Zionists must step forward—not defensively, not apologetically, but proudly and thoughtfully. This is not a moment for silence or retreat. It is a time that demands clarity of language, depth of understanding, and the confidence to speak and act with conviction.
Zionism has always required courage; however, this moment is an era of ever-increasing anti-Jewish hatred and bigotry. It calls not only to fight forward against it, but also requires literacy and resolve.
I am a Zionist not because it is fashionable or convenient, but because Zionism is rooted—deeply and continuously—in Jewish peoplehood, religion, history and lived experience. It is not a modern political invention imposed onto Judaism. Rather, it is the contemporary expression of an ancient and enduring Jewish understanding of who we are, where we come from and how we survive as a people.
At its core, Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people, like all peoples, have the right to self-determination, self-governance, safety, protection and continuity in our ancestral homeland. While political Zionism emerged in response to modern antisemitism, the idea of Zion predates modern politics by millennia. The Land of Israel has never been merely geographic. It is a civilizational anchor—integral to Jewish religion, culture, law, language, philosophy, memory and identity.
Jewish religious texts are unequivocal on these points. The Torah establishes a covenant not only between God and the Jewish people, but between the people and the land. Biblical narratives of exile and return are not metaphors; they are foundational frameworks for Jewish history and theology.
The Psalms mourn displacement (“If I forget thee, O Jerusalem … ”) while the prophets speak of return, renewal and restoration. Jewish prayer, recited daily across continents for centuries, orients Jews toward Jerusalem. Prayers throughout the Shabbat services every week include pleas for rebuilding, restoration and maintaining our holy sites and land throughout the Amidah prayer. Birkat Hamazon, the prayers after every meal, includes thanks for the land of our ancestors that has subsequently been given to us. We close Passover seders and Yom Kippur—the most sacred moments in the Jewish calendar—with the words, “Next year in Jerusalem.”
Throughout our prayers and religion, there are references and reminders that our peoplehood is defined by our interconnected religion, faith, belief, philosophy and land. This is not symbolism. It is continuity.
History reinforces what faith affirms. After the Babylonian conquest, and later, the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple, Jews were dispersed but never detached. Rabbinic literature preserved legal, ethical and communal frameworks rooted in the land, even while Jews lived elsewhere. Medieval Jewish thinkers—from Saadia Gaon to Judah Halevi—wrote explicitly about the centrality of the Land of Israel to Jewish spiritual and national life. Halevi described Jewish existence outside the land as incomplete, a soul separated from its body.
Across centuries and continents, Jews consistently articulated this connection. Jewish communities in Spain, Yemen, Poland, North Africa and Persia wrote letters, poems, legal rulings and philosophical works affirming Zion as the center of Jewish peoplehood. Jewish weddings ended with remembrance of Jerusalem. Homes were oriented toward it. Calendars followed the agricultural cycles of religion and land. Even in exile, Jewish life remained anchored to the land.
The concept of Herut Zion—the “freedom of Zion”—emerged not as a rejection of exile communities, but as a refusal to accept exile as destiny. Long before modern nationalism, Jews understood themselves as a people bound by shared history, responsibility and future. Modern Zionism did not replace this inheritance; it translated ancient longing into political agency at a moment when Jews were again reminded—through pogroms, exclusion, and ultimately, the Holocaust—that safety without sovereignty is fragile.
Zionism has evolved because the Jewish people have always evolved. It has taken religious and secular forms, socialist and liberal expressions, conservative and traditionalist leanings, pragmatic and visionary paths. But its foundation has never changed: Jewish peoplehood rooted in land, history and continuity. Attempts to sever Zionism from Judaism or Jewish identity are not acts of critique; they are acts of historical erasure.
Today, Zionism is routinely distorted, portrayed as incompatible with democracy or human rights. This inversion depends on stripping Zionism of its religious, historical and indigenous context while holding Jews to standards imposed on no other people. Israel, like any democracy, is imperfect. But Zionism is not a demand for perfection; it is a demand for legitimacy.
As a journalist, news commentator, socio-political adviser and advocate, I witness how Zionism is debated, attacked and misunderstood in real time. Jews are pressured to explain, dilute or apologize for their identity. Allies often hesitate, unsure how to respond. That hesitation is understandable, but it is no longer sustainable.
This moment demands informed Zionism. It demands that Jews know our texts, history and story well enough to speak with confidence. It demands preparedness—not for conflict we seek, but for confrontation history teaches us will come. Pride without knowledge is brittle; knowledge without pride is defensive. We need both.
Zionism is not about exclusion but about belonging. It is not about triumphalism but about survival paired with responsibility. The Land of Israel is not only a physical place on Earth. It is the expression of Jewish peoplehood itself, encompassing religion, culture, ethnicity, nationality, philosophy, indigenousness and memory.
For Jews, embracing Zionism today means reclaiming agency and confidence—standing as inheritors of a people who survived exile and returned home. For allies, it means recognizing that standing with Zionism is not opposing justice, but affirming Jewish dignity and self-determination.
Zionism embraces unity, not uniformity. Amid all our differences, it calls for a shared understanding: that self-governance in our homeland, safety and representation for our people, culture, faith, history and path forward in the world are all interconnected.
Now is the time to speak clearly, stand firmly and carry Zionism forward with pride and hope—not as an apology, but as an affirmation of who we are and where we come from, and the future we are determined to build.
