Surveys released last week by the Jewish Federations of North America and Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston are among the first to report Jewish views about Israel since early in the Gaza war. They are also among the first in a very long time that ask Jewish respondents whether they identify as Zionists, and what they mean by the term. The findings have important implications for how Jewish communal institutions relate to Israel and the rapidly expanding spectrum of opinion inside the American Jewish community.    

In the JFNA survey, administered to a large representative sample of American Jews last March, nearly nine in ten respondents expressed support for Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state, but just 37% identified as Zionists. Eight percent categorized their views as non-Zionist, 7% as anti-Zionist and 48% declined to identify with any of those labels. 

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Members of the Jewish Voice for Peace and the IfNotNow movement stage a rally in the U.S Capitol building to call for a cease fire in the Israel–Hamas war in 2023. Alex Wong/Getty Images

The JFNA survey also asked how respondents define the term Zionism. Most agreed that the term describes Jewish people’s right to have a Jewish state. Most of the anti-Zionists and non-Zionists, however, believed the term also means supporting the actions of the Israeli government, a belief that Israel has a right to the West Bank and Gaza Strip and a belief that Jews are superior to Palestinians. 

The critical attitudes toward Israel, moreover, were not limited to the anti-Zionists. Among the 48% of respondents who declined to identify with any label, roughly half expressed agreement with statements that describe Israel as committing genocide against Palestinians and as an apartheid state.   

Similarly, in the Boston survey, published late last week based on data that were collected last year, most respondents agreed that it is important for Israel to be the nation-state of the Jewish people, but only 46% identified as Zionist. Among the other respondents, 18% identified as anti-Zionist and 37% with neither label.  (The Boston survey did not offer “non-Zionist” as a response option.) 

One critical question then, is how should Jewish communal organizations that define themselves as Zionist respond to the growing presence in our community of people who describe themselves as anti-Zionist or non-Zionist? How should we relate to the even more significant number of people deeply troubled with Israeli government policies and apparently uncomfortable with the term Zionist?  

Perhaps we should just ignore the challenge, since only a minority of American Jews identify as anti-Zionist and embrace the most tendentious interpretations of the term. That approach, however, would be short-sighted, as the proportion of anti-Zionists and non-Zionists (who share some of the same ideas about Zionism) is much larger among the younger generation. In the JFNA survey, among 18–34-year-olds, 14% were anti-Zionist and 18% non-Zionist. In the Boston survey, 38% of young adults identified as anti-Zionist — a larger proportion than identified as Zionist. Ignoring such a large swath of the younger generation is not an option for Jewish organizations.    

Perhaps we should just stop using the term Zionism? The term itself, the argument goes, makes Israel seem like a political project that can be opposed rather than a fact of international life for nearly eight decades, or the realization of hopes nurtured by the Jewish people for thousands of years. 

We think that approach would concede too much. The term Zionism expresses our deepest aspirations for Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. That vision cannot be taken for granted now, especially when under attack by anti-Zionists, who wish to strip the state of its Jewish character, and by elements in Israel’s far-right government, which seek to promote an illiberal, non-democratic state. The kind of Zionism that American Jewish organizations embrace, that supports both a Jewish and democratic Israel, needs to be championed loudly and clearly, not abandoned.   

Instead of ignoring the challenge, or abandoning the term Zionism, we believe Jewish organizations should double down on practicing and modeling the kind of expansive Zionism and inclusive Jewish community we purport to embrace. That means clearly showing by our actions that Zionism doesn’t mean blind support for everything the Israeli government does, and it certainly doesn’t require support for annexing the West Bank/Judea Samaria or a belief in Jewish supremacy; nor, for that matter, the negation of the core Jewish character of Israel and its centrality to the global Jewish people. Doubling down also means pitching a tent broad enough to accommodate a community of Jews who hold (or grapple with) attitudes about Israel that span the range from the right to the left.    

At the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, which one of us leads, our vision is for an “open, connected and vibrant community.” The vision means not only caring for and ensuring the security of all members of the community but also enabling them to bring the full diversity of their views into in Jewish life. It means educating our leadership for talking across differences, so that disagreements can become opportunities for building a culture of constructive dialogue, bridge building and curiosity where people feel enriched by being in community with people with whom they disagree. 

It also means building direct personal relationships so that the “other” is not a set of ideologies or views but rather a real human being. With this vision, we are not shying away from being a Zionist organization, but rather consciously embracing a Zionism that encompasses a wide range of viewpoints; and we are evolving our Israel strategy to connect Washington-area Jews to a broad range of Israelis across the breadth of local institutions and people. And, at the same time, we are saying to all members of the Jewish community that we are here if you want to be part of this communal effort — broadening the reach of the tent — based on the core idea that the Jewish people are all responsible for one another.

We also recognize that each organization and community is different. The strategies that work in one place may not work in another.  

There are some who believe that Zionism has run its course or that the term is more trouble than it’s worth. But whatever meanings one associates with the term, Zionism has always served as shorthand for a belief in and commitment to Jewish agency. We can help people tap into this energy and find their place in the story of Jewish Peoplehood and Jewish communal life by demonstrating organizational courage and making space for questions, debate and understanding.  

Gil Preuss is the chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. 

Ted Sasson is the Ruderman Foundation Scholar in Residence at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University and the director of Jewish studies at Middlebury College.