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Marking two years after that deadly assault of 7 October 2023, which deeply affected global Jewish populations unlike anything else since the creation of Israel as a nation.

For Jews the event proved shocking. For Israel as a nation, it was a significant embarrassment. The whole Zionist movement rested on the assumption that Israel would ensure against such atrocities from ever happening again.

A response appeared unavoidable. However, the particular response that Israel implemented – the obliteration of Gaza, the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands of civilians – represented a decision. And this choice complicated the perspective of many American Jews processed the October 7th events that precipitated the response, and presently makes difficult their remembrance of that date. How can someone grieve and remember a tragedy against your people while simultaneously an atrocity done to a different population attributed to their identity?

The Difficulty of Mourning

The complexity surrounding remembrance exists because of the reality that no agreement exists as to the significance of these events. In fact, among Jewish Americans, the recent twenty-four months have witnessed the disintegration of a half-century-old consensus regarding Zionism.

The origins of Zionist agreement within US Jewish communities dates back to a 1915 essay by the lawyer subsequently appointed high court jurist Justice Brandeis titled “The Jewish Problem; Finding Solutions”. However, the agreement became firmly established subsequent to the six-day war during 1967. Previously, US Jewish communities maintained a vulnerable but enduring parallel existence between groups that had diverse perspectives concerning the requirement for a Jewish nation – Zionists, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists.

Historical Context

Such cohabitation continued through the post-war decades, within remaining elements of socialist Jewish movements, through the non-aligned US Jewish group, within the critical American Council for Judaism and similar institutions. For Louis Finkelstein, the leader at JTS, Zionism was more spiritual rather than political, and he prohibited singing the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah, during seminary ceremonies in the early 1960s. Additionally, Zionist ideology the centerpiece within modern Orthodox Judaism until after the six-day war. Alternative Jewish perspectives existed alongside.

Yet after Israel defeated neighboring countries in the six-day war that year, occupying territories such as Palestinian territories, Gaza Strip, the Golan and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish perspective on the country changed dramatically. Israel’s victory, coupled with longstanding fears regarding repeated persecution, led to a growing belief about the nation's critical importance to the Jewish people, and a source of pride in its resilience. Language about the “miraculous” nature of the outcome and the “liberation” of territory gave the Zionist project a religious, almost redemptive, importance. During that enthusiastic period, considerable previous uncertainty about Zionism dissipated. In that decade, Writer Norman Podhoretz stated: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Unity and Its Limits

The Zionist consensus left out the ultra-Orthodox – who generally maintained a Jewish state should only be established via conventional understanding of redemption – however joined Reform, Conservative, contemporary Orthodox and the majority of non-affiliated Jews. The common interpretation of this agreement, later termed progressive Zionism, was founded on the conviction in Israel as a democratic and liberal – though Jewish-centered – state. Countless Jewish Americans saw the occupation of Palestinian, Syria's and Egypt's territories following the war as temporary, assuming that a solution was forthcoming that would ensure Jewish population majority in pre-1967 Israel and Middle Eastern approval of Israel.

Multiple generations of Jewish Americans grew 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. Israeli flags adorned many temples. Summer camps were permeated with national melodies and learning of modern Hebrew, with Israeli guests and teaching American youth Israeli culture. Travel to Israel increased and peaked with Birthright Israel during that year, when a free trip to the country became available to Jewish young adults. The nation influenced almost the entirety of the American Jewish experience.

Shifting Landscape

Ironically, during this period post-1967, American Jewry developed expertise in religious diversity. Acceptance and discussion across various Jewish groups grew.

However regarding Zionism and Israel – that represented tolerance ended. Individuals might align with a right-leaning advocate or a liberal advocate, yet backing Israel as a Jewish homeland remained unquestioned, and criticizing that perspective placed you beyond accepted boundaries – a non-conformist, as one publication labeled it in a piece that year.

But now, during of the destruction within Gaza, starvation, dead and orphaned children and frustration regarding the refusal by numerous Jewish individuals who decline to acknowledge their involvement, that unity has collapsed. The centrist pro-Israel view {has lost|no longer