It was during a senior class trip to Israel that Laila Steinbach first realized she might be different from her peers.
Steinbach, now 23 and living in Chicago, grew up attending Jewish day schools and summer camps. Her family keeps kosher, celebrates all holidays, and visits Israel frequently. Her Jewish faith is part of her daily life.
Her father is Israeli-American.
Her high school took fourth graders on a four-week educational trip to Israel. Students heard from speakers from around the country. One of them was an alumnus living in the West Bank at the time and a peace activist opposed to Israel’s occupation of the area.
Some of Mr. Steinbach’s classmates were furious and called the speaker a traitor. Some left the room in tears, shocked that Jews could have such thoughts.
For Steinbach, it made her think about the history she was taught and what was left behind. Her class traveled to the West Bank in a bulletproof bus. She saw a checkpoint where a line of Palestinians waited for permission to pass for work.
“I felt sick watching it,” she said. Steinbach also began to question what she had been taught about Palestinians.
“We learned that they were a single group intent on harming Jews,” she said. She recalled a lesson about the founding of Israel: that the Biblical land of Israel was barren and underdeveloped. Some people may have lived there, but they had no national identity. Israel was created to protect the Jewish people after the Holocaust.
“There is no mention that this security comes at the expense of other countries,” she said. She kept her questions about these stories to herself.
When she enrolled as a freshman at the University of Washington, she joined a branch of a liberal Zionist lobbying group. She learned about history and perspectives she never knew existed. She met and had conversations with students from Palestine. When she posted a lukewarm message opposing Israel’s expansion into the West Bank in 2021, she felt a backlash from her community.
“It made me understand how anything that could be construed as critical of the Israeli government could be seen by some as a threat to Jewish security,” she said. Ta.
She braced herself for a difficult conversation with her parents, whom she loved dearly. She showed them Israelism, a film made by two young American Jews who took part in a movement to redefine the relationship between Judaism and Israel, and, in the film’s description, ” “It reveals the deepening rift between generations over identity.”
“To their credit, they didn’t leave during the movie,” Steinbach said. They’ve had a few arguments, but want to avoid discussing emotionally touchy topics.
Mr. Steinbach has become more outspoken over the past year about justice for Palestinians, following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the ensuing Israeli war in Gaza, and holding demonstrations in support of a ceasefire. He also participated in the march.
She first used the word “profession” in a conversation with her father.
“I had a visceral reaction to it,” she said. From his perspective, those were the words used by those who hated Israel, not his own daughter, who loved her faith and her people.
Although she has never used the word “apartheid” against them, she believes that is how the Israeli government operates.
She found unexpected allies through conversations with her Israeli-American aunt and uncle. During a recent conversation, her uncle told her that he agreed that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians.
“I was completely shocked,” she said. “I was shocked to hear someone in my family, an adult in my family, refer to Israeli wars and tactics as genocidal,” she said. Steinbach knows her voice is in the minority in the community where she grew up.
A survey conducted in May by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs found that about one-third of Jewish American respondents agreed with the accusation that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, while about half disagreed. It turned out.
Many organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace, Progressive Jews of St. Louis, If Not Now, Ceasefire Rabbis, and Shoash (Anti-Zionist Israelis of the United States) are for people who feel marginalized and excluded from the mainstream. has created a community of Jewish organization.
At the University of Washington, Steinbach helped establish Jewish Students in Palestine. She said she wanted to create a safe place to practice her faith while remaining true to her beliefs. But in response, several of her Jewish friends unfollowed her on social media. One of her closest Jewish friends stopped talking to her.
Steinbach plans to enroll in WashU’s law school next year. She plans to study human rights law and practice the values learned from her faith.
“Being anti-Zionist does not mean being against the safety of Jews in any way,” she said. “It’s a belief in ending the cycle of violence.”
