There is no such thing as conditional Zionism. You either support the existence, survival and success of the Jewish state or you do not. Many American Jews (particularly those of a liberal bent) think Israel is a kind of Jewish Disneyland and when it doesn't live up to their expecations (Which are based in fantasy) they turn against her. Thomas Friedman of the NY Times is the classic example of this type. If you are a Zionist you stand by Israel. You do not make common cause with her many enemies. You do not do the enemy's propaganda work for it. You keep any disagreements internal and within the family and you do not believe you know more than the Israeli people do about what is necessary for their safety. If you do any of these things you are not a Zionist and if you are a Jew and you do these things, then I consider that you have written yourself out of the book.
I agree wholeheartedly with your thesis and arguments. Israel has, has always had, and always will have my full-throated love and support.
I hopefully will be living there before too long. I just need a way to transport my brachycephalic (flat-faced) dog, who can’t fly cargo. If only Miriam A, Mark Cuban, Ben Horowitz, or another Jewish billionaire would run a couple of rescue flights for Jewish dogs who can’t fly cargo, in about a year would be good…
"No one checks the latest policies of the Italian government before booking a trip to Rome. No one debates whether they should buy a croissant at the local French bakery based on the outcome of a recent policy decision in France. No one studies the Japanese parliament before deciding whether they admire Japanese culture. And no one cancels a vacation to Greece because they disagree with the current Greek prime minister."
Sorry to burst your bubble, but Canadians are extremely vocal right now by the millions that they will not visit the United States as long as Trump is president.
Similarly, we are all smart enough to avoid countries run by lunatics. I have a daughter in London and as long as Sadiq Khan is mayor, Keir Starmer is PM, the Police are allied with Muslims to take away the rights of native Brits, arrest anyone who comments on social media that the UK has problems, I have absolutely no intention of going there. I'm Christian but I can 100% agree with any Jew not wanting to go to a country like the UK that quite openly at the highest levels of government says out loud that they hate Jews and Israel.
You're talking about a safety issue in the UK, not merely a political one. As for Canadians, they're practicing identity politics. Many of the ones who are Left are boycotting Trump, but not all Canadians are Left.
Actually I go to Canada a lot. I live on the border. Many in Canada are worried about going through US Customs. So the issues are both safety and political.
I am so tempted to send this to a cousin who was one of those Jews who decided to boycott Israel by cancelling a family trip there before Oct. 7, because she wouldn't go "while Netanyahu was prime minister." I wish she would read this, but I'm not sending it because the fireworks this would set off might not be containable. You are 100% correct and thanks for all the excellent points you make.
Israelis need to understand there is a huge difference between American Jews who are complete outliers in the Diaspora compared to Jews outside of the US. Outside of the US, which has thanks to the Reform movement's decades long demonization of Israel, only a fringe element of Jews are against Israel. This fringe is used for propaganda purposes by the Jew hating Israel demonizing Left, but they number very few. The difference comes down to the fact that Jews from other Diaspora countries have very strong, often personal ties to Israel, have strong ties to Jewish organizations, and have much higher participation in some type of Jewish education for their children. Other factors, include a huge one - Reform is negligible. Thus the youth have not been brainwashed in Reform schools, camps and synagogues to despise Israel. As well, t otal assimilation is far, far less, and awareness of Jew hatred is very high, unlike American Jews who seem to have been living on Mars for decades believing they were permanently secure, admired, and relevant. Now they realize they are very irrelevant in the US, hated and not secure.
The term [anti-Zionism] suggests that Zionism is still a theoretical project, something that can be debated as if it has not yet happened. But Zionism is no longer an idea; it is a longstanding fact."
The understanding of the term Zionism by Jews and non-Jews alike is a massive oversimplification delegitimizing Jewish identify, much to the immediate threat to Jewish safety and security. See below . . .
The question put to Google AI "What is Zion?" produced the following:
A: "Zion is a term with deep biblical and historical roots, primarily referring to a hill in Jerusalem (Mount Zion), the City of David, and symbolically, the entire city of Jerusalem or the Land of Israel. It represents a holy place, God's dwelling place, and metaphorically embodies the Jewish people, God's kingdom, or a spiritual refuge.
Symbolic/Metaphorical: It represents the Jewish homeland, Zionism, and the spiritual aspiration for redemption and home."
In other words, rather than just being a recent political idea going back to the late 19C, its roots go back 3,500+ years. It manifests as a religious belief, a theological concept, an ethnicity, a cultural mores, a social way of being, a national identity, a vision of self and futurity, and more.
"Zionism is not a movement awaiting approval; it is the reality that the Jewish People restored their sovereignty in our ancestral homeland."
Au contraire, min vieux, Jews never abandoned sovereignty over their historic homeland. Yes, it has been conquered — in fact, it has been conquered many, many times. In fact, according to Google AI about the number of foreign conquests returns a list of 12. Yet, despite the waves of invasion, colonization, settler displacement, and repeated confinement of Jews to restricted areas (the very definition of apartheid), Jews have maintained an unbroken presence on their unceded, ancestral territory.
What Jews fail to realize whether they are living openly in North America, or hiding their identities in Europe and elsewhere, they are not Diasporic Jews, they are Exilic Jews. The difference between the two lies in the underlying emphasis. The former is on the dispersion; the latter is on the place of these people's belonging.
As history tries to show Jews time and again, however comfortably we made our lives living as strangers among strangers in a strange land, inevitably our inclusion was denied because it always depended on the social and political conditions of the moment. Jewish welcome was repeatedly turned into rejection across Europe and the Middle East. The same is slowly taking place now but not just in Europe but also throughout the Americas.
To say "It [virulent Jew hatred] can't happen here" only proves a paraphrased Hegelian observation that "What we learn from history is that we do not learn from history."
Where can Diasporic Jews go, but to another land still willing to accept them. Where can Exilic Jews go but to return to the safety of their homeland!
I don’t disagree, but I also feel that it causes them a lot of problems. Not Jewish (DNA says 5% tops) but during multiple trips though university (California, DC) through different phases of life I’ve heavily interacted with US and Israeli Jews. I’ve studied abroad in Jordan-Palestine-Israel as well, lived among ordinary people and been a guest of those governments at the top.
It would be better if diaspora (particularly US) Jews were to make a choice: go live in Israel or be full throated Nation First. The problems that Jews have arise from trying to do both; or benefiting from both or one of them and not acknowledging those distinct beneficiary status.
People in most countries don’t have anywhere else to run to or benefit from. Jews have many options. This is a historical aberration and when the correction is nigh…it is to be embraced not ‘specially plead’ with. Israeli Jews understand this better and the gap isn’t small
Interesting thesis, but Jews have tried in the past 2,000 years to be full throated 'Nation First' as you call it. In every case, and in every country their acceptance was contingent upon the whims of the leaders, the Church or Mosques, or the electorate. In France, Spain, England Jews were part of the societal fabric for a brief period and then exiled or had significant restrictions placed on them. In Germany and Austria in the late 19th and till the early 20th century they were assimilated into the 'nation', only to be singled out and exterminated. This all before the reestablishment of the nation of Israel. Do you really think if Israel didn't exist that the situation for American Jews would be different today? The Jewish community is as diverse as the Christian community. You have American Jews who are 'nation first', aka Conservative and Republican, and Jews that are leftist.
You are correct that non-Jews in other countries have no place to run to or support them, but they are not singled out because of their religion and if they are (as in the case of Christians in Nigeria), then it is the failing of their co-religionists to not offer them asylum or protections.
Jews have learned over their 2,000-year history of exile from their homeland that as much as they seek to assimilate to be part of the society they live in; to contribute (and they contribute in larger proportion than the numbers) and to be good and productive citizens, they are always on the knife edge of being rejected, attacked, removed from public discourse solely because they are Jews.
It is nearly impossible for non-Jews to understand that Israel is more than just a country, it is part of the binding of the Jewish people.
You’re misunderstanding the message and that American Jews need to get their act together. They can’t play this double game, which Israeli Jews do not.
Jews that are leftist are not nation first and you described a great many of them as such above, which is at least in this current time quite silly. You’re hedging your bets on what full throated means: don’t fight Christians in Christian countries. You know as well as I do that the Post holocaust era isn’t like any era before, but Jews have taken it almost axiomatically - complete knee jerk mode, demanding full narrative control. It’s not admirable to try to disprove the story arc by overdoing said arc to keep it quiet - that’s the downfall of the EU.
When you say 'don't fight Christians in Christian countries', the implication is that Jews in Christian or Moslem majority countries must not be part of the body politic and resign themselves to second class citizens, keep their opinions to themselves or risk being persecuted. So, if Christians support Israel does that make them any less Nation Firsters? Would you disenfranchise them as well. Most of us can walk and chew gum at the same time. Will there come a point in time where the interests of Israel and US are so divergent that they have no common ground. It is possible, and if anything it will come under increasingly unhinged progressives and leftists.
Being like everybody else doesn’t mean second class citizen. Jews are in a privileged position in the US and other places. Most of the narrative combat is about keeping this status. Christian countries or Christian countries and you should work to keep them that way not to water them down. The biggest cash flow flow for AIPAC comes from OnlyFans, yet the group votes 85% progressive in America that votes 70+ right in Israel. Zionism for Israel, but not allowed in America.
Christians supporting Israel is fine. It’s a policy choice. But policy choices are subject to elections, and that needs to be respected. Foreign policy is not about permanent relationships, but interests. The small country needs to worry about that more than the big country does - just that people have gotten the relationship upside down
Jews are in a privileged position? By privileged if you mean we cannot attend religious services without armed guards, or that our children cannot attend universities free from vitriolic attacks that is some privilege. If you mean that Jews are subject 69% of all religious hate crimes while only making up 2% of the population, then that also a privilege that we can do without.
Putting that aside, AIPAC has major Jewish donors and has nothing to do with only fans, so your comment is frankly incorrect. As to lobbying, AIPAC is a piker compared to other special interest groups. Its lobbying budget was $3.5 million in 2025. This is one eighth of the 50th most funded lobbying group $20 million. Check open lobby.us. This does not even account for the $200 million per year Qatar has used to promulgate its lobbying through universities. AIPAC supports candidates of both parties and in recent years is more supportive of Republican conservative candidates than leftist progressive candidates.
I you are correct that policy choices are subject to elections, and our current administration is reflecting the will of the voters and is supportive of Israel.
Mitch, you are exactly correct especially when it comes to American Jews. It wasn't so long ago that thousands of New York Jews took to the streets to protest the "Judicial Reform" going on in Israel. I pleaded with some of my friends that this wasn't a good idea because it projected to the world at large that we were divided. I told them that only those who live in Israel have the "right" to criticize policies that largely only affect Israelis, but my argument fell on deaf ears. Shortly thereafter came Oct. 7.
I support Zionism but not political Zionism because endless banker wars was driven to scatter where identities were changed and forced conversions became necessary for survival leaving many of us wandering orphans. I have 4th generation left with a longing for connection but live in isolation totally abandoned by God and Christians today are throwing up the Nazi Salute. Oh and I lost 10 people with the covid vaccine while everyone shuts down the fact that it was ethnically targeted.
The mountain climber analogy is exactly right. I'd take it one step further — most of the diaspora Jews I know who are loudest about Israeli politics couldn't name a single member of the Knesset beyond Netanyahu. The opinions are strong, but the knowledge is thin, and that gap is where the damage happens.
What I keep trying to teach is that loyalty to Israel doesn't require agreement with every government decision. It requires understanding that the relationship is covenantal, not transactional. You don't walk away from a relationship or a covenant because you're upset about a coalition.
Shalom Joshua, and thank you for your inspiring and insightful post!
Agree with you 100%, while living my incomplete life in the Thai “tropical paradise,” consuming volumes of news and intellectual discourse about the Only Land — Israel! And again, my connection to this land is forever, without defining it as Zionism, after making the transition and transformation during my 22 years in Israel between 1960-1982.
There is no such thing as conditional Zionism. You either support the existence, survival and success of the Jewish state or you do not. Many American Jews (particularly those of a liberal bent) think Israel is a kind of Jewish Disneyland and when it doesn't live up to their expecations (Which are based in fantasy) they turn against her. Thomas Friedman of the NY Times is the classic example of this type. If you are a Zionist you stand by Israel. You do not make common cause with her many enemies. You do not do the enemy's propaganda work for it. You keep any disagreements internal and within the family and you do not believe you know more than the Israeli people do about what is necessary for their safety. If you do any of these things you are not a Zionist and if you are a Jew and you do these things, then I consider that you have written yourself out of the book.
Any Jew who is not a Zionist is either historically ignorant or in denial.
I am forever grateful for Israel.
Thank you, Joshua Hoffman, for this inspiring article, and for all of Future of Jewish!
I agree wholeheartedly with your thesis and arguments. Israel has, has always had, and always will have my full-throated love and support.
I hopefully will be living there before too long. I just need a way to transport my brachycephalic (flat-faced) dog, who can’t fly cargo. If only Miriam A, Mark Cuban, Ben Horowitz, or another Jewish billionaire would run a couple of rescue flights for Jewish dogs who can’t fly cargo, in about a year would be good…
"No one checks the latest policies of the Italian government before booking a trip to Rome. No one debates whether they should buy a croissant at the local French bakery based on the outcome of a recent policy decision in France. No one studies the Japanese parliament before deciding whether they admire Japanese culture. And no one cancels a vacation to Greece because they disagree with the current Greek prime minister."
Sorry to burst your bubble, but Canadians are extremely vocal right now by the millions that they will not visit the United States as long as Trump is president.
Similarly, we are all smart enough to avoid countries run by lunatics. I have a daughter in London and as long as Sadiq Khan is mayor, Keir Starmer is PM, the Police are allied with Muslims to take away the rights of native Brits, arrest anyone who comments on social media that the UK has problems, I have absolutely no intention of going there. I'm Christian but I can 100% agree with any Jew not wanting to go to a country like the UK that quite openly at the highest levels of government says out loud that they hate Jews and Israel.
You're talking about a safety issue in the UK, not merely a political one. As for Canadians, they're practicing identity politics. Many of the ones who are Left are boycotting Trump, but not all Canadians are Left.
Actually I go to Canada a lot. I live on the border. Many in Canada are worried about going through US Customs. So the issues are both safety and political.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/us-canada-device-searches-1.7619944
I am so tempted to send this to a cousin who was one of those Jews who decided to boycott Israel by cancelling a family trip there before Oct. 7, because she wouldn't go "while Netanyahu was prime minister." I wish she would read this, but I'm not sending it because the fireworks this would set off might not be containable. You are 100% correct and thanks for all the excellent points you make.
Israelis need to understand there is a huge difference between American Jews who are complete outliers in the Diaspora compared to Jews outside of the US. Outside of the US, which has thanks to the Reform movement's decades long demonization of Israel, only a fringe element of Jews are against Israel. This fringe is used for propaganda purposes by the Jew hating Israel demonizing Left, but they number very few. The difference comes down to the fact that Jews from other Diaspora countries have very strong, often personal ties to Israel, have strong ties to Jewish organizations, and have much higher participation in some type of Jewish education for their children. Other factors, include a huge one - Reform is negligible. Thus the youth have not been brainwashed in Reform schools, camps and synagogues to despise Israel. As well, t otal assimilation is far, far less, and awareness of Jew hatred is very high, unlike American Jews who seem to have been living on Mars for decades believing they were permanently secure, admired, and relevant. Now they realize they are very irrelevant in the US, hated and not secure.
👏👏👏💪🇮🇱💙🙏🫂🌹✨
The term [anti-Zionism] suggests that Zionism is still a theoretical project, something that can be debated as if it has not yet happened. But Zionism is no longer an idea; it is a longstanding fact."
The understanding of the term Zionism by Jews and non-Jews alike is a massive oversimplification delegitimizing Jewish identify, much to the immediate threat to Jewish safety and security. See below . . .
The question put to Google AI "What is Zion?" produced the following:
A: "Zion is a term with deep biblical and historical roots, primarily referring to a hill in Jerusalem (Mount Zion), the City of David, and symbolically, the entire city of Jerusalem or the Land of Israel. It represents a holy place, God's dwelling place, and metaphorically embodies the Jewish people, God's kingdom, or a spiritual refuge.
Symbolic/Metaphorical: It represents the Jewish homeland, Zionism, and the spiritual aspiration for redemption and home."
In other words, rather than just being a recent political idea going back to the late 19C, its roots go back 3,500+ years. It manifests as a religious belief, a theological concept, an ethnicity, a cultural mores, a social way of being, a national identity, a vision of self and futurity, and more.
"Zionism is not a movement awaiting approval; it is the reality that the Jewish People restored their sovereignty in our ancestral homeland."
Au contraire, min vieux, Jews never abandoned sovereignty over their historic homeland. Yes, it has been conquered — in fact, it has been conquered many, many times. In fact, according to Google AI about the number of foreign conquests returns a list of 12. Yet, despite the waves of invasion, colonization, settler displacement, and repeated confinement of Jews to restricted areas (the very definition of apartheid), Jews have maintained an unbroken presence on their unceded, ancestral territory.
What Jews fail to realize whether they are living openly in North America, or hiding their identities in Europe and elsewhere, they are not Diasporic Jews, they are Exilic Jews. The difference between the two lies in the underlying emphasis. The former is on the dispersion; the latter is on the place of these people's belonging.
As history tries to show Jews time and again, however comfortably we made our lives living as strangers among strangers in a strange land, inevitably our inclusion was denied because it always depended on the social and political conditions of the moment. Jewish welcome was repeatedly turned into rejection across Europe and the Middle East. The same is slowly taking place now but not just in Europe but also throughout the Americas.
To say "It [virulent Jew hatred] can't happen here" only proves a paraphrased Hegelian observation that "What we learn from history is that we do not learn from history."
Where can Diasporic Jews go, but to another land still willing to accept them. Where can Exilic Jews go but to return to the safety of their homeland!
I don’t disagree, but I also feel that it causes them a lot of problems. Not Jewish (DNA says 5% tops) but during multiple trips though university (California, DC) through different phases of life I’ve heavily interacted with US and Israeli Jews. I’ve studied abroad in Jordan-Palestine-Israel as well, lived among ordinary people and been a guest of those governments at the top.
It would be better if diaspora (particularly US) Jews were to make a choice: go live in Israel or be full throated Nation First. The problems that Jews have arise from trying to do both; or benefiting from both or one of them and not acknowledging those distinct beneficiary status.
People in most countries don’t have anywhere else to run to or benefit from. Jews have many options. This is a historical aberration and when the correction is nigh…it is to be embraced not ‘specially plead’ with. Israeli Jews understand this better and the gap isn’t small
Interesting thesis, but Jews have tried in the past 2,000 years to be full throated 'Nation First' as you call it. In every case, and in every country their acceptance was contingent upon the whims of the leaders, the Church or Mosques, or the electorate. In France, Spain, England Jews were part of the societal fabric for a brief period and then exiled or had significant restrictions placed on them. In Germany and Austria in the late 19th and till the early 20th century they were assimilated into the 'nation', only to be singled out and exterminated. This all before the reestablishment of the nation of Israel. Do you really think if Israel didn't exist that the situation for American Jews would be different today? The Jewish community is as diverse as the Christian community. You have American Jews who are 'nation first', aka Conservative and Republican, and Jews that are leftist.
You are correct that non-Jews in other countries have no place to run to or support them, but they are not singled out because of their religion and if they are (as in the case of Christians in Nigeria), then it is the failing of their co-religionists to not offer them asylum or protections.
Jews have learned over their 2,000-year history of exile from their homeland that as much as they seek to assimilate to be part of the society they live in; to contribute (and they contribute in larger proportion than the numbers) and to be good and productive citizens, they are always on the knife edge of being rejected, attacked, removed from public discourse solely because they are Jews.
It is nearly impossible for non-Jews to understand that Israel is more than just a country, it is part of the binding of the Jewish people.
You’re misunderstanding the message and that American Jews need to get their act together. They can’t play this double game, which Israeli Jews do not.
Jews that are leftist are not nation first and you described a great many of them as such above, which is at least in this current time quite silly. You’re hedging your bets on what full throated means: don’t fight Christians in Christian countries. You know as well as I do that the Post holocaust era isn’t like any era before, but Jews have taken it almost axiomatically - complete knee jerk mode, demanding full narrative control. It’s not admirable to try to disprove the story arc by overdoing said arc to keep it quiet - that’s the downfall of the EU.
When you say 'don't fight Christians in Christian countries', the implication is that Jews in Christian or Moslem majority countries must not be part of the body politic and resign themselves to second class citizens, keep their opinions to themselves or risk being persecuted. So, if Christians support Israel does that make them any less Nation Firsters? Would you disenfranchise them as well. Most of us can walk and chew gum at the same time. Will there come a point in time where the interests of Israel and US are so divergent that they have no common ground. It is possible, and if anything it will come under increasingly unhinged progressives and leftists.
Being like everybody else doesn’t mean second class citizen. Jews are in a privileged position in the US and other places. Most of the narrative combat is about keeping this status. Christian countries or Christian countries and you should work to keep them that way not to water them down. The biggest cash flow flow for AIPAC comes from OnlyFans, yet the group votes 85% progressive in America that votes 70+ right in Israel. Zionism for Israel, but not allowed in America.
Christians supporting Israel is fine. It’s a policy choice. But policy choices are subject to elections, and that needs to be respected. Foreign policy is not about permanent relationships, but interests. The small country needs to worry about that more than the big country does - just that people have gotten the relationship upside down
Jews are in a privileged position? By privileged if you mean we cannot attend religious services without armed guards, or that our children cannot attend universities free from vitriolic attacks that is some privilege. If you mean that Jews are subject 69% of all religious hate crimes while only making up 2% of the population, then that also a privilege that we can do without.
Putting that aside, AIPAC has major Jewish donors and has nothing to do with only fans, so your comment is frankly incorrect. As to lobbying, AIPAC is a piker compared to other special interest groups. Its lobbying budget was $3.5 million in 2025. This is one eighth of the 50th most funded lobbying group $20 million. Check open lobby.us. This does not even account for the $200 million per year Qatar has used to promulgate its lobbying through universities. AIPAC supports candidates of both parties and in recent years is more supportive of Republican conservative candidates than leftist progressive candidates.
I you are correct that policy choices are subject to elections, and our current administration is reflecting the will of the voters and is supportive of Israel.
What is OnlyFans? I found this sentence confusing.
Mitch, you are exactly correct especially when it comes to American Jews. It wasn't so long ago that thousands of New York Jews took to the streets to protest the "Judicial Reform" going on in Israel. I pleaded with some of my friends that this wasn't a good idea because it projected to the world at large that we were divided. I told them that only those who live in Israel have the "right" to criticize policies that largely only affect Israelis, but my argument fell on deaf ears. Shortly thereafter came Oct. 7.
Anti-Zionism is Anti-Judaism.
An "Anti-Zionist" Jew is an Anti-Jew.
https://agelender.substack.com/p/yes-all-jews?r=7tzihs&utm_medium=ios
Israel is an oppressive, apartheid, and genocidal colonial project. Free Palestine 🇵🇸
I support Zionism but not political Zionism because endless banker wars was driven to scatter where identities were changed and forced conversions became necessary for survival leaving many of us wandering orphans. I have 4th generation left with a longing for connection but live in isolation totally abandoned by God and Christians today are throwing up the Nazi Salute. Oh and I lost 10 people with the covid vaccine while everyone shuts down the fact that it was ethnically targeted.
The mountain climber analogy is exactly right. I'd take it one step further — most of the diaspora Jews I know who are loudest about Israeli politics couldn't name a single member of the Knesset beyond Netanyahu. The opinions are strong, but the knowledge is thin, and that gap is where the damage happens.
What I keep trying to teach is that loyalty to Israel doesn't require agreement with every government decision. It requires understanding that the relationship is covenantal, not transactional. You don't walk away from a relationship or a covenant because you're upset about a coalition.
Shalom Joshua, and thank you for your inspiring and insightful post!
Agree with you 100%, while living my incomplete life in the Thai “tropical paradise,” consuming volumes of news and intellectual discourse about the Only Land — Israel! And again, my connection to this land is forever, without defining it as Zionism, after making the transition and transformation during my 22 years in Israel between 1960-1982.
All the best, be safe, be well!
Oscar