What the author identifies is what another author calls “Semanticide”, the murder of language. Jews, and especially Israel have watched semanticide slaughter terminology to their detriment for ages but most significantly since October 7.
Terms like “genocide” and “famine” have been warped into unrecognizable definitions in order to delegitimize Israel and paint targets on Jews.
That Jews themselves have fallen into this slanderous activity and for reasons suggested above, will not identify as Zionists, should come as no surprise. Jews suffer under the same miseducation as non-Jews and also lack any serious Jewish identity. The internet’s speed and ability to saturate the information highway has accelerated this trend. And face it, we will never out shout our enemies.
We must start reclaiming Jewish souls! A person who knows not of who they are and where they have been is not choosing AGAINST Zionism. A choice requires knowing one’s options. Rather they are riding the misinformation flow of our hateful enemies. Funding Jewish education, supporting Jewish learning at all levels. In essence suturing the wound of assimilation and proactively healing that wound is the only solution. There are working models, e.g. birthright, Chabad, but we must start younger with affordable Jewish day schools. Let’s hope we can stop the bleed soon or the future of US Jewry and the U.S.-Israel bond will face terminal consequences.
I love when I tell a fellow Jew that I’m a Zionist—and typically I get a response in one form or another criticizing the Israeli government/Netanyahu. The ignorance and/or cowardice is remarkable.
I was surprised to see that while 88% of Jews believe Israel has a right to exist, only a small fraction identify as Zionists. The survey should have asked the crucial follow-up: why? Why support a Jewish state but reject the name that defines that support? My guess is simple—Zionism has been demonized by anti-Semites, radical ideologues, and woke narratives, and many in the diaspora fear being labeled or attacked.
This fear reflects a deeper weakness. Unlike Israel, where citizens learn to defend themselves and build confidence, diaspora Jews often retreat when confronted. We have no Mayor Kahane today—no one with his courage and conviction to lead, to create a JDL-type organization, to inspire pride and strength in our community. What if self-defense were part of our schools? If Jews knew how to protect themselves, they would proudly say they’re Zionists, wear a Star of David necklace, and stand tall as Jews.
History shows the power of courage. Martin Luther King’s peaceful approach worked because they had numbers—but we don’t. In the diaspora, we need a bit more of a Malcolm X mindset: strong, confident, unapologetic, and ready to defend ourselves. Until then, our community struggles to claim its identity with pride.
Agree with you 100%. The other problem is Jewish leadership is stuck in the victimization mode. When you center your education around the Holocaust you imbue a mentality of helplessness in our youth. Yes, the horrors that have befallen us should be taught (the exiles, the pogroms, the Holocaust), but we need to teach our children about the times Jews fought back. Where are the stories about the 'tough' Jews who broke up Nazi Bund meetings in the US, or the stories about the Jewish partisans who fought the Nazis during WW2, or the stories about American Jews who enlisted to fight in WW2 over and above their percentage of the population. I have said it before; western Jewry keeps relying on the kindness of others which is insufficient. We do need a new Jewish leadership that will promote self defense, that will teach all Jews how to defend themselves, that will band together to confront the bully.
Got news for you, my boy—your thoughts are reciprocated. I agree with every word you said, 100%. Approximately a year and a half ago, I wrote to every major Jewish organization that sends me donation requests each week and asked a simple question: Why not institute self-defence programs as part of Jewish education? All yeshivas, Jewish schools, and education centers should require students to graduate only after they know how to defend themselves. Beyond that, these programs should be offered at shuls and synagogues for everyone—children, adults, the elderly—and should be completely FREE, funded from the donations these organizations have already collected.
I also emphasized the need for a modern equivalent of the JDL, so that when Jews demonstrate or confront threats, we have organized protection. Yet, the responses I received were either form letters asking for money or vague non-answers. This is exactly the problem: too much focus on victimization, the Holocaust, and past helplessness, and not nearly enough on cultivating strength, courage, and self-reliance in our community.
Until we teach and practice self-defence and stop relying solely on the kindness of others, Western Jewry will remain vulnerable. We need leadership that empowers Jews to stand up, band together, and confront bullies confidently.
Wow, I did the same thing. Wrote to my contacts at the AJC with specific ideas like using fund raising to create self-defense (Krav Maga and arms training) camps using form LEOs, IDF members and so on. I suggested hitting up the big pockets in the Jewish community like Kraft, Ellison, Ackman) to set up extensions of Israeli universities here in the US to give a safe place for Jewish students to get a real education not an indoctrination. I also said they need to be prepared to help our fellow Jews in Europe to either immigrate to Israel or be given asylum here in the US and to provide funds to squash the argument from those who would say they would be a burden on the economy. In essence the response was underwhelming and one of denial that anything, but their current approach would work. Maybe we need to find like-minded people and start lobbying ZOA to take charge and lead on these ideas. It is not going to come from the traditional organizations like the ADL or AJC. To be fair they have their place...the ADL does collect good statistics, and the AJC does some good outreach but it is too predictable and in today's environment not as effective as it was 40 years ago.
Increasingly, to a dangerous degree, American youth are accepting a cultural environment that is unquestioning where “Palestinian nationalism” is concerned, but so suspicious of Jewish nationalism that there is a frightening lack of diversity among college faculty political viewpoints and a growing antipathy to free speech so intense that Bari Weiss was just canceled at UCLA.
I'm not worried. The Muslims in the US will teach the Jews why Israel is important for them and why without the State of Israel there will be no place to go as we have witnessed only 90 years ago.
The Jewish Problem How to Solve It by Louis D. Brandeis
.. .And we Jews, by our own acts, give a like definition to the term Jew. When men and women of Jewish blood suffer because of that fact-and even if they suffer from quite different causes, our sympathy and our help goes out to them instinctively in whatever country they may live and without inquiring into the shades of their belief or unbelief. . .
Let no American imagine that Zionism is inconsistent with Patriotism. Multiple loyalties are objectionable only if they are inconsistent. A man is a better citizen of the United States for being also a loyal citizen of his state, and of his city; for being loyal to his family, and to his profession or trade; for being loyal to his college or his lodge. Every Irish American who contributed towards advancing home rule was a better man and a better American for the sacrifice he made. Every American Jew who aids in advancing the Jewish settlement in Palestine, though he feels that neither he nor his descendants will ever live there, will likewise be a better man and a better American for doing so."
Oh! Before I forget, I recommend that every Jewish family in the US read the following book.
Bryan Mark Rigg
Hitler's Jewish Soldiers:
The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military (Modern War Studies)
What the author identifies is what another author calls “Semanticide”, the murder of language. Jews, and especially Israel have watched semanticide slaughter terminology to their detriment for ages but most significantly since October 7.
Terms like “genocide” and “famine” have been warped into unrecognizable definitions in order to delegitimize Israel and paint targets on Jews.
That Jews themselves have fallen into this slanderous activity and for reasons suggested above, will not identify as Zionists, should come as no surprise. Jews suffer under the same miseducation as non-Jews and also lack any serious Jewish identity. The internet’s speed and ability to saturate the information highway has accelerated this trend. And face it, we will never out shout our enemies.
We must start reclaiming Jewish souls! A person who knows not of who they are and where they have been is not choosing AGAINST Zionism. A choice requires knowing one’s options. Rather they are riding the misinformation flow of our hateful enemies. Funding Jewish education, supporting Jewish learning at all levels. In essence suturing the wound of assimilation and proactively healing that wound is the only solution. There are working models, e.g. birthright, Chabad, but we must start younger with affordable Jewish day schools. Let’s hope we can stop the bleed soon or the future of US Jewry and the U.S.-Israel bond will face terminal consequences.
Let’s rebrand as Zionistas. It’s spicier.
I love when I tell a fellow Jew that I’m a Zionist—and typically I get a response in one form or another criticizing the Israeli government/Netanyahu. The ignorance and/or cowardice is remarkable.
Important article. No good solutions. The Moslems, socialists, national socialists and "As a Jews" for Palestine have played this word so well.
I was surprised to see that while 88% of Jews believe Israel has a right to exist, only a small fraction identify as Zionists. The survey should have asked the crucial follow-up: why? Why support a Jewish state but reject the name that defines that support? My guess is simple—Zionism has been demonized by anti-Semites, radical ideologues, and woke narratives, and many in the diaspora fear being labeled or attacked.
This fear reflects a deeper weakness. Unlike Israel, where citizens learn to defend themselves and build confidence, diaspora Jews often retreat when confronted. We have no Mayor Kahane today—no one with his courage and conviction to lead, to create a JDL-type organization, to inspire pride and strength in our community. What if self-defense were part of our schools? If Jews knew how to protect themselves, they would proudly say they’re Zionists, wear a Star of David necklace, and stand tall as Jews.
History shows the power of courage. Martin Luther King’s peaceful approach worked because they had numbers—but we don’t. In the diaspora, we need a bit more of a Malcolm X mindset: strong, confident, unapologetic, and ready to defend ourselves. Until then, our community struggles to claim its identity with pride.
Agree with you 100%. The other problem is Jewish leadership is stuck in the victimization mode. When you center your education around the Holocaust you imbue a mentality of helplessness in our youth. Yes, the horrors that have befallen us should be taught (the exiles, the pogroms, the Holocaust), but we need to teach our children about the times Jews fought back. Where are the stories about the 'tough' Jews who broke up Nazi Bund meetings in the US, or the stories about the Jewish partisans who fought the Nazis during WW2, or the stories about American Jews who enlisted to fight in WW2 over and above their percentage of the population. I have said it before; western Jewry keeps relying on the kindness of others which is insufficient. We do need a new Jewish leadership that will promote self defense, that will teach all Jews how to defend themselves, that will band together to confront the bully.
Got news for you, my boy—your thoughts are reciprocated. I agree with every word you said, 100%. Approximately a year and a half ago, I wrote to every major Jewish organization that sends me donation requests each week and asked a simple question: Why not institute self-defence programs as part of Jewish education? All yeshivas, Jewish schools, and education centers should require students to graduate only after they know how to defend themselves. Beyond that, these programs should be offered at shuls and synagogues for everyone—children, adults, the elderly—and should be completely FREE, funded from the donations these organizations have already collected.
I also emphasized the need for a modern equivalent of the JDL, so that when Jews demonstrate or confront threats, we have organized protection. Yet, the responses I received were either form letters asking for money or vague non-answers. This is exactly the problem: too much focus on victimization, the Holocaust, and past helplessness, and not nearly enough on cultivating strength, courage, and self-reliance in our community.
Until we teach and practice self-defence and stop relying solely on the kindness of others, Western Jewry will remain vulnerable. We need leadership that empowers Jews to stand up, band together, and confront bullies confidently.
Stay safe and keep up the good fight
papa j
Wow, I did the same thing. Wrote to my contacts at the AJC with specific ideas like using fund raising to create self-defense (Krav Maga and arms training) camps using form LEOs, IDF members and so on. I suggested hitting up the big pockets in the Jewish community like Kraft, Ellison, Ackman) to set up extensions of Israeli universities here in the US to give a safe place for Jewish students to get a real education not an indoctrination. I also said they need to be prepared to help our fellow Jews in Europe to either immigrate to Israel or be given asylum here in the US and to provide funds to squash the argument from those who would say they would be a burden on the economy. In essence the response was underwhelming and one of denial that anything, but their current approach would work. Maybe we need to find like-minded people and start lobbying ZOA to take charge and lead on these ideas. It is not going to come from the traditional organizations like the ADL or AJC. To be fair they have their place...the ADL does collect good statistics, and the AJC does some good outreach but it is too predictable and in today's environment not as effective as it was 40 years ago.
Increasingly, to a dangerous degree, American youth are accepting a cultural environment that is unquestioning where “Palestinian nationalism” is concerned, but so suspicious of Jewish nationalism that there is a frightening lack of diversity among college faculty political viewpoints and a growing antipathy to free speech so intense that Bari Weiss was just canceled at UCLA.
Little do the 88% know they are zionists already.
I'm not worried. The Muslims in the US will teach the Jews why Israel is important for them and why without the State of Israel there will be no place to go as we have witnessed only 90 years ago.
The Jewish Problem How to Solve It by Louis D. Brandeis
.. .And we Jews, by our own acts, give a like definition to the term Jew. When men and women of Jewish blood suffer because of that fact-and even if they suffer from quite different causes, our sympathy and our help goes out to them instinctively in whatever country they may live and without inquiring into the shades of their belief or unbelief. . .
Let no American imagine that Zionism is inconsistent with Patriotism. Multiple loyalties are objectionable only if they are inconsistent. A man is a better citizen of the United States for being also a loyal citizen of his state, and of his city; for being loyal to his family, and to his profession or trade; for being loyal to his college or his lodge. Every Irish American who contributed towards advancing home rule was a better man and a better American for the sacrifice he made. Every American Jew who aids in advancing the Jewish settlement in Palestine, though he feels that neither he nor his descendants will ever live there, will likewise be a better man and a better American for doing so."
Oh! Before I forget, I recommend that every Jewish family in the US read the following book.
Bryan Mark Rigg
Hitler's Jewish Soldiers:
The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military (Modern War Studies)
https://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Jewish-Soldiers-Descent-Military/dp/0700613587/ref