Generational divides: Supporting our shared Zionist dream – opinion

A two-week mid-November US book tour, then two weeks home in Israel, has my head spinning. 

Our two sons and son-in-law finished their latest reserve-duty rounds, following the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire. One son buried a beloved comrade, the heroic Yona Brief, 23, gravely wounded on October 7, who fought to live for 417 heart-wrenching days. We were invited to two weddings, one bat mitzvah, and that same son hosted a rollicking engagement party for friends. 

Meanwhile, Bashar Assad’s Syria collapsed, further enfeebling Iran – a humiliation Israel’s unrelenting multi-front defense triggered. And Iranian mullahs, Qatari emirs, and Gazan terrorists dread Donald Trump’s impending presidency – along with, lehavdil, distinguishing morally – most American Jews.

There’s the flashpoint. Beware that clashing language, outlooks, and concerns separate many Israelis and American Jews – including the pro-Israel majority. 

When American friends say “we’re losing our kids,” they blame their kids’ anti-Zionism on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and this protracted war – which I still blame on the evil attackers and hostage-holders. 

Cultural divide

Moreover, when I ask American Jews, empathetically, “Have you lost any friends since October 7?” I mean anti-Zionists who repudiated them for denouncing Palestinians’ rampage and defending Israel. Clearly, to Israelis, “lost kids,” and “lost friends” mean something devastatingly different.

That’s why I won’t be guilt-tripped about Israelis lacking “empathy” for Palestinians. That’s a “day after” emotion. Israel has tried limiting innocents’ suffering – quite impressively, compared to the armies of other democratic nations facing similar urban warfare conditions – including the United States.

Still, you don’t win wars by forgetting that the moral onus is on the enemy aggressors. You win conclusively, then empathize during reconstruction. Northerners didn’t empathize with their Southern brothers during the Civil War. Americans lacked empathy for Nazis during World War II. 

Is there another American group, targeted so cruelly, that agonizes about its enemies’ welfare? Do Blacks empathize with white supremacists, thinking, “they’re not so bad?” I can’t even convince most Americans to empathize with fellow citizens who voted the wrong way.

And with 65% of American Jews opposing Trump and 65% of Israelis preferring him, expect four touchy years. The more Trump embraces Israel, the more Democrats risk deciding: “I hate Trump. He loves Israel. Ergo, I hate Israel.”

In acknowledging divergences, I hope to sensitize not demonize. Jews today must emphasize what unites us while addressing what divides us.

In many ways, solidarity comes easily because Israelis keep absorbing so much love from Diaspora Jews amid so much hate from others. 

Within six months of October 7, Jews donated $1.4 billion to Israel, reflecting iron-clad commitment. Polls show that most US Jews, including young Jews, remain pro-Israel, like most Americans. They distinguish liberal-democrats from terrorists, noting that our side waves American flags while their side burns them.

When traveling, I also frequently heard Jews say, after mourning the surging Jew-hatred, “but our problems don’t compare to you and your kids’ challenges.” 

On, one level, true. We face life-and-death struggles. Still, I responded, “I appreciate your empathy, but don’t fully accept it. October 7 shattered few illusions of mine. I took Hamas’s genocidal aims seriously by reading their charter and kept warning that Israel’s internal divisions would embolden our enemies. You, however, are reeling from illusions shattered: about Jew-hatred fading; the government and other institutions having your back; and non-Jews’ willingness to defend you. As ER nurses know: There are no minor injuries… when it happens to you!”

Similarly, in addressing students, I honor their heroic generation, worldwide. 

True, my kids and their fellow soldiers need grit to fight daily, entering rooms without knowing where the gunman or hidden bomb might be. But Zionist students today demonstrate a courage my kids never need. Whenever students wear yellow hostage pins, or dog tags, or simply wear T-shirts saying “Dina’s bat mitzvah was awesome,” they risk harassment. 

My kids get cheered when they come home in uniform. They’ve never confronted a hostile home environment that betrayed them.

Support our children

I SUGGEST that this is the way forward. By listening to our young people, thinking through the challenges they face worldwide, noting convergences and divergences, we’ll all understand each other better.

Listen to most Israeli kids – and maybe you’ll hesitate before condemning the Israeli army they must trust with their lives right now. You’ll certainly remember to be angrier at Hamas, their Gazans cheerleaders, Hezbollah, and Iran, than many are at Israel’s government, or the US’s president-elect and his voters. 

And listen to young pro-Israel Diaspora Jews. Hear their defiance, pride, and resistance to all bigotry, including Jew-hatred.

Moreover, let’s join together in articulating a positive, substantive, Zionist vision that defends Jewish dignity – by fighting bigotry broadly; takes responsibility for rebuilding and perfecting Israel, the Jewish people and the world; and enriches our identity, finding inspiration in the sense of history, the feeling of community, and our common mission.

We adults spend too much time talking to one another about the young. To advance the inter-generational dialogue we need, on Monday, December 16, at 7:30 p.m. at the Menachem Begin Center in Jerusalem, my book launch will feature a youth panel. 

After describing key ideas shaping To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream, I will test them out with a returning Jewish Agency envoy, an American student, and an Israeli who has finished reserve service and joined a group of friends to pick fruit on Kibbutz Be’eri. The last one happens to be my son, Aviv, who keeps burying friends and celebrating weddings, like so many Israelis.

To register for the zoom or the live December 16 book launch of Gil Troy’s 'To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream', go to https://shorturl.at/6tNTV or the Begin Center website, and search for “Embracing Jewish and Zionist Identity post-October 7.”