When J Street, the liberal pro-Israel lobby, met last weekend in Washington for its annual policy conference, it had to scramble to adjust to a joint U.S.-Israel war on Iran that had begun two days before. J Street’s president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, reiterated his opposition to the war, calling it a “war without a plan to achieve … unclear objectives.”

That position put J Street at odds with many other mainstream Jewish groups, who tended to throw their support behind the United States and Israel and pin the blame on Iran.

It’s a familiar place for J Street and other “liberal Zionist” groups, who can appear to occupy an increasingly lonely place in Jewish and political life. While committed to Israel, they are often critical of its government or disagree with its policies. (On Sunday, Smol Emuni US, an organization of Orthodox and observant Jews committed to “opposing the occupation”  and seeking peace for Jews and Palestinians, will hold its second annual conference in New York.) They also hold onto a vision of two states that is at odds with the current political direction of the country and rejected by a far-left that backs  a “binational” state of Jews and Palestinians.

In polarized discourse, “Zionist” is frequently heard by progressives as shorthand for endorsement of occupation or oppression, while on the pro-Israel right, criticism of Israeli policy is read by some as betrayal.

The word “Zionist” has become so fraught that some feel the need to disavow it. That includes a surprisingly large cohort of American Jews who support Israel, as a recent JFNA poll of American Jews recently suggested.

Is there space for liberal Zionism — as an ideology and a term of art — in this binary world? Last month, before the attacks on Iran began, JTA spoke with a Jewish activists and thought leaders who identify as liberal Zionists — even if they do not always agree on the precise meaning or application of the term. Most acknowledged that the term “Zionist” has become a lightning rod and offered the language they use to build bridges. A few said that the “betrayal” of Jews on the left has been exaggerated and that coalition-building is still robust despite fractures over Oct. 7 and its fallout. 

Although they were interviewed separately, we present their answers in a virtual “panel” form, as they responded to what were essentially similar questions. Their answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Clockwise from top left: Shanie Reichman of Israel Policy Forum, NYU professor Susie Linfield, Ken Bob of the World Labor Zionist Alliance, Rabbi Jill Jacobs of T’ruah, Hadar Susskind of New Jewish Narrative and J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami. (IPF; Annette Hornischer; courtesy Ken Bob; T’ruah; Americans for Peace Now; J Street)

Do you find “Zionist” a useful term and relevant term for your relationship with Israel?

Hadar Susskind, president and CEO of New Jewish Narrative (formed in 2024 with the merger of Americans for Peace Now and Ameinu, the former Labor Zionist Alliance): I have always and continue to identify as Zionist. But I also don’t place my emotional and intellectual value on the term. I place it on trying to see Israel be the kind of country we want it to be.

Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights: The word Zionist, and also anti-Zionist, tends to shut down conversation more than it opens it up. We can have conversations about what’s our relationship to the biblical Land of Israel, what’s our relationship to the people, what’s our relationship to the state, which is ultimately a state like any other state that has to follow international law. The word Zionism has largely ceased to be useful in that it prevents us from having an actual conversation about the state of Israel, which is not an idea or a theory, it’s a country.

Ken Bob, chair of the World Labor Zionist Alliance: In 1982 I hosted a ballroom talk by the late, great Israeli author Amos Oz. He stated: “Zionism has always been a surname, not a first name. No one person was ever allowed to claim Zionism for himself.” This commentary on Zionism has guided me in discussions, explaining why I can be supportive of a peace-seeking, Jewish, democratic Israel while speaking out publicly against destructive Israeli government policies

Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street: If you go back and look at our materials, since 2008 when we launched, never once did we proactively use the word Zionist. Calling ourselves “pro-Israel, pro peace” was a very conscious decision right from the start, and not to proactively........

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