Israelis Are Winning Their War for Survival … But Are American Jews Losing It?

Beware, antizionism is spreading. Hostility to Israel keeps growing. Nevertheless, too many Mamdani Jews – and feckless Jewish institutions – are either drinking the Kool-Aid or pronouncing the poison “kosher.” They so worship “machloket” – healthy, even divisive, debate – they’re sacrificing the primary need to survive by fighting your enemies not letting them run your schools and shuls.

Call it blue-and-white washing. Antizionism is more unforgiving than ever. The perversions of Oct. 7 animated antizionists – although it should have humiliated them. Emboldened activists encourage irrational Israel-bashing, rationalize Jew-hatred and ostracize anyone remotely Zionist. Yet, targeted by the barrage, many American Jews agonize over how to help these fanatics distinguish their antizionism from antisemitism – forgetting that the burden on proof is on the haters not the hated. And too many American Jewish leaders futilely chase today’s Benedict and Becca Arnold Jews who joined this bandwagon of Hamas-appeasers.

Such pathetic, cowardly, morally-addled efforts will never work, but they risk diluting American Jewry’s core commitments to Israel, peoplehood, Jewish tradition. Raised to be accepted, addicted to being liked, worried about not being “inclusive,” many American Jews – as I have written before – are so open-minded, their brains are falling out. Meanwhile, raised on diets of settler-colonialism, Israel-apartheid, Zionism-racism, oppressed-oppressor hogwash they mistakenly call “social justice,” many antizionists are so close-minded, their brains shut down.

Watch how even some rabbis and professors blur the red lines. Haters far left and far right once shunned by polite society are now being mainstreamed – as long as they target Israel – the Jewish state – not the Jews. We read in The New York Times – then everywhere else – how that scheming, all-powerful Jew, Benjamin Netanyahu, bullied Donald Trump into attacking Iran. Yet you have to search hard to find the inconvenient fact that while publicly endorsing diplomacy, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “made multiple private phone calls to Trump” in February “advocating a U.S. attack.”

We also read Ezra Klein in the Times saying the venomous, pro-Oct. 7 social influencer Hasan Piker — who once said calling yourself a liberal Zionist is like claiming you’re a “liberal Nazi,”— is “not the enemy.” Is there any other American ethnic group that raises so many appeasers, traitors and cheerleaders for those who either attack us directly or dance on our graves and perform sexual crimes?

In that spirit, 42 Jewish authors attacked the Jewish Book Council’s supposed “bias toward centering Israeli and Zionist voices”  – despite the JBC’s celebration in 2024 of an author who celebrated his “definitive rupture with the dogmatism of my Zionist upbringing.” The petitioners demand a “genuine diversity” of views on Israel and Palestine – code for “please, mainstream antizionism, platform Palestinian exterminationism!” 

Donors go wild! Bully the JBC not to cave.

Meanwhile, J Street, which rarely misses an opportunity to slam Israel whenever Israel feels compelled to defend itself militarily, “urges Senators … to vote to disapprove two sales to Israel – one of large bombs and one of bulldozers – both to demonstrate consequences for misuse of these items in Gaza and to express consistent opposition to the war in Iran.”

Now, after two and a half years of lies about genocide, starvation and Israeli aggression, sitting on decades of antizionism, 60% of American Jews oppose this most-necessary war against Iran’s Jew-hating, America-threatening and nuclear-hungry regime. And most are foolishly, prematurely, pronouncing the ongoing war “lost” – forgetting Professor Yogi Berra’s teaching: “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

Amid all this, is anyone surprised that antisemitism is soaring, and Pew finds 53% of American adults viewing Israel unfavorably, with “80% of Democrats” holding “unfavorable views”?

Clearly, many thoughtful, proud, Zionist Jews have good reasons for opposing Trump, this war, Netanyahu and various Israeli policies. I’ve spent decades endorsing a big blue-and-white tent, open, welcoming, on all sides. Nor, having fought academic cancel culture, do I advocate importing it to Israel or the Zionist world.

Nevertheless, these dangerous currents distort the American and American Jewish conversations. When I told one friend “I’d rather see Israel win this war to survive and lose the PR battle, than lose the war and win fleeting PR points,” he countered: “Israel may be winning the war – but American Jews are losing it.” (I might add mischievously, they’re both losing this war – and losing it – as in their moral compass.)

Another friend called the Pew data “a 30-alarm fire,” wondering: “Who in the community is making turning this around their mission?” All I could offer is “a VERY long list of those in the community making it WORSE.”

A full battle plan or explanations of how we created this crisis are beyond this column’s scope – although it began with Obama in 2012, not George Floyd in 2020. This column is a battle cry: the issue goes beyond supporting this war or any particular Israeli government. It’s even bigger than building a constructive identity Zionism while opposing antisemitism.

We’re fighting for American Jewry’s soul and its future.

Imagine if “un-Jews” – rabbis, Jewish Studies professors, teachers and community leaders committed to undoing American Jewry’s core consensus merging Israel, Zionism, Jewish peoplehood and tradition – triumph. What kind of flimsy, insecure, illiterate, conditional, self-absorbed American Jewish identity will they instill: drained of Zionist pride, lacking peoplehood solidarity, and reprogrammed to follow the latest Democratic – or Progressive – platform?

This fight has massive implications for Israel, ranging from whether American Jews help America keep supporting Israel, to how we stay united globally with Jews aligning with antizionists targeting almost half the Jewish world living in Israel.

A sophisticated battle plan might follow the military’s SMEAC approach:

•  Situation – what’s happening, how did we get here, who’s in the tent, who’s outside, and what “conceptzias” – misconceptions – caused the crisis and must be rethought?

•  Mission – what’s the goal, what does a healthy, vibrant, inviting, inspiring, American Jewish community and conversation look like?

•  Execution – the “how to” – what strategic interventions will raise prouder, more defiant, proudly Zionist American Jews – while reprogramming their parents?

•  Administration and Logistics – what institutions, texts and materials, what other tactics, can launch this revolution?

•  Command & Signal – who will lead it, how can Israel help, which communications strategies can publicize the initiative and advance the mission?

Clearly, American Jews are deeply divided – and conflicted. We have too many Mamdani Jews, antizionists and fellow travelers. Ignore them.

Instead, fight for the soul of the majority: Obama Jews. Some remain proudly Zionist but anguished. Some support the defining Zionist idea of a Jewish-democratic Israel, but avoid the Z-word because it’s been so tarnished. And a growing group’s support for Israel is contingent on Israel’s good behavior – as they define it – and continuing popularity with liberals.

My alternative isn’t Trumpified Jews who won’t tolerate any criticism of Israel. Although far better, more loyal and Zionist than the turncoats, they can’t save us.

Ultimately, Israelis must become King David Jews, fighting when necessary while building a glittering Zion.

American Jews – and all Diaspora Jews — must become Queen Esther Jews.  Fit in. Prosper. Decipher your foreign lands’ cultural codes. But be literate, proud, brave Jews. Be ready to risk everything, if necessary, to defend yourselves, your people, your homeland – understanding that, as Esther realized, that’s also saving your adopted home from shared enemies too.

Gil Troy is an American presidential historian and Zionist activist born in Queens, living in Jerusalem. Last year he published, “To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream” and “The Essential Guide to October 7th and its Aftermath.” His latest E-book, “The Essential Guide to Zionism, Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism and Jew-hatred” was just published and can be downloaded on the website of JPPI – the Jewish People Policy Institute.