Batya Ungar-Sargon says many American Jews now feel “politically homeless,” arguing in her new book that their long Democratic alignment was historical rather than inherent to Jewish identity.
About 100 years of strong Jewish support for Democrats, she says, grew from labor activism, the New Deal and civil-rights alliances—not from a permanent left-wing Jewish tradition, which she contrasts with 250 years of earlier American Jewish life.
1967 and Oct. 7, 2023 mark the key breaks in her account: she says the left recast Israel after the Six-Day War and that Hamas’ attack exposed a deeper rupture between Jewish identity, liberal politics and support for Israel.
Rather than urging Jews to become Republicans, Ungar-Sargon argues they should invest less in one party and more in America itself.