Madeleine May Kunin, who was a three-term governor of Vermont, is the author of “Coming of Age: My Journey to the Eighties.”
Being Jewish in today’s political environment is complicated. There has always been a question:
is Judaism a religion or a nationality or simply an ethnic group? With the birth of Israel, and with the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, the answer has become more tangled than ever.
I consider myself to be Jewish by religion but I also feel an allegiance to the state of Israel. That does not mean that I stand by Israel right or wrong. I feel free to be a critic of Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign policy. I am afraid his unrelenting policy of bombing Gaza, which has resulted in the killing of children and adult civilians,will leave a bitter taste in Israel’s allies’ mouths for several generations, including the United States. As I say that, I don’t know what the correct answer is to the horrific slaughter that Hamas forced on innocent Israelis on Oct. 7. That. we must remember, was the incendiary spark that ignited this dangerous potential World War III.
What I do know is that it is possible to be Jewish and simultaneously to question the state of Israel.
This country has been good to me. I have experienced some slights when people discovered I was Jewish but I have not been prevented from making the choice to live a public life.I sense a change in the air today. Writing this opinion piece gave me pause. Will I make myself vulnerable? Will I and my family remain safe?
I want to believe that the answer continues to be “Yes.”
To support that answer we have to acknowledge that for the majority of Americans Judaism is a religion; that may also include varied degrees of support for Israel, but not always unconditionally.
Conversation among all sides will be the best salve to bind our widening wounds. Let us find the words which allow us to talk together.
