A Message for American Jews from an American Jew about Israel & Hamas
We’re losing our minds & our compassion as the world burns
The Magic Word & Intoxicating Spell
An accurate stereotype of Jews the world over is that we embrace robust debate. Coming from a Talmudic tradition steeped in chavruza, we love to gather in friendly groups to analyze and argue about everything from history to politics, business to art. Diverse opinions are welcomed, everyone is encouraged to contribute in the continous conversation.
Such a Jewish elenchus at our culture’s core, one would assume that proven skills in critical thinking should apply with the utmost zeal to the subject nearest and dearest to most of our hearts: the Promised Land. Taught since birth that an event as egregrious as the Holocaust could only be explained as rationale for the Zionist aliya, you’d think we’d welcome open debate.
Not so fast! Say the magic word ”Israel” and we instead lose our minds. Like a spell from Harry Potter, the incantation ישראל makes us crazy. All you need to do is whisper these three syllables, and what began as exciting and engaging chitchat about this or that implodes into a torrent of reflexive platitudes, revisionist history lessons, and condescending impatience.
Yes, otherwise lively, spirited, open-minded, and curious people turn into tribal sociopaths and shameless boors. Once alert, spontaneous, and engaged hyper-intellectuals and bon vivants, we Jews become shambling, mumbling, braind dead zombies. The moment “Israel” is heard our eyes glaze over, our reptilian medula takes command, we become Slytherins.
The powerful magic spell instantly reveals two American Jewish subtribes: 1) “Militant Zionists” who unconditionally and aggressively support everything that Israel says and does; and 2) “Leftist Apologists” who equally enthusiastically and irrationally criticize every move Israel makes, now to the absurd point of defending and extoling its enemies, including Hamas.
The shocking attack of October 7th and its aftermath have reignited these two opposing teams of American Jews, now going mano-a-mano in the ring of public opinion. We are eating our own, and spitting ourselves out. The polarization is so extreme and striking that all nuance in our discourse has been lost, few American Jews able or willing to do what we do best: think.
This seismic rift and its implications are painfully evident throughout our conversations with fellow American Jews, and across all our social media feeds. The implications go beyond family feuds at the Sabbath table, and impact everything from President Biden’s approval ratings, to the Congressional funding of Israel and broader foreign policy decisions.
Within the apparent minority of American Jews who affiliate with neither Militant Zionist nor Leftist Apologist teams, I felt the need to message my brethren. The challenge is simple: Can all of us stop, think, and retain the humanity, intelligence, and creativity we apply so well to everything else? Can we stop being the tools of Hamas and our enemies?
Falling Headlong into Hamas’ Trap
According to Pew and other sources, what I characterize as “Militant Zionists” have tended to skew older, Boomers to Millennials. But the data points are varied and complex, and overlap across multiple demographics. Historically, a common defining characteristic of Team MZ has been political affiliation, namely Right of center — until the Hamas attack.
Many liberal American Jews have since joined in tossing all empathy out the window. Akin to Israel’s highly fragmented society unifying in the wake of the still-incomprehensible raids, American Jews known for moderation and humanism on other issues now ignore or rationalize thousands of Palestinian casualties, most of them children, at the hands of the IDF.
Lifelong liberals and diehard Democrats are not only defending every move once-reviled Netanyahu makes, but interpret any criticism of Israel as antisemitic or pro-Hamas. The magical incantation ישראל is now triggering rabid bloodlust in American Jews who not long ago shared BLM memes on Instagram, went to Burning Man, and hated everything MAGA.
On the politically conservative side, traditional Militant Zionists have never cared about the Palestinians, and never will: They insist Jewish settlements in the West Bank are necessary to reclaim all that land for Israel; Gaza needs to be walled-off and blockaded to contain Hamas; and periodically “mowing the lawn” with targeted military strikes maintains the status quo.
Joined at the hip, veteran and newbie Militant Zionists are in raw survival mode, justified by the ISIS-level savagery of the Al Aqsa Storm raids. They believe in a zero-sum strategy where Israel must be 100%, and Palestinians de facto 0%. That translates to Hamas being destroyed in any manner the IDF sees fit; any criticism of the IDF is a criticism of Israel’s right to exist.
These strange bedfellows of American Jewry are now high-fiving each other in synagogues and at pro-Israel marches, and watch Fox News with rapt attention. Both politically liberal and conservative Jews are eagerly sharing TikTok music videos of the Gaza invasion, united in doxxing people ripping down hostage signs, and enraged at anyone demanding a ceasefire.
The paradoxical irony of Militant Zionist support of the IDFs military response to the raids, and callous disregard of Palestinian life, is Hamas’ anticipation of exactly these reactions. The scope and savagery of the October 7th raids were expressly designed to trigger Israel into mercilessly bombing and then invading Gaza, which Israel has gone ahead and done.
Killing, injuring, and displacing thousands of Palestinian civilians is a Hamas dream come true: The Israeli-Saudi security deal is halted, Palestinians are again global front page news, the West Bank and Lebanese border burn, anti-Israel/US protests swirl around the world, and antisemitism flairs. Militant Zionists are the unwitting allies of Hamas.
Loving Fascists Who Want to Kill Us
More overtly helpful to Hamas is the other end of American Jewish irrationality, the “Leftist Apologists”. They are, as the name implies, best characterized by their Left-of-center politics. From Gen-Z to Gen-Alpha, young to old, rich to poor, they see through an equally distorted lookingglass, and support a theocratic mafia hell-bent on destroying Israel.
Unlike liberal Militant Zionists, Leftist Apologists remain exactly that, lefty apologists — the Palestinians in toto another “underdog” cause to rally around. Equating victimhood with social injustice, social injustice with systemic racism, they believe Hamas can do no wrong because they are disenfranchised poor People of Color, the Israelis rich white people.
Whispering “Israel” into the ears of this tribe conjures mindboggling absurdities such as transgendered university professors, liberal college students, and American Jewish progressives cheering Hamas and Osama bin Laden. The Gaza invasion is a “genocide,” Israel is Nazi Germany, and uncompromising Islamist authoritarians are bastions of peace and love.
Forgotten is how Hamas’ “values” lie opposite those of their American Jewish liberal supporters, who would be the first in line to be gang raped, beheaded, and burned alive, should Hamas ever have power over them. So zealous is the fuming hatred of “The Man” that entitled humanists embrace fascists simply because they are darker complexioned and play the victim.
Nobody is more thrilled by this bizarro American Jewish logic than Hamas and their Iranian sponsors. The 1,200 butchered Israeli citizens are forgotten, and posters of the 240 hostages are ripped down on American city streets, sometimes by Leftist Apologist American Jews whose own relatives are among the torn down faces and murdered liberal Kibbutzim.
Busy defending the indefensible. Leftist Apologists go against their own political interests, too. According to FiveThirtyEight, Biden’s approval is sinking largely because younger people — the largest swath of this American Jewish subtribe — are outraged by his unequivocal support of Israel. Here they join Rashida Tlaib to ensure Trump gets a second term.
While Militant Zionists defend every move Israel makes in the name of self-defense, Leftist Apologists do the same for Israel’s mortal enemies in the name of social justice. Both results are great for Hamas and Iran: more dead Palestinian children to fuel the world’s anti-Israeli outrage and antisemitism, while liberal American Jews stab themselves in the back.
The October 7th attack should never have been successful. Israel was caught off guard because Netanyahu was too busy building and defending illegal West Bank settlements, and dismantling democracy. He also made a Devil’s Bet with Hamas, hoping to pit them against the Palestinian Authority, and thereby preclude a two-state solution. We all lost that bet.
Proposal: Let’s Stop Jewing Each Other Down
Despite decades of conflict and today’s grim headlines, the Middle East has made progress. Realizing that negotiating with the Shia side of the Arab street was futile, Israel with US help signed the Abraham Accords with the UAE and Bahrain. Peace with the Sunnis ushered in an imminent Israel-Saudi security deal, delayed thanks to Hamas’ unprecedented attack.
Until that fateful Simchat Torah Saturday morning, Netanyahu believed that marginalizing the Palestinians was the easiest way forward. Why make any compromises at home, when he could go directly to the region’s Arab powers and create strategic alliances in everyone’s best interest? With Iran and Syria as common enemies, the Palestinians could be ignored.
Surprise! Hamas’ Operation Al Aqsa Storm was engineered for maximum damage. By hurling over a thousand militants across the Gaza border, and instructing them to go full-ISIS, Hamas knew Israel would react as it always has: hit back 1,000x. By relentlessly bombing Gaza, then invading, dead Palestinian kids would be livestreamed, putting Hamas back on the map.
As predictable as Israel’s behavior has been, so too has American Jewry’s. Militant Zionists are more militant than ever before, and Leftist Apologists are twisting themselves into convulsive knots of logic and morality beyond comprehension. Not only are Israel and the world’s Jews more hated than ever before, but American Jews are raging and fighting amongst ourselves.
Personally, I’m experiencing this “American Jewish Civil War” firsthand. Recently attending shabbat services in NYC with a friend, we saw Governor Kathy Hochul address the bereaved and freaked out Upper West Side congregation. She came across as genuinely supportive, strong, and sympathetic. She painted a stark picture of good and evil, right and wrong.
Militant Zionists applauded, Lefist Apologists held their tongues. One young woman in particular looked like she was about to disrupt the speech. Unable to hold two ideas in her head at the same time. the complex narrative was reduced to its own stark binary of “Hamas + Palestinian victims = good” vs “This Congregation + Israel oppressors = bad”.
Neither Hamas nor the IDF want an end to the bombing and invasion, because the IDF wants to kill Hamas, and Hamas wants the IDF to kill as many Palestinians as possible. A similar circularity feeds our pointless and destructive American Jewish Civil War, one where hysteria and intolerance from both sides have superseded our natural smarts and compassion.
If nothing else, a pragmatic approach might help. Far as I can tell, both Militant Zionists and Leftist Apologists are doing Hamas’ bidding. In contrast, moderates understand that yes, Hamas must be destroyed, but done so in a manner that doesn’t spawn generations more terrorists. Let’s work together to fix ourselves and Israel, first. Maybe the world will notice.
Should we give it a try? Ready:
“Israel”
