What do you think?
Rate this book
Jewish, not Zionist
What happens in Aotearoa-New Zealand when a Jew acknowledges Palestinians as her equals? What does anti-Zionist mean? For the first time, Jewish, not Zionist tells a very personal story of Aotearoa’s Jewish solidarity with Palestine.
Marilyn Garson worked in Gaza for four years, a story told in her first book, Still A Memoir of Gaza. Witnessing the toll of Israeli bombardments and total military siege on the lives of ordinary Palestinians, Garson asked herself, “What will I everything I’ve ever been told or the world in front of my eyes?”
As she unlearned Zionism, she uncovered a rich, outward-looking Jewishness. In her new book, she recounts her homecoming as a practising Jew seeking her faith community and justice for Palestine. Painfully excluded, she slowly constructed a liberatory Jewish identity—both activist and spiritual. She co-founded Alternative Jewish Voices to call for justice in a pluralist, anti-racist Jewish voice.
In two parts, the book also explores the power of a political definition of antisemitism to shield Israel’s unbearable violence and apartheid. It deconstructs the echo chamber of overlapping entities which purport to speak for the Jewish community in Aotearoa. Throughout, the book offers timely analysis of the impact of the International Court of Justice’s July 2024 Advisory Opinion. In particular, Garson reinvigorates human rights as a radical politics for dehumanised Palestine.
Garson writes with the aroha of Gaza and an unwavering resolve learned on the front lines of the international movement for justice.
“One day Jewish, not Zionist will be riveting testimony to a Jewish solidarity with Palestine that blossomed in our unique context of Aotearoa. Right now, it is an urgent meditation on getting there. Together.”
- Nadia Abu-Shanab, Palestinian organiser
“A brilliant work of solidarity. Garson shines a light, through sharp and honest prose, on an alternative path to identity and religious hope through community building.”
- Dr Murdoch Stephens, author of Doing Our the Campaign to Double the Refugee Quota
“In this extraordinary book, Marilyn Garson grapples with the unbearable pain of her exclusion from her small New Zealand Jewish community in response to her support for Palestinian human rights. Rather than a tale of retreat and recrimination, this is a story of spiritual and political commitment to the principle that Jewish tradition and practice can and must be reclaimed for liberatory purposes. At the heart of this story is the growing rift in Jewish communities worldwide over the brutal legacy of the Zionist project.”
- Sheryl Nestel PhD, Affiliated Scholar at New College, University of Toronto; Independent Jewish Voices of Canada Steering Committee, 2012 – 2022
“Marilyn Garson disentangles Judaism from the nationalist project of Zionism…We were part of a generation who were brought up to endorse Israel as the way to keep Jews safe from another Holocaust. Part of this involved accepting, endorsing, or at least saying nothing about, the occupation by Israel of Gaza, the illegal expansion of settlements on the West Bank and the systematic ill-treatment of the Palestinian population of those places. We are no longer willing to look away. ”
- Lynn Jenner, author of Lost and Gone Away
“This timely contribution is essential in understanding the role of Jewish solidarity in dismantling Israeli colonisation and reclaiming the true essence of Jewish identity.
Marilyn Garson worked in Gaza for four years, a story told in her first book, Still A Memoir of Gaza. Witnessing the toll of Israeli bombardments and total military siege on the lives of ordinary Palestinians, Garson asked herself, “What will I everything I’ve ever been told or the world in front of my eyes?”
As she unlearned Zionism, she uncovered a rich, outward-looking Jewishness. In her new book, she recounts her homecoming as a practising Jew seeking her faith community and justice for Palestine. Painfully excluded, she slowly constructed a liberatory Jewish identity—both activist and spiritual. She co-founded Alternative Jewish Voices to call for justice in a pluralist, anti-racist Jewish voice.
In two parts, the book also explores the power of a political definition of antisemitism to shield Israel’s unbearable violence and apartheid. It deconstructs the echo chamber of overlapping entities which purport to speak for the Jewish community in Aotearoa. Throughout, the book offers timely analysis of the impact of the International Court of Justice’s July 2024 Advisory Opinion. In particular, Garson reinvigorates human rights as a radical politics for dehumanised Palestine.
Garson writes with the aroha of Gaza and an unwavering resolve learned on the front lines of the international movement for justice.
“One day Jewish, not Zionist will be riveting testimony to a Jewish solidarity with Palestine that blossomed in our unique context of Aotearoa. Right now, it is an urgent meditation on getting there. Together.”
- Nadia Abu-Shanab, Palestinian organiser
“A brilliant work of solidarity. Garson shines a light, through sharp and honest prose, on an alternative path to identity and religious hope through community building.”
- Dr Murdoch Stephens, author of Doing Our the Campaign to Double the Refugee Quota
“In this extraordinary book, Marilyn Garson grapples with the unbearable pain of her exclusion from her small New Zealand Jewish community in response to her support for Palestinian human rights. Rather than a tale of retreat and recrimination, this is a story of spiritual and political commitment to the principle that Jewish tradition and practice can and must be reclaimed for liberatory purposes. At the heart of this story is the growing rift in Jewish communities worldwide over the brutal legacy of the Zionist project.”
- Sheryl Nestel PhD, Affiliated Scholar at New College, University of Toronto; Independent Jewish Voices of Canada Steering Committee, 2012 – 2022
“Marilyn Garson disentangles Judaism from the nationalist project of Zionism…We were part of a generation who were brought up to endorse Israel as the way to keep Jews safe from another Holocaust. Part of this involved accepting, endorsing, or at least saying nothing about, the occupation by Israel of Gaza, the illegal expansion of settlements on the West Bank and the systematic ill-treatment of the Palestinian population of those places. We are no longer willing to look away. ”
- Lynn Jenner, author of Lost and Gone Away
“This timely contribution is essential in understanding the role of Jewish solidarity in dismantling Israeli colonisation and reclaiming the true essence of Jewish identity.
Kindle Edition
Published October 23, 2024
3 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 7, 2025
I am not sure what I think of this book, it's certainly presents a differnet view to that I subscribe to. Too much politics and not enough 'humane-ity' to present a point of view.
I came to the book wanting to learn, understand more. It did not provide this for me.
I came to the book wanting to learn, understand more. It did not provide this for me.
April 9, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it so much I think partially because I am a Jewish person living in Aotearoa, so the book felt really timely and engaging.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews