“In 1948, Israel was fragile, the Zionist conversation was robust. Today, Israel is robust – the Zionist conversation has turned fragile.”
Professor Gil Troy is a historian and lecturer at McGill University in Canada, and has written books including Why I am a Zionist and Moynihan's Moment: America's Fight Against Zionism as Racism. This week, the Union of Jewish Students, in association with the Jewish Agency, invited him to the UK to give a series of talks to students on campus. His lecture tour has included events at UCL, Queen Mary, Warwick, Leeds and Manchester universities.
As described by Daniel Kosky, Campaigns Organiser for UJS, the week is “about showcasing the range of voices and opinions that Jewish students in the UK have about Zionism and Israel. From those who identify as progressive Zionists, to religious Zionists, political Zionists, and non-Zionists, Jewish students come from a huge range of backgrounds and beliefs when it comes to the topic of Zionism.
“That should be celebrated, and this campus tour is a great opportunity to do just that.”
UJS has also purchased one thousand copies of Professor Troy’s latest work, The Zionist Ideas, which it is disseminating to students. It is described as a “renewed” version of Arthur Hertzberg’s 1959 anthology, The Zionist Idea; as with the original, it contains a collection of essays by Zionist thinkers of all political and spiritual persuasions.
The lecture tour was launched at JHub in North West London on Monday, where Professor Troy spoke to an audience of around 50 young members of the Jewish community.
“Going back to the 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, the Zionist movement was launched through conversation,” Professor Troy said.
“When I travel around the Jewish world and I see how hard it is to have a conversation about Israel, when I see how the conversation about Israel has turned so fragile, so tense, it upsets me.
“I see kids coming from the finest Jewish day schools… and they’re suffocating. Before they even get attacked on campus, they’ve been given such a simplistic, Israel-right-or-wrong approach to Israel and Zionism, that no wonder they’re running away from it.
“I’m trying to introduce a whole new vocabulary and conversation through [from] political Zionism to identity Zionism.”
The Zionist Ideas is split into three parts. The first focuses on the Pioneers, those writing prior to 1948 about the founding of the Jewish State. Part two compiles the thoughts and ideas of the Builders, those “actualising and modernising the Zionist blueprints post-1948”. The third group are the Torchbearers – today’s generation, “reassessing, redirecting and reinvigorating” Zionism. Each part of the book is further split into six subcategories – Political Zionism, Labour Zionism, Revisionist Zionism, Religious Zionism, Cultural Zionism and Diaspora Zionism.
Altogether, the book presents the ideas of 168 prominent Zionists, with very different ideas about their Zionism. In the launch session, Professor Troy focused on a dozen of these, from Sir Isaiah Berlin and Amoz Oz to Natan Sharansky and Stav Shaffir, “to show you how to model what I’m calling Zionist salons. To show you how to have a conversation about Zionism that might work with your various constituencies, comrades, friends.
“The Zionist Salons are an opportunity to jump-start conversations about Jewish peoplehood, Jewish statehood, and finding personal meaning through those frameworks.”
Mr Kosky told the JC, "over the past 6 months we’ve seen heated discussions within the community on topics around Israel. We believe we should celebrate the diversity of opinions within our community, and engage in civil dialogue about a very important topic."
He said the events were open to “all students, everyone, across the political, religious and cultural spectrum.
"To those who identify with any strand of Zionism, to those who do not, engage with us, express your identity and your thoughts.”
