If you approach a Christian with an example of some blatant and indefensibly abhorrent act of cruelty being carried out in the name of Jesus, the most common response you are likely to get is, “this isn’t us.” This direct rebuke is made for the sake of clarifying that “real Christians” do not carry out this category of harm, ostensibly because it actually goes against the teachings of Christ. It’s a variant of the No true Scotsman fallacy trying to depict a functionally pure form of Christianity–which they follow–and in contrast the example you’ve presented is being carried out by one or more fringe apostates who misuse their religion for heretical gains. At best it’s a type of marketing tactic, especially in online social spheres, but more cynically it’s a form of virtue signaling meant to justify and protect one’s–apparently threatened–right to be a loud and ardent Christian.

In perpetual response to Israel’s cruelty, I find myself looking at what is being done in the name of Judaism and am so tempted to say, “this isn’t us. This in no way reflects the ideals of an earnest, devout, and erudite Jew.” But recently I’m inclined to pause, and reflect on my upbringing and lifelong experience with Judaism, Zionism, and the American Ashkenazi milieu, and I am forced to relent and recognize a disappointing truth: “this is us.” Zionism, its proponents, and its outcomes are a fact of life for every Jew; and regardless of whether or not these views and actions are rooted in or supported by the teachings of the Tanach, the Talmud, or otherwise, they are the views of millions of Jews, and have become core to Jewish living.

I was raised in a bizarre mix of Conservadox and Reform Jewish cultures. My father was an ardent Zionist, thoroughly against a two-state solution, and deeply anti-Arab. My mother, far less prone to militant ideals, but ever the product of Neoliberalism, was similarly disposed to the normal Zionist talking points. This was exacerbated by her later re-marrying an Israeli man who is just about tied with my now deceased father for saying the most horrifying things about Palestinians I’ve ever heard. The usual accusations against Palestinians and defenses against Israel were tossed around the house for my entire life, but none of this compared to the immersion and ruthless saturation of Zionism and Pro-Israel propaganda I was exposed to when I was enrolled in a prominent Jewish private school from grades 3 through 8. My daily studies were fully split between the standard–apparently secular–American curriculum of English, Maths, Sciences, Social-Studies (whatever those are), and such, and a track designed to provide a so-called modern Jewish education. While elementary school’s primary focus was on teaching Hebrew, prayer, and a basic crash course in the Bible’s major components, significant additional attention was always given to matters of Israel, it’s statehood, and the indissoluble and apparently intrinsic connection between it and global Judaism. Middle school advanced the studies to include the Talmud, the additional books of the Jewish Bible–the Nevi’im and Ketuvim–