“We want Israel to be our synagogue. … OK, well, Israel’s a state. It’s not a synagogue, and it’s going to make a whole set of calculations,” said Tal Becker, an Israeli lawyer and diplomatic adviser, in 2022. He was speaking at an event on Russia’s war in Ukraine and was discussing Israel’s response. Becker explained that many people want Israel to behave like a beloved rabbi, but it can’t. It’s a state.

I’ve thought of Becker’s remarks often over the past few months, and in particular as he argued on Israel’s behalf at the International Court of Justice in a genocide case brought forth by South Africa. I’ve thought of it listening to discussions and debates over antisemitism and criticism of Israel’s war; following the aforementioned ICJ proceedings; hearing of family and friends arguing over what the appropriate “Jewish” response to the war is; having these arguments myself. And as competing news emerges over how close Israel and Hamas are to a cease-fire and hostage deal, it is perhaps worth putting forth that there is a tendency in some corners to see Israel’s war in the context of Jewish history. And it belongs there. But it also needs to be understood in the context and history of nation-states.

To be very clear: This does not mean that the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and Israel’s subsequent war should not also be understood in the context of Jewish history. Nothing in this world is inevitable, but the fact that images of people dragged from their homes reminded Jews of pogroms, or that the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust recalled the Holocaust, comes close to inevitability. And this war, too, is impossible to separate from a Jewish context, in that it is being carried out by the Jewish state. But state remains a key part of understanding this conflict as well. Many Jews around the world may feel a unique connection to Israel, the only Jewish state, and process what is happening now as another tragic, fraught event in the history of the Jewish people. But Israel also needs........

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