I’m not an ideologue or someone that likes to hear my own voice. But the Voice criticizing the Jewish Federation and Israel offered so many historically and contextually inaccurate points that I felt a need to share another set of views.
First, in this time of polarization and labels, let me make some
disclaimers so I don’t get thrown into some expedient ideological bucket. I’m
an independent moderate drawn to both liberal and conservative views who finds
himself more on the left than the right. On Israel, I have deep appreciation
for Israel’s security concerns but also condemn the building of settlements in
the occupied territories.
The first thing to counter is the misguided propagation by
the writer, Marcy Winograd, that Zionism is about colonialism and subjugation.
Most Zionists have no colonialist mindset at all. They respect the Jewish
people and their historical contribution and believe the world is more net
positive than net negative if the Jewish people have a homeland. Simple as
that.