The Domestic Arena: American Jewish Disruption and Israeli Trauma

Israel’s right-wing government agitated many American Jews and also drew American governmental attention from Fall 2022 through Fall 2023. American Jews signed petitions and organized demonstrations supporting ongoing pro-democratic protests in Israel against proposed Israeli policies. Many American Jews worried about conflict between Jewish identity and democracy in Israel. President Biden, government officials, and outside observers expressed concern about democracy in Israel, critiques that were well-publicized in American newspapers. This conversation was eclipsed by a massive, multipronged Hamas terrorist assault on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, resulting in numerous atrocities and the deaths of 1200 Israelis. Hamas terrorists took close to 250 hostages, some of them American citizens, back to Gaza. President Biden, with nearly bi-partisan agreement, supported Israel quickly. Anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrations erupted immediately in public venues and college campuses. As Israeli forces responded with sustained, forceful military action against Hamas, American news outlets carried a daily Gazan casualty toll based on numbers supplied by Hamas-connected Gaza health authorities. Some liberal newspapers incorporated pro-Palestinian editorial bias into news articles. Antisemitic as well as anti-Israel activities proliferated in America and around the world and were especially common on American college campuses, precipitating concerned responses in American governmental and Jewish circles. Some responses to antisemitism aroused concern regarding American free speech. During the Israel-Gaza War, progressive and anti-Zionist rhetoric often depicted Israel and American Jews as privileged oppressors and/or white colonialist occupiers. Electronic media exacerbated disinformation using visuals imported from other world crises or created by artificial intelligence (AI). While the great majority of American Jews supported Israel, liberal American Jews sometimes felt isolated from or abandoned by progressive colleagues who did not share their Israel-related concerns. The American administration and Congress took steps to deal with anti-Jewish rhetoric and activism. Younger Americans were less pro-Israel than their elders, and younger American Jews were strikingly less likely to identify as supporters of Israel perhaps partly because they also tended to be less affiliated Jewishly.1. Jewish philanthropic activity increased, and the largest pro-Israel rally brought almost 300,000 to Washington, DC. Religious leaders expressed renewed support for Israel, and some Jews flocked back to synagogues in solidarity. Established and new organizations tried to meet emerging needs and publicized Israel’s situation. Social networks facilitated the collection and distribution of material items to Israeli soldiers and displaced Israeli families. On the cultural front, American Jews continued as active creators, influential in literature, film, and popular culture. Some American Jewish cultural products showcased Jewish hybridity and acculturation, while others focused on the persecution and dislocation of Jewish families and societies during various historical periods. A rich trove of ongoing commentary on American Jewry and the Israeli situation, written by American Jewish public intellectuals in America and Israel, interpreted the impact of these events on contemporary life in the world’s two largest Jewish communities.