It’s no secret that young people, especially in the U.S., have a different view of Israel than older generations. In its first decades, Israel was seen by most Americans as an underdog state fending off aggressive attacks from much larger Arab nations. They’re well aware that the wars of 1948, 1967, and 1973 were existential and if Israel had not managed to eke out victories, it probably wouldn’t exist today. “This is Joe Biden’s generation,” describes Ezra Klein in a New York Times article. “This generation still feels Israel’s vulnerability.”
Klein goes on to describe two subsequent generational groups. His own generation is the “straddle generation,” many belonging to Gen X, who “only ever knew Israel as the strongest military power in the region. A nuclear Israel. An Israel that occupied Palestinian territories.” But they also saw the peace efforts of the 1990s followed by the horrors of the Second Intifada. This generation’s view of Israel is thus “more mixed.”
“Then there’s younger Americans. They know only Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel.” According to Klein, these young Americans, made up of Millennials and Gen Z, see Israel and its conflict with the Palestinians in much more simplistic terms: as “a country that oppresses and a people that is oppressed.”
To so many members of this generational group, the Israel ruled by Netanyahu and his right-wing coalitions is not just unpalatable but unforgiveable. Their only context, one they fail to look beyond, is of entrenched occupation, a blockade on Gaza, and staunch resistance to a two-state solution, all of which go against their ideals of global social justice. How is the Jewish community, which is largely Zionist, meant to counter this uncritically narrow point of view and the anti-Israel sentiments behind it, both of which are only growing more pronounced among young Americans?
Adam Milstein, a prominent Israeli-American businessman who has been active in Jewish philanthropy for the last several decades, is uniquely suited to analyze the issue and offer solutions. Alongside his wife Gila, he cofounded the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation, which, since 2000, has been supporting vital initiatives that combat antisemitism and anti-Zionism He is the co-founder of the Israeli American Council (IAC) which strives to strengthen Jewish communities in the U.S., foster a vibrant Jewish identity, and bolster the U.S.-Israel relationship. Through his advocacy, he’s been on the frontlines of the rapidly shifting cultural and political landscape that Jews and Zionists must contend with.
In an article for The Jerusalem Post, Milstein reports that “in the last two decades, we’ve witnessed a significant shift in rhetoric and support for Israel across the Western world.” Thanks to increasingly popular cultural and political narratives coming out of academia, this shift has been away from support of Israel. Milstein describes how young people have a tendency to project cultural frameworks unrelated to Israel, frameworks they often learn in college courses and absorb through social media, onto the Israeli-Palestinian issue: “Younger generations, especially Americans, see only one State of Israel – ‘a strong Israel’, an ‘oppressive’ Israel, a ‘colonizer’ Israel, a ‘Zionist’ Israel, an Israel that fits into pre-existing, yet unrelated, social and political constructs of race and power.”
These narratives pose a great threat to the future of U.S.-Israel relations. In order to counter these harmful tendencies and ensure future support of Israel, Milstein offers up three practical steps the Jewish community must take now.
First, we should “create ‘pull factors’ that help young people understand what’s ‘right about Israel’, not what’s ‘wrong about Israel’.” This is a multifaceted approach. Not only does Milstein advise educating young people about the importance of Israel’s existence in the larger American and global context – it’s the only democracy in the Middle East, upholding the liberal values of liberty and freedom that we hold dear – but emphasizing “the wonderful humanity and diversity Israel represents” and “strengthen[ing] connections of Americans to Israel through business ties, innovation, and science.”
Milstein reports that programs like Birthright, Onward-Israel and Gap Year Israel “are needed more than ever to bolster efforts to bring young Jewish and non-Jewish Americans to Israel to solidify the bonds that only personal experience can create.” Seeing Israel firsthand is one of the most powerful ways to forge a connection with the country. Short of that, however, it’s not difficult for writers, advocates, and educators to highlight Israel’s many unique social and technological innovations from afar.
Authors Dan Senor and Saul Singer do a beautiful job of this in their book Start-Up Nation, in which they describe the rise and impact of Israel’s vibrant tech scene not just on the nation itself, but on the entire world market. In their follow-up, The Genius of Israel, they go beyond tech to explore how Israel capitalizes on the unique strengths of its diverse populace to forge an endlessly productive and resilient society – all despite living under constant threat of annihilation. Few know about the myriad creative ways Israel has had to innovate and transform itself in order to survive, so books like these are a good start at showing what the Jewish state has to offer the world.
Milstein’s second step is to “collaborate with friends and allies.” He sees it as fundamental to American security to empower allies like Israel who are well-equipped to fight the radical forces that threaten liberal democracies on a global scale. As the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel’s values are America’s values. Therefore it behooves Americans to recognize that Israel’s enemies, such as “the Islamo-leftist alliance which is comprised of radical Muslims and the far-left extremists are America’s enemies” too. It’s also vital to help other American allies “understand that anti-Semitism starts with the Jews, but never end with the Jews.”
Finally, Milstein argues that “going on the offensive is imperative” because “defense is a losing proposition.” He points out that “Israel’s military and intelligence are known to be proactive and excel in taking the war to the turf of the enemy.” In order to be effective at combatting the narratives that paint Israel as an oppressor nation, American Jews must “collectively adopt the same strategy” and be tenacious in our pride as Jews and Zionists. We cannot allow detractors to continually move the goalposts and apply irrelevant cultural frameworks to an issue that requires deep historical context. We must play by our own rules, not our detractors’. We must “re-commit to be bold. To be unapologetic. And to maintain a gaze to the future.”
By following these three steps, Milstein believes we can stay ahead of the curve of the anti-Zionist and antisemitic forces that have captured impressionable young American minds. With proactive education and collaboration, we can change the narrative and convince young Americans that Israel is a vital part of global liberal democracy.
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