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Marking two years after the deadly assault of the events of October 7th, which shook global Jewish populations like no other occurrence following the establishment of Israel as a nation.

For Jews the event proved shocking. For the Israeli government, the situation represented a profound disgrace. The entire Zionist project rested on the assumption which held that the nation could stop things like this repeating.

Military action was inevitable. However, the particular response that Israel implemented – the widespread destruction of the Gaza Strip, the casualties of tens of thousands of civilians – was a choice. And this choice complicated the perspective of many American Jews processed the attack that set it in motion, and currently challenges the community's remembrance of the anniversary. How does one honor and reflect on a horrific event affecting their nation while simultaneously devastation done to other individuals attributed to their identity?

The Difficulty of Remembrance

The challenge surrounding remembrance exists because of the fact that no agreement exists regarding the significance of these events. Actually, within US Jewish circles, the last two years have witnessed the disintegration of a fifty-year unity about the Zionist movement.

The early development of a Zionist consensus across American Jewish populations can be traced to a 1915 essay by the lawyer and then future supreme court justice Louis D. Brandeis titled “The Jewish Question; How to Solve it”. However, the agreement really takes hold after the six-day war during 1967. Earlier, US Jewish communities housed a fragile but stable coexistence between groups which maintained diverse perspectives about the necessity of a Jewish state – Zionists, non-Zionists and opponents.

Previous Developments

That coexistence endured during the 1950s and 60s, within remaining elements of socialist Jewish movements, through the non-aligned American Jewish Committee, among the opposing Jewish organization and other organizations. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the leader of the Jewish Theological Seminary, pro-Israel ideology was more spiritual rather than political, and he forbade the singing of Israel's anthem, Hatikvah, during seminary ceremonies in those years. Additionally, Zionist ideology the central focus for contemporary Orthodox communities until after that war. Jewish identitarian alternatives coexisted.

However following Israel routed neighboring countries in that war that year, seizing land comprising the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan and Jerusalem's eastern sector, US Jewish perspective on the country underwent significant transformation. The military success, combined with persistent concerns of a “second Holocaust”, resulted in a growing belief in the country’s vital role within Jewish identity, and a source of pride for its strength. Rhetoric concerning the remarkable nature of the victory and the “liberation” of areas gave the movement a spiritual, almost redemptive, significance. In those heady years, considerable existing hesitation regarding Zionism vanished. During the seventies, Writer Norman Podhoretz declared: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Unity and Restrictions

The pro-Israel agreement excluded strictly Orthodox communities – who largely believed a nation should only emerge by a traditional rendering of the messiah – but united Reform, Conservative, Modern Orthodox and nearly all secular Jews. The most popular form of the unified position, later termed left-leaning Zionism, was established on the conviction regarding Israel as a liberal and liberal – though Jewish-centered – nation. Numerous US Jews saw the administration of Arab, Syrian and Egyptian lands post-1967 as temporary, believing that an agreement was imminent that would ensure a Jewish majority in pre-1967 Israel and regional acceptance of the state.

Several cohorts of Jewish Americans were thus brought up with pro-Israel ideology a fundamental aspect of their Jewish identity. Israel became an important element of Jewish education. Israeli national day became a Jewish holiday. Israeli flags decorated religious institutions. Summer camps integrated with Hebrew music and learning of the language, with visitors from Israel instructing American teenagers Israeli culture. Visits to Israel expanded and reached new heights via educational trips in 1999, when a free trip to Israel was offered to Jewish young adults. The nation influenced nearly every aspect of the American Jewish experience.

Evolving Situation

Interestingly, in these decades post-1967, American Jewry became adept in religious diversity. Tolerance and dialogue among different Jewish movements increased.

Yet concerning support for Israel – that’s where tolerance found its boundary. One could identify as a right-leaning advocate or a liberal advocate, yet backing Israel as a Jewish homeland remained unquestioned, and criticizing that perspective placed you outside mainstream views – an “Un-Jew”, as one publication described it in a piece that year.

However currently, during of the ruin within Gaza, food shortages, young victims and outrage over the denial by numerous Jewish individuals who decline to acknowledge their involvement, that unity has broken down. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer