Fault Lines Episode 11: IfNotNow and Zionism Today

Image by Gili Getz
The Israeli occupation in the West Bank has polarized the American Jewish community. One demonstration of this fact is in IfNotNow, who has emerged as one of the most influential movements on the Jewish left. Members of IfNotNow are expressing their disdain for Israeli policy by actively pushing American Jews to stop supporting the occupation.
In the 11th episode of Fault Lines’ first season, Daniel Gordis and Peter Beinart discuss IfNotNow, its protest at AIPAC, and its implication for the future of the American Jewish community. Peter Beinart has written about IfNotNow in the past, from a complimentary and critical perspective, and espouses a generally favorable opinion towards the young group. At the beginning of this podcast, Daniel Gordis calls them naive, and stated that he “was infuriated” by IfNotNow’s actions at the AIPAC Policy Conference.
Listen to “Fault Lines Season 1, Episode 11” on Spreaker.
While listening along to the podcast, you may be confused about certain points that Gordis and Beinart bring up. IfNotNow’s website shows their platform, their blog, and their future actions.
Inside of the building that IfNotNow was protesting, AIPAC held their annual policy conference to bring people together to demonstrate “the full scale of pro-Israel activism in three powerful days,” according to their website.
Ahad Ha’am and Theodore Herzl’s battle for Zionism is widely discussed among Zionists. To understand their battle, Mosaic wrote extensively on the approaches to Zionism that each took, and how it affected the current state.
Do you believe the two-state solution is still viable? Let us know in the comments section.
Let the world know what you think about Fault Lines – rate our episodes, and share your thoughts in a review on iTunes.
Download episodes here. Subscribe to Fault Lines and listen anytime.
Check out our Fault Lines episode guide here.
Support for Fault Lines comes from Edward Blank, whose generosity makes this program possible, and from readers like you.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
Politics Meet America’s potential first Jewish second family: Josh Shapiro, Lori, and their 4 kids
- 4
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Jewish students, alumni decry ‘weaponization of antisemitism’ across country
-
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history
-
Opinion Why can Harvard stand up to Trump? Because it didn’t give in to pro-Palestinian student protests
-
Culture How an Israeli dance company shaped a Catholic school boy’s life
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.