What It Means to be a Liberal Jew in America Right Now
On Trump, Israel, the Iran Bombing, and Gaza
Living as a liberal Jew in America during 2025 means:
Fearing for the Iranian people who are simultaneously getting bombed by foreign powers and targeted by their own theocratic fascist government
While hoping Iran’s government doesn’t get nuclear bombs because the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state is literally written into the regime’s policy doctrine
And only 15 million Jews like me exist in the world, half of whom live in Israel
Which is our ancestral homeland, as proven through numerous archeological findings, but has also been the homeland to Palestinians.
Being sickened by Israel’s carpet bombing of Gaza
And crying as I watch families and children suffering in both Gaza and the West Bank
While also being sickened by the brutality of Hamas’ attack on innocent civilians on October 7, 2023, which started the war
And fearing for my own safety when mobs around my country started hunting down Jews on college campuses and elsewhere
While feeling betrayed when people from left-wing human rights organizations, some that I’d donated to, celebrated the Hamas violence against my people as righteous, or flat-out denied it
And called me a Nazi for supporting the right of my ancestral homeland to exist, even though I rejected some of Israel’s more violent policies
(And true Nazis tried to wipe my people off the face of the earth).
And even though I’ve supported the right of a Palestinian state to exist alongside Israel for more than 15 years
And have vocally opposed Netanyahu and his Jewish settler movement in the West Bank
I’ve been unable to vote in Israeli elections because I’m not an Israeli citizen
But am still being held responsible for Israel’s policies just because I’m Jewish.
Voting for Kamala Harris because I feared Trump would get us into a war with Iran, take away my rights as a woman, and launch massive deportations akin to actual Nazi sweeps in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s
And fearing the far right in America, which declared “Jews will not replace us!” during Trump’s first term
While watching other liberals call Harris a genocide supporter and vote for Trump anyway, or not vote at all, while calling people like me the fascists
Even though I protested family separation during the first Trump term
And cried when I saw the balls of fire rise from Gaza
And don’t deny things like the Nakba actually happened
But also understand that many Palestinians hate Jews and blew themselves up in Jerusalem before Israel built its wall
While many Jews have also come to hate Palestinians
And getting sad there may be no hope for this conflict to resolve in my lifetime
But getting pissed that it’s now infected life in the United States for people like me, as well as the Muslim American community.
Not wanting to repeat the mistake of the Iraq War, but this time with Iran
Yet wanting to see the Iranian people overthrow their fascist government
That has helped build and fund proxy terror organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, all of which have the goal of destroying Israel and harming Jews around the world
And have proactively perpetuated international Jew hatred and propaganda akin to the Nazi movement of the 1930s and 1940s
Which I stand against, because I refuse to give into my own destruction (“Never Again”)
And visiting Israel was one of the most healing experiences of my life after a relationship filled with antisemitism and true colonialist ideologies almost turned me against myself, my heritage, and my culture
But wanting the Palestinians to be free and have the right of return, or at least reparations
While wanting the Jewish homeland to survive
And wanting Iranians to be free
While wanting the Trump era to be defeated through democracy, for good
And wanting to safely just be me.
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Shari, I shared your blog with a native of Israel in town who connected with me on Facebook.