Jane Prinsley
Radical new groups for Jews who do not support Zionism have formed on campuses up and down the UK
Members of the Jewish Bloc for Palestine take part in a Free Gaza protest in central London (Photo: Getty Images)
British Jews in their twenties are the least likely age group in the community to identify as Zionist, according to the Institute for Jewish Policy Research. Its survey of the community found that 57 per cent of twentysomethings self-identified as Zionist (compared to 63 per cent for UK Jewry as a whole).
When JPR asked why some respondents felt “not accepted” in Jewish spaces, it found the most common reason was their “views on Israel/Zionism”. Most of these perceived their views as being further to the left than most of the Jewish communities of which they are part.
In the last 17 months, radical Jewish student groups have emerged to cater to Jews who do not support Zionism. From Leeds, Liverpool, Brighton and Birkbeck to Edinburgh, Warwick, Cardiff, Cambridge and UCL, students have formed Jewish communities, or kehillot, on campuses which already have Jewish societies (Jsocs).
A founding member of Leeds Kehillah, who wished to remain anonymous, said she wanted to “create a space for Jewish people with non or anti-Zionist beliefs”. According to the student, who is a member of a Masorti community and participated in a youth movement, the kehillah has 15 to 20 active members from all denominations, and hosts festivals, Shabbat dinners, and educational events.
The student, who has been labelled a “self-hating Jew,” claimed, “There is a feeling of ostracisation [in mainstream Jewish spaces] when the majority of people think one thing and you think another.”
She grew up in a family with strong connections to Israel but started to question her Zionism during events at her shul. “A lot of people think your Judaism is dependent on how Zionist you are rather than your cultural beliefs, heritage, traditions, blood. I am Jewish through and through, but I am anti-Zionist,” she said.
During a conference of kehillot in Manchester last December, with Yiddish and klezmer workshops and sessions on Israeli and Arab activism, students were offered funding from far-left Jewish campaign group, Na’amod.
The kehillot gathering in Manchester was supported by Na’amod
The Jewish bloc
One can hardly miss the “Jewish bloc” at Gaza rallies, often accompanied by a Na’amod banner. While some of the bloc belong to Charedi sect Neturei Karta, and others are part of older fringe groups such as Jewish Voice for Labour and Jewish Network for Palestine, some belong to shuls, schools and youth groups at the centre of Zionist Jewish Britain.
Attending anti-Israel demonstrations is complicated for some young Jews. Antisemitic rhetoric has been reported at some rallies – which is why Jewish protesters attend in groups, according to the Leeds Kehillah student who has been part of the “Jewish bloc” at various protests.
But discomfort about antisemitism is less important to her than the situation in Gaza: “Are we going to focus on the rise of antisemitism or the rise of death tolls in Gaza and the West Bank? They are totally different things – both important, but one is very urgent.”
Why have they turned against Israel?
Robert Cohen – who has interviewed 50 people for a PhD on the attitudes of young British Jews who “feel sympathetic towards the Palestinian people” – has found they were were “very aware of antisemitism,” but “chose not to centre it as their response to what has happened since October 7”.
His research suggests that Generation Z (aged 13 to 28) have a “dislike of hypocrisy and a strong commitment to authenticity”. For these progressive Jews, “the Jewish education and values that they have been raised on are intersecting with their Gen-Z sensibilities”.
It was “wrong to assume this group are disconnected from their Judaism, and nor are they tokenising these values,” said Cohen, who criticised those who have condemned young anti-Zionists as being “lefty Jews who want to fit in with their peers, or Revolutionary Communists”.
His interviewees said it was because of their Jewish values – not in spite of them – that they sympathised with the Palestinian perspective.
For this group, October 7 did not shift their attitude towards Zionism. The Leeds student said she was “sickened” by the Hamas attack and was frustrated that anti-Israel protests rarely call for the return of the hostages. “I wish there would be a chant for the hostages,” she said, but added that most protesters “just want the killing to stop and ‘ceasefire now’ is chanted at every rally”.
Cohen suggested that members of this group of young people “see Zionism as a project of Jewish renewal and [also] a project of settler colonialism. Generation Z can hold multiple truths simultaneously, which older generations would typically see as being in conflict.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 07: Members of the activist group Jewish Voice for Peace join others in protesting President Joe Biden’s visit to Manhattan. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Amos Schonfield, a trustee for Yachad, which opposes the occupation of the West Bank, said the young Jews he had spoken to who have broken away from Zionism had no memory of the Oslo Accords, Yitzhak Rabin or a tangible pathway to peace with the Palestinians. All they had known was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “a powerful Israel.”
Older generations had “a very different experience of what Israel is. Decades ago, people were praying for Israel’s very survival. They remember Israel as a vulnerable country,” Schonfield said.
“We end up in a situation where we have different imaginations when it comes to what Israel is.”
Compounding this are the echo chambers online, where people can find groups who think the same things. Young anti-Zionists are influenced by discussions in America, as well as access to Palestinian perspectives on social media.
What does this mean for the mainstream?
Whether this anti-Israel subgroup represents a growing divide between young and old remains to be seen. Ben Freeman, 26-year-old executive director of the Pinsker Centre – a think tank which aims to give students a balanced understanding of the region – says anti-Zionist Jews are a “growing minority, but still a minority.”
“Their voices are being amplified because they are a convenient minority with all the antisemitism on campus,” Freeman said.
He is calling for the community to have “nuanced difficult conversations” with young people about Israel. “We speak to so many students who say, ‘my Israel education was one-dimensional.’”
This is also a worry for Sam Cohen, the RSY Netzer representative on the Board of Deputies. Speaking during a Board meeting last year, Cohen asked what the community was doing to address young people turning away from Israel.
He said, “If the Jewish community is interested in ensuring the young are existentially supported then there needs to be engagement with Israel.”
Some groups, including the Pinsker Centre, are trying to address this challenge. “A lot of students who have grown up in the Jewish community and go to university don’t feel equipped to understand why people don’t like Israel. No one has been willing to have complicated conversations with them.
“If all we can do is have hasbarah about baby tomatoes and irrigation, then we are not equipping young people to be open and engaged,” Freeman said.
“Students are desperate for sensitive conversations around Israel,” he added.
Another organisation, I-gnite, seeks to “empower students, parents and teachers” to express their relationship with Israel and runs a programme with Jewish schools group PaJeS that provides Israel and antisemitism education in Jewish secondary schools.
An I-gnite spokesperson said that Jewish children can grow up in “a bubble,” and arriving on campus surrounded by non-Jewish students “can be a shock.”
At university, “Whether they like it or not, students’ identity may be defined by their Jewishness, and they might be expected to have a view on Israel and the conflict,” she said.
“Studying Israel or contemporary antisemitism was never a dedicated area of study in Jewish schools. We are encouraging schools to expose students to some of these issues; it is a duty of care that schools have.”
UJIA data shows for teens going on Israel tour over a thirty year period
The majority are still with Israel
Despite the challenges around anti-Zionism, those who run youth movements say that engagement with Israel remains high.
United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA) has analysed the 30-year trends of Israel tour. While numbers dipped between 2000 and 2004 – the “Intifada effect” – then during the pandemic and again in the current Gaza war, the trend is up this year, with more than 800 young people signed up across the different movements.
The largest Orthodox youth movement, Bnei Akiva, is taking more than 170 teens to Israel this summer, its highest number since before the pandemic. The movement’s gap year numbers are also high, with 50 young people in Israel this year. Meanwhile, Masorti Judaism’s youth movement, Noam, is taking 60 teens to Israel, a “mega year,” said the movement’s organiser.
So by no means are all young Jews turning against Israel; quite the opposite might be true of the majority. But this is happening as kehilllot form on campuses up and down the country. As Gen-z would say: two things can be true at once.
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