As Israelis head to the polls, AZM’s president and national board chair call on American Zionists to stay united even when they disagree.
By: Mark Levenson and Shoshana Dweck
Israel’s upcoming election is Israelis’ to decide, but American Zionists are watching closely and asking whether they can stay united despite their own political differences. In this op-ed, AZM President Mark Levenson and National Board Chair Shoshana Dweck argue that disagreement over Israeli politics isn’t a threat to the movement — it’s a reflection of the diversity within the Jewish people — and that it only becomes destructive when those differences are used to question who belongs.
The authors note that the Knesset’s makeup shapes the roughly one-third share American delegates hold in the World Zionist Congress, which guides more than $1 billion a year in funding for Israel and world Jewry, so American engagement matters no matter which government forms. They call on American Zionists to stay informed, listen directly to Israeli voices, and keep building real relationships with Israel through travel, Hebrew study and youth exchanges, whatever the outcome.
As Levenson and Dweck put it: “Our differences become destructive when we turn them into tests of whether someone else belongs in the Zionist movement.”
