Ken, an Anti-Zionist American Jew, believes that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Ari, an Israeli soldier operating in Gaza on Oct. 7, believes Anti-Zionist Jews are self-hating enemies of the Jewish people. They sit across from each other, not as strangers, but as a tribe torn apart.
‘The Enemies Project’ is a new YouTube channel hosted by peacemaker Larry Rosen who pairs two people face-to-face with fiercely opposing worldviews.
18 Jul 2025 YouTube | EnemiesProject.org
Zionism refers to the movement for Jewish self-determination and statehood in their ancestral homeland, formalized in the late 19th century. Modern Zionism generally supports Israel’s existence as a Jewish-majority democratic state, often emphasizing security needs after centuries of persecution, including the Holocaust. (01)
Post-Zionism describes a critique from within Jewish or Israeli circles, questioning whether Israel’s current policies (such as settlement expansion or treatment of Palestinians) align with original Zionist ideals. Post-Zionists often advocate reforming or evolving beyond ethno-nationalism while affirming Jewish cultural presence. (02)
Summary of perspectives
Ari
Zionist Jew
IDF Soldier in West Bank, Gaza
Ari moved to Israel about 5 years ago (a step called Aliyah, which many Jews see as returning to their ancestral homeland). (03)
Ken
Post-Zionist Jew
Holocaust Survivor’s Son
Ken grew up in deeply Jewish home shaped by his father’s survival of the Holocaust. (04)
He served in the IDF (Israel’s army), where military service is mandatory. For Ari, this shared obligation is part of what creates Israel’s strong sense of community and belonging, and serving was an important way for him to feel he had earned his place in the country. (05)
Lost a friend/fellow soldier on October 7th (Hamas attack killing 1,200). (06)
For him, Zionism – the belief in a Jewish homeland – is not just political. It’s about safety. He believes that after thousands of years of persecution, including the Holocaust, Jews need a country of their own to protect themselves.
From Ari’s perspective, Israel’s existence as a Jewish state is essential for Jewish survival. He sees groups like Hamas as wanting to destroy Israel, and he views October 7 as proof that these threats are real.
Because of this, he feels that opposing Zionism is the same as opposing Jewish safety, and he sees anti-Zionism as a form of antisemitism that ignores history, invites more atrocities, and weakens Jews globally. (07) (08)
Fully embraced Zionism as a young man (the belief that Jews need a homeland for their own safety), but his views changed as he learned more about Palestinian history and watched Israel’s actions, citing:
- Deir Yassin invasion (1948 massacre) (09)
- long-term conditions in Gaza and the West Bank (10) (11)
- the current Gaza apartheid / ethnic cleansing / genocide (12)
- Netanyahu’s ministers (Ben-Gvir, Smotrich) calling for genocide
(13) (14) (15) (16) (17)
These have convinced him that Zionism, as practiced today, has become a system that harms Palestinians. He believes this contradicts Jewish ethical values, which he sees as rooted in justice and protecting the vulnerable.
He believes the future should be a shared, binational country where Jews and Palestinians live with equal rights and equal political power. (18)
Core Story
Ari: “We suffered for 2,000 years… Israel is our only home.”
Ken: “My father was a Holocaust refugee… I grew up with a heroic Israel.”
Core Wound
Ari: “My friend was killed and kidnapped… I can’t bury him.”
Ken: “It’s already a genocide in my name… I don’t want to dishonour my parents.”
Core Duty
Ari: “I served because it’s my obligation to protect my people.”
Ken: “The most Jewish thing I can do is follow righteousness and prevent harm.”
Ari
Jews who are anti-Zionists are self-hating Jews. I fear that we must fight for our state not only from our enemies who truly want to destroy us, but from within, from our own tribe. (19)
We had to suffer through the Holocaust for the world to come to the realization that the establishment of a Jewish state is a vital necessity and a right of the Jewish people.
Ken
Zionism has not only caused terrible harm to the Palestinians, but also to the region. It’s already a genocide and it’s already in my name.
I believe that whatever utility Zionism had in 1948, when the Jewish State was found, has since changed with our changing world, and if Zionism includes, which I believe it does, the side-lining of the citizenship rights and human rights of Palestinians and the sequestering of them in Gaza and West Bank, that’s a Zionism which I cannot and never will again support. (20)
October 7th 2023
Ari and Ken both speak about October 7, but in very different ways. For Ari, the attack is a personal trauma and an existential threat to Jewish survival. For Ken, it is a terrible act rooted in decades of Palestinian suffering.
Ari’s view: October 7 proves we are not safe:
It’s baffling to me how you could see an atrocity like October 7th happen against the Jewish people and then say, “I’m anti-Zionist.”
They knew launching October 7th would lead to a war in Gaza and the destruction of Gaza. They do not care about their own people. This war could end in a second if they released the hostages and surrender. But all that Hamas wants is power and to make Jews Israel suffer.
It’s hard for me to smile when I know my friend was killed and kidnapped on October 7th. He’s still there and his mother’s still unable to bury her child. I can’t move on. The emotions are all over the place and they’re saddened and rageful and I don’t know where to place it. I don’t know how to cope until I can bury him.
Ken’s view: October 7 proves Palestinians are desperate and oppressed:
My response on October 7th was,
“Wow, these people, whoever they are, Hamas, the Palestinians, they knew that the response would be overwhelming show of force, and that brought me to this understanding, things must suck so bad in Gaza, they must be so desperate that they were willing to do this terrible atrocity.”
He sees the attack as horrific, but he interprets it as a symptom of desperation.
He believes the root cause is decades of oppression and sees October 7 as part of a larger pattern, not a standalone event.
Peace
Ari
We have not seen a peaceful movement come from the Palestinian people.
He also lists what he sees as peaceful gestures from Israel, such as:
- allowing Gazans to work in Israel
- withdrawing from Gaza in 2005
- offering land in past negotiations
- integrating Palestinians economically
All we got from bringing Gazans to work in Israel was that they mapped out the kibbutzim and planned their attack.
From his perspective, these were good‑faith steps that were met with violence or rejection.
(I think he would be heartbroken to find out what happened to halt these good-faith steps. History is not as simple as “we offered, they rejected”.)
Ken
It is disappointing to me that the Palestinian resistance has included abhorrent acts. However, it is untrue to say that that is only for a resistance that they have mounted.
They have tried political resistance. There have been millions of protests in the West Bank.
What we don’t know is how Palestinians would respond to inclusion. We only know how they respond to exclusion.
Israel has not offered Palestinian statehood and self‑determination.
The most Jewish thing I could do was follow what I thought was a path of righteousness.
Waging peace should be the pinnacle goal of being alive.
One Nation State
It’s a bit of a fantasy to believe we could all live in one state, Kumbaya together, and the idea that you don’t want to see a Jewish state as a Jew offends me.
When I hear from the river to the sea, I envision a binational state. I think they could build an incredible nation. The two peoples together.
Ari does not advocate for a specific political solution. He notes that Israel made past offers for a Palestinian state that were rejected, and that Bibi Netanyahu (current government) no longer supports a two-state model. His focus is not on a political framework but on security, survival, and preventing future attacks like October 7. I wonder if he knows Netanyahu was the one that forced the peace talks to collapse, and Bibi’s part in inciting the assassination of the architect of the solution. (21)
Fears
Ari’s fear: “My children will die in the same war I fought.”
Ken’s fear: “My people will lose their moral soul.”
Ari’s fear is generational and physical – that his children will inherit the same war he fought:
My first fear is that the combat I did in Gaza was for nothing and I just exacerbated the issue, but my fear more than that is that my children will fight the same exact war that I fought in Gaza, and for the same pointless reasons. It terrifies me that if October 7th isn’t the one to make us be like, oh, we’ve got to fix our issues, we’ve got to prevent war in the future, then I don’t know what it’s going to take for us to come to that realization.
Ken’s fear is moral – that Jews will become perpetrators and lose their ethical compass. He’s terrified of becoming the thing his father fled from.
Where I have arrived is feeling like the Israeli leadership is guilty of ethnic cleansing, of apartheid, of genocide… I don’t use these words lightly… It tears me up. It keeps me up at night.
Zionism, I believe, is a false messiah… a golden calf. (22)
“Part of the problem with tribalism is that we lose sight of the fact that our people have been both victim and perpetrator.”
“We as Jews have become the perpetrators.”
“It’s already a genocide and it’s already in my name.”
See also: A Palestinian and a Zionist Jew (23)
