Liberal Zionism is Alive and Well

Liberal Zionism is alive and well, but it is not easy. At this fraught time, we have the horrors of the Bondi Beach attack, fostered by hatred of Jews because they are Jews and by official indifference to our plight. We also face constant bias in Western and Australian media against Israel — even a refusal to recognize that the right-wing government does not speak for all Israelis and Diaspora Jews — and, at times, a failure to acknowledge that Israel sometimes has no option but to respond to attacks, as it has with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

We are also confronted by gross injustices committed by the Netanyahu government, in particular its callous indifference to the growing plight of Palestinian farmers and herdsmen attacked by rogue settlers. It has also failed to protect its own citizens from vicious attacks perpetrated by friends of the government, as with the stoning in Ra’anana a year ago. In addition, there is the constant struggle in Israel for pluralism in religious matters, protection of the Israeli Supreme Court as the only check on the government, and debate in Israel over the conduct of more than two years of war in Gaza — vis-à-vis, among other things, the plight of the hostages and the leveling of much of Gaza.

Liberal Zionism sees these complexities and responds by affirming that Israel has a right to exist as a haven for Jews, but its friends likewise have the obligation to measure its conduct against the Torah’s command that we be a light unto the nations. The claim that we are an ethnocentric settler state is nonsense. Jews fled to Israel from persecution and tried to settle peacefully among their new Arab neighbors, who, contrary to common morality, attacked and even killed rather than welcomed the new returnees — and sometimes even destroyed existing Jewish communities, as in Hebron and the Old City of Jerusalem. There are at least twenty Islamic states; why denigrate the one and only Jewish one?

At the same time, Israel is not just another place. The settlers who interfere with olive harvestingheir neighbors’ land and attack their livestock  have no place in Judaism. Groups such as Rabbis for Human Rights, which defend their Palestinian neighbors, should be protected against violence — not, as in some cases, deported or harassed. The Netanyahu government must be called out for failing to enforce the rights of people living under its rule. Reform Zionism across the world must join in the call to protect these Palestinians.

The Diaspora must assist in this effort to prevent the depredations of those who drag Israel’s name through the mud. We all have this obligation wherever we live. One approach is found in bills now pending before the Senate and House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress. These bills would, among other things, bar entry to the United States of anyone who directly or indirectly participates in violence in the West Bank. They would also revoke existing visas for such persons and bar them from engaging in any business or charitable activities in the United States. These actions would also apply to government officials who engage in or support such activities.

Right now, these are Democratic bills, supported by the Union for Reform Judaism in the United States. Whether they could be tailored to command a majority in Congress is not clear. But they do provide an approach to sanctions that could deter the antisocial conduct of these rogues. They also provide a starting point for discussion around the world. There is, of course, a danger that sanctions against settler violence could be hijacked by antisemites in Europe and elsewhere and become overtly harmful to all Israelis.

Despite this risk, the idea of action against violent rogue settlerspp is worth discussing in places other than the United States. The World Union for Progressive Judaism covers six continents, and there are regional Reform Zionist coalitions in many places — as in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. A united global front against such abuses would help Israel’s moral standing and could produce more results than the efforts of one country alone.

Both within and outside Israel, we have an obligation as Jews to confront immorality. We cannot emulate the current Israeli government and stand aside while false Jews purport to act in our name. We must stand up for the Israel we cherish.