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Marking two years after the horrific attack of the events of October 7th, which profoundly impacted global Jewish populations like no other occurrence following the creation of the state of Israel.

Within Jewish communities it was profoundly disturbing. For the Israeli government, the situation represented a profound disgrace. The whole Zionist movement was founded on the belief which held that the nation would ensure against similar tragedies occurring in the future.

Military action was inevitable. But the response that Israel implemented – the comprehensive devastation of the Gaza Strip, the deaths and injuries of numerous ordinary people – constituted a specific policy. This particular approach made more difficult how many American Jews understood the attack that set it in motion, and it now complicates their remembrance of the anniversary. In what way can people grieve and remember an atrocity affecting their nation while simultaneously an atrocity experienced by a different population in your name?

The Challenge of Remembrance

The complexity of mourning exists because of the reality that little unity prevails regarding the significance of these events. Indeed, among Jewish Americans, this two-year period have witnessed the collapse of a decades-long consensus on Zionism itself.

The early development of Zionist agreement among American Jewry extends as far back as an early twentieth-century publication by the lawyer and then future supreme court justice Justice Brandeis titled “The Jewish Question; Addressing the Challenge”. However, the agreement truly solidified after the six-day war in 1967. Earlier, Jewish Americans maintained a fragile but stable cohabitation among different factions holding diverse perspectives concerning the requirement for a Jewish nation – pro-Israel advocates, neutral parties and opponents.

Background Information

This parallel existence continued during the post-war decades, in remnants of leftist Jewish organizations, through the non-aligned US Jewish group, in the anti-Zionist religious group and other organizations. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the leader of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Zionism was more spiritual than political, and he did not permit performance of Israel's anthem, Hatikvah, at religious school events in the early 1960s. Additionally, support for Israel the main element within modern Orthodox Judaism prior to the 1967 conflict. Jewish identitarian alternatives remained present.

But after Israel routed adjacent nations in the six-day war in 1967, taking control of areas comprising Palestinian territories, Gaza Strip, the Golan and East Jerusalem, US Jewish connection with the country evolved considerably. Israel’s victory, coupled with persistent concerns regarding repeated persecution, resulted in an increasing conviction about the nation's essential significance to the Jewish people, and a source of pride for its strength. Discourse regarding the extraordinary nature of the victory and the reclaiming of areas provided Zionism a spiritual, potentially salvific, importance. In those heady years, much of the remaining ambivalence regarding Zionism vanished. In the early 1970s, Writer the commentator declared: “We are all Zionists now.”

The Unity and Restrictions

The Zionist consensus left out the ultra-Orthodox – who generally maintained a Jewish state should only be established via conventional understanding of the messiah – but united Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and the majority of non-affiliated Jews. The predominant version of the consensus, what became known as progressive Zionism, was established on a belief in Israel as a democratic and democratic – while majority-Jewish – country. Countless Jewish Americans viewed the occupation of Arab, Syrian and Egypt's territories after 1967 as temporary, thinking that a resolution would soon emerge that would maintain Jewish population majority in pre-1967 Israel and neighbor recognition of the nation.

Several cohorts of Jewish Americans grew up with Zionism an essential component of their Jewish identity. Israel became a key component of Jewish education. Israel’s Independence Day became a Jewish holiday. Blue and white banners adorned many temples. Youth programs were permeated with national melodies and the study of contemporary Hebrew, with Israelis visiting and teaching American youth Israeli culture. Trips to the nation increased and peaked with Birthright Israel in 1999, providing no-cost visits to Israel was provided to young American Jews. The state affected almost the entirety of the American Jewish experience.

Evolving Situation

Interestingly, throughout these years after 1967, US Jewish communities grew skilled regarding denominational coexistence. Acceptance and communication among different Jewish movements expanded.

However regarding Zionism and Israel – that’s where diversity ended. You could be a rightwing Zionist or a progressive supporter, however endorsement of the nation as a majority-Jewish country was assumed, and questioning that perspective categorized you outside mainstream views – outside the community, as a Jewish periodical termed it in writing in 2021.

However currently, during of the destruction in Gaza, starvation, dead and orphaned children and anger over the denial within Jewish communities who refuse to recognize their complicity, that unity has broken down. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer