Young American Jews Are "Walking Away from Judaism Because Its Only Content Is Pro-Israelism," says Eric Alterman

Speaking at Tel Aviv University in May, Eric Alterman, a prominent American Jewish liberal voice, declared that Israel has lost American liberals and that Judaism itself is in crisis because its only content is “pro-Israelism.” He declared: “Israel has lost the left, no question about it, and it can’t get it back as long as it has the occupation… It’s building 4,000 new settlements. It’s doing terrible things each day… Israel has lost American Jews and liberals because it has no content to offer besides stale ‘Everyone hates the Jews’ propaganda that is meaningless to young Jews.” (Mondoweiss, June 20, 2022)

Alterman, for many years the media columnist for The Nation and now a professor of English and Journalism at Brooklyn College (CUNY) told his Tel Aviv audience that, “Israel has a hasbara program, and all of these groups are attempting to reach out to American liberals, but they have nothing to reach out to them with anymore. Because the argument that I was given that made sense to me when I was growing up and maybe made sense to my daughter; that there was a Holocaust and Jews have never been safe, and Israelis were invaded and are at risk every minute–that argument doesn’t hold water anymore. American Jews are still being given the exact same argument by Jewish organizations... but they’ve learned something very different on the news…What they see, they don’t like… American Jewish youth are walking away from Judaism. They’re either turning away from Israel or they’re walking away from Judaism entirely. Because Judaism has no answers for them.”

What young Jewish Americans are told, said Alterman, is, “Be pro-Israel, watch out for anti-Semitism. There is no content…American Judaism is dying on the vine. It’s been replaced by nothing, but pro-Israelism and pro-Israelism doesn’t work anymore.”

Alterman has a new book coming out. "We Are Not One,” about the chasm between American and Israeli Jews. He argues that to save Judaism, the money spent on programs like Birthright Israel, to send young American Jews on free trips to Israel, should be spent, instead, on “the wonders of Jewish history and culture, so as to rejuvenate American Jewish institutions and social justice institutions…I feel like Israel has said to American Jews, ‘We’re going on our way, and you can take it or leave it.’ And more and more American Jews are going to leave…Since the ‘80s, Israel has forced liberals to choose between liberalism and Zionism…Because the occupation is forever… Liberals don’t like the idea of a ‘Jewish state.’ What is the reason that people living next to each other have such different rights. Israel answers, ‘Arabs are going to destroy us. Shut up and sign the check.’ The American liberal response is to walk away.” **