Dear Ali,

There truly are many Orthodox Jews who mistakenly support Zionism. I would say about 50% of them do. Why do they go against what is written in the Torah? There are a small number who interpret it differently. They argue that the Talmud never prohibited the founding of a peaceful state, with permission from the nations. The problem is, they ignore that fact that its the nation living in the land that counts, not other nations around the world. And the state of Israel was founded in an anything but peaceful way.

Most religious Zionist Jews, however, are simply ignorant and do not know the law. Their rabbis have not taught it to them. And even among those who do know it, most are brainwashed by the incessant Zionist rhetoric of the Jewish newspapers, to believe that all Arabs and Muslims are murderers and the only way to protect Jews is to support the State of Israel. In this way, the Zionists build support for themselves, because every time they kill a lot of Palestinians, it causes a backlash of Jew-hatred in the Arab world, which in turn causes Jews to support the Zionists. It is a never-ending cycle. Thus for many Jews today, its not even Zionism driving them anymore, as much as fear of the Muslims.

The way to end this is to do what we are doing: show Jews that the Zionists are the ones who stirred up this whole fight to begin with, and that their actions have only brought trouble upon Jews; and to show Jews that Jews and Arabs have always and can still live side by side in peace.

I believe also that we must work to provide Israeli Jews other options as to where to live, so that those who are afraid to live under a Palestinian state will not feel pressured to support Zionism as their only alternative.