From My Desk — Beyond the Binary: Making Room for a Different Kind of Solidarity

By Iky Salinas

Last week, PPI Board members joined Israelis for Peace at an October 7 vigil in New York City,  attended by Brad Lander, Jumaane Williams, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Organized to affirm the equal value of all human life and call for an end to violence, the gathering was met by protesters chanting pro-Hamas slogans, as well as pro-Israel counterprotesters.

The scene reflected a broader challenge in how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is understood and discussed today. Too often, the conflict is framed as a binary: pro-Israel or pro-Palestine, Zionist or anti-Zionist, as though recognizing one people’s suffering, rights, and aspirations requires denying those of the other. A conflict this complex cannot be reduced to a simple dichotomy.

Dehumanizing rhetoric and reductive portrayals of the other side have helped reinforce this false choice and deepen these divisions. Israeli leaders such as Itamar Ben-Gvir have referred to Palestinians as “not even people,” while some voices in pro-Palestinian spaces reduce Zionism to a single, hostile caricature, leaving little room to recognize the diversity of Jewish and Zionist beliefs and experiences. As Aaron Greenberg observed in his account, political expression among the protesters had become “indistinguishable from hatred.”

When a vigil organized around the equal value of human life is met with hostility and mischaracterization, it underscores how much work remains to create space for a more humane conversation.

At Partners for Progressive Israel, we believe that what unites us is not a label, but a shared commitment to the values that can guide a just future for Israelis and Palestinians: the right of both peoples to live in security and free from fear, the equal value of every human life, and the right of Israelis and Palestinians alike to self-determination in their homeland.

These values need not belong exclusively to any one political camp. They can unite people with different understandings of Zionism, Israel, and Palestinian liberation, provided we are willing to recognize one another’s humanity and legitimate aspirations.

That is why our mission is to educate Americans about the complexities of Israel and Palestine. We want to create space for honest conversations that challenge assumptions, reject dehumanization, and recognize the humanity and legitimate aspirations of both peoples.

As Executive Director, I hope to continue growing the PPI community into one where people with different relationships to Zionism and different perspectives on the conflict can come together around a shared vision of peace, equality, and self-determination. We do not need to agree on everything to recognize that neither people’s future can be built on the denial of the other’s rights.