There are political transformations, and then there is American feminist author and journalist Naomi Wolf’s transformation on Israel.
Back in Feb 2019, she was tweeting things like this:
Yesterday, it was this:
So what happened in between?
Quite simply: October 7, 2023 and its aftermath.
Naomi Wolf explained it in her essay “Israel, with all its Flaws, isn’t Making me a Zionist. Anti-Semitism Is”, penned two years after that fateful day.
The entire thing is worth reading, but this excerpt sums up her thinking:
Israel is flawed indeed.
I will continue to push for that nation to observe human rights law and to seek peace.
But all of Israel’s enemies surrounding the country, also need to observe international human rights law and seek peace.
It is not Israel, with its flaws, that led me to conclude at last that it is okay to want a Jewish homeland.
It is not Israel, with its flaws, that led me to notice that the whole world is turning against a single religion — almost metaphysically — yet again.
It is not Israel, with its flaws, that led me to conclude that it is okay for people who are Jews in Israel to love Israel, just as it is okay for people in the West Bank and Gaza to love Palestine, or Lebanese to love Lebanon, or Jordanians, Jordan.
It is not Israel, with its flaws, that led me to wonder if there are any “partners for peace” left on the other side, to pursue a just, lawful two-state solution.
What led me to accept — sadly, somberly — at last, the need for a secure and safe —and, ideally, peace-seeking and law-abiding — Jewish state,
Is not Israel
With all of her flaws;
But rather
It is
The extraordinary orgy
Of pure hatred of my kind,
Exploding almost metaphysically
In all the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, we still have the Max Blumenthals of the world who refuse to learn the lessons of October 7… or are getting paid to ignore them.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
