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Wrestling With Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalates, a dangerous illusion persists that the American Jewish community speaks with a single voice, expressing universal, uncritical support for the policies of the Sharon government. This appearance of unanimity does grave disservice to the heterogeneity of Jewish thought, and to the centuries-old Jewish traditions of lively dispute and rigorous, unapologetic skeptical inquiry. Wrestling with Zion brings together prominent poets, essayists, journalists, activists, academics, novelists, and playwrights, representing the diversity of opinion in the progressive Jewish-American community regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. All the participants share three things: a Jewish identity, an American identity, and a sense of urgency, refusing to ignore the catastrophic injustice that has been visited upon the Palestinian people, while at the same time being passionately committed to Jewish survival and American legacies of compassion and moral courage. The contributors — including Nathan Englander, Susan Sontag, Robert Pinsky, Daniel Wolfe, and many others — have considered certain essential questions: What is at the heart of the connection between Israel and American Jews? What is Israel's role in shaping Jewish-American identities? How has this role changed historically? And what is the history, both familiar and forgotten, of Zionism's political, cultural, and spiritual meaning?
320 pages, Paperback
First published October 13, 2003
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About the author
Tony Kushner
97 books473 followersTony Kushner is an award-winning American playwright most famous for his play Angels in America, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He is also co-author, along with Eric Roth, of the screenplay of the 2005 film Munich, which was directed by Steven Spielberg and earned Kushner (along with Roth) an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
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April 2, 2023
A DIVERSE COLLECTION OF ESSAYS ON CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS
Editors Tony Kushner and Alisa Solomon explain in the Introduction to this 2003 book, “One of us is a professor, journalist, and theater critic who traveled extensively in Israel and the occupied territories, writing about the situation there for more than fifteen years. One of us is a playwright who has traveled to Israel twice, to the occupied territories once, and who has written about these issues on occasion, in a few essays and lectures. One of us is a lesbian, the other a gay man. We are both Jewish, strongly identifying with our own complicated and powerful connection to that identity. Our shared anger, bewilderment, grief, an occasional despair over the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was the original basis of an ongoing conversation that has grown into a cherished friendship. If a theater critic and a playwright can become dear friends and comrades, surely there is hope for peace in the Mideast.” (Pg. 7)
They continue, “In … 2002… we felt we’d like to read additional analytical, historical, personal, and creative responses to the situation by other progressive Jews and we agreed such responses needed to be gathered---and so we decided to gather them… We encouraged contributors to write about AMERICAN relationships to Israel---historical, political, personal---for that, we felt, was what needed to be interrogated here and what we could uniquely offer… The response we got is the book that follows. It’s not comprehensive… We have not tried to forge a movement or codify an orthodoxy of opinion… some contributors may even find themselves feeling uncomfortable to discover certain other writers’ arguments alongside their own in this volume. We’ve invited a plurality… Here is a book of Jewish-American argument for that just and lasting peace, for the deconstruction of that which stands in the way and for the construction of a viable future for all people in the region, Palestinian and Israeli” (Pg. 8-9)
Reform rabbi Judah L. Magnes wrote to Chaim Weizmann in 1929, “The question is, do we want to conquer Palestine now as Joshua did in his day---with fire and sword? Or do we want to take cognizance of Jewish religious development since Joshua---our Prophets, Psalmists, and Rabbis, and repeat the words: ‘Not by might, and not by violence, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.’” (Pg. 18)
Joel Beinin observes, “The single most important factor shaping the U.S.-Israeli relationship over the last thirty years has been the geo-strategic interest of the United States as perceived by Washington policy makers. Israel has protected the flank of the Persian Gulf… and threatened to topple or punish any regime any Arab regime that undermined the secure supply of oil at a reasonable price. It has been willing to do Washington’s bidding in a wide range of foreign adventures. No Arab state … can reliably serve as a replacement for these functions… A powerful coalition comprised of the Zionist lobby, evangelical Protestants, and arms makers now constitutes a significant domestic constraint on those who might seek to alter U.S. policy toward Israel.” (Pg. 50)
Daniel Lazare states, “Christian Zionism and Jewish Zionism have combined to create an international alliance superseding anything that NATO or the UN has to offer… as both an orthodox rabbi and Christian fundamentalist might reply, Israel and American are not contemptuous of international law, but beholden to divine law handed down from above. Instead of rebellious, they see themselves as obedient to a force that trumps international democracy. They believe they have been chosen to impose their will on the world whether that international community likes it or not.” (Pg. 80)
Henry Siegman says of Palestinian terrorism, “if revenge killings are the only Israeli response, then the country is on the road to eventual self-destruction. Palestinians, who have lived in misery and deprivation for more than half a century and have little to lose, will outlast Israelis who are accustomed to the comforts and per capita income of advanced Western societies. If Israel’s punishment of Palestinian terrorism is to serve as a deterrent rather than a provocation to greater terrorism, Israel must offer Palestinians a clear alternative to violence that leads … to viable statehood.” (Pg. 118)
Phyllis Bennis observes, “evangelical Protestants believe the second coming of Christ must be pre-conditioned by the ‘return’ of all the Jews to the land of Israel, and the creation of a Jewish entity ready for the Messiah. As a result, they support not only Israel… but the Zionist project of ‘returning’ Jews from around the world to Israel… what is never mentioned is … what happens next… including, by the time of the second coming, the conversion of death of all the Jews. This part of the Christian Zionist agenda is, not surprisingly, played down by both the evangelicals and their allies in the Likud.” (Pg. 127-128)
Douglas Rushkoff asserts, “Torah itself … is interpreted in the most literal way possible in order to justify each new land grab. ‘See? This parcel was deeded to Abraham. It says so right there in Genesis!’ And this new need to interpret Torah in a literal fashion reduces covenant to a real estate contract… We get a claim on some land, but we lose our religion in the process.” (Pg. 181)
Philip Green notes, “It is often said, angrily and truly, that Israel seems to occupy an exceptional place on the left’s political hit list: Where is the critique of the Russians in Chechnya, of Turkey in Kurdistan, of China in Tibet?... However, it does not seem of major relevance … when the issue for Americans is the brutally one-sided assault we are witnessing in Iraq… when even some of that assault’s strongest supporters admit that it cannot achieve its purported aim---to being ‘peace’ and ‘democracy’ to the Middle East---unless a mutually acceptable settlement on Palestinian rights is achieved first. Thus is a there is a double standard here, Israel is not its primary object.” (Pg. 247)
Letty Cottin Pogrebin says, “Israel was established as a democratic Jewish state… few would dispute that the Law of Return is on its face antithetical to the core principles of democracy… Since the law privileges Jews and only Jews, its perils are obvious: 1) It codifies a double standard… 2) It nullifies and supersedes legitimate property rights… 3)… Many who proselytize for privileged Jewish immigration … want Jewish citizens to outnumber Arab citizens in order to control the Jewishness of the state… Recognizing these problems, how can I, a civil libertarian… defend the Law of Return? Because in this case, I believe history trumps ideology and politics. The Jewish right to instant citizenship strikes me as a factually warranted, compensatory response to the truth of Jewish experience.” (Pg. 287)
Susan Sontag argues, “It is not in the best interests of Israel to be an oppressor… What is in the true interests of a modern community is justice. It cannot be right to systematically oppress and confine a neighboring people… Those brave Israeli Jews who… have spoken up on behalf of the plight and the rights of Palestinians are defending the true interests of Israel…” (Pg. 349)
This book will be of keen interest to those seeking alternative perspectives on Israel and the Palestinians.
Editors Tony Kushner and Alisa Solomon explain in the Introduction to this 2003 book, “One of us is a professor, journalist, and theater critic who traveled extensively in Israel and the occupied territories, writing about the situation there for more than fifteen years. One of us is a playwright who has traveled to Israel twice, to the occupied territories once, and who has written about these issues on occasion, in a few essays and lectures. One of us is a lesbian, the other a gay man. We are both Jewish, strongly identifying with our own complicated and powerful connection to that identity. Our shared anger, bewilderment, grief, an occasional despair over the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was the original basis of an ongoing conversation that has grown into a cherished friendship. If a theater critic and a playwright can become dear friends and comrades, surely there is hope for peace in the Mideast.” (Pg. 7)
They continue, “In … 2002… we felt we’d like to read additional analytical, historical, personal, and creative responses to the situation by other progressive Jews and we agreed such responses needed to be gathered---and so we decided to gather them… We encouraged contributors to write about AMERICAN relationships to Israel---historical, political, personal---for that, we felt, was what needed to be interrogated here and what we could uniquely offer… The response we got is the book that follows. It’s not comprehensive… We have not tried to forge a movement or codify an orthodoxy of opinion… some contributors may even find themselves feeling uncomfortable to discover certain other writers’ arguments alongside their own in this volume. We’ve invited a plurality… Here is a book of Jewish-American argument for that just and lasting peace, for the deconstruction of that which stands in the way and for the construction of a viable future for all people in the region, Palestinian and Israeli” (Pg. 8-9)
Reform rabbi Judah L. Magnes wrote to Chaim Weizmann in 1929, “The question is, do we want to conquer Palestine now as Joshua did in his day---with fire and sword? Or do we want to take cognizance of Jewish religious development since Joshua---our Prophets, Psalmists, and Rabbis, and repeat the words: ‘Not by might, and not by violence, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.’” (Pg. 18)
Joel Beinin observes, “The single most important factor shaping the U.S.-Israeli relationship over the last thirty years has been the geo-strategic interest of the United States as perceived by Washington policy makers. Israel has protected the flank of the Persian Gulf… and threatened to topple or punish any regime any Arab regime that undermined the secure supply of oil at a reasonable price. It has been willing to do Washington’s bidding in a wide range of foreign adventures. No Arab state … can reliably serve as a replacement for these functions… A powerful coalition comprised of the Zionist lobby, evangelical Protestants, and arms makers now constitutes a significant domestic constraint on those who might seek to alter U.S. policy toward Israel.” (Pg. 50)
Daniel Lazare states, “Christian Zionism and Jewish Zionism have combined to create an international alliance superseding anything that NATO or the UN has to offer… as both an orthodox rabbi and Christian fundamentalist might reply, Israel and American are not contemptuous of international law, but beholden to divine law handed down from above. Instead of rebellious, they see themselves as obedient to a force that trumps international democracy. They believe they have been chosen to impose their will on the world whether that international community likes it or not.” (Pg. 80)
Henry Siegman says of Palestinian terrorism, “if revenge killings are the only Israeli response, then the country is on the road to eventual self-destruction. Palestinians, who have lived in misery and deprivation for more than half a century and have little to lose, will outlast Israelis who are accustomed to the comforts and per capita income of advanced Western societies. If Israel’s punishment of Palestinian terrorism is to serve as a deterrent rather than a provocation to greater terrorism, Israel must offer Palestinians a clear alternative to violence that leads … to viable statehood.” (Pg. 118)
Phyllis Bennis observes, “evangelical Protestants believe the second coming of Christ must be pre-conditioned by the ‘return’ of all the Jews to the land of Israel, and the creation of a Jewish entity ready for the Messiah. As a result, they support not only Israel… but the Zionist project of ‘returning’ Jews from around the world to Israel… what is never mentioned is … what happens next… including, by the time of the second coming, the conversion of death of all the Jews. This part of the Christian Zionist agenda is, not surprisingly, played down by both the evangelicals and their allies in the Likud.” (Pg. 127-128)
Douglas Rushkoff asserts, “Torah itself … is interpreted in the most literal way possible in order to justify each new land grab. ‘See? This parcel was deeded to Abraham. It says so right there in Genesis!’ And this new need to interpret Torah in a literal fashion reduces covenant to a real estate contract… We get a claim on some land, but we lose our religion in the process.” (Pg. 181)
Philip Green notes, “It is often said, angrily and truly, that Israel seems to occupy an exceptional place on the left’s political hit list: Where is the critique of the Russians in Chechnya, of Turkey in Kurdistan, of China in Tibet?... However, it does not seem of major relevance … when the issue for Americans is the brutally one-sided assault we are witnessing in Iraq… when even some of that assault’s strongest supporters admit that it cannot achieve its purported aim---to being ‘peace’ and ‘democracy’ to the Middle East---unless a mutually acceptable settlement on Palestinian rights is achieved first. Thus is a there is a double standard here, Israel is not its primary object.” (Pg. 247)
Letty Cottin Pogrebin says, “Israel was established as a democratic Jewish state… few would dispute that the Law of Return is on its face antithetical to the core principles of democracy… Since the law privileges Jews and only Jews, its perils are obvious: 1) It codifies a double standard… 2) It nullifies and supersedes legitimate property rights… 3)… Many who proselytize for privileged Jewish immigration … want Jewish citizens to outnumber Arab citizens in order to control the Jewishness of the state… Recognizing these problems, how can I, a civil libertarian… defend the Law of Return? Because in this case, I believe history trumps ideology and politics. The Jewish right to instant citizenship strikes me as a factually warranted, compensatory response to the truth of Jewish experience.” (Pg. 287)
Susan Sontag argues, “It is not in the best interests of Israel to be an oppressor… What is in the true interests of a modern community is justice. It cannot be right to systematically oppress and confine a neighboring people… Those brave Israeli Jews who… have spoken up on behalf of the plight and the rights of Palestinians are defending the true interests of Israel…” (Pg. 349)
This book will be of keen interest to those seeking alternative perspectives on Israel and the Palestinians.
November 23, 2014
Some really good stuff in here, and some essays I didn't particularly like. I guess the editors were trying to show a range of ideas, but some of the ideas were not as well presented as others.
Essays/poems I found interesting:
The whole of section one, Zionism and its discontents: historical documents. essays by Buber, Arendt, Magnes, Ha'am, Neimark, and others.
Morning News, by Marilyn Hacker
Most of section two: The Contemporary Crisis: Analytical Perspectives: Especially essay by Siegman
Wings, by Aurora Levins Morales
Jewish Days and Nights, by Adrienne Rich
Living with the Holocaust, by Sarah Roy
No Return, by Ammiel Alcalay
The Charge of Anti-Semitism: Judith Butler
Returning the Law of Return: Melanie Kaye-Kantrowitz
Essays/poems I found interesting:
The whole of section one, Zionism and its discontents: historical documents. essays by Buber, Arendt, Magnes, Ha'am, Neimark, and others.
Morning News, by Marilyn Hacker
Most of section two: The Contemporary Crisis: Analytical Perspectives: Especially essay by Siegman
Wings, by Aurora Levins Morales
Jewish Days and Nights, by Adrienne Rich
Living with the Holocaust, by Sarah Roy
No Return, by Ammiel Alcalay
The Charge of Anti-Semitism: Judith Butler
Returning the Law of Return: Melanie Kaye-Kantrowitz
January 31, 2023
Full review on my blog:
https://sbhowell.com/2023/01/wrestlin...
Mini review for Goodreads:
This was the first book I read about Israel. I wouldn't recommend it as a first read, it would probably have been better to start with a more neutral history book like A History of Israel by Howard Sachar.
This is a very good book to read if you want to understand why American Jewish leftist academics are critical of Israel.
The essays are dense and rich and bring up a lot of good points and discussion topics even if you don't agree with them. The letters by Cultural Zionists (who wanted a spiritual center for Jews in Israel but not a state) show how much history of dissent against Israel there was within the Jewish community since the early days of Zionism.
My favorite essays were:
"A Truth from Eretz Yisrael" by Ahad Ha'am
from "Zionism Reconsidered" by Hannah Arendt
"Israel's Spiritual Climate" by Isaac Deutscher
"The United States-Israel Alliance" by Joel Beinin
"Israel and the Media: An Acquired Taste" by Seth Ackerman
"The Chosen: Ideological Roots of the U.S.-Israeli Special Relationship" by Daniel Lazare
"Jew vs. Jew: On the Jewish Civil War and the New Prophetic" by Marc H. Ellis
"Rally 'Round the Flag" by Douglas Rushkoff
"Dislocated Identities: Reflections of an Arab-Jew" by Ella Habiba Shohat
"My Patriarch Problem--and Ours" by Richard Goldstein
"Is There Still a Jewish Question? Why I'm an Anti-Anti-Zionist" by Ellen Willis
"The Charge of Anti-Semitism: Jews, Israel, and the Risks of Public Critique" by Judith Butler
https://sbhowell.com/2023/01/wrestlin...
Mini review for Goodreads:
This was the first book I read about Israel. I wouldn't recommend it as a first read, it would probably have been better to start with a more neutral history book like A History of Israel by Howard Sachar.
This is a very good book to read if you want to understand why American Jewish leftist academics are critical of Israel.
The essays are dense and rich and bring up a lot of good points and discussion topics even if you don't agree with them. The letters by Cultural Zionists (who wanted a spiritual center for Jews in Israel but not a state) show how much history of dissent against Israel there was within the Jewish community since the early days of Zionism.
My favorite essays were:
"A Truth from Eretz Yisrael" by Ahad Ha'am
from "Zionism Reconsidered" by Hannah Arendt
"Israel's Spiritual Climate" by Isaac Deutscher
"The United States-Israel Alliance" by Joel Beinin
"Israel and the Media: An Acquired Taste" by Seth Ackerman
"The Chosen: Ideological Roots of the U.S.-Israeli Special Relationship" by Daniel Lazare
"Jew vs. Jew: On the Jewish Civil War and the New Prophetic" by Marc H. Ellis
"Rally 'Round the Flag" by Douglas Rushkoff
"Dislocated Identities: Reflections of an Arab-Jew" by Ella Habiba Shohat
"My Patriarch Problem--and Ours" by Richard Goldstein
"Is There Still a Jewish Question? Why I'm an Anti-Anti-Zionist" by Ellen Willis
"The Charge of Anti-Semitism: Jews, Israel, and the Risks of Public Critique" by Judith Butler
February 25, 2009
Conflicting and troubling collection of essays that purport to unmask the myth of the founding of Israel and a repudiation of the nationalism that has given rise to a condition of occupation for non-Jewish Israelis and Palestinians. My problem with this is that although it contains much that is illuminating (and painful) about the founding of Israel and the subsequent patronage and influence of the United States, it is unrelentingly harsh and offers no solutions or answers. It is also poorly organized, hard to determine the rhyme or reason for the book's thematic format. Many essays seem pointless other than to point fingers. Good idea, some wonderful content - poor editorial handling.
May 15, 2024
It's quite revealing to re-read this book, originally published in 2003, almost twenty years later. I taught this book in my American Zionism class at AUB in 2006 and one of my former students mentioned it recently so I decided to read it again. What makes this re-read interesting is how things have shifted so much in just two decades in terms of the growth of Jewish anti-Zionists in the US. While some parts of this book make me cringe politically, it's wonderful to know that some of those views have become untenable and new norms have been created.
February 20, 2008
This book is a compilation of essays, and just as with most compilations some are better than others. Essayists run the gamut from strong zionists only opposed to the occupation to ardent anti-zionists, with many shades and complexities in between. It's worth picking up though to read "Living with the Holocaust: The Journey of a Child of Holocaust Survivors." Or you can read that one essay online at http://www.bintjbeil.com/E/occupation.... Seriously. That essay is amazing.
July 25, 2013
A lot of interesting perspectives, but in the end, I still felt a certain amount of assimilationist ideas, what progressive meant often meant "as gentile" as possible, ignoring perspectives of social progressives who are religious.
January 4, 2016
Lot of interesting content here. Certainly gets a little repetitive, but I took a lot away from it, including some quotes that I can whip out at key moments so that's cool.
Side note: I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the world who has read this book for straight up pleasure. Hmm.
Side note: I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the world who has read this book for straight up pleasure. Hmm.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews