I think you may have misunderstood: I’m not at all confused about how the current crisis fits into the bigger picture.

The basis of your argument is expressed by this statement, correct?

“The central tenet of faith in Judaism is that God made a covenant with the father of all Jews, Abraham, and then renewed it explicitly with his gathered descendants at Mt. Sinai after freeing them from slavery in Egypt. The terms of this covenant were that he would give them the lands of Israel and Judaea ( a much bigger territory than modern Israel, which is essentially a small reservation for Jews within their original lands ) for themselves and their descendants if they would agree to take no other Gods and live by Mosaic. “

In other words, your world view and your Jewish identity is defined by your religious beliefs. Do you believe in god? Do you believe your god made a covenant with Abraham, the father of all Jews? Do you literally believe these things? Or is the central tenant of faith not meant to be taken literally, it’s simply a core principle of the faith?


Before diving headlong into the rabbit hole, it would be helpful to understand where you’re coming from. For example, if I’m discussing current events and politics with a devout Catholic who takes the New Testament literally, and that person’s world view is informed by their belief in the virgin birth of Jesus and that while taking communion they are literally drinking the blood of Christ and eating his flesh, I know there’s no point in continuing the discussion.

As an aside, your links are self-referential, pointing back to your world view, which I’ve already rejected because it’s not relevant. It may be interesting in the way that all religious narratives and beliefs are interesting. The only relevant part is that it’s a dangerous belief system - the staple argument of religious fanatics: this is our land, given to us by god. It’s a kind of dangerous magical thinking.

As I mentioned earlier, 21st century Zionism is not my grandmother’s Zionism. It’s not my grandfather’s Zionism either. Or my father’s - a Holocaust survivor from Hungary who came to Israel as a refugee after the war. His father, my grandfather who died before I was born was a committed Zionist. My father served in the Israeli military. He did his mandatory military service and then became an officer. My mother was a first generation Sabra who grew up in Haifa. My parents met in the army.

Of Israel, my father said recently, “If I had known this is what Israel would become, I would have never stayed there. It just blows my mind: to think after all we went through we would turn around and do this to others.”

Incidentally, my mind has never been clearer.