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June 1, 2025
Key Developments and What We're Discussing Today:
1) Today, June 1, marks 604 days since October 7, 2023. The Hamas-led attack on Simchat Torah resulted in 1,182 fatalities (including 44 Americans) and over 4,000 wounded. 251 hostages (210 alive, 41 dead bodies) were taken during a day of brutal savagery and sexual violence. It was the largest single massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, with more than one in every 10,000 Israelis killed, and the third overall deadliest terrorist attack in the world to date.
2) The 58 remaining hostages, 35 known to be dead, 20 thought to be alive, and three of unknown status, include four Americans. Hamas holds the bodies of Omer Neutra, Itay Chen, Judi Weinstein Haggai, and Gad Haggai. Releasing all the hostages might not be priorities for Trump and Netanyahu, but it's a top priority for us.
3) Trump has negotiated the release of only one hostage following the conclusion of the deal entered into during the waning days of the Biden administration. Time is running out for the remaining living hostages. Interim deals that release them in dribs and drabs are insufficient. We need an immediate end to the Gaza war and the immediate return of all remaining hostages, living and dead, with no additional conditions from either party.
4) Our emotional attachment to Israel should inspire us not to deny or ignore the actions of the current Israeli government, but to work even harder to ensure a democratic, Jewish state of Israel.
5) Chag Shavuot Sameach!
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Hi Steve,
A recent Jewish Voters Resource Center poll found that 69% of Jewish American voters are emotionally attached to Israel. I'm one of them. If you're Jewish, you probably are too.
To varying degrees, most Jewish Americans consider Israel part of their identity. We consider Israelis part of our family (many of us have family members who are Israelis). When Israel is attacked or criticized, it feels like we are being attacked or criticized. We take it personally.
The older we are, and the more that pre-1967 Israel is part of our memory, the more likely we are to still see Israel as a beleaguered country, alone in the world, always on the verge of annihilation, not the regional superpower that it is and is perceived as by most people today.
(It's not 1967 or even 1973. Syria, Jordan, and Egypt do not pose credible military threats to Israel. Hamas struck on October 7 while too many IDF units were guarding settlements, but Hamas was never an existential threat to Israel. Iran might want to destroy Israel, but it can't.)
Yet we feel the way we feel. We can't understand why others don't understand or see how we feel or why they don't share our reality. The sheer depravity of Hamas's October 7 attack shook us to our core, resurrecting centuries of trauma and vulnerability.
No wonder we sometimes ascribe criticism of Israel to antisemitism. Why else would Israel come under such criticism, especially after October 7? (And yes, some criticism of Israel is antisemitic.)
For us to deny our feelings, which are real, would be wrong and counterproductive. But if we want to support Israel, if we want to advocate for Israel effectively, we need to see things as they are, not as we might wish them to be.
We can love our spouses without denying their faults (not that mine or yours have any faults, but use your imagination). We can love America without denying its faults, which include genocide of Native Americans, slavery, and a host of other sins. We can love America while abhorring its elected leaders.
So too, we can love Israel as it is, not as we wish it to be, and we can work to defend the State of Israel while supporting the change needed to ensure its future as a Jewish, democratic state.
It's easy to dismiss criticism from the usual suspects: the people who think Israel can do nothing right and are quick to believe the worst about Israel.
It's easy to dismiss criticism from people who might be well-intentioned but don't know what they are talking about, or to convince ourselves that people who seem well-credentialed are relying on faulty information or have hidden, and sometimes not-so-hidden, biases.
The UN, Amnesty International, and other international organizations have long and well-documented histories of bias against Israel.
But what do we do when people who are unquestionably knowledgeable, pro-Israel, Zionist, and anything but antisemitic harshly criticize Israel? We don't have to agree with them. They could be wrong too.
But when people who have done more to support Israel than we will ever do criticize the policies of Israel's government, shouldn't we at least take them seriously? And can we fault anyone else for taking them seriously?
In December, former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" in northern Gaza.
On May 22, former prime minister and former defense minister Ehud Barak called Netanyahu's plans for Gaza "a war of deception – whereby a misleading smokescreen purports to be a campaign for the country's security and future, while in actuality it's a political war, a war for peace within the governing coalition."
On May 27, former prime minister and former Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert, who previously rejected allegations of war crimes against Israel, said that he thinks Israel is committing "war crimes," although he disagreed with Ya'alon that Israel is engaged in ethnic cleansing.
On May 29, Gershon Baskin, the initiator and negotiator of the secret back channel between Israel and Hamas for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, wrote that Hamas is willing to release all 58 hostages at one time in return for an end to the war. Still, Israel will not accept a permanent ceasefire because "Netanyahu and his government continue to put their own political interests ahead of those of Israel."
You'll notice all but one of the above cites are from the past two weeks. Jay Michaelson asks and answers the question you might have:
"What has prompted this change of mind from Israeli conservatives, veterans who served in Gaza, and hundreds of thousands of Israelis? Why have those of us who supported Israel’s actions in 2023 come to oppose Israel’s actions today? Are we the ones who have changed? Have we suddenly been overcome by a wave of internalized antisemitism?
"Obviously, what has changed is the Israeli government’s policy. No longer is this war being carried out to free the remaining hostages and defeat Hamas. Now, the stated goal is to exile or eliminate the Palestinian population of Gaza."
I've approvingly cited Jay Michaelson several times since October 7, 2023, for his well-argued posts explaining why Israel is not guilty of genocide in Gaza. Michaelson maintains that Israel's critics were wrong then but he now believes, in 2025, that they are right.
I think the word "genocide" is too misunderstood to add value to the discussion and is not necessary to meaningfully assess Israel's actions in Gaza. But making the accusation is not antisemitic and should not be dismissed as such.
So how do we respond? We could close our eyes, put our hands over our ears, and shout "la la la." Then we could pretend that Israel is still the plucky little pre-1967 state that we grew up loving rather than the most powerful country in the region and repeat the talking points we've been trained since our youth to recite.
That's the course some pro-Israel organizations that surely know better are taking. That's the course that certain social media influencers, who might not know better or who are paid not to know better, are taking.
That's the course some of our friends are taking. No wonder they are frustrated. No wonder they blame decreasing support for Israel in the U.S. on antisemitism rather than the actions of Israel's current government.
The problem with that approach is that more and more members of Congress, and more and more Americans, are not closing their eyes. They have not changed. They are responding to changes in Israel's conduct of the war.
If we don't like increasing criticism of Israel, some of which conflates the government of Israel with the State of Israel, a better course might be to work to end the war and bring back all the hostages, which will obviate the need for this criticism while saving Israeli and Palestinian lives--smart politics combined with smart policy.
Pro-Israel Americans need to side with the Israelis fighting for Israel, not for Netanyahu and not for a Greater Israel that would spell the end to Israel's democracy. That means advocating for the immediate release of all the hostages--not in stages but all at once, because time is running out for the living hostages--and an immediate end to the war in Gaza.
As hard as it is for some of us to accept, some of the criticism of Israel, and part of the reason we are hearing more of it, stems not from antisemitism or hatred of Israel but from genuine concern about Israel, the hostages, and innocent Palestinians.
Supporting Israel's safety and security, supporting humanitarian assistance for Palestinians, supporting the immediate release of all hostages and the immediate end to the war in Gaza, supporting military assistance to Israel, and opposing the policies of the current Israeli government are not contradictory. They are complementary.
Ending the now-unnecessary war in Gaza means an end to questions about how weapons provided by the U.S. to Israel are used in Gaza, which is a driving force behind some efforts to limit arms sales to Israel. (I oppose such efforts for reasons I've explained in previous newsletters.)
That means working toward a two-state solution and opposing settlement construction and expansion, which puts a two-state solution further out of reach and makes Israel less secure. That means condemning settler violence against Palestinians.
That does not mean excusing or ignoring Palestinian terrorism or incitement. That does not mean apologizing for Hamas or expecting Israel to tolerate missile attacks from any country or entity. That does not mean accepting false equivalencies or giving up the Zionist dream. It means the opposite: working to fulfill the Zionist dream of a democratic, Jewish state, which requires a two-state solution, no matter how far away it is today.
It means remembering John Maynard Keynes who, when asked why he changed his mind, replied, "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"
Daniel Sokatch wrote on May 29, "American Jews themselves can no longer afford to look away or defer to institutions that ask them to check their conscience at the door...We can either continue to support an Israeli government driving Israel towards the abyss, backed by the American Jewish organizations that defend, justify, rationalize, or ignore Israeli actions, or [we] can choose to stand with those Israelis who are risking everything to oppose war, civilian starvation, and authoritarianism."
If you find none of today's newsletter convincing, you owe it to yourself to at least read David Schraub's relatively short post, Faithless in Gaza, before you carry on with your day.
Corrections. I'm entitled to my own opinions but not to my own facts, so I appreciate it when readers bring errors to my attention. No one pointed out any errors in last week's newsletter.
In Case You Missed It:
1) Claire Sufrin: My Jewish family is proof that hope is worth mustering after terror cuts young lives short.
2) Ilan Goldenberg: Wrestling with antisemitism from the left.
3) Elad Nehorai: Anti-Israel rhetoric is fueling an alarmingly powerful new wave of antisemitism on the right.
4) I updated my analysis of the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
5) Paul Krugman: Blocking foreign students is an act of self-destruction — and self-betrayal.
6) Andrew Miller: Trump’s Middle East trip was a wasted opportunity to secure major progress on a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear program and resolving the war in Gaza.
7) Dan Shapiro: What’s missing from Trump’s nuclear diplomacy.
8) Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) endorsed Evanston mayor Daniel Biss for Congress in Illinois' 9th district, where Rep. Jan Schakowsky is retiring.
Social Posts of the Week. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) replying to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Chris Mowrey.
Thread of the Week. Michael Koplow.
Facebook Post of the Week. Rabbi Jill Jacobs.
Video Clip of the Week. Airplane! Coffee Scene: The Original and the Spoof.
Vintage Music Clip of the Week. Since many of you liked last week's duet with Elton John and Miss Piggy, here's the original with Elton John and Kiki Dee.
For those new to this newsletter. This is the newsletter even Republicans have to read and the original home of the viral and beloved Top Ten Signs You're At a Republican Seder (yes, I wrote it). If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, why not subscribe and get it in your inbox every Sunday? Just click here--it's free.
I periodically update my posts on the IHRA definition of antisemitism and on why Democrats are better than Republicans on Israel and antisemitism. My definition of "pro-Israel" is here (it's a work in progress, as am I).
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