Over the years, I’ve received many messages from people telling me that they used to identify as antizionist or considered themselves anti-Israel, but that it was my work that changed or expanded their perspective.
So a few days ago, I decided to ask: if that was you, which post was it, exactly, that changed your mind?
The responses far exceeded my expectations. I was floored. I received hundreds of messages from followers (about half Jewish, half not) sharing their experiences. Some of them no longer consider themselves “pro-Palestine.” Others do. Some now proudly call themselves Zionists. Others are more agnostic on the matter, or call themselves non-Zionists.
Regardless, I’ve identified the most common themes. My biggest takeaways are the following: first, education works. Not always. Not if the other person is not interested in hearing you out. And not immediately; it takes time. But it works often.
And, second, the Jewish community, for the most part, has failed to communicate our story clearly and effectively, both within our community and outside of it. That’s not to imply that Jew-hatred is our fault, or anything of the sort. It’s not. But we could improve the way that we’ve been navigating it.
DECONSTRUCTING PERCEPTIONS OF JEWISH IDENTITY ROOTED IN CHRISTIAN HEGEMONY
Without a doubt, nothing swayed the respondents’ perspectives more than understanding Jewish identity outside of the Western, relatively modern paradigm of religion, a concept that doesn’t quite translate to Hebrew to begin with.
Hundreds of followers noted that understanding Am Yisrael through the eyes of Am Yisrael — including the understanding of what it means to be an “am,” or the ancient Hebrew concept of a “nation,” as well as parsing out the differences between universalizing and ethnic religions — fundamentally changed their understanding of the historic relationship between the Jewish people and Eretz Yisrael.
My thoughts: I think, for a long time, Jewish educators have been reluctant to emphasize the fundamental structural and historical difference between Judaism and universalizing religions like Christianity and Islam, so as not to offend and to find common ground. But our common ground is weak if its foundation is built on a distortion of Jewish identity.
LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF MIZRAHI JEWS
Many formerly antizionist respondents had never heard of Mizrahi Jews, and learning about Mizrahi history and identity was something that directly flew in the face of reductive Western (mis)understandings of Jewish identity.
One follower noted that, by learning about the expulsion, flight, and displacement of 850,000 Mizrahi Jews, they realized that half the story has been purposely left out of the mainstream pro-Palestinian narrative.
Another follower, who is Arab, felt particularly moved by learning about the history of Iraqi Jews, noting with surprise that she actually recognized many of the names and places mentioned in my posts.
My thoughts: the story of Mizrahi Jews has been relegated to the background for a number of reasons: (1) most Jews, especially outside of Israel, are Ashkenazi, (2) historic discrimination, and (3) the sense of urgency in Israel to adapt to the circumstances and “move on.” But it’s past time to correct this. It’s not acceptable to relegate over half of Israel’s Jewish story to the background.
UNDERSTANDING THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE 1948 ARAB-ISRAELI WAR
Many followers agreed that understanding the chronology of the 1948 First Arab-Israeli War fundamentally changed their understanding of the whole conflict. This includes:
- Learning of the civil unrest, antisemitic pogroms, and Arab-Jewish clashes that long preceded the 1947 Partition Vote.
- Understanding the failed attempts to dissipate the violence, including the Peel Commission, the 1939 White Paper, the UNSCOP investigation, and more.
- Reading the genocidal threats of Arab leaders.
- Understanding that the 1948 war actually began in 1947 and happened in two phases (civil vs. all out war).
- Learning of the Arab expulsions of “Palestinian Jewish” communities in 1948, in East Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria/West Bank.
One follower shared that, when they considered themselves antizionist, they naively thought that Jews just showed up one day, decided “this is mine,” and systematically removed Palestinians from their homes in 1948.
Followers noted that they had no idea that there had been years and years of failed diplomacy, Arab-Jewish violence, and even a war that ultimately devolved into the Palestinian refugee crisis.
My thoughts: for too long, the Zionist narrative of the 1948 War has been that five Arab armies attacked and the Jewish state miraculously won. While that’s not inaccurate, per se, why is there no education about the civil war phase, who started it, and with which rhetoric? The Palestinian refugee crisis has been reductively explained away as “their own leaders told them to leave,” and while that was true in a very small minority of cases, it’s so very easy to poke holes in that narrative. The reality was much more complex and painful, and understanding the chronology of the war from start to finish makes a significant difference.
LEARNING ABOUT THE NAZI-PALESTINIAN ARAB ALLIANCE DURING WWII
Another common theme for my formerly antizionist followers was that learning of the alliance between the Nazis and the Palestinian Arab leadership, and in particular Haj Amin Al-Husseini’s work for the SS, fundamentally changed their worldview, helping them contextualize the Arab rejection of the Jewish state.
It makes little sense, a follower noted, to accuse Zionists of Nazism while sweeping the deep alliance between the original Palestinian Arab leadership and the Nazis under the rug. The fact that it goes entirely unaddressed in pro-Palestine circles, and in fact, Haj Amin Al-Husseini is hailed as a hero of Palestinian resistance in some cases, raised some red flags.
My thoughts: to put it simply, this must become common knowledge, and it’s frankly bizarre and telling that it’s not in a world that is so intent on rehashing the Holocaust (and so often at the expense of Jews). The photographic, video, and documentary evidence of this alliance — and their nefarious plans — is extensive, and it must be shared widely.
LEARNING MORE ABOUT ZIONISM (FROM ZIONISTS)
Out of the hundreds of messages I received, there was one that particularly stuck out for me. For a while, they avoided reading my posts, because, in their words, “I actually feared you’d radicalize me.” Then they actually read what I actually had to say...and no such thing happened.
For so many formerly antizionist followers, hearing what Zionists do and do not believe from Zionists themselves was a gamechanger. Understanding that, beyond the belief that the State of Israel has a right to exist in the family of nations, Zionists don’t hold monolithic political opinions was also important.
My thoughts: I think this means two things: (1) many antizionists probably have never heard a Zionist out (and I don’t mean physically hearing words, but actually taking them in), and (2) as Zionists, we also have a responsibility to denounce hateful, bigoted people in our own community, who ultimately do the work of validating antizionists’ preexisting prejudices about the rest of us.
REALIZING THAT THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ISRAELI JEW AND ANY OTHER JEW IS THEIR GRANDPARENTS' LUCK
This was particularly impactful for formerly antizionist American Jews. Realizing that there is no moral superiority in holding an American passport vs. an Israeli passport and, in most cases, whether one ended up being an American or an Israeli Jew was just a mater of one’s grandparents’ or great-grandparents’ luck was significant. An American Jew could’ve just as easily ended up being an Israeli Jew, and vice versa.
My thoughts: I think we need to close the gap between Diaspora and Israeli Jewry. By this, I don’t mean that more American Jews should march at the Israel Day Parade, wave Israeli flags, or even go on Birthright. Diaspora (and, it seems, particularly American) Jews should get to know Israelis’ family stories as well as they know their own. All of us are descended from refugees.
LEARNING THE HISTORY OF PALESTINIAN REJECTIONISM, BEFORE AND AFTER 1948
Learning that there could have been a path to Palestinian Arab statehood before 1948, and that it was rejected by Palestinian Arab leadership, was an important turning point for many of my followers, who found it difficult to square the pro-Palestinian movement’s demand for a “free Palestine” with the fact that, even before Israel’s establishment, the Palestinian Arab leadership had rejected what would’ve been a free Palestine.
Specifically, learning of the Arab Higher Committee’s rejection of the 1939 White Paper, which called for a single, unified, Arab-majority state, raised some red flags.
Seeing a consistent pattern of rejection since then made many followers question whether the goal of the mainstream pro-Palestinian movement is really statehood...or something more sinister.
My thoughts: we talk a lot about Palestinian rejectionism post-1948, but I think we should start earlier. The pre-1948 rejectionism makes it abundantly clear that the rejections were rooted in a rejection of Jews living in sovereignty (or even just basic autonomy).
LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE ISLAMIC CONQUESTS AND INDIGENOUS MINORITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST
A significant amount of formerly antizionist followers noted that a map I created a few years ago delineating many of the (still existing) non-Arab and/or non-Muslim indigenous minorities in the Middle East and North Africa really helped reframe the region.
Understanding the big picture – that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is actually just a microcosm of something much older and larger – changed their perspectives.
Learning about the real-life impact of the Islamic conquest on other native nations, and of the role that Islam plays in the region, was a turning point for so many.
My thoughts: the fact that I had to create that map (after so much research that was difficult to access to begin with) because I couldn’t find any of the sort anywhere online is already a problem. Why are we whitewashing our history and that of so many others so as not to offend? Why do we hold some conquerors to lower standards, depending on their religion or ethnicity? Is this not the racism of low expectations?
LEARNING ABOUT THE ANTIZIONIST CAMPAIGN OF THE SOVIET UNION
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. The Soviet Union’s strategically implemented and curated antizionist campaign mirrors exactly the rhetoric that we hear from the pro-Palestine movement today. Genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, settler-colonialism, Nazism, racism: it is all the same, word for word. Even more impactful is that the Soviets were not particularly secretive about their intentions.
For rather obvious reasons, learning about this Soviet campaign was especially impactful for people from formerly Soviet nations or those whose families lived under Communist regimes.
My thoughts: I actually really don’t understand why this has been left out of mainstream Jewish education. The American Soviet Jewry Movement was the largest Jewish social justice fight in history until the protests on behalf of the Israeli hostages. Yet it seems this history was abruptly forgotten the moment the movement was over.
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