Zionism has ‘emptied’ out Judaism as ‘critical mass’ of US Jews breaks with Israel

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March 27, 2026 at 3:18 pm    Middle East Monitor

Opposition to Israel is hardening into anti-Zionism among a growing number of US Jews, according to Jewish Currents editor Arielle Angel. Speaking to Haaretz, Angel said that a “critical mass” of American Jews is now “disgusted with Israel” and no longer sees Zionism as central to Jewish life. 

Angel went on to claim that attachment to Israel among this section of American Jewry is “waning, if not evaporated”. She described the shift as a profound political and moral break with the Israeli state.

Angel, who defines herself as anti-Zionist, said the shift goes far beyond criticism of Israeli policy. She described a growing constituency of Jews in the US who see Israel as an apartheid state, believe it is committing genocide, and are turning away from the institutions that made loyalty to Israel the organising principle of Jewish communal life.

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Angel said this emerging current is not simply disillusioned but explicitly anti-Zionist. “The numbers are high, and these people don’t have anywhere to go.” She stressed that there is “no institutional base for this growing population” as more Jews break with Zionism and search for a different political and spiritual home.

Angel framed that rupture in stark terms, saying that “Zionism itself is the thing that emptied Judaism of meaning.” In its place, Angel said many Jews are now seeking what she called a “justice-centred Judaism”, rooted not in the Israeli state but in solidarity, moral responsibility and communal life beyond nationalism.

The rupture between Israel and American Jews and  has been sharpened by Israel’s genocide on Gaza and by the role of mainstream Jewish organisations in defending it. Angel stressed. She described the “catastrophic failure of Zionist Judaism” and asked whether it could become an opening for anti-Zionist Jews “to step into greater influence” and “make our case for something new”.

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Angel also said the break with Israel is forcing many anti-Zionist Jews to confront exclusion from mainstream Jewish institutions. She sees Jewish Currents as one of the few spaces where such Jews can begin to imagine an alternative identity, particularly as they are pushed out of synagogues and communal life because of their opposition to Zionism.

Among her sharpest remarks, Angel warned that Israel’s actions, and the insistence of establishment Jewish organisations on equating Judaism with Israel, are placing Jews at risk globally. “Israel’s actions – and support for them among the global Jewish institutions – are endangering world Jewry,” she said.

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