This article was produced as part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around the world to report on issues that affect their lives.

This past year, I have been asked by several adults, who may see the Magen David I wear, about my opinions on a contentious topic in the Jewish community: Israel. Specifically, people are asking me if I feel close to Israel or if I am a Zionist.

 If a couple of years ago you had asked me, a 17-year-old Reform Jewish kid who lives about 30 miles north of New York City in Westchester County,  I would have shared my support of Israel. Now, however, I say that Israel has gone way too far in its response to Oct. 7 and their actions are not justifiable. I no longer identify as a staunch Zionist as I did in the aftermath of Hamas’ attack on Israel.

Before Oct 7, I knew very little about the relationship between Israel and Palestine. The snippets of history I learned in Hebrew school left me with a lopsided understanding of what was happening. While I learned plenty about the importance of Israel to the Jewish faith, I knew little about Israel’s complex relations with its Arab neighbors. Even when discussion surrounding Israeli-Palestinian tensions surged in the wake of the 2021 crisis, with unrest in Jerusalem and simmering violence in Gaza, I still didn’t really understand the conflict because I was 12.

After Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, I felt it was part of my duty as a Jew to stand with Israel. I saw it as an attack against my own people and thought it was right to fully stand with them. 

During the first few months of the conflict, my TikTok page was ablaze with commentary, mostly from Zionist influencers such as Lizzy Savetsky. Through videos like hers, I was being told it was important to defend Israel as the sole Jewish state. During this time I had no trouble calling myself a Zionist. Her videos and others made sense to me because I wasn’t able to accept or........

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