What Stake Should American Jews Have in Israeli Affairs?

From The Conspiracy in newvoices.com

Israel has always been always at least somewhat present in my life. Though I have only visited once, as a Jew who was raised in a Jewish educational system, Zionism came part-and-parcel with my religious education. In school, I learned Modern Hebrew as a second language and was exposed to Israeli culture and food. Israel was the Jewish homeland, and I, in religion, in peoplehood, and in Israeli law, was guaranteed a home (or, at the very least, citizenship) there.

As I grew older, I was taught that as an American Jew, I had a duty to defend and support Israel; therefore, I began to engage in a wide range of pro-Israel activities. I attended AIPAC’s 2012 Policy Conference, and began writing and thinking critically about what it means to be pro-Israel in the context of a world that is increasingly hostile toward perceived colonialism (and many do perceive Israel and Zionism as a colonial project, even if we supporters of Israel do not).

One of the claims made in the documentary The J Street Challenge (which — yes — I did, finally, watch) is that J Street specifically (and, perhaps, other left-wing Zionist organizations as well) are imperialist in their desire to circumvent the Israeli political system by advocating for a two-state solution that the Israeli government does not support at present. However, could this question not be posed more broadly? Couldn’t any intervention into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by Americans, either from the political left or the political right, be considered imperialist? Are we not imperialist in our desire to end a conflict in a region not our own, in a country that does not directly threaten our own borders and our own country?

If we Jews truly believe Israel to be our homeland, we have a vested interest in our protection, be we politically on the left or on the right — in essence, we have no choice but to be imperialists. Alternately, if we truly belong in Israel, then we, too, have a say in how our Jewish homeland should function.

Or, perhaps, we should not.

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