Beyond Tribal Loyalties: Personal Stories of Jewish Peace Activists

by Avigail Abarbanel (editor)

There is an expectation in Jewish communities around the world that all Jews embrace Zionism and offer unquestioning support for Israel, right or wrong . Jewish identity and Zionism are commonly and deliberately blurred. Jews who criticise Israel or question Zionism are often excluded, vilified and threatened. If they express sympathy for the plight of the Palestinian people, they risk being branded as traitors and accused of supporting the enemies of Israel . Beyond Tribal Loyalties is a unique collection of twenty-five personal stories of Jewish peace activists from Australia, Canada, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States. There is an age difference of more than fifty years between the oldest and the youngest contributor. The stories focus on the complex and intensely personal journey that Jewish activists go through to free themselves from the hold of Zionist ideology and its requirement to support all Israeli policies. Like many Jews, most of the contributors were once unquestioning supporters of Israel and Zionism. Something happened in the life of each of these extraordinary people that caused them to question and re-evaluate their understanding of the conflict and their relationship with Israel and the Palestinian people. In many cases this journey involved a reassessment of personal values, belief systems and identity. Beyond Tribal Loyalties seeks to discover what makes it possible for Jewish peace activists to follow through with this transformative journey and their activist work, despite fanatical and sometimes violent opposition. This is an inspiring book for anyone who is interested in the experience of being a peace activist. It offers a fresh and unusual angle on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and is a unique contribution in a field where political analysis is common, but where the personal angle is often lacking.

315 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Avigail has been a psychotherapist in private practice since 1999. She started her practice in Canberra Australia, and after eleven busy years, she moved to the Scottish Highlands where she has been living and working since 2010.

Avigail’s practice is based in Cawdor. She is Snr Accredited with the BACP and is a psychotherapist, supervisor, trainer, consultant, and writer. Avigail is passionate about sharing her knowledge with everyone. Since the development of Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) by Dr Dan Siegel, she believes that too many psychotherapists work in an outdated way, and that there is no reason for psychotherapy to continue to be a mystery to people. She has written *Therapy Without A Therapist* specifically to share her way of working with everyone. Avigail offers free to all podcasts on this and other topics in her field. The podcasts are available here: https://avigail.substack.com/podcast

Avigail has a vision for a research centre, combined with a larger practice and training centre. She hopes to secure funding to realise this vision.

Her work website is at www.fullyhuman.co.uk and all her publications are available on Amazon worldwide. Avigail publishes essays on her Substack page: ‘Avigail Abarbanel's Fully Human Essays’ and other writings and articles on Academia.edu

Avigail was born in Israel in 1964. In 1991 she migrated to Australia, and ten years later she renounced her Israeli citizenship in protest. Avigail is an anti-Zionist activist for Palestinian human rights and against Zionist-Israeli settler-colonialism.

Some of her writings on Palestine-Israel can be found on Mondoweiss and the Electronic Intifada, more recently she has been publishing on her Substack page ‘Avigail Abarbanel’s Fully Human Essays’, and on Medium.