Professor Shaul Magid is right about something fundamental: liberal Zionism is in crisis.

October 7 and the devastation of Gaza have not merely strained an ideology; they have exposed fault lines that many liberal Zionists long knew were there but hoped time, peace processes, or better leadership would eventually resolve. The old language feels brittle. The old coalitions are fraying. The old assumptions no longer carry the weight they once did.

This is not denial. It is honesty.

But where I want to part company with Shaul — gently, respectfully, and as a former student who has learned much from him — is in what we imagine comes after this diagnosis.

Because naming a pivot is not the same as naming a destination.

And a crisis of liberal Zionism does not automatically mean its exhaustion.

The Diagnosis I Largely Share

Much of Shaul’s essay resonates deeply with what I see in my own community.

Yes:

• The phrase “Jewish and democratic” is under unprecedented strain.

• Yes: Israeli society has moved sharply rightward, with illiberal impulses no longer marginal.

• Yes: settler violence, Kahanism, and talk of “no innocents” have entered the mainstream in ways that would have been unthinkable not long ago.

• Yes: liberal American Jews feel trapped between defending a war they cannot morally justify and abandoning a people they cannot emotionally relinquish.

• Yes: the old two-state mantra often feels more like a talisman than a plan.

And yes — it must be said — Gaza has become a moral rupture event, not only for Palestinians but for Jews whose........

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