This article was originally published in The Jerusalem Post on September 22nd, written by Adam Milstein.
Ezra Klein’s recent New York Times op-ed analyzed the “divide in Jewish community’s views on Israel.” There’s one major problem with this piece. Klein, like many prominent Jewish voices on the left, leverages his Jewish identity to gain progressive credibility while fundamentally misrepresenting the Jewish-American community he claims to speak for. People like Klein, and the Jewish Currents sources he quotes, present a distorted picture of where American Jews actually stand, not because they lack data, but because they have an anti-Zionist agenda and representing mainstream Jewish views would cost them social capital within progressive circles.
This is tokenism. Peter Beinart’s career, the editor-at-large of Jewish Currents and one of the sources quoted in Klein’s piece, is emblematic of the voices in this space. His journey from liberal Zionist to anti-Zionist advocate wasn’t driven by new facts on the ground, but by the recognition that abandoning Zionism opened doors to progressive stardom. People like Beinart become “good Jews” in the eyes of progressives. They provide cover for anti-Israel sentiment by offering “As a Jew” stamp of approval. It’s not a coincidence George Soros’ Open Society Foundation is a major donor of Jewish Currents.
Left wing media outlets, like The New York Times, cherry-pick voices exclusively from the far-left fringe because those are the only Jewish voices their audiences want to hear. At the Emmys, actress Hannah Einbinder, speaking to a choir of progressive supporters, used her acceptance speech and red-carpet interview to share “I feel like it is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the state of Israel.” Einbinder and Beinart’s views are anathema to the voices in synagogues across America, Jewish Federations, Jewish community centers, and Shabbat tables. They represent an academic and activist bubble that has discovered Jewish identity becomes valuable currency in progressive spaces when deployed against the interests of the State of Israel, the indigenous homeland of the Jewish people.
The “divided Jewish community” is a distortion of reality. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 73% of American Jews hold favorable views of Israel. While they may disagree on specific policies, they remain steadfast in their support of the State of Israel, understanding that Zionism, the belief that Jews deserve self-determination in their ancestral homeland, remains integral to Jewish identity and survival. In addition, in light of the sharp rise in antisemitism worldwide, many in the Jewish American community believe that securing the Jewish future depends on a strong state of Israel.
Throughout history, when external pressure mounts and antisemitism rises, Jews often unite. A poll conducted last year, shows that 57% of American Jews reported feeling more connected to Israel or their Jewish identity after October 7 than before. The tokenized anti-Zionists voices are exceptions. Following his op-ed, Klein even interviewed notorious antisemite Mahmoud Khalil. In the interview, among many ahistorical and absurd statements, Mahmoud justifies the attacks of October 7th . Klein hardly even pushed back.
Many far-left Jews naively believe Jewish safety and security depends on self-criticism and distance from Zionism. Since her Emmys appearance, Einbinder has taken to Instagram to embrace double down on her “anti-Zionism.” This same mentality led some German Jews in the 1930s to believe assimilation and criticism of fellow Jews would bring acceptance. History shows otherwise. Regardless of how much Jews tried to blend in or appease critics, they were still seen as Jews, actually as weak and vulnerable Jews, when it mattered. Antisemites made no distinction between assimilated and traditional, between critics and supporters of Zionism.
Today’s Jewish critics of the state Israel suffer from the same delusion, believing condemning Zionism will earn acceptance from those who would otherwise view them as “normal Jews”. They’re wrong. Antisemites don’t hate Jews because of Israel; they hate Israel because they hate everything Jewish, especially the right of Jews for self-determination in a land of their own.
To get a proper view of the Jewish American community, Klein could walk through Jewish neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, or New York. He could talk to Jewish parents sending children to Jewish schools. Or speak with Jewish college students facing harassment not just for supporting Israel, but for being visibly Jewish. Listen to Jewish professionals worried about expressing pro-Israel views at work. These majority voices tell a different story than left-wing media presents.
The real divide isn’t between Jewish supporters and critics of Israel. It’s between those who understand that Jewish survival has always depended on Jewish solidarity and self-reliance principles, and those who believe Jewish acceptance requires abandoning both. It’s between those who learned history’s lessons and those who think they can trade their people’s security for individual social capital. It’s between those who see the clear overlap between anti-Israel rhetoric and antisemitic violence, and those who pretend this correlation doesn’t exist.
American Jews face the choice every Jewish generation has faced: Will we stand together against rising antisemitism, or allow ourselves to be divided and conquered by those who seek to weaken us from within? Will we learn from the mistakes that were learned in the history of the Jewish people, of Jews who thought appeasement was a survival strategy, or repeat their mistakes?
Klein, Beinart, Einbinder and other prominent left Jewish voices trafficking in anti-Zionist narratives have chosen. They represent a perspective that’s not only minority within American Jewry but historically dangerous. The rest of us, the vast majority who understand our strength lies in unity, Zionism, partnership with the state of Israel, and clear-eyed recognition of antisemitism’s modern forms, must not allow their tokenized voices to be mistaken for our own.
Progressive outlets provide these self-hating Jews platforms precisely because they say what their audiences want to hear from Jews who serve as our generation’s useful idiots, but data and on-the-ground attitudes make it crystal clear they don’t speak for American Jewry. We speak for ourselves: We are Americans, we are Jews, Israel is part of our identity, and we will not be divided by those within us who would trade our people’s future for progressive applause they’ll discover was never worth the price.
Adam Milstein is an Israeli-American “Strategic Venture Philanthropist.” He can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @AdamMilstein, and on Facebook www.facebook.com/AdamMilsteinCP.