On Feb. 6, Upper Valley Jewish Voice for Peace and the Palestine Solidarity Coalition co-hosted author and political commentator Peter Beinart to discuss his newly released book, “Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza.” Due to inclement weather, the event was held remotely over Zoom.
Roughly 20 students and an additional 150 individuals joined the event on Zoom. Ben Stevenson ’27, who is affiliated with JVFP, moderated a Q&A session following Beinart’s talk.
Beinart is a professor of journalism and political science at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, a fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, editor-at-large at the Jewish Currents and a columnist and commentator for The New York Times and MSNBC. He gained prominence in 2010 for publicly reforming his political views, from supporting the 2003 invasion of Iraq to publishing a book criticizing the war, “The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris,” a decade later.
Now, Beinart is also garnering attention for evolving his views on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. While he was initially a staunch supporter of Israel, Beinart has since “broken with just about every tenet commonly associated with Zionism,” according to The Guardian. He has, for example, rejected the argument that Israel can be both Jewish and democratic. Upper Valley Jewish Voice for Peace member Andy Kirkaldy — who introduced the event — praised Beinart for reforming his perspective.
“Peter’s journey from a defender of Israel to publicly reassessing his views is really remarkable,” Kirkaldy said. “He has risked alienation from his community, friends and family by prioritizing morality and compassion over unshakeable viewpoints.”
Raised Orthodox Jewish, Beinart told his audience that he has observed a dissonance between the compassion of his community and its ability to compartmentalize Israel’s actions.
Prompted by Hamas’s terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023 — which Beinart described during his talk as “an inhumane response to oppression” — Beinart’s book looks at the conflict through the lens of his Jewish faith, as well as broader sociopolitical and historical contexts. Beinart said Israel has displaced Palestinians and “destroyed an entire society.”
Beinart added that he believes the American Jewish community has been producing “unbelievably flimsy justifications” for Israel’s actions.
“Jews have suffered enormous trauma and genocide but what happens … is Palestinians are essentially reimagined as the reincarnation of the Jew haters of old,” Beinart said. “That fundamentally gets the story wrong and absolves Jews of moral responsibility.”
Beinart ultimately argued that “erecting a one-state solution is the only way to move forward.” Palestinians are “equally deserving” to inhabit the nation with equal rights, he said, adding that fear stands in the way of a one-state solution.
“People tell themselves that were there to be conditions of legal equality, Israeli Jews would live in mortal danger,” Beinart said. “The point I try to make in my book is that it is actually commonplace for groups to become accustomed to legal supremacy. It’s not just a product of [the Jewish] traumatic history, although that may contribute to it.”
Beinart, who spent part of his childhood in South Africa, compared the conflict to the country’s apartheid regime. Having observed in South Africa that many people were “too fearful” to dismantle the status quo, Beinart argued that the same phenomenon in Israel has a “net-negative impact” for the Jewish people.
Beinart concluded the talk by discussing one of his favorite lines from the Talmud, a central text of Judaism. According to Beinart, the text says that the listener who is “traveling the most ideological distance” displays the most wisdom.
“I benefit a lot myself from listening to [opinions] that are very, very different from my own, even though I often find them quite difficult and painful,” Beinart said.
During the Q&A session, one attendee asked Beinart if he believed a genocide is occuring in Gaza. While Beinart did not directly answer the question, he provided a framework under which to understand the term “genocide.”
“Genocide has more to do with intent than numbers,” Beinart said. “It’s intent to destroy … and destroy doesn’t even mean kill — it’s not allowing [people] to transmit their culture,” Beinart said.
Another attendee asked Beinart whether he believed antisemitism is on the rise. Beinart replied in the affirmative — noting that antisemitism and other forms of bigotry are increasing as liberal democracies weaken and ethno-nationalist movements gain traction.
Following the event, attendee Theresa Hunter ’28 said she appreciated the opportunity to learn about Beinart’s ideas and discuss the conflict.
“It can be very stressful to find a place to learn,” Hunter said. “I really liked what he said about blending his faith and his ideas on the conflict because it’s obviously very controversial.”
In an interview after the event, Stevenson said Beinart is “obviously a really smart” person.
“The JVFP works really hard to make a space for Jewish people who are interested and want a Jewish space to learn about the conflict, and [Beinart] is a really good example of that,” Stevenson added.
