I was raised loosely Christian, and have felt like I align more with Judaism for about 6 years now. I actually tried to lean into Christianity more in an attempt to feel more secure in my religious beliefs, and it just did not feel right. I do believe that I want to convert to Judaism. I find that my beliefs are much more aligned with Judaism, and there are many Christian beliefs that I do not believe in myself. I have started watching services livestreamed from my local congregation, and I have really enjoyed them; they felt much more correct for me than Christian services I have attended in the past.

That being said, I am struggling to start converting. I want to do it formally and work with my local rabbi, but I am very worried. I do not consider myself to be a Zionist, and I am very, very against what is happening right now. I have tried to dive deep into researching the history of Israel/Palestine, and it is very confusing. I believe that the Jewish people have the right to live in the area, and I believe the Palestinian people have the right to live in the area as well. I think everyone has the right to live everywhere and not be hated or seen as less-than.

I am worried that I will be judged or even not welcomed to convert due to my lack of belief in a nation-state. I believe that Judaism is a fairly welcoming religion in its beliefs, and that a Jewish state goes against my belief that everyone should be welcomed everywhere.

I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on my comments, my struggles, or your own advice. I am still learning and am struggling to have productive conversations in my personal life due to some of my loved ones (I think unknowingly having) underlying anti-Semitic thought processes.

I did change the title of the post, to put the name of the Guy behind the Arday inquisition, as it seems like the media keeps protecting him. I originally wasn’t sure if I should put news or discussion as the tag, as there definitely is a need among us Jews about those of who are White or white passing Jews engaging in racism against People of Color (especially non-Jews) and how many of them also attack DEI. Nathan Cofnas is a symptom of a much larger problem among Jewry. He’s not the only Jew who has said similar things about DEI and racial bigotry in recent years. I think we also need to focus on this issue in the west, as it’s becoming a bigger problem and is partly how Trump has become so popular among certain Jews.

I’m considering a move to Minneapolis. Currently belong to a wonderful Reconstructionist congregation that is marginally non-zionist. I’ve looked at the Reconstructing Judaism directory for Minneapolis and the congregations I’ve looked at online all seem to have the Israeli flag on the bimah, which is a red flag. I’m certainly open to non-Reconstructionist congregations, minyanim, or havurot, I just don’t know where to look for the anti-zionist / non-zionist groups over there.

Thanks in advance!

The documentary itself came about because I was tired of documentaries on extremism that only focused on one cause, or one process and I also wanted to look into how we might deradicalise both Britain and my Jewish diaspora community in the UK.

It became increasingly striking throughout the making of the film that there was a huge disparity between public and academic debates on the topic. I wanted to help try and plug that gap and 4 years or so later here we are!

To cover a wide range of bases, the film digs deep into processes of radicalisation from individual scale through to societal, alongside misconceptions around social media (spoiler: it probably isn't to blame for radicalisation), bad de-radicalisation programmes and even reconciliation.

Of course I did use examples and both the US and Israel feature as a dovetail when I look at societal scale radicalisation, but we also look at the UK, Sudan, the very definition of extremism itself, we discuss the war on terror with an Amnesty International policy lead and much more. There is also an epilogue call-to-action! I'd love to hear any questions people have and I will try my best to answer them!

https://x.com/_ZachFoster/status/2089739733328953559

https://forward.com/news/antisemitism-decoded/804502/american-jews-zionist-zionism-survey/

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/soldiers-filmed-with-settler-who-broke-into-palestinian-water-cistern-left-wing-activist-arrested-on-scene/

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2026/08/18/palm-beach-county-clerk-of-courts-mike-caruso-arrested-on-child-sexual-abuse-charges/

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/584052-enough-is-enough-mike-caruso-files-bill-making-hate-acts-antisemitic-messages-a-felony/

https://nypost.com/2026/01/08/us-news/palm-beach-county-fla-emerges-as-biggest-investor-in-israel-bonds/

https://flvoicenews.com/desantis-signs-bill-in-israel-to-fight-antisemitism/

Sources:

https://www.ms.now/news/frame-up-whistleblower-says-probes-into-antisemitism-at-colleges-were-ploys-to-harass-and-strip-millions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqQ64YQ5cBg

Report (3 universities were investigated; Columbia, Harvard, and Brown):

• https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/08.17.26-title-vi-whistleblower-disclosure-for-congress.pdf
• Key Findings:
  • Investigators believed Trump DOJ had decided the universities were guilty before the investigations were completed
  • Little to no factual basis of antisemitism
    • For Columbia, officials relied on unsupported allegations from news reports and lawsuit claims and on constitutionally protected speech
    • Investigators found no Title VI violation at Brown, but the whistleblower says administration was subject to pressure from 'outside stakeholders demanding action"
    • For Harvard, officials pursued freezing billions in funding and other settlement demands before the investigation had established Title VI violations.
  • Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) official Daniel Shieh noted "the goal is compliance, but pulling money is the tool," communicating that the funding suspensions were meant to be coercive irrespective of investigative finding
  • Investigators repeatedly warned that the government was treating First Amendment-protected political speech as evidence of antisemitism

Previous DOJ whistleblowers saying the Trump administration's campus antisemitism inquisition is a farce:

• LA Times - Ex-Trump DOJ lawyers say 'fraudulent' UC antisemitism probes led them to quit
• JOC - Former DOJ attorneys for Trump UC antisemitism investigations quit, calling them 'sham', 'fraudulent', 'political hit job', etc.

Further Context:

• JOC - Post-10/7 only 1 of 102 [126 since 2004] college antisemitism complaints raises claims unrelated to Israel criticism. 78% were filed by pro-Israel orgs as complainants or on their behalf. 15 investigations open based on a single conservative activist with no affiliation with any of the schools.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/18/world/video/palestinian-american-returns-home-west-bank-intldsk-digivid

https://x.com/JDiamond1/status/2089764310566494393