The hidden sting in the tail of Peter Beinart’s ‘dangerous’ idea

The political left has embraced Peter Beinart’s book Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza with enthusiasm.

Once a prominent liberal Zionist, Beinart’s Gaza analysis, released late last year, positions him as an opponent of Israel more broadly. He argues that Israel’s destruction of Gaza was so brutal and excessive that the whole national project is beyond moral repair.

The book asks Jews to rethink what Jewish identity stands for, and to cast off their reflexive solidarity with Israel. In doing so, Beinart has expanded his long-standing criticism of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian people into an ethical and existential critique.

It has also put the New York-based journalist in high demand from literary and cultural festivals, with Australia at the forefront. Beinart was a headline guest at the 2025 Sydney Writers' Festival, where his book was second on the festival’s non-fiction bestseller list (behind The Eyes of Gaza, by Plestia Alaqad), and he has now been invited back to speak at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney on August 23.

The director of the Festival frames Beinart’s session as follows: “For decades, many Jews believed they could reconcile liberal values with unwavering support for the State of Israel. That consensus is now at risk of being undermined as Jews confront questions once considered unthinkable: What does solidarity mean in the face of mass civilian suffering? And what happens when a government enacts policies that violate ethical ideals that lie at the core of a people’s identity?”

In essence, Beinart says that the Netanyahu government’s actions have put the whole country beyond the pale, and it is time for Jews to unravel the heartstrings that are attached to Israel and find a different centre of Jewish gravity. In short, to become “non-Zionist”. That is, not against the idea of a Jewish state but to cast that state adrift from its central role in their identity.