Why I’ve Launched This Thing

Some fellow Jews may be wondering why I’ve launched a publication that’ll heap criticism on, among other things, Zionism: an ethno-nationalist-political movement I once supported.

Short answer: Starting at an early age, I was deceived on Palestine-Israel. Now, with a more complete understanding of that awful situation, I want to be part of the solution.

My Zionist upbringing.

As a Baby Boomer born less than a decade after the “Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel,” I was immersed in Zionism during my childhood. From an early age, this family member of Holocaust victims who belonged to an Orthodox synagogue (“shul”) on the Jersey side of the Hudson River was spoon-fed a belief in the centrality of the “Jewish State” to global Jewry. 

While in Hebrew school, I was encouraged to internalize the notion that G-d almighty (whom I’ve referred to in adulthood as the “Great Landlord”) had promised Israel to the Jewish people. According to Zionists, Israel was “a land without a people for a people without a land.” Jews (deemed “G-d’s chosen people” for receiving the Torah) were the ones who “made the desert bloom.”

An education in racism.

As for Palestinians (often derisively called “Ay-rabs” – and worse), we were led to falsely believe they were inherently violent creatures with small brains who hated Jews for being Jews.

It was dehumanization.

During those formative years, when I was super misinformed, it felt comforting to know of Israel’s “Law of Return,” which offered this Jersey guy who had never been outside the US the opportunity to emigrate to Israel (known as “Aliyah”) and gain Israeli citizenship. At the time of my bar mitzvah, I felt proud when told a tree had been planted in Israel in my name.

The crime of omission.

What we weren’t told was a crime of omission of biblical proportions.

We weren’t told that in 1948, around 700,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed by Zionists (yes, it fits the dictionary definition of ethnic cleansing). Nor were we told of widespread Zionist terrorism that facilitated expulsion – including Deir Yassin: a gruesome massacre of more than 100 Palestinian children, women, and men.

I wasn’t told the tree in my name was planted by an organization (the Jewish National Fund or “JNF”) linked to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

After Deir Yassin and other Zionist atrocities, countless Palestinians ran for their lives, leaving behind treasured possessions, expecting to return to homes they loved – homes that were, in many cases, in their families for generations. But Israelis denied Palestinians the right of return guaranteed under international law.

According to Israel, Jews born and raised in Brooklyn could absurdly “return” to a place they had never even visited, but Palestinians holding deeds to homes in Palestine were (and are) prohibited from returning to their homes or even their homeland, strictly for being members of the “wrong” religion and ethnicity.

During the initial ethnic cleansing of Palestine, homes were looted by Zionists and turned over to Jewish families. Following depopulation, more than 400 Palestinian towns and villages were literally wiped off the map.

It was erasure.

The ethnic cleansing of Palestine would come to be known as the Nakba (“Catastrophe” in Arabic). During my Wonder Years, I was told nothing about any of this.

A state of denial.

Today, to maximize the Jewish purity of a “Jewish State” with exclusive rights for Jews and maintain an artificial Jewish majority, Israel is an apartheid state (yes, it fits the definition of apartheid; I’ll share more on that in future posts).

Tragically, many Jews of my generation normalize Israeli apartheid. This is even true among plenty of Jews who identify as liberals. Even worse, they defend it. A common form of defense is denial. But the most popular response to Israeli apartheid among Jewish Boomers may be silence. Why would they be silent about what legally constitutes a crime against humanity?

One answer, in a word, is fear. I’m referring to a Zionist backlash. Every Jew I know who has gone public with the “A”-word has been attacked in some way by Zionists for speaking out against apartheid Israel.

Criticizing Israeli apartheid may indeed feel uncomfortable. Especially at first. But think about it for a moment: Why should you feel bad about supporting equal rights – regardless of religion and ethnicity – and opposing a brutal form of discrimination? Why should you care what defenders of a supremacist system think?

When it comes to apartheid Israel, we need to invert the status quo in the Jewish community on what’s considered acceptable. It should be socially unacceptable to claim to be “above the fray” or look down on vocal apartheid opponents. It was morally wrong for racist whites to condemn critics of South African apartheid. It’s equally wrong for Zionists to condemn critics of Israeli apartheid.

A responsibility to speak out.

From my activism, I’ve realized the voices of Jewish progressives have an added dimension. Zionists can’t falsely label us as anti-Semites without looking sorta foolish. When we speak out against Israeli oppression, we may inspire people of other faiths (and people of no faith) to speak out as well. In the social media era, the ripple effect of this can be profound.

It’s also important for Palestinians and their allies to see Jews refusing to enable oppression simply because the oppressors share their religious faith. We mustn’t allow Zionists to conflate Judaism and Zionism and let Palestinians and their allies conclude that Israeli apartheid is a Jewish enterprise. Nor should we validate the offensive notion that the security of the world’s Jews requires the oppression of a people.

As part of my education in Judaism, I was taught that Jews always stand with the oppressed and never with the oppressor. Let’s stand on the right side of history, and when Zionists ask why you’re supporting equal rights for Palestinians, tell them it’s the Jewish – and moral – thing to do.

I’m hoping “The Progressive Jew” will help educate fellow Jews, end their misguided attachment to Zionism, inspire them to speak out against Israel’s supremacist system, and accelerate the fall of Israeli apartheid.

That newer “ism.”

On a related note, I’m also an opponent of a much newer “ism” built around supremacist thinking: Trumpism. This cult of personality checks an alarming number of boxes in the fascism column. After what happened to the Jews of Europe in the 20th century – including my family members – it’s beyond disappointing that a sizable share of Jews support an authoritarian who attacked our democratic institutions and led a coup after losing a free and fair election.

Down the line, it’ll be gratifying to know “The Progressive Jew” helped turn some Trump supporters into opponents of the former game show host Mary Trump (a clinical psychologist and Trump niece) called “The World’s Most Dangerous Man.”

I’ll be writing about much more than Zionism and Trumpism, but those two “isms” will be a focus. For now, I’ll be the sole contributor to “The Progressive Jew,” but over time, I may seek out other writers, Jewish and non-Jewish. We need diverse contributions. This brings me to another important point.

A publication for everyone.

Decades ago, the ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach created a campaign with the headline, “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s real Jewish rye.” Well, you don’t have to be Jewish to read “The Progressive Jew.” In fact, I’m hoping it’s read by Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, dudeists and many others. And if you identify as a current supporter of Zionism or Trumpism, I encourage you to read this publication and explore more diverse thinking. From experience, I know how harmful it is to only hear one side of a story, year after year.

Now that you’ve reached this point, please do one more thing.

Take a free subscription.

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Together, let’s reject hate, choose love, and enable what’s known in Judaism as “Tikkun Olam” (the repair of the world). Shalom.