A columnist who holds both American and Israeli citizenship has argued that Israel faces an identity crisis distinct from policy disputes, one in which the country itself—rather than specific actions by its government—is portrayed as inherently illegitimate. The writer, describing herself as a proud fourth-generation American and first-generation Israeli, contends that this transformation represents a threat that should concern the United States.
The columnist identified what she called a narrative role reversal in how Israel is presented globally. For decades, Israel understood itself as David: a small country surrounded by hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims, repeatedly attacked by enemies seeking its destruction. That historical reality persists, she argued, yet the image presented to much of the world has inverted, with Israel recast as Goliath and Palestinians as David.
She attributed this shift partly to what analysts have termed the "red-green alliance"—convergence between elements of the Western radical left and Islamist movements around shared adversaries including Israel and Zionism. The columnist noted that while the ultimate objectives of these groups differ greatly, their immediate narratives can reinforce one another.
The columnist drew a distinction between criticism of Israeli policies and delegitimization of Israel's existence. She argued that saying "Israel did something wrong" permits criticism and reform, while saying "Israel is something wrong" questions legitimacy itself. Under this framing, Israel moves from being a country that may have committed wrongs to a country whose very existence constitutes a wrong.
She warned that the same progression could be applied to American identity. The columnist argued that if countries lose legitimacy because their creation involved war, displacement, or injustice, the intellectual machinery used to reverse Israel's historical identity could be redirected at America's founding and identity as a nation.
