My good friend Paul Mirbach - who is a lifelong friend - articulated something that I have been struggling with
There is a dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza. There have been actions by individual IDF soldiers that deserve investigation and, where wrongdoing is proven, accountability. There are legitimate questions about decisions made by Israel’s government and about how this war has been prosecuted.
Israel should be held to high standards — particularly because Jewish and Zionist values place such importance on human life, justice, morality and responsibility.
But acknowledging wrongdoing is very different from writing off an entire people.
In war — particularly under a deeply divided, right-wing government — terrible decisions can be made and terrible things can happen. Those actions should be confronted. They do not justify condemning seven million Jews in Israel, nor millions more Jews and Zionists around the world.
My concern is when legitimate criticism crosses into something else: slogans and demonstrations that portray “Zionists” or Jews collectively as evil, criminal or complicit, or treat the still-contested legal accusation of genocide as though it automatically establishes the guilt of an entire people.
You can condemn the actions of a government without condemning a country’s people.
You can demand accountability from soldiers who break the law without condemning an entire army or society.
And you can care deeply about Palestinian suffering without turning that suffering into hatred of Jews or Zionists.
That distinction matters.
Hold governments accountable. Hold individuals accountable. Demand better.
But don’t turn legitimate outrage into collective guilt.
That is my objection.
