A Decade Ago, These Jewish Scholars Broke With Zionism. Time Proved Them Right
==
Comments:
==
Israeli flags in the occupied West Bank, earlier this year.
Israeli flags in the occupied West Bank, earlier this year. Credit: Alex Levac
An article published in Haaretz ten years ago by Jewish-American academics Hasia Diner and Marjorie Feld created a firestorm within the U.S. Jewish community. Today, their argument looks stronger than ever
Mira Sucharov.
Mira SucharovFollow
October 04, 2026
It's been a decade since Hasia Diner and Marjorie Feld, two American Jewish Studies scholars, wrote a bombshell op-ed in Haaretz declaring their personal break with Zionism. After its publication, the authors faced widespread criticism. Diner lost friends and had public speaking invitations cancelled; Feld feared for the safety of her family after receiving a barrage of hateful emails.
Despite the anger directed at the two authors at the time, it's hard to make the case that Diner and Feld weren't onto something. It's not only the ten years that have passed since the article's publication – more crucially, it's the tens of thousands of deaths, most of them in Gaza, that have caused many people to ask tough questions about Zionism.
More and more Jews in the diaspora, especially younger ones, look at Israel today and see an increasingly militarized country which knows no peace; a seemingly permanent occupation; a massive security failure resulting in 1,200 deaths in a single day, followed by three years of a brutal military campaign in Gaza that leading human rights organizations describe as a genocide; a foundational dispossession and displacement of another people that has never been reckoned with; an unprecedented brain drain and a rush for foreign passports; and this is just a partial list of deep problems affecting Israel. Are these indicators of a successful national project?
Many will push back, arguing that Zionism has worked, despite it all: Israel is a troubled yet bustling society; modern Hebrew has been revived; Israeli television punches above its weight; there has been a robust ingathering of the exiles. All this is true. But all this has come at an awful cost.
The more important thing to realize is that the future doesn't have to be this way. My grandmother once told me that it was hard for her to hear the Jewish state criticized. Israel, she said, was like her child. What if we took the protective urge that so many Jews around the world seem to feel for Israel and turned it into something that is not its opposite but its complement?
What if we took that fiercely loving energy and channeled it into supporting the many Israeli-Palestinian groups that are working desperately for a better future for everyone, a future that doesn't depend on elevating one people's safety while trampling the rights of another?
The time has come to move beyond Zionism and become Israelis Yehudit Karp
An undemocratic Israel poses a grave threat to Diaspora Jews Joshua Leifer
What drove Israelis to leave after October 7? A new book looks for answers Sarai Shavit
If Jews in the diaspora continue to hold large rallies and marches for Israel while reciting a prayer for the IDF during our Shabbat services, without reckoning with the effect that decades of Israel's policies have had on millions of people, then we are, in essence, signaling that occupation, discrimination and violence against Palestinians are acceptable. We are legitimizing an arrangement of unequal rights between Jews and Palestinians, which, after so many decades, can't be explained away as a temporary situation.
Diner and Feld were far from the first Jews to break with Zionism, but their essay opened an important conversation in the United States and elsewhere. Now it is up to the rest of us to continue it: not through words alone, but through recasting the dreams many of us were raised with into new forms of action.
Mira Sucharov is professor of political science at Carleton University. She is the author or co-editor of five books, most recently "Borders and Belonging: A Memoir" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021).
==
Comments
==
Newest first
19
Benny01:36
I think a Zionism that wants to survive the 21st century has to work very differently than now. The current Zionism is basically a project to invalidate and silence the Palestinian perspective. It paints the creation of Israel as a return of the chosen people to God's promised land, ultimately declaring the original inhabitants of that land illegitimate. Even in the liberal version, offering half the land in 1948 or 22% in 1995 is painted as an incredibly generous move where Palestinians have no right of being angry. That erasure of Palestinian perspective is a main cause why the problem is so intractable. An honest Zionism would have to understand and validate the pain it caused for the Palestinians without having to keep quiet about the difficult Jewish situation 80 years ago. Only from that point on is a reconciliation and, ultimatively, peace, possible.
Reply
Like
0
Dislike
0
Report
18
Davidovitch • 00:56
The author talks of Zionism as if it was one package of ideas, an ideology reflecting one opinion, one view on the conflict and Israel. This is entrenched in ignorance or mistake. Ben Gvir's Zionism is 100% opposed to Ben Gurion's Zionism. Netanyahu's Zionism is opposed to Katznelson's Zionism. There's no common view today between Smotrich, who is racist and a Zionist, and Naama Lazimi who is a Zionist and a humanist, etc. Meaning Zionism is a mistake in itself means only one thing : the Jewish people mustn't enjoy self-determination. Sorry, I think Netanyahu and Ben Gvir are disasters, but I think Zionism is a fair cause. Not their Zionism, but original Zionism.
Reply
Like
0
Dislike
1
Report
17
cerecer • 23:22
CV has accused me of being weak and tired..To be fair I just got back from Kona where I completed the Triathalon biking course along with other of the worlds top athletes.
I can say this with much less exaggeration and hyperbole than the you commenters usually employ.
If I wanted to be a bit more honest , I would say that I only rode one athalon of the three (cycling) and that wasnt in the actual competition..the real athletes just happened to be training that day and blew past me ..but even a third of that was enough to drain me.
So those of you who accuse me of being a crusty old armchair hasbara spouting zionist robot on all sorts of drugs and supplements are only partially correct
Reply
Like
0
Dislike
1
Report
16
FN MAG 7.62 • 22:49
Broke with Zionism ? What ? They never lived in Israel . They were always rich Jewish American armchair pseudo Zionists and their Zionism was just pure Jewish American self serving angst . That's what their "Zionism" was and that is what they broke from . Now only the cowardly angst remains . Go tell your J street hebe stories to your psychiatrist while you take your heaps of drugs and supplements and don't disgrace Zionism with your b/s .
Reply
Like
0
Dislike
3
Report
15
Humanist22:20
When Humanity suffers, everyone loses. No belief, no Ideology and no political differences is ever greater than the dignity of a human life.
Reply
Like
4
Dislike
0
Report
14
cerecer • 19:12
Oh my god..! Can you stop tearing yourself apart over the nakba. It happened , its acknowledged...who in the entire world doesnt know about it by now? You guys are all stuck in the 1970s. Thats not the problem. The problem is what to do about it.
If the Palestinians are not prepared to get past this without the destruction or elimination of Israel than where do we go from here anyway?
All the commenters here have based their lifes politics on blaming Israel. But no idea where to go once thats been accomplished. Basically, you are stuck
Reply
Like
1
Dislike
8
Report
CVcerecer • 19:38
It's not acknowledged at all. Israel refuses absolutely to acknowledge anything about it. And you know it, at that, but as usual, prefer your fantasy to the reality.
Reply
Like
6
Dislike
0
Report
CVcerecer • 19:40
Oh, and i've told you times and time again "where" I want israel and Palestine to go. Somehow, it doesn't register, and you keep screaming that pro-Palestinian commenters are "stuck". If someone is stuck it's certainly Israel. Can't vacate Palestine, can't annexate it. Can't leave Lebanon and can't annexate it either. Can't move from gaza. Can't get rid of Palestinians. can't can't can't can't. Decades of can kicking, decades of killing and destruction and the end of the road is there.
So : what do you suggest ?
Reply
Like
6
Dislike
0
Report
cerecerCV • 19:58
Everyone knows what happened in 1948. Some were chased out some ran . Its not a moral quandary . Its a fact
What hasnt happened no matter how you try to sugar coat it is Palestinians getting past it and recognizing the Israel as the Jewish state it is
Reply
Like
0
Dislike
7
Report
Cerecer2cerecer • 20:27
Everyone knows what happened in the 1930s. Some were gassed, some were chased out, some ran . Its not a moral quandary . Its a fact
Reply
Like
0
Dislike
4
Report
cerecerCerecer2 • 21:08
no sorry why dont you tell me about the 1930s cause i dont know what you are talking about
Reply
Like
1
Dislike
3
Report
Cerecer2cerecer • 21:11
I'm talking about Germany, moron.
Reply
Like
1
Dislike
2
Report
CVcerecer • 21:53
They will never get "past" it. For they are humans and humans don't "get past" this sort of stuff. What's really, truly, utterly maddening is that as a supporter of Israel, you are uniquely well placed to understand it. But Zionism messed with you, and you are deeply certain that what is true for Jews is not true for Palestinians. That Jews and Palestinians are not the same sort of humans.
Zionism, in a nutshell. And when you are told it's racist, you are oh so outraged !
Reply
Like
3
Dislike
0
Report
cerecerCerecer2 • 22:17
sorry genius..I dont recall any germans being gassed in the 1930s. There is a history of Germans using gas during world war 1 but that ended in 1918
Reply
Like
0
Dislike
2
Report
cerecerCV • 22:30
I dont represent zionism nor do I represent the Palestinians if they dont want to get over 1948. Fine for them.
My point is that all you guys keep talking about the past and what happened as if its a moral certainty that only one side did bad things. It is clear that it wasnt one sided. Nor was it viewed by the world at large who were contemporary to that situation. Presumably, the people at the time did not think Israel had committed any terrible crime and the birth of Israel was celebrated in most if not all non muslim countries.
So if Palestinians dont want to get over it then they will have to live with the consequences which hurt Israel yes but hurt the Palestinians in orders of magnitude more
Reply
Like
0
Dislike
3
Report
CVcerecer • 23:09
Oh, absolutely. Israel will have to keep killing and destroying because Israel has stick itself in a very narrow place where there is no other solution, as they don't want to give them equal rights. The body count is going to keep rising. The revulsion abroad too. The free bombs are going to end.
And then ?
Reply
Like
1
Dislike
0
Report
Cerecer2cerecer • 23:15
Let me spell it out.
In Nazi Germany in the 1930's, millions of Jews were gassed, many were chased out, some escaped.
To quote your way of talking about history: "It's not a moral quandary. It's a fqct".
Reply
Like
0
Dislike
1
Report
cerecerCV • 00:18
I guess you can keep thinking Israel is a one dimensional static state that cant respond dynamically to any changes . That hasnt been the history. When your beloved France cut Israel off it was able to build a relationship with the US. I think Israel will be able to take care of itself just fine no matter what happens. If your Palestinian buddies stake their whole future on the demise of Israel through western public opinion than they are doing a fools errand.
Take a look at South America..It seems just like recently they were all so fully anti Israel and now suddenly even Brazil looks to go right wing. So now Israel is on good terms with Argentina , Bolivia Chile Colombia ..looks like Brazil and Venezuela are coming.
It could happen in Western Europe as well.
Reply
Like
0
Dislike
1
Report
cerecerCerecer2 • 00:22
Im sorry Mr Historian. but you keep saying jews were gassed in the 1930s. Not to sound like a holocaust denier but im pretty sure you are wrong about that. In fact I KNOW you are wrong about that
Reply
Like
1
Dislike
0
Report
13
CB • 07:32
"modern Hebrew has been revived; Israeli television punches above its weight; there has been a robust ingathering of the exiles." No mention of what the Palestinians have lost, but that is Zionism. As an American I have seen my country of 375 million, the light of the world after WW2, completely forget about liberty and justice for all and be turned upside down to fully support ethnic superiority and cleansing by Israel (1/40th the population) with all the military, financial and diplomatic power of the US, this country sinking to the floor of world public opinion with Israel as a President declares himself a Zionist, a traitor to LJ4A! All the while Jews in the US have flourished in every field, have become disproportionately billionaires and the toast of the arts. For Zionists that is not enough: Destroy Palestine's land and people and the US morally to do it. But America's liberation from Israel is in progress, irreversible, prompted with the eye-opening genocide in Gaza.
Reply
Like
32
Dislike
3
Report
No comments:
Post a Comment