BEING ISRAELI BUT NON ZIONIST

19 July 2025

1. Introduction: Being Israeli but Non-Zionist

To be Israeli but non-Zionist today is to live in profound contradiction. You belong to a society founded on an ideology you reject - yet you're still a citizen, participant, and witness to its actions. Your passport, language, and daily life are Israeli. But your moral compass, historical understanding, and political ideals may be radically out of sync with your surroundings.

It’s not just an intellectual tension - it’s an existential one.

2. Core Dilemma: Home vs Ideology

A non-Zionist Israeli may feel:

Alienation: from the national narrative, which frames the state as the natural and just return of the Jewish people.

Guilt or complicity: for living on land acquired through displacement and maintained by military domination.

Exclusion: from mainstream discourse, which assumes Zionism as a baseline for loyalty and belonging.

And yet:

This is your home, you may have been born there, raised your children there, speak Hebrew, love the land.

You may be against Zionism, but also afraid of what would come if the system collapsed chaotically.

3. Your Possible Attitudes and Strategies

A. Ethical Dissent Within

You choose to stay and speak out.

You align with human rights groups (e.g. B'Tselem, Breaking the Silence).

You may view Israel as a state in need of radical transformation - not destruction, but de-Zionisation (i.e. from ethnocracy to full democracy).

You support equal rights, truth-telling about 1948, and a shared future with Palestinians.

B. Cultural Israeli, Political Stateless

You disconnect from nationalism entirely.

You live privately, culturally Jewish or secular, with little public engagement.

You might feel like a resident rather than a citizen—physically present, spiritually in exile.

C. Emigration (Yerida)

You leave. You cannot reconcile your values with life under a Zionist regime.

You may become part of the Jewish diaspora again, but as a critic of Israeli policy.

But leaving doesn’t guarantee peace—it may provoke accusation of betrayal and permanent inner exile.

4. Historical Role Models or Examples

Yeshayahu Leibowitz – Orthodox Jew, Israeli citizen, fiercely anti-Zionist. Called the IDF in the Occupied Territories "Judeo-Nazi."

Ilan Pappé – Jewish Israeli historian in exile, accused Zionism of ethnic cleansing.

Miko Peled – Son of an IDF general, now advocates for a one-state solution with full equality.

Uri Avnery – Longtime peace activist, believed Israel must reconcile with Palestinian rights or self-destruct.

5. Day-to-Day Reality

As a non-Zionist Israeli, you might:

Face social ostracism - Zionism is not just a policy, it's the state religion.

Be accused of being self-hating or worse, “anti-Semitic.”

Live in a state of cognitive dissonance: shopping in Israeli stores, served by Palestinian labour, protected by soldiers you don’t support.

Be caught between complicity and impotence.

6. Glossary

Zionism: Political ideology advocating for a Jewish nation-state in Palestine.

De-Zionisation: A radical idea proposing the transformation of Israel into a neutral, democratic state without ethnic preference.

Yerida: Emigration from Israel—often viewed negatively within Zionist discourse.

Ethnocracy: A regime where one ethnic group dominates the state structurally.

7. Final Reflection

You would likely live with the painful awareness that you are part of a state built on dispossession—but not because you chose it. You might see your role as bearing witness, telling the truth, and refusing to normalise the occupation. Whether you stay or go, your dissent becomes your identity.