Ellen W. Kaplan, Smith College

Are progressive values and Zionist principles a contradiction in terms? How can we be both politically progressive and committed to Zionism? Can we support self-determination for Jews (which is Zionism), and not for Palestinians? Can we stand for a Jewish and democratic homeland? And, how do we navigate this grotesque moment in our history?

Moral outrage at the bloodshed, and at the intransigence of both “sides,” leaves me anguished, angry, heart-broken and afraid. A wrenching fissure between “heart” and “head” exacerbates the isolation I feel as a progressive American Jew. When assassins are assassinated, my heart cheers, but I discern no strategy, no enduring gain, no long-term solution. Only negative outcomes, and a looming World War.

Why should my political discomfort as a diaspora Jew matter? Because I too have ‘skin in the game.’ Our Jewish communities are fractured; divergent perspectives become toxic, and leave little room for discussion and debate. My own belief is that a Jewish state is necessary as a refuge in a world where I do not feel safe. That said, I am committed to a Jewish state that values life and human rights; I reject the theocratic, authoritarian, ethnonational state promulgated by the regressive ultra-right, and by Hamas; I want an inclusive society with opportunity, security and dignity for all.

I am a belated Zionist. 

I first visited Israel in 1999, when I directed a play at Hebrew University. We spent the following summer in Jerusalem, when a genuine peace accord was on the table. Arab Israelis, Palestinians, Jewish peace activists, were celebrating a new era. Israel seemed a vibrant, welcoming place on the precipice of peace. I hoped to contribute to Peace and Reconciliation efforts during my 2001-2002 sabbatical. For thirteen months we lived in Jerusalem, arriving just before 9/11 and living through the bloodiest year of the 2nd intifada. Trying to work on both sides of the Green Line, and meeting only resistance, hatred and despair, I then became a Zionist.

Two indigenous peoples occupy one land. Israel’s right to exist and Palestinian self-determination are equally justified. One claim cannot and must not preclude the other. Neither can be justified by murderous ideologies.

For decades I’ve worked among minority communities subject to murderous aggression fueled by territorial, economic, political and religious claims that aim to wipe out the “other.”  Closeup exposure to the depredations of Hamas, the Taliban and IS, has led me to understand that fanatics and fundamentalists brutalize all sides. How do you combat maximalist demands which refuse compromise and remain unaccountable to one’s people? For all of Israel’s manifest failures, the Palestinian leadership is equally bankrupt.

Fanaticism fuels the fire. Calling Israel “a fascist settler-colonial state”(as my colleagues do) perverts history and distorts meaning: Israel was established by Jews forced to leave the horrors of Europe and, later, of the Arab states that expelled them. Jews went into exile, when they could, to escape extermination. The far-left and the far-right either perpetuate antisemitism or fail to confront it. Neither validate Jews’ deep-seated, historically justified fear.

For 40 years I’ve taught on college campuses. Protest is essential speech. Students are congenitally idealistic, as they should and must be. The problem arises not from their activism (which I applaud) but from ideologically driven faculty. One example of many: At the 2017 MLA convention, where support for BDS was being debated, I invited a colleague to work with me to present a campus forum that would look at all sides. He angrily refused any conversation that didn’t cast Israel as the unalloyed villain. Polarization is not helpful, but it is the norm, in the classroom and on the streets. Too often we find the sanctimonious reiteration of simplistic, uninflected thinking devoid of historical perspective, with no vision for possible futures.

Campus discourse is characterized by lack of context or complexity. Students hear about disproportionality. They do not hear about Hamas’ charter, nor its share of responsibility for the deaths of Gazans and Jews, nor that Hamas could end the war today by standing down and returning the hostages. They will not hear that Hamas and the Palestinian people are not equivalent, nor that demands for Israel’s annihilation empowers the likes of Smotrich and Ben G’vir. Israel has created unspeakable misery in Gaza. Hamas, too, has much to answer for.

Sinwar and Bibi are fully responsible for this deplorable war. Make no mistake: They benefit in different ways, from the cycles of revenge, rage and aspiration that fuel it.  Leaders live in safety and luxury; Hamas has no interest in rapprochement or compromise; the group spends hundreds of millions of dollars in aid on underground tunnels, while Gazans are impoverished. Sinwar explicitly celebrates the loss of Palestinian lives, as it fuels international outrage at Israel. Bibi needs to stay in power to ensure he stays out of jail. No peace is possible without the removal of Sinwar, Hamas militants, Netanyahu and his right-wing henchmen. They are all culpable. Each side makes unacceptable demands for total surrender. Meanwhile, the carnage continues.

On October 7th; we felt fear in our bones. The warmth of synagogue that Shabbos was a reminder that as our small group gathered, we were doing what Jewish communities have done for centuries, all over the world.

We face an existential crisis. As world opinion condemns us, as Iran and its proxies try to put Israel in a death grip, the most extreme coalition in Israel’s history, is leading the country on a path to national suicide. Israel will and must defend itself vigorously. Perhaps, if the hostages were released, and an international force deployed and a functioning transitional government installed in Gaza, committed to demilitarization and reconstruction, a peace process could begin. In spite of Israel’s present intransigence, any possible future includes a Palestinian state; both peoples must expel fanatics from power, or contain them. There must be a plan for prosperous, peaceful future for all.

The death toll in Gaza has exceeded 40K, cities are reduced to rubble, most of the population displaced. This is unacceptable. There are other paths. But this is a regional problem; the only solution is a regional agreement that ensures.