Rabbi Berman's editorial is worth reading even if you disagree with it. The basic, over simplified, version is that there should be a Jewish State because Jews above other groups are special hand can be a light to the world. There is nothing wrong with that, until you consider that the British Empire was largely rationalized by the idea that it was bringing true civilized thoughts and values to the world. We in the US adopted and modified that idea to become Manifest Destiny. Missionaries from Spain and Portugal were doing the same thing when they tried to convert much of the Western Hemisphere to Christianity. Indeed, it is a pretty good bet that the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Romans, who conquered Biblical Israel were acting under the same impulse.
Lots of humanity's sorrows come from one group or another, after giving it some thought, figure that they are better than everyone else and that rest of the world would be better off if their superiority was taken as a given. What I personally find sad about this is that many of those people, like Rabbi Berman, seem to be good people, just misguided.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/opinion/zionism-jewish-israel.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uVA.mQxd.Z-WrhrA6CRgH&smid=url-share
