Opinion- Transcending Borders: American Jews’ Allegiance to Israel

One day as my family and I were driving through Skokie, passing New York Bagels and Baileys and bearded men sporting wide brimmed hats and long beards, I remember noticing multiple synagogues with signs declaring “we stand with Israel.” Next to the lettering, the American and Israeli flag were intertwined, creating the appearance of one unified nation. Fresh from a Passover Seder, the story of the Israelites fleeing Egypt newly imprinted on my mind, I turned to my dad and asked what the phrase meant. I was raised in a fairly secular family. While we marked the high holidays with gatherings among friends and family, we rarely went to temple and I had little concept of Israel and its significance to American Jews. As my father attempted to explain the legacy of the Holocaust and the creation of Israel to my nine-year-old self, I remember questioning why so many Americans cared about this place far-off in the Middle East. As I continued to mature, that puzzlement evolved into a lingering question: why do so many American Jews feel such a deep allegiance towards Israel, an attitude that appears to transcend American borders? 

In order to understand the ways in which American-Jews conceptualize Israel, it is necessary to contextualize Jewish diaspora within the United States. Fleeing pogroms in Russia and Poland, my ancestors arrived on Ellis Island decades before the start of WWII. Like the majority of Jewish immigrants at that time, my family adopted a modernized version of Judaism in order to assimilate into this new identity of “American.” As a result, the problem of the hyphen emerged. Personified by authors such as Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, the identity of the “Jewish-American” or “American-Jew” continues to be a complex one, often bearing the question of which identity marker comes first. Philip Roth consistently emphasized his American identity, as reflected in his well-known statement, “The epithet 'American-Jewish writer' has no meaning for me; if I'm not an American, I'm nothing.” Like Roth, I have always felt my Jewish identity to be secondary, or if not secondary, melded into my identity as an American. However, after October 7th, I began to reevaluate the complexity of my personhood as an American-Jew in relation to Israel. 

Although my family has lived in the United States for generations, predating the establishment of Israel, there is a part of me that yearns for a land I have never stepped foot on. This attachment to Israel continues to be a common phenomenon among American Jews. In 2021, the Pew Research Center released a study that stated, “Eight-in-ten U.S. Jews say caring about Israel is an essential or important part of what being Jewish means to them” while “nearly six-in-ten say they personally feel an emotional attachment to Israel.” This data demonstrates a trend among American-Jews that appears to transcend the borders of the United States, embodying a level of patriotism for a country that few have physical ties to. This ideology demonstrated itself last Thanksgiving, perhaps the most American holiday to exist, when a bunch of secular Jews (my family) expressed the complexity of their feelings towards Israel. Although, everyone present expressed their vehement hatred towards Prime Minister Netnayehu, each maintained their support of Israel’s right to defend itself. Almost all my aunts and uncles have visited Israel at least once, and each felt a personal connection to the continued existence of a Jewish-state. This connection to Israel roots itself in a history of persecution, consecrated in the idea of Israel as a safe-haven for Jews around the world. This idea of a Jewish-state, a government run by Jews for Jews, provides a sense of safety after a history of violence. Although I cannot condone the violence perpetrated against Palestinians, my Jewish ancestry necessitates a level of sympathy towards Israel. 

While the emotional significance of Israel remains distinctly Jewish, these ties, however complex, function in tandem with Americanness and demonstrate the transcendent nature of American borders. The United States’ continued support of Israel roots itself in ideals of American exceptionalism. American support for Israel runs deep, an allegiance dating back to the inception of the Jewish state seventy-six years ago. Although the past seven months have resulted in a rising number of critics, the intertwinement of American and Israeli identity roots itself in manifest destiny and the constant pursuit of promoting democracy. These trademark attributes of Americanism both result in the maintenance of borders in the South and the transcendence of physical boundaries abroad, resulting in an America that is both porous and impermeable. The seemingly dichotomous nature of American Jews’ support of Israel aligns perfectly with the United State’s perception of itself. American-Jew’s allegiance to Israel does not diverge from their American identity but rather orients itself within the reality of American borders as a product of American exceptionalism. 

Plastered on the side of countless synagogues, the imagery of the American flag merged with the blue and white Star of David embodies the unifying rhetoric employed by U.S. politicians when addressing support of Israel. David Makovsky, director of the Arab-Israel relations at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, states, “If you think of American history in the 20th Century and in the 21st Century, America's enemies and Israel's enemies were the same, whether it was Nazism, whether it was communism, whether it was Islamist extremism” (Hutchinson). This statement positions the U.S. and Israel as defenders of morality, echoing the ideology responsible for the United State’s political and military involvement around the world. In his book, Empire of Borders: How the U.S. is Exporting its Border Around the World, Todd Miller describes the United State’s historical involvement in Latin America stating: “The U.S. border was much bigger than a border wall. The American homeland, after all, was the planet” (Miller, 34). American exceptionalism expands across the globe, aligning itself with Israel as a means to maintain a foothold in the Middle-East. 

Although the root of Jewish-American’s allegiance to Israel, a connection that stems from a history of persecution, differs from the United States, both transcend the physical boundaries of a nation. While the pull of manifest destiny has lessened, at least in a visible manner, the imperialistic tendencies of the United States have taken new forms abroad. By positioning the United States as an ally to Israel, the boundaries between nations blur. This intertwinement of identity reflects the complexity of American-Jew’s relationship to Israel, demonstrating the ability of Americanism to overlook borders and align itself abroad. While the intent differs, the outcome remains the same. The manner in which American-Jews view Israel as an extension of themselves, a tether of a community that embodies the same values, reflects American exceptionalism and transcends American borders. 

Work Cited

Hutchinson, Bill. “The History of US Support for Israel Runs Deep, but with a Growing Chorus of Critics.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 24 Nov. 2023, abcnews.go.com/International/history-us-support-israel-runs-deep-growing-chorus/story?id=104957109.

Miller, Todd.  Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the U.S. Border Around the World. New York: Verso, 2019.

Mitchell, Travis. “7. U.S. Jews’ Connections With and Attitudes Toward Israel.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 11 May 2021, www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/u-s-jews-connections-with-and-attitudes-toward-israel/. 

"Unites States of Israel" by zeevveez is licensed under CC BY 2.0.