No Such Thing

“Pro-Palestinian seder” sounds like a values claim. But most often, it functions as anti-Zionism. Supporting Palestinian dignity, safety, and political rights is not inherently anti-Zionist. Many Zionists actively hold both. The false dichotomy only works if you erase real frameworks that already do this work.

There are 100+ orgs (see ALLMEP), alongside models like A Land for All and federated initiatives, built on equality, coexistence, and shared future. Progressive Zionism in the diaspora has long held both commitments. So “pro-Palestinian” does not require rejecting Jewish peoplehood or Jewish connection to land.

Clarity matters: Am/Bnei Yisrael = the people. Eretz Yisrael = the ancestral land. Medinat Yisrael = the modern state. Collapsing these terms allow critique of policy to become erasure of peoplehood. Judaism has always held people, land, and story in relationship.

Jewish identity itself carries geography. Kingdoms of Israel and Judah give rise to Judaea, and ultimately “Jew” and “Judaism.” Samaria remains tied to the northern kingdom. Jewish identity language is not abstract. It is derived from land-based history and cannot be fully separated from it.

The core narrative begins in that land. The story of Bnei Yisrael includes departure from Eretz Yisrael due to famine and descent to Egypt. That move is temporary and circumstantial, not a redefinition of identity. The story begins with connection to land, not its rejection.

Exodus is not just liberation from oppression. It is directional. The goal is return to Eretz Yisrael and the formation of a self-governing people there. In biblical language, this becomes kingdom. In modern terms, it maps onto national self-determination. That arc is central to Jewish memory.

Exile makes this even more explicit. Psalm 137 records Jews in Babylon weeping for Zion: “If I forget you, Jerusalem…” Jews did not leave their land by choice. They were exiled and preserved a continuous, recorded commitment to return to their homeland across generations.

Jerusalem is not incidental. It becomes the fixed center of prayer, pilgrimage, and memory. Jews pray toward Jerusalem. The Temple anchors ritual life. Even in exile, orientation never shifts. Jerusalem functions as a sustained axis of Jewish spiritual and national life across time.

The calendar reinforces this. Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot are pilgrimage festivals tied to place. Land laws like Jubilee assume national life in Eretz Yisrael. Jewish ritual time is not abstract spirituality. It is repeatedly anchored in land, agriculture, sanctuary, and collective presence.

This continuity matters. What we now call Zionism is modern language for something ancient: the sustained Jewish commitment to peoplehood in Eretz Yisrael. The term is new. The idea is not. It emerges clearly in exile literature, prayer, ritual, and historical memory across millennia.

Passover is one expression of this, not the entirety of it. The seder tells a story of movement toward land, covenant, and peoplehood, and closes with “Next year in Jerusalem.” It reflects a broader Jewish orientation, not a standalone political claim.

A Jewish framework can call for Palestinian dignity, safety, and rights. It can critique Israeli policy. But rejecting Jewish connection to Zion is not just reinterpretation. It asks Judaism to sever peoplehood from homeland in a way the tradition itself does not.