government with their own values and conclude that the Jewish state is not a project with which they can identify. To come back to our car metaphor, Zionism is about having a steering wheel; where we drive the car is up to us. So what of the passengers in Israel’s car, the Palestinians, Bedouins, and Druze? Will the car turn toward equal rights and peacemaking, or lead to more rounds of violence? Don’t the Palestinian people deserve to drive their own car, rather than remain passengers in ours?
These are fundamental questions about the nature of Israeli society, but none of the answers to these questions are inherently at odds with Zionism. To come to the conclusion that we as Jews should return to powerlessness because we have fallen short of our full potential is a form of defeatism our stateless ancestors could never afford to entertain.
The alternative of powerlessness is a return to the persecutions of the past. For a thriving, secure Jewish future, Zionism must and will prevail.
Yes, Israel’s government needs better drivers to work toward a state that provides equal rights and dignity to all. Yet anti-Zionists on our college campuses and in our city halls aren’t engaging in that debate. Instead, they argue against Jewish statehood altogether, and cast blame on diaspora Jews. At anti-Zionists rallies we often hear the chant, “From the river to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” which is a call for the destruction of Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, in order to make the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea “free” of Jews.
The anti-Zionist movement has grown increasingly antisemitic in the last six months. Jewish businesses have been vandalized, Jewish legislators harassed, and Jewish students attacked. Some far-left activists have even started to call Jews “Zios,” a derogatory term popularized by infamous white supremacist David Duke. If you want to find a sign that the anti-Zionists have lost their mores and betrayed their own values, look no further than this. It shows a clear alignment with traditional antisemitism.
A recent public opinion poll conducted by EMC Research for JCRC Bay Area found that 89 percent of Bay Area Jews support a Jewish and democratic Israel. Put differently, nine out of 10 Bay Area Jews believe in the need to stay in the driver’s seat.
That doesn’t mean we aren’t critical of the policies of the Israeli government or working hard to assure a better future for the Palestinians. Power is not inherently good or evil, but it does mean assuming more responsibility, and we must hold ourselves accountable by leading with our values. This is far from straightforward as our values of safety, tradition, equality, and dignity can sometimes play off one another, and other times contradict one another.
Through this difficult period since Oct. 7, what our enemies fail to understand is that rising antisemitism and Hamas’ terrorist attack have engendered a stronger, more united Jewish community, one that is inalienably committed to Zionism and Jewish peoplehood. Though we face the scourge of antisemitism in our corner of the world like never before, what makes me optimistic are the tens of thousands of Jewish families and community members showing up with their feet to city council and school board meetings, supporting candidates for election, and getting involved with advocacy to fight for their communities and for continued American support for the Jewish state.
We have all too many reminders today that even after 75 years, the miracle of Israel remains fragile. We have a collective responsibility to ensure that this time around, the steering wheel is with us to stay. The alternative of powerlessness is a return to the persecutions of the past. For a thriving, secure Jewish future, Zionism must and will prevail.