To Abandon the Hostages is to Abandon Zionism

The news broke late Saturday night for us, early Sunday morning in Israel. Even prior to the news, Sunday was meant to be a "day of rage" for protestors, and once the terrible news was confirmed, Sunday night saw hundreds of thousands Israelis take the streets throughout the country with an anger, frustration, and hopelessness that has only intensified in the months since October 7.

Israel's largest labour union, Histadrut, called a general strike (though it was cut short by a ruling from the labour court), flights were briefly suspended at Ben-Gurion airport, and various schools and independent businesses engaged in some pause in activity as an act of protest and solidarity.

In response, Netanyahu held a press conference, a rarity for the leader who avoids speaking to hostage families, Israeli civilians, or the Israeli media. 

But there was no change from Netanyahu, who doubled down on the importance of maintaining a military presence along the Philadelphi corridor, a strategic asset so important that he had never mentioned it until a few months ago.

Not only is this a new talking point, but the IDF, the Shin Bet, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant all believe Israel can forego control over the route, especially in the face of the alternative being an abandonment of the hostages.

We cannot forget that there are two parties directly involved in this negotiation, and while anger at Netanyahu's government is absolutely deserved, Hamas is not exactly a good-faith negotiator. There is no guarantee that a terror organization with no qualms about murdering hostages in cold blood will be any more amenable to a deal than Netanyahu.

And we must also remember that none of these decisions are easy. Israel's security needs cannot be easily waved away, and if there was ever any doubt of that, October 7 removed that doubt. 

But there is an existential issue here, that extends far beyond any of this -- and that is the future of Zionism and the Jewish state.

The promise of a Jewish state is not to simply raise a flag and claim sovereignty, the promise of a Jewish state must continuously be fulfilled and acted upon, and that promise is to protect the Jewish people in a way the diaspora cannot.

What should we understand, as Jewish Zionists, if the leaders entrusted to take up the mantle of this immense responsibility tell us that they are willing to abandon us? Failure to protect the Jewish people in the Jewish state is a complete abdication of responsibility, an admission that the Zionist project has failed.

We have always believed that it is precisely because we love Israel, and precisely because we are Zionists that we must criticize Israel when its leaders make decisions that are antithetical to the values they purport to uphold, but we have entered an entirely new realm now.

We should not merely critique policy positions and decisions, we must demand the state live up to its very reason for existing, it must prove to us, in this existential moment, that the promise of Zionism, that our safety and security in the land of Israel can and will be primary.

Everyone, from Prime Minister Netanyahu to diaspora Jewish establishment leaders, must open their eyes to the weight and significance of this moment. 

That hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets is a sign that they recognize what is happening now. They understand that it is not only 101 individuals being abandoned in Gaza, but the entire Israeli population, and all of Jewish peoplehood who are being denied this epic promise of safety and security in our ancestral homeland.

To return to our home after 2,000 years of exile is the most successful modern Jewish project. To tear it down for the whims of a maniacal autocrat would be our biggest failure.