Liberal Zionist writers need to go further in their critiques if they wish to safeguard their future reputations

There has been, everyone seems to agree, a significant shift in the last few weeks. Lots of people, particularly diaspora Jews, who had not spoken out against the war until now have finally done so. As I have written before, this is to be welcomed. Better late than never. But some of those coming round, particularly those with large public platforms, have done so in a way that is so limited, so enclosed by caveats and hasbara talking points that it is unclear how much value their damascene conversion actually has. The suspicion is that they are more interested in protecting the reputations – and future proofing them – than stopping the war. We don’t need them to become anti-Zionists. But we do need them to support a clear position – that Israel is doing terrible things in Gaza, and all peaceful methods need to be employed to pressure it into stopping doing them.