Hayim Katsman was one of the 1200 killed by Hamas on 10/7. He was also a liberal, and wrote an essay which has been published in Jacobin magazine.
Please read the whole essay, as I found it to be very insightful. Some of my highlights.
He starts with a diagnosis of where things stood, leading upto 10/7
Israeli left must overcome two substantial challenges. First, it must reimagine the project of Jewish cultural revival and national identity, also known as Zionism, in a way that rejects ethnonationalism and embraces traditionally liberal democratic values of equality, liberty, and freedom. Second, the left must take practical actions to garner popular support within Israeli society.
Reimagine Zionism, and garner popular support for that. Simple, really ! How should one go about that ? He suggests that the Israeli left learn lessons from the religious Zionist movement
Today, in fact, the religious Zionist right is perhaps the most influential bloc in Israeli politics. The contemporary Israeli left thus has much to learn from it.
He then proceeds to define the tension between Zionism vs Liberalism
Zionism Against Liberalism
Are Zionism and liberalism compatible? The short answer to this question, at least as Zionism is practiced today, is “no.”
Please read the whole essay, as his words are a lot more powerful than what I can convey. There is one in his paragraph that I found very interesting
Clearly, there is an inherent tension in Israel between the nation’s stated aspiration to grant equal rights to the entire “demos” and the actual policy of preserving privileges for the Jewish “ethnos.
These words echo those of BR Ambedkar, who led the drafting of India’s constitution. He wrote an essay called “Annihilation of caste”, in which he argues that one could embrace either modernity, or the “shastras” (these refer to the holy books of Hinduism that is supposed to define Hindu nationalism), but not both at the same time.
You must not only discard the Shastras, you must deny their authority, as did Buddha and Nanak. You must have courage to tell the Hindus that what is wrong with them is their religion—the religion which has produced in them this notion of the sacredness of Caste. Will you show that courage?
Hayim Katsman describes the tension between Zionism and liberalism similarly. He states that most Israelis are aware of this contradiction, but have accepted it as a “necessary evil”.
This state of affairs obviously does not align with liberal-democratic values. Most Israelis are aware of this fact and justify Palestinian oppression and disenfranchisement as a necessary evil.
His solution is to reimagine Zionism itself away from the current definitin of an ethnocratic state
Reimagining Zionism
Shumsky’s discoveries indicate that, contrary to what has been argued by advocates of the 2018 Basic Law, the essential desideratum of Zionism has not necessarily or always been an exclusivist Jewish state. Rather, significant Zionist thinkers were most concerned with a more fundamental demand: the creation and preservation of a Jewish national identity that was defined by language, culture, and, most importantly, a sense of a shared past, present, and future.
His suggestions for the Israeli left
Stand behind one cohesive plan.
Be resilient.
Engage broader Israeli society. the Israeli left must appeal to the shared, and somewhat forgotten, secular Zionist values of social justice and self-determination.
Forging the Future
The overwhelming majority of the Israeli public does not support a territorial compromise with the Palestinians. In contrast with the United States, where the majority of millennials and Gen Z tend to support progressive policies and programs, the situation in Israel is the opposite.
Again, please go read the whole essay. There is a decent chance that this essay could revive the Israeli left and result in a working solution.