What is Zionism? Who is a Zionist? Are Jews abandoning Zionism? What do we do about anti-Zionism?
The debate is incessant, and ultimately pointless.
I am going to put my head on the chopping block voluntarily by suggesting that it is time to stop talking about Zionism. At this point, it accomplishes little but to provide Israel’s enemies and antisemites (often the same) a target. We don’t need to defend Zionism because Zionism won.
As Daniel Gordis observed: “If Zionism was about creating a new Jew, reviving Jewish civilization and healing the Jewish people, it has succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.”
Isaiah prophesied: “I will grant triumph in Zion to Israel (46:13). Israel has won through God triumph everlasting (45:17), and nations shall see your victory (62:2).
Everyone indeed sees. We should take pride in that victory, all the more because Israel’s very success infuriates its enemies.
You don’t have to be religious to appreciate the triumph of Zionism. It is evident not just by the existence of Israel but by its economic and military strength, its international relations, the innovativeness of its approaches to problems, the myriad contributions to science, technology, medicine, agriculture and countless other fields of endeavor. Israel has absorbed Jews from more than 100 countries, revived Hebrew as a living language, and created a vibrant democracy that has endured wars, terrorism, political upheaval and profound internal strains.
Sadly, “Zionism” has become an epithet, particularly since the United Nations infamously equated it with racism in 1975. Ever since, Jews have unnecessarily been on the defensive, expected to prove that their national movement is not uniquely sinister. It is the political equivalent of being asked to prove that you don’t beat your spouse.
Why continue playing that game?
Anti-Zionists are as relevant to the future of the Jewish people as the Spanish Inquisitors. Let them chant their slogans. They are donkeys braying in the wind. They cannot undo 1948.
Israel has no obligation to turn victory into defeat by committing suicide to satisfy the world’s desire to appease the Palestinians.
Despite their best efforts, the U.S. State Department and British Foreign Office Arabists couldn’t prevent or undo the realization of the Zionist dream.
The BDS movement and the rest of today’s antisemites will be no more successful. They have howled and agitated, yet produced not one canceled flight to Ben-Gurion International Airport that stayed canceled, not one Israeli technology the world learned to live without, not one change in Israel’s security doctrine and not one improvement in the life of a Palestinian.
Israeli statesman Abba Eban had it right when he said, “Nobody does Israel any service by proclaiming its ‘right to exist.’ Israel’s right to exist, like that of the United States, Saudi Arabia and 152 other states, is axiomatic and unreserved. Israel’s legitimacy is not suspended in midair awaiting acknowledgement. ... There is certainly no other state, big or small, young or old, that would consider mere recognition of its ‘right to exist’ a favor or a negotiable concession.”
A state that argues for its own existence teaches the world that its existence is arguable.
Zionism was a historical movement, and we should discuss it as such. Read The Zionist Idea to learn about people who contributed in different ways to explain and make possible the Jewish aspiration to return to their homeland. Study the mandate period and the Yishuv. Find out how little Israel beat the odds to defeat the might of the Arab world, not once, but repeatedly.
Study it with pride and with the confidence of people discussing something that is finished because it succeeded.
Antisemites use the word “Zionism” as a euphemism for “Jew.” Demonizers seek to associate it with the worst of history’s “isms.” Rather than give them agency by responding to their attacks, we can ignore them because they are impotent. Instead of flagellating ourselves, let us bask in the glory of our accomplishments.
Israel does not have to be perfect for Zionism to have triumphed. As Howard Jacobson wrote, “We are all to a degree disappointed that the great, adventurous ambitions of Zionism, to avert imminent catastrophe, to rejuvenate a too long confused and slumbering faith, to chart a course between aggressive assimilation and timorous isolationism, to live in peace with neighbors, have not yet, in all instances, achieved their goals.”
That disappointment is the mark of success, not failure. You can only fall short of ambitions you were free to pursue. Former Knesset member Einat Wilf put it precisely: “In liberating the Jews, Zionism blessed and cursed them. It blessed the Jews with responsibility. It cursed the Jews with responsibility.”
We can ignore those who wish to deny the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their homeland. Our concern should be accomplishing those “adventurous ambitions of Zionism.” As seen in rallies in the cities and streets of Israel, serious challenges remain in deciding the present and future nature of the state. How democratic? How secular? How religious? How pluralistic? How independent? How liberal?
Rather than existence, the focus should be on coexistence. The Arab-Israeli conflict has ended after decades of warfare and doubts about the Jewish state’s survival. The Abraham Accords have integrated Israel into much of the Arab world. The Saudis already deal with Israel and may yet cross the threshold to recognition. Lebanon is straining to shed its Iranian overlord and terror proxy Hezbollah to achieve peace with Israel. Iraq is focused on internal stability. Yemen is a nuisance that shrinks the moment Tehran’s regime does.
Islamists remain undeterred in their determination to subjugate the Jews and destroy Israel. They have failed for a century and have no better prospects than the armies that preceded them. Iran’s mullahs can rant all they like; with or without a bomb, they will not make the fruits of Zionism disappear. Still, eternal vigilance remains the price of Jewish liberty and always will.
The relationship between Israelis and Palestinians remains unresolved, but the obstacle has always been their intransigence. We won, they lost, and they refuse to accept the consequences. The Palestinians turned down multiple opportunities for independence. Even after Israel offered them nearly all of Judea and Samaria and all of Gaza, they were dissatisfied because their goal is eliminating Israel, not peace.
Zionism prevailed—and Israel has no obligation to turn victory into defeat by committing suicide to satisfy the world’s desire to appease the Palestinians.
Am I a Zionist? Are you a Zionist? Can someone living outside Israel be a Zionist? It makes no difference. The Jewish state exists, and Israelis will defend it to the death. Whether you, the antisemites or I love or hate it is irrelevant.
My respected colleague Gil Troy is right that political Zionism accomplished its mission in 1948 and equally correct that we still have a duty to defend Israel, improve it and remain bound to the Jewish people—commitments he calls “identity Zionism.”
I agree with the imperatives; I question the need for the label. Calling yourself a Zionist today is like declaring your belief in gravity. Gravity shapes my existence, but I have never felt compelled to announce that I am a Newtonian.
Cogito ergo sum Zionist. I think, therefore, I am a Zionist. No further explanation is needed.
I remember going to a birthday party when I was a kid. We were playing a game, and once my team gained an advantage, we declared: “We quit. We win.” That should be our attitude about Zionism. Victory is ours. We don’t have to keep playing with the demonizers, and we certainly don’t have to let them set the rules.
If you want to proudly wear your Zionism on your sleeve, kol hakavod. But declaring yourself a Zionist is no longer a necessity; it is a badge of honor.
