The bond between American Jews and Israel is undergoing a quiet transformation. A growing number no longer identify with Zionism, and the old assumption that Jewish identity demands loyalty to Israel’s government is coming apart
For most of the past half-century, the leaders of American Jewish organizations operated on an assumption so obvious that it hardly needed stating. To be a Jew in America was to be a supporter of Israel, and to be a supporter of Israel was to support whatever government happened to sit in Jerusalem. Dissent was treated as a family embarrassment, to be handled behind closed doors, not aired on the op-ed page of The New York Times.