American Jews

Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate ahead of the Democratic National Convention, Dearborn, Michigan, August 18, 2024. (Courtesy of Uncommitted National Movement)
‘The Uncommitted movement did a service to the Democratic Party’
As the Democrats’ convention begins, political strategist Waleed Shahid discusses the possibilities for shifting the party on Israel-Palestine.
By Joshua Leifer August 20, 2024
American Jews protest outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's New York hotel in support of democracy for all in Israel-Palestine, September 19, 2023. (Gili Getz)
The forgotten history of American Jewish dissent against Zionism
In resurrecting stories of non- and anti-Zionist critics, a new book shows American Jews how questioning Israel is deeply rooted in their community.
By Shaul Magid February 14, 2024
Rabbis protest during a sit-in at the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., October 18, 2023. (Rachael Warriner)
Palestinians are asking, ‘Are you with us?’ American Jews are showing we are
As a rabbinical student, I am taking action alongside thousands to challenge the idea that Jewish safety must come at the expense of Palestinian liberation.
By Josie Felt November 3, 2023
Latest
A rally against rising antisemitism under the banner of "No Hate, No Fear," Jan, 5, 2020. (Gili Getz)
‘Anti-antisemitism’ was meant to unite American Jews. Why is it backfiring?
For years U.S. Jewish leaders tried to center diaspora identity around Israel. But the battle to redefine antisemitism shows it is no longer working.
By Nathan J. Brown and Daniel Nerenberg June 13, 2023
Protest against Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during his visit to Washington DC, March 13, 2023. (Gili Getz)
‘A moment of disillusionment’: American Jews torn as Israel turns 75
Grappling with a far-right government and growing awareness of the Nakba, American Jews revealed mixed feelings marking Israel's independence.
By Emily Tamkin June 2, 2023
Protest against the Israeli government’s plans for judicial overhaul, Washington Square Park, New York, April 2, 2023. (Gili Getz)
Why are American Jews so shocked by Israel’s far-right turn?
Israel's electorate is forcing U.S. Jews to grapple with the dissonance not only between liberal values and Zionism, but their understandings of Judaism itself.
By Shaul Magid April 25, 2023
Bezalel Smotrich, February 6, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The danger of treating Smotrich as an anomaly
By marking one Israeli politician as unacceptable, U.S. Jews are sidestepping the need to reckon with the wider system that enables his genocidal views.
By Edo Konrad March 9, 2023
Hundreds of young Jews dance with Israeli flags as they march through the mixed town of Jaffa, in celebration of Jerusalem Day, May 29, 2022. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Are liberal American Jews becoming afraid to talk about Israel?
Many Jews in the U.S. have grown uncomfortable voicing implausible defenses of Israel, yet cannot let go of their Zionism. Denial won't solve the dilemma.
By Shaul Magid November 10, 2022
Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin addressees Jewish leaders at the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations at the Shoreham American Hotel, April 17, 1980. (Moshe Milner/GPO).
The war that canonized America’s hasbara playbook
The defensive line taken by the American-Jewish establishment during the 1982 Lebanon invasion solidified many of the methods that are deployed when Israeli violence makes headlines today.
By Natasha Soffer-Roth October 28, 2022
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman poses for a portrait in Jerusalem, November 10, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
An American sledgehammer in Jerusalem
In his new memoir, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman describes how he spent four years gift-wrapping anti-Palestinian violence in the language of Jewish salvation.
By Natasha Soffer-Roth July 19, 2022
Israeli soldiers push Jewish American activists during a demonstration against the expulsion of Masafer Yatta. (Emily Glick)
By staying silent on Masafer Yatta, Biden is green lighting forced population transfer
As American Jews, we must insist that the protection of Masafer Yatta is necessary for a thriving future for all between the river and the sea.
By Davida Ginsberg July 10, 2022
Illustration by Nerian Keywan.
Laying the foundations for our Jewish liberation
The Jewishness I love is one of a people rooted in collective freedom, in justice, in hereness. What might it mean for us to divest from the projects of Zionism, whiteness, and settler colonialism, while also holding pride in the layers of our Jewish identity?
By Mira Stern August 4, 2021
Workers at the Ben & Jerry's factory near Kiryat Malakhi, southern Israel, July 21, 2021. (Flash90)
PODCAST: A little ice cream goes a long way
Editors Edo Konrad and Amjad Iraqi discuss the backlash against Ben & Jerry's and what the company's decision could mean for the BDS movement.
By Edo Konrad and Amjad Iraqi July 29, 2021
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  2. In Jerusalem’s Mamilla Cemetery, an entire heritage is being erased
  3. Israel is secretly surveilling its teachers. No prizes for guessing which ones
  4. Life in a laboratory of Israeli ethnic cleansing
  5. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  1. Arms sales to Israel are slowing. But that's only half the story
  2. Life in a laboratory of Israeli ethnic cleansing
  3. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  4. Qusra is where Israel’s lies about settler violence hit a wall
  5. In Jerusalem’s Mamilla Cemetery, an entire heritage is being erased
  1. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  2. 'In Germany, Jews who reject Zionism are seen as not really Jewish'
  3. Palestinian who snatched settler’s weapon was killed while unarmed, videos show
  4. As Israel sabotages Gaza talks, Hamas’ new ‘warrior leader’ faces his first challenge
  5. What an Israeli settler pogrom feels like