Monday, May 17, 2010

Young Jews and Zionism

Via Jonathan Bernstein, check out this interesting essay from Peter Beinart about the state of American Zionism.  From some reseach Frank Luntz is doing, it looks like college-aged American Jews just aren't buying it anymore:
Most of the students, in other words, were liberals, broadly defined. They had imbibed some of the defining values of American Jewish political culture: a belief in open debate, a skepticism about military force, a commitment to human rights. And in their innocence, they did not realize that they were supposed to shed those values when it came to Israel. The only kind of Zionism they found attractive was a Zionism that recognized Palestinians as deserving of dignity and capable of peace, and they were quite willing to condemn an Israeli government that did not share those beliefs. Luntz did not grasp the irony. The only kind of Zionism they found attractive was the kind that the American Jewish establishment has been working against for most of their lives.

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