By Barry Shaw
NETANYA, Israel — Zionism is Jewish intersectionality and genuine progressivism.
It is the diversity of the incoming, the answer to three millennium of Jewish victimhood.
It is where left and right, black, white and brown, Sephardi and Ashkenazi, religious and secular, intersect, come together in defense of our self preservation, to celebrate our Judaism in whatever form it takes, to struggle to create a better world for ourselves and for others, while protecting those within our community not of the tribe.
As such, Zionism is the most progressive movement in a repressive and violent region.
Zionism knows from experience we do not live in a perfect world. It is a world that still seeks to victimize us. Never again means never again.
But Zionism is a welcoming host to those who extend their hand in peace and friendship.
Zionism always gives back more than it receives. This is the true expression of Tikkun Olam, Repair the World. To give to others more than you expect to receive from them. And to do unto others more than you would have them do unto you.
Zionism is a Jewish justice achieved by sacrifice only in the last century after wandering in a cruel and unwelcoming world for far too long. It is earning ourselves a small barren corner, to nurture it and defend it with courage and determination.
That is our fate. That is our future.
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Shaw is international public diplomacy director of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies