Mandy Simons: What does it mean to be pro-Israel?

“Pro-Israel.” That’s a standard term in American discourse about the Middle East, and now more than ever. We hear of confrontations between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters. Praise and blame are handed out to those seen as adequately or inadequately pro-Israel; the political lobbying organization AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), describes itself as an organization of pro-Israel Americans. But what does it mean to be pro-Israel?

Here’s an enlightening comment from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., quoted in an Oct. 30 New York Times article responding to comments critical of Israel by one of her Democratic colleagues: “I understand there are (the) usual suspects that are not pro-Israel, that object to Israel’s policies … .” In other words, to be pro-Israel is to not object to Israel’s policies or actions, in particular policies and actions purporting to relate to Israel’s security, and especially relating to Israel’s engagement with the Palestinian population of the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Since the horrific attacks of Oct. 7 and the launch of Israel’s military response in Gaza, being pro-Israel seems to mean one thing only: expressing unequivocal support (and in the case of the U.S. government, also providing material support) for Israel’s actions, and suppressing any note of criticism, any expression of misgiving for the death and destruction being visited on the civilian population of Gaza.

For me, as a citizen of Israel, now a long-term resident and citizen of the U.S., this attitude is strange. For Israelis inside Israel, there is nothing anti-Israel about criticizing government actions and policies — witness the widespread demonstrations which took place throughout 2023 in Israeli cities large and small, right up until the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, in protest against the government’s proposed overhaul of the judicial system in Israel. Witness also the multiple human rights organizations within Israel — B’Tselem and Yesh Din among them — which document and protest human rights violations committed against Palestinians living under Israeli rule, whether by individuals or by the Israeli government or military.

And even now, despite the personal cost, some Jewish Israelis are standing up publicly against the war that Israel is prosecuting in Gaza. It is no more anti-Israel to question and criticize government actions, to demonstrate for peace and justice, to protest policies of oppression and occupation, than it is anti-American to take those actions on American soil. Yet somehow, even for some liberal Jewish Americans, for Americans who promote progressive policies at home, the belief in free expression of opinions critical of government actions or mainstream policy goes out the window when it comes to Israel. Why is this? Perhaps in part it is because it is unthinkable for many Americans, and for many Jewish Americans in particular, to adopt anything other than a pro-Israel stance; and being pro-Israel means only one kind of thing.

So let me propose, for Americans of any faith who are supporters of Israel, an alternative interpretation of the term pro-Israel. To be pro-Israel is to support and promote policies and actions, of Israel’s government or of the U.S. government, that are in the best interests of the State of Israel and of its people. I am — I cannot help but be — pro-Israel in this sense. My brother and sister live in Israel; so do their grown childen, who are now raising their own families in Israel. My elderly father lives in Israel; my mother is buried there.

Of course I am pro-Israel. I want what is best for my family, for the places where I used to live and all the people who live there. What is best for them is not to be the oppressors of an occupied population. What is best for them is not to be guilty of war crimes. What is best for them is not to live in a state of perpetual war. What is best for my nephews is not to be called up again and again for reserve duty where, to serve their country, they must harm innocents.

Within Israel too, at this darkest of times, there are voices arguing that the destruction of Gaza and killing of Palestinian civilians is not what is best for Israel. Israeli journalist Orly Noy, in a piece published in English in the online +972 Magazine, movingly documents the calls against Israel’s military action in Gaza coming from survivors of the Oct. 7 massacres and from the families of those killed or kidnapped. Among many others, Noy quotes Michal Halev, whose son who was murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7. In a heartbreaking statement posted to Facebook, Halev says: “War is not the answer. War is not how you fix things … I’ve been broken … and I will remain broken for the rest of my life. But I managed to catch one breath and I want to use it to talk to the world, because I hear voices of people wanting vengeance, and of people wanting to go kill the monsters. And I want to say that in my name, I want no vengeance.”

Halev and the other ordinary, grieving people whose voices Noy shares are speaking out against the current actions of their own government. They are not anti-Israel. They are pro-Israel, pro the Israel that they yearn for, an Israel that they can love and be proud of, an Israel they can serve with honor.

These Israelis understand that being pro-Israel means demanding an end to the horrors that are currently being perpetrated against the people of Gaza. Being pro-Israel means calling on Israel to act within the bounds of justice and law, to seek true solutions, to end war and not to perpetuate it. It is time for Americans, too, to learn a new way of being pro-Israel.

Mandy Simons is a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University.