Never Again: Zionism and the Jewess

The State of Israel was established, in part, to ensure that Jews would never again be killed with impunity. More specifically, the State of Israel was established to ensure that never again would Jewish women and girls be systematically raped, assaulted, violated, and mutilated in a pogrom-like attack against the Jewish people. It is well known that the sweep of history connects Jews with the land of Israel from ancient times to today and serves as an important foundation for political Zionism. Less understood is that the atrocities against Jewish women and girls, committed over thousands of years and across continents, tore a primal wound in the Jewish psyche and galvanized the Zionist vision of a return to Jewish statehood and self-determination. "Never again" is an unwritten Zionist promise, a covenant, established between the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Hamas’s October 7th attack tested this sacred Zionist promise. This article is an exploration of why political Zionism made that promise and how October 7th tested it.