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At home, American Jews find ourselves increasingly isolated – viewed by progressive allies as complicit in war crimes and by conservatives as useful idiots for their ethno-nationalist fantasies we neither share nor understand. Our synagogues debate loyalty tests, our families fracture over dinner table arguments, and our young people abandon institutions they see as morally compromised.

Meanwhile, real antisemitism flourishes on both left and right, feeding off the very polarization our uncritical support for Israel has helped create. When Jewish identity becomes synonymous with defending the indefensible, we make ourselves vulnerable to those who would exploit Jewish suffering for their own political ends while doing nothing to protect Jewish security.

The path forward requires moral courage American Jews have not yet shown. We must acknowledge that the occupation has corrupted Israeli democracy and betrayed Zionist ideals. We must demand that American aid come with conditions that protect both Israeli and Palestinian civilians. We must support voices within Israel calling for justice rather than those demanding vengeance.

Most fundamentally, we must reject the Masada Complex in all its forms. Jewish survival does not require Palestinian suffering. Jewish security cannot be built on permanent oppression. Jewish values cannot be defended through their systematic violation.

The choice before us is stark: We can continue down the path of moral complicity, watching Israel destroy itself and take American Jewish credibility with it, or we can reclaim the prophetic tradition that demands justice even when – especially when – it challenges power.

Israel stands at the edge of an abyss, and American Jews stand with it. The question is whether we will finally find the courage to pull back from the brink, or whether we will follow the logic of Masada to its inevitable conclusion: a murder-suicide pact in the name of hollow victory.