Israel - the difficult conversation

Anonymous

I am involved in communal Jewish life and the Israel debate mostly through my youth movement and the fact that I went to a Jewish school. How we approach the Israel conversation is important to me because I think that the next generation of Jewish leaders have a markedly different approach to the conversation around Israel than those older than them.

I support this campaign because of my experiences being at a university with a small Jewish population and navigating uncomfortable discussions surrounding Israel.

Opening up the Israel conversation is so important; freedom of expression and discussion around Israel can be really difficult in university spaces. On one side, you may be told being pro-Israel is the 'wrong' view, on the other side, allying yourself with the Palestinian cause can be criticised. Often there is little nuance. As the most contentious issue of all, we need to highlight the way in which our JSocs approach the Israel conversation, and implement change where needs be.

It is so important to be inclusive in these communal Jewish spaces because, quite simply we know that it doesn’t always exist. For communal Jewish organisations to continue to represent a broad church of opinion, they need to listen to those who disagree with them, and discuss how to better approach contentious issues.

Through this campaign, I’m hoping to see JSocs across the country having a constructive and helpful discussion regarding how we include as many Jewish voices as possible within our communal bodies.