What Does It Mean to Be a Jewish Veteran and Zionist in America? | Opinion

We are both proud veterans who served honorably in conflicts overseas; we are also Jews who strongly support the existence of a Jewish safe haven—the State of Israel.
We grew up on the Upper West Side of New York City and the northern suburbs of Chicago, respectively, in enclaves of liberal Jews.
Both of us are from families who fled pogroms, the Holocaust, and fascism in Europe. The long history of antisemitism is the reason Israel must always remain a place of refuge for Jews around the world.
Our loyalty is also uniquely American. Our rights and safety as Jews are protected under the Constitution. We took an oath to support and defend the constitution and joined the military out of patriotism and duty. One of us was almost killed in Iraq during an IED attack.
Our parents weren’t initially overly enthusiastic about our desire to join the military after college—we weren’t from parts of the country where voluntary military service was common. However, they felt as indebted to America as we were for giving our families a new life during a period of great despair for global Jewry. We made them proud through our military service.
We can both say that we haven’t experienced antisemitism while in uniform. Steve served as an Army engineer and deployed twice to Iraq and Andrea continues to serve in the Reserves as a Navy intelligence officer with multiple deployments. Historically, the U.S. military has not always been a hospitable place for Jews, but in 2024 we feel safer and more supported by our military friends and colleagues than in traditional liberal spaces and on certain college campuses, even one our own—Harvard.
Since the horrific Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israeli civilians—which included dozens of American citizens—the progressive political landscape that once supported us has become silent.
Tikkun Olam–repair of the world–is a Jewish value. Jews have historically been avid supporters of civil rights, LGBTQ+ people and for protecting reproductive rights. However, in contrast, the progressive community has largely abandoned liberal Jews who support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish State and has asked Jews to disavow the Jewish homeland in order to be in those spaces. The definition of Zionism has been willfully twisted and co-opted to fit an antisemitic narrative.
The irony is that Jews have been fighting for these rights since the Civil Rights era, and long before. After all the Labor movement was in part founded by Jews. The sad truth is that if Hamas ever became the ruling government “From the River to the Sea,” as we hear being shouted across rallies and on college campuses, LGBTQ+ people would lose their rights and potentially lives and there would be no access to abortion care.
On Veterans Day, many Americans say “thank you for your service” to those who have worn the uniform. This Veterans Day we ask that Democrats and Republicans reject the extreme and antisemitic voices resonating from the fringes of their respective parties.
We must also acknowledge that today’s vitriolic anti-Zionist rhetoric is simply veiled antisemitism. Casting the Jews who returned to their ancestral homeland, as colonizers–when Jews are indigenous to the Middle East—after the most horrific genocide of the modern era is shameful and discards the Jews’ unbroken ties to the Land of Israel.
It’s fair to criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and Israel’s conduct in the war against Hamas, just as it was fair to call out our own failures in Iraq and Afghanistan. But based on our own military experience in fighting terrorists in an urban setting, we understand and recognize the measures the IDF is taking to mitigate civilian harm in almost impossible conditions against an enemy that is willing to sacrifice its own civilian population in pursuit of annihilating the State of Israel.
Unfortunately, advocates against gender-based violence, primarily on the left, who lack a basic understanding of the laws of war, have downplayed the rape of Jewish women, and many have openly worn and supported—or stood beside—those wearing Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist garb. It’s un-American to support these groups. Hezbollah is responsible for the killing of scores of Americans in Lebanon, including 240 Marines in 1983. Hamas kidnapped and executed Americans attending a music festival on Oct. 7. The Houthis in Yemen have fired at U.S. navy warships in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea.
This newfound affinity for Islamic terrorist groups is particularly reprehensible coming from progressive spaces and elite universities—places that take pride in defending human rights.
Our message, speaking on behalf of tens of thousands of Jewish veterans, is that we are here to stay, and we won’t stand idly and allow for antisemitism to grow and fester. We ask that Americans of all stripes: Democrats, Republicans, and Independents work together as allies to exorcize this rot from our political discourse.
Service for the greater good is the principle that brought us both to the military’s doorstep. We see stamping out intolerance as a societal struggle and a fight in which we must prevail for the benefit of all Americans. Historically, nations that have condoned antisemitism, such as the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, became brutal, inhospitable, and obsolete ash heaps.
We must course correct, now.
Andrea N. Goldstein was an active-duty Navy officer from 2009-2016, and continues to serve in the Reserves. She deployed three times, twice on ships and once with Naval Special Warfare (SEALs). She was a senior Congressional staffer and senior appointee in the Biden-Harris Administration at the Department of Defense.
Steven Katz was an active-duty Army officer from 2003-2009. He served two tours of duty to Iraq in ground combat leadership positions: 2004-2005 in Tikrit and 2006-2007 in Ramadi. He is the Jewish War Veterans of America (JWV), Washington D.C. post commander.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense, members of Congress, or the U.S. Government, or Newsweek. They are the authors’ own.