American Jewish College Students Are Giving Up on Israel. This Is How We Can Stop the Drift.

When young U.S. Jews on campus are faced with accusations about Israel’s imperialism, colonialism and racism, they are woefully unprepared – and often choose disengagement. Instead of worn-out slogans, we need to educate them about Israel – and to mobilize them to aid Israel’s democratic forces, in the face of the fascist tyranny of the Kahanist right.

When one speaks with Jewish college students, or their parents, about Israel, what stands out is both their confusion and indifference. Generally speaking, they are not hostile to Israel; in fact, there is a residue of admiration, even pride, in their attitude to the Jewish state. Many “October 8 Jews,” to use Bret Stephens’ phrase, are horrified by the barbarism of Hamas and express a subdued but unmistakable admiration for Israel’s fighting spirit.

Nonetheless, most Jewish students are appallingly ignorant of Middle Eastern realities. Embarrassed by that ignorance, they often choose disengagement. Why enter an argument that you cannot win, or worse, that leaves you feeling foolish and inadequate in your Judaism? Why defend Israel with worn-out slogans and trite, overused arguments, the same lines repeated endlessly by Jewish leaders in communal settings?

It is like bringing a knife to a gun fight. When haters of Israel speak glibly of Israel’s imperialism, colonialism and racism, Jewish students devoted to the Jewish state must be far better prepared then they usually are.

A good place to start would be with old-fashioned “teach-ins.” In the late 1960s and early 1970s, as opposition to the Vietnam war surged across American campuses, anti-war students (and occasionally pro-war students) organized sessions of student- and faculty-led lectures on the war’s history and politics.

I attended such sessions at Stanford and Brandeis and 50 years later, I still remember the seriousness of it all: contentious arguments, broad participation, in-depth discussions, and a tone of civility that prevailed from beginning to end. Frivolous arguments were dismissed, but most were serious indeed, guided by thoughtful student-faculty interaction. Large numbers of students listened, participated, learned, and not infrequently changed their minds about the issues.

If the Jewish community wants to do something significant to address the issues of ignorance and indifference among Jewish students about Israel, “teach-ins” would be the right place to begin. It is hardly accidental that pro-Palestinian groups are adopting this approach.

The sessions could be open to all, with civility and decorum expected and strictly enforced. Leading faculty members and knowledgeable graduate students could be recruited to teach. Jewish students would benefit by creating communities of support, strengthening advocacy skills, and responding collectively to the most challenging arguments. The result would be a sophisticated educational experience on Israel – the kind Jewish students rarely receive and urgently need, especially now.

As many Jewish leaders know, but rarely admit, Israel education in America remains a disaster. Professor Kenneth Stein, who taught at Emory for 44 years and founded a nonprofit center for Israel education, has noted that only about 25 percent of Jewish young people in the United States receive any formal or informal education in Zionism or Israeli history.

Even under the best circumstances, then, most Jewish college students arrive on campus with minimal knowledge of Israel. Worse still, the education that is offered is usually second-rate, and often a complete catastrophe.

Why have American Jews not already launched a major Israel education initiative – built around teach-ins and high-profile seminars – at every major campus with a significant Jewish undergraduate population? Such a step would be far superior to the usual pattern of campus issuing statements during crises that nobody reads.

What issues might such an initiative consider? Four come immediately to mind.

First, why is our Israel education so defensive and apologetic?

For example, why does virtually every discussion on Israel include the assertion that Israel has the right to defend itself? To argue this point at all is absurd. Every country has that right. And if the Jewish state, arguably the most oppressed minority in human history, does not have this right, then no state does. By repeatedly insisting on what requires no justification, we diminish ourselves.

Second, why do we avoid the word “Zionism”?

Many American Jews deny that they shy away from the term, but they are deluding themselves. Zionism has become a curse word, a semi-pornographic insult that some Jews, including Jewish leaders, refuse to utter, on campus and elsewhere. Today, we substitute the words “Israel” or “the Jewish people” for “Zionism.” In doing so, we permit ourselves to be intimidated by our enemies and give in, yet again, to the antisemites who would police our speech and our thought.

Let us be clear: If you believe in a Jewish state, a Jewish army and Jewish independence, you are by definition a Zionist. If you run from the word Zionist, you are running from the fact that Jews are a nation, occupying a proud place in the family of nations.

Third, why have we failed to offer a positive vision of the Zionist and Jewish future?

Israel’s current government offers no hint of where it thinks it’s going and how it sees its future. But a state without a sense of its future is profoundly broken. If Israel is to be a functioning and flourishing state, it must have answers to certain questions.

Will Israel offer a path to peace that honors and protects the life of every Palestinian and every Jew? Will it aspire to separate from the Palestinians on the basis of two states – a secure Jewish state and a demilitarized Palestinian state? Will it choose separation over permanent rule over millions of Palestinians? Will it work for a solution to the Palestinian issue even if such a solution may take years or even decades to implement?

Finally – and most fundamentally: Will Israel choose to be a state rooted in Zionism, democracy and classical liberalism, or will it drift toward messianism, fascism, halakhic rule and one-man tyranny?

It seems inconceivable that the State of Israel could stray from its Zionist roots and abandon democracy and the Declaration of Independence. Such a state would not be Zionist at all, but would be something else altogether; it would mean that the period of Israel’s constitutional democracy would be over, that Israel’s alliances with Western democracies would be finished, and that international law would have been brazenly violated Israel would be seen as an outlaw state, caught up in the endless wars advocated by the Kahanist madmen who sit in its government.

It would mean, in short, a complete rupture in Jewish civilization, with the Diaspora and much of Israel on one side and radical settlers – fanatic and violent – on the other.

And yet, however shameful this scenario, it cannot be completely dismissed. This is precisely the vision of Israel that the Israel-haters are saying is the goal of its government. This is what they are preaching and teaching as Israel’s true agenda. And for that reason, American Jewish students must be educated in the machinations of Israel’s far-right. Israel’s intention, they must make clear, is not an irrational tyranny of the Kahanist right but a full return to democracy.

Finally, in a historic battle between a Zionist democratic state and one that is not, no one can be certain that the Zionists will win. Netanyahu is increasingly a strongman, directing a vicious and poisonous attack on democracy and intent on dismantling the courts. He is supported by two sycophantic lapdogs, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir; the first is Israel’s de-facto defense minister, and the second controls the police. Both are completely out of control, and both must be stopped before they become unstoppable.

How does one even respond to such an obscenity? The only answer is educate, educate, educate – and tell the truth about what is happening.

Our task, then, is to organize teach-ins and every other rigorous educational exercise that we can think of. Jewish students must learn about developments in Israel, not only as a history lesson or a debating exercise, but as a practical lesson in mobilizing American Jewry to come to the aid of Israel’s democratic forces.

If Israel takes more of a Kahanist turn, it is unclear how much American Jews will be able to do. But this much we know: We must do all that we can, and we must begin by educating ourselves, now.