Let’s make Gen-Z Gen-Zionist!

For nearly five months, I know that you’ve all been glued to the news. Unable to look away. Watching what Hamas is doing, in horror. And how Israelis are fighting back, in awe. Back home, Israelis have barely registered news from the rest of the world except for one story — because it’s actually our story. And that is the horrific surge in antisemitism, from awful people ripping down posters of little kidnapped kids and marching in solidarity with Hamas terrorists. From those who saw the 10/7 massacre not as an unforgivable atrocity — but as an unmissable opportunity to turn the youth of today against the Israel of tomorrow.

But I think that my neighbors in Israel should be looking even more closely at the amazing Diaspora awakening triggered by the 10/7 Massacre. At the incredible fightback that you, American Jewry’s Gen-Z, are starting to mount. They should be looking at the transformation of Gen-Z — into Gen-Zionist. And that is what I want to talk to you about tonight: What it means to make Gen-Z, Gen-Zionist.

Being a Zionist has always meant standing up to the bullies. Refusing to be the snotty-nosed kid who gets pushed into the lockers. Zionism is the Jews holding our ground and standing up for ourselves, even when we’re outnumbered — and the odds are stacked against us.

And throughout history — the odds have never been on our side. Not for the generations who dreamed of Israel, or the generations who built it. Not for the generations who fought for Israel and feared they might lose it. They all stood up to bullies, even when the odds were stacked against them more than TikTok’s algorithm is stacked against you. And now it’s your turn.

On October 7, the bloodiest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, unleashed a wave of revolting exhilaration! You’ve seen the people marching under your windows, calling to wipe out the Jewish state, from the River to the Sea. Tearing down hostage posters. Promising only one, presumably final solution: intifada revolution. Wicked or stupid, I don’t know — but they are bullies. Dangerous bullies. They’re chanting, “Ceasefire now!” and “Globalize the intifada” in the same breath! Demanding that Jews cease, so their friends in Hamas can fire!

I know this moment has left so many of you feeling betrayed. Looking around at your classmates, your teachers, your deans — people you thought you  trusted — only to find that at the most critical moment of your lives — they not only turned their backs on you, they turned against you.

So this is your moment. This is Gen-Zionist’s moment. The bullies have come out in force, and we all need to stand up to them.

What even is Zionism? It’s the mission to build a safe haven for Jews in our ancestral homeland. One with beautiful beaches and even more beautiful people. It’s about making the world safe for the Jewish People. Safe, in a strong and secure home, where we can be ourselves, discover ourselves, and live our true, authentic selves. But Israel is not an isolated fortress, and we cannot be  an island nation.

And your mission as Gen-Zionist, is to help make the world safe for Israel, so that Israel can keep making the world safe for Jews. I don’t want to be too dramatic, but nothing less than the future of the Jewish People rests on our shoulders, and with it, the future of the free world. Because today, according to national polls, half of your peers are on Hamas’s side. And if they are still fangirling for Hamas when they enter Congress in twenty years’ time, the whole free world will be in danger. If we let the campus hate parades march straight into the hallways of power, the free world will be a danger-zone for the Jews.

You are Gen-Zionist—and Gen-Zionist does not run away.

If you want to make aliyah, come! Believe me, life is more colorful under the Mediterranean sun. But if you stay in America, there is nothing more Zionist than to speak up and refuse to back down. To build friendships and alliances, to stand up to the bullies — together! Fight as Jews to make the world safe for Israel, so that Israel can make the world safe for Jews. You all have a voice — use it! Look the antisemites in the eye, and tell them—in the legendary words you’ll hear later tonight: I’m not your toy, you stupid boy! I’ll take you down now, make you watch me.

It’s true! Netta got away with a real Zionist anthem at Eurovision. Look at me, I’m a beautiful creature, I don’t care about your modern time preacher. It’s about Israel!

Being Gen-Zionist means you won’t let anyone define you, and you won’t let anyone define Israel. They don’t get to attach nasty labels to us. 

Being Gen-Zionist means resisting the oppressor-oppressed paradigm that tells you you’re either irredeemably evil, or else your evil deeds are redemptive. Because when oppressed groups, like the Jews, claim power and make their voices heard, tat doesn’t make become oppressors — it makes them free! It means using Israel to inspire other minority communities, showing them how we stand up for ourselves – showing them how we stand up to bullies.

Being Gen-Zionist means coming to Israel during your semester breaks. Millennials eat avocados. Gen-Zionists go to Israel to pick avocadoes! To work on farms that lack laborers, volunteer at hotels for displaced families, pack sandwiches for evacuees, cook barbecues for soldiers, staff ambulances, do offer emotional first aid, and most importantly – bear witness! Bear witness to the horrors of 10/7. Bear witness to the courage and resilience of the Israeli people. Bear witness — and go home and tell the whole world the truth. Yes, even when the bullies try to shout you down.

Because Gen-Zionist’s mission is what being Jewish has always been about. The courage to stand up and say, “This is wrong!”, even when the whole world is trying to tell you — you’re crazy. Because we the Jews have always been ahead of our time. We give the world ideas, that’s what we do. Ideas it’s often not ready for yet. Man in the image of God. Universal literacy. A weekend! I guess a strong, secure Jewish homeland is just one of those ideas.

It can be scary to see so many people ganging up on the Jews. But here’s what’s crazy about this moment. On the one hand, ganging up on Jews is the world’s default mode. Ma nishtana? But on the other hand, there has never been a time in history when the Jews have had so many friends and allies. Friends who are scared to speak out and need you to give them courage. Friends who will only respect you more, and in fact – will only respect you at all – if you stand up to the bullies. Because you gain respect when you stand up for yourselves.

The story of Israel is the story of taking responsibility, of refusing to surrender to the haters, of standing up to bullies. Now that’s not what “chickens for KFC” want. They want to gaslight us. Or rather — Gazalight us. They’re trying to make you doubt your sanity, doubt your morality, doubt yourselves. Because they know that doubt is crippling. That’s why they throw the most revolting blood libels at Israel, thinking that if they shout enough stupid rhymes, maybe you’ll start to believe it yourselves. They think doubt will paralyze you, and it will leave Gen-Zionist defenseless.

But it’s 2024. Nobody gets to burn Jews alive and get away with it anymore.

The people of Israel abhor war. But we know that the only thing worse than fighting a war is losing a war. Losing a war and leaving the Hamas Terror Regime in power, free and emboldened to do 10/7, in its own words, “again and again.” Losing a war and leaving 134 hostages trapped in its terror dungeons, where we fear they are being starved, and tortured, and executed, and raped.

That’s why there’s no time left to demand that we bring them home now!

***

Being Gen-Zionist means standing up to bullies. Standing up takes courage. And for courage — it helps to have heroes. If you need Zionist heroes to look up to, you don’t need to go all the way back to Ben-Gurion with his pants pulled above his belly, or Herzl with that millennial hipster beard. Because Israel is a nation of everyday heroes! And young people your age, in Israel, are proving themselves greater heroes than even they could have imagined.

I’m talking about Gen-Zionist heroes who fought off Hamas with nothing but their bare hands and literally took a grenade for loved ones and strangers. Heroes like Aner Shapiro, 22, who was at the Nova festival and defended many fellow Gen-Zers by throwing seven live grenades back at Hamas death squads before the eighth tragically took his life.

Gen-Zionist heroes like bartender Liron Barda, 26, who stayed behind to treat the wounded at the Nova festival – and were murdered. Gen-Zionist heroes who didn’t wait for orders to run back into the fire and save people. Who are processing their trauma by talking about what happened. Gen-Zionist heroes who have mobilized to support wounded soldiers and displaced families, to make Israel stronger exactly when Hamas wants it weak.

If your brothers and sisters in Israel, everyday real-life Gen-Zionist heroes, are standing up to the bullies — then so can you! And why should anyone be surprised that your generation is fated to be, side-by-side with your Israeli brothers and sisters, dor hanitzahon – Generation Victory? Gen-V?

Because since the dawn of Jewish history, our story has been about young people rising to the occasion whenever duty calls. King David was a teenager when he took down a Philistine giant, and Queen Esther couldn’t have been more than a sophomore when she saved her people from annihilation. They stood up to the bullies! And now it’s your turn, Gen-Zionist.

Wear that Magen David. If you’ve already got one, buy a bigger one. Wear that kippa. Wear that hostage dog tag. Wear a Gen-Zionist t-shirt — I will be handing them out tomorrow at the Israel on Campus Coalition booth, and I want to thank the ICC — not the one at The Hague! — for supporting this initiative. Cover your campuses with hostage posters! When the antisemites tear them down, put up two. When they tear down two, put up four! Because that’s what we do. When they try to beat us down, we rise up! Stronger than before!

We’re Jews… of course we bite back!

We’re Jews… of course we bounce back.

We’re Jews… of course we stand up to bullies!

I want you all to take your phones out and film this historic moment as we all make a pledge that will be heard by everyone from the pro-Hamas fangirls on your campuses to the soldiers your age fighting Hamas in Gaza.

Let’s make Gen-Z, Gen-Zionist!

***

Since Hamas started this awful war, I’ve met a whole influx of solidarity missions, flying into Israel to come and bear witness. And they all tell me the same thing: We came to Israel to give strength, and we’re going home strengthened.

And now I feel I can say the same thing. I came here to fire you up, but you are sending me back home more fired up than ever before! Together, we’ll make Gen-Z – Gen-Zionist! And Gen-Zionist – the greatest generation ever! Thank you! I love you all! Am Yisrael Chai!