The recent survey conducted by the Jewish Federations of North America on American Jews’ attitudes toward Israel and Zionism has sparked more than its share of debate. Headlines highlighted the declining number of self-identified Zionists and the ambivalence among younger Jews toward Israel, as well as the persistence among a large majority of Jews who consider their attachment to Israel integral to their Jewish identities. 

I also wrote a piece on an intriguing finding: Only about a third of those surveyed over the age of 75 identified as “Zionists.” 

As always, numbers can tell only part of the story.

Curious about the narrative side of the issue, I turned to readers of JTA’s weekly Ideas newsletter and asked two questions from the JFNA survey: Do you believe Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish, democratic state? and Do you identify as a Zionist? And I added a third: If one but not the other, why not both? That was my way of asking, why would a supporter of Israel resist using the term “Zionist”?

The responses, over 60 in all, arrived quickly. Nearly all came from older American Jewish readers (60 and up) but even within this group there was disagreement about what Zionism means, and ambivalence about the political direction Israel has taken in recent years. 

Across the spectrum, a pattern emerged, reflected in the JFNA study: Many older Jews affirm their support for Israel as a Jewish state and homeland but hesitate to embrace the label “Zionist.” They offered a variety of reasons, from believing it suggests an intention to move to Israel that they don’t share, to the conviction that it has come to mean too many things — to Zionists and anti-Zionists alike — and as a result is no longer useful. (“I  think the state of Israel certainly has as much right to exist as any other state [and] I’d prefer to see it be a democracy,” as a reader from Philadelphia put it. However, “I don’t identify myself in any way with the term ‘Zionist’ because it’s become such a flame word, and people seldom bother to clarify what someone means.”)

Others embrace the term “Zionist” as a badge of honor, continuity and even defiance. Their various answers suggested “Zionism” can mean many things, from a religious conviction to an expression of peoplehood to a political program that hasn’t lost its relevance.

“Of course I am a Zionist!” wrote Jeanne Korsh, who didn’t share her age. “After much probing and questioning, Ancestry.com admitted that 100% of my DNA is at least partially HEBREW from ancient Israel. Israel is the origin of us.” 

“Yes, I am a Zionist and I do believe Israel has a right to exist,” wrote a reader from New Jersey. “I am 68 years old and the daughter of 2 Holocaust survivors from Poland (both deceased). My parents were ardent Zionists.” 

“Yes, I am a Zionist and d**ned proud of it,” wrote Nomi. “I am also an Israeli and live in the eternal capital of the Jewish people: Jerusalem. I do not need to justify the existence of a Jewish state in our ancestral homeland or apologize for it. Any Jew who does, regardless of their age, needs a serious reality check.”

Living in Israel, however, is no guarantee that a reader calls herself a Zionist. “I do not identify as a Zionist. I am an Israeli,” wrote Anita Steiner, 82, who has lived in Israel since 1975. “My children served honorably in the IDF. We are proud of our country, but horrified by this government’s treatment of Palestinians and Arab Israelis.”

Michael Ward, 75, who lives in England, supports Israel as a Jewish, democratic state but distinguishes that from self-identifying as a Zionist, explaining that he has never emigrated to Israel nor served in its military. “I am a dedicated supporter of Israel — which does not make me a Zionist,” he said.

Several correspondents wrestled with the term “Zionism” itself, reflecting how it has been redefined in large part by Israel’s harshest critics.

Daniel J. Julius wrote that “I can identify as a very strong supporter of Israel as a Jewish state without calling myself a Zionist because the term does not seem applicable to me at this time.” He added that the term “Zionism” is “either dated to the late 1800’s or weaponized by the left and of course the Muslim groups that were and remain extremely hostile to Israel.”  

Lee Pronin of New York said Israel’s critics use “Zionist” to describe supporters of “a white, colonial occupier apartheid nation.” But he remains a Zionist according to one of its historic definitions: “the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their ancestral homeland.”

Among the responses, one theme emerged clearly: Support for Israel does not necessarily equal support for the government in power. Multiple respondents, including Rabbi Jack Nusan Porter, argued that Zionism can coexist with criticism of Israeli policy. “Critiquing Israeli politics is not anti-Zionism,” he wrote. “All Zionists believe in a democratic Jewish state with tolerance and civil rights for all.”   

Miriam Eisenstein, also in her late 80s, calls herself a Zionist despite the fact that she “deplores” almost everything the Israeli government does today.

A protester holds a sign at a “rally for Gaza” in Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 12, 2023. The term “Zionism” has been “weaponized by the left,” said a reader. (Becker 1999/Wikimedia Commons)

One group of responses expressed Zionism as conditional — that is, their commitment to Zionism was tied to a vision of Israel as a democratic state. Neal Ross Attinson, 63, a Hebrew school teacher in California, wrote, “If Zionism means supporting a Jewish state as a refuge and a light unto the nations — yes. If it means picking fights with defenseless civilians — no. I fully support Israel’s existence but not its current government.”

Ben Gerson cautioned against uncritical attachment to any political definition: “If Zionism has come to mean a biblical claim to the lands of Judea and Samaria, I fully reject it… Israel would not face the conundrum of being both Jewish and democratic if a Palestinian state could come into being.”

For a reader from Charlotte, North Carolina, such concerns have led to profound disillusionment. “I was raised with the usual trope about Israel that every Jewish kid of my generation grew up with,” she wrote. “However, after several trips over many years there and much research several years prior to Oct. 7, I concluded Israel is not a democratic state, that every sign of apartheid is evident since its founding in 1948…. I never considered myself either a Zionist or anti-Zionist. I used to believe in the existence of the State of Israel, now [I’m] not so sure based on the behavior and beliefs of its government.” 

By contrast, several respondents separated politics from history, saying the latter affirmed Israel’s claim on the land and Jewish solidarity apart from the perceived failings of any of its governments. “Of course I am a Zionist,” wrote Jack Zohar, 87, who described himself as “American born and raised, and with dual citizenship following 15 years living in Israel.” “After 4,000 years of Hebrew/Jewish living in our land, why would I not support our right to be there, and for Israel to be our nation? No contest.” 

Susan, in her 70s, described her Zionism as a safeguard: “The world has taught me historically…that Jews are never really going to be fully integrated into any society in the diaspora. A Jewish state has to exist.”

Others shared this view of Israel as a refuge for the world’s Jews, or what the Harvard scholar Derek Penslar calls “cataclysmic Zionism.” Doris, 86, cited the Evian Conference, the 1938 gathering of world leaders that failed to offer refuge to Jews under Nazi rule. “History has taught me that, inevitably, there will be a rise of antisemitism, vicious enough for me to have to leave my comfortable U.S. home,” she wrote. “Where will I go? History has shown that the only nation that will receive me is Israel. So, you bet I’m a Zionist!”

Finally, there were those who said more Jews would embrace the “Zionist” label if they had a better understanding of what it meant. “For many years I did not identify as a Zionist,” wrote Lee B. Kass, in his late 70s. “But after educational classes with my rabbi, I now understand it as meaning supporting Israel as an independent state, thus providing the only place in the world where a Jew can feel welcome.”  

Kathy Grosz, 72, also noted the importance of education: “I am fearful that many in my age group are NOT educated enough about our peoplehood…. And as for these younger ones, they truly have not been educated. Or if they are, then they need to learn the difference between having a country that exists, and being critical of that land’s government.” 

In the end, Zionism may mean many things to these readers, but for most Israel’s existence remains central to their identity as Jews. Whether as a refuge, a historical homeland or a democratic Jewish state, the country evokes deep emotions that can’t always be defined by a simple label.

A longtime pulpit rabbi and a “lover of the idea of and the existence of the State of Israel” questioned the usefulness of the JFNA survey itself. 

“I think asking people if they are Zionist is not a frame of reference that we have used over the last 50 years,” he wrote. “The Jewish people have contributed to Israel, visited Israel, invested in Israel, sent their children to tour Israel [and] are for the most part proud of Israel but [I am] not sure that the average American Jew who cares about Israel speaks of themselves as ‘Zionist.’”

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