Redefining Zionism – Portraits and Perspectives from a Post-October 7 Israel

Between March 26, 2025, and June 13, 2025, Hillel at UCLA offers a powerful and timely photography exhibit by Los Angeles professional photographer Shlomit Levy Bard. Titled REDEFINING ZIONISM, the exhibit features photographs and interviews of over 60 people all over Israel collected by the artist for nearly a year after the October 7, 2023 attack. On April 1, 2025, Shlomit Levy Bard kindly consented to an interview about the exhibit.

TELL ME SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND. BOTH AS A PERSON AND AS A PHOTOGRAPHER. HOW DO YOU THINK THIS INFLUENCES YOUR WORK?

I am a professional portrait photographer based in Los Angeles. I began my photography career as a photojournalist, working full time for newspapers and then freelancing for wire services, newspapers and magazines. In 2008, I founded Studio SLB Photography, which helps families as well as business professionals with storytelling photography. With this project, I’ve returned to my passion for documentary portraiture, capturing images that reflect the authentic complexity of my subjects and the complexity of the topic at hand. 

Having emigrated to Los Angeles from Israel as a child, I always felt proud of my Israeli roots. We spoke Hebrew at home, and I frequently traveled to Israel to visit my extended family. I firmly identified with Zionism and the miracle of the rebirth of Jewish statehood. My understanding of Zionism was simple: it meant the right of Israel to exist as the homeland for the Jewish people. 

Straddling two cultures (known as being a “third culture kid”) was not easy when I was younger, as I felt different from most of my peers, even (and perhaps especially) the Jewish American ones. But as I grew up, I realized that being able to see the world through multiple lenses is one of my greatest strengths. I’m not locked into one perspective, and can easily see that just because things have always been done a certain way, doesn’t mean they can’t be done differently.

Fanta Prada, an Ethiopian-born Jewish lawyer and restaurant owner who immigrated to Israel as a child – Photo on exhibit by Shlomit Levy Bard

HOW DID THE IDEA OF TAKING THESE PHOTOS COME TO YOU?

October 7 and the ensuing war left me feeling bereft, anxious, and helpless with respect to what was happening in Israel and Gaza as well as the reactions abroad – particularly on college campuses. I have a son in college and two in high school. The antisemitism that we were all suddenly seeing was alarming and distressing. Beyond the immediate catastrophe of the attacks in Israel, the term Zionism was being lobbed like a grenade – with some activists calling for the actual murder of Zionists, and with Jewish students needing to disavow their support for Israel as a precondition to entering certain spaces on their own college campuses.  At the same time, I also saw the destruction in Gaza and felt heartbroken for the loss of innocent life there.

I felt helpless and not sure what I, as a photographer and a mother, could possibly do. After a few months of being consumed by the news about the war there and the reaction on college campuses, the idea emerged: I decided to do a series of portraits and interviews of Israelis themselves, talking about what Zionism means to them personally in a post-October 7 world.

Yair Dalal, a Jewish Israel musician and composer – Photo on exhibit by Shlomit Levy Bard

ROUGHLY, HOW MANY PHOTOS AND INTERVIEWS DID YOU DO? WHAT WAS THE MOST SURPRISING INTERVIEW/PHOTO YOU DID? WHY?

I photographed and interviewed over 60 people, all over Israel, during two trips that I took there in the last year. On each of the trips I took one of my teenage sons as my assistant, which was incredibly meaningful as well, both because of the time we were able to spend together and because of the people they had the chance to meet and hear from. They were also incredibly helpful because they have bigger muscles than I do and helped me carry and set up the studio everywhere we went!

All of the conversations were fascinating.  I approached each conversation with no agenda – simply to be curious, to listen and to ask sometimes tough questions, but with no need to convince or be convinced. I had the opportunity to connect with people from all kinds of backgrounds – some were working class Jewish immigrants, some were well-known respected figures in Israel. Others were Muslims, Druze and Christians, and still others were Jews of every color and background. Many people think of Israelis as predominantly “white”, but the fact is that Israel is incredibly diverse, both in terms of population and in terms of point of view. The exhibit itself is representative of the diversity within Israel. Anyone who sees it is likely to find perspectives they agree with, and perspectives that challenge them.

Some of the stories that stand out the most to me are those of the non-Jewish subjects I photographed. For example, Odelia Beyer is a Christian Israeli, whose grandparents moved to Israel from Germany in the 1970s in order to open a nursing home for Holocaust survivors, to take care of and comfort the people who were hurt by Germany. Neither she nor any of her four siblings were required to serve in Israel’s military, but they all chose to. Her brother was severely wounded in January 2024 while on a hostage rescue mission in Gaza, and died of his wounds. She says that her family has paid the ultimate sacrifice but they still believe that staying in Israel and defending it is the right thing to do.

Odelia Beyer – Photo on exhibit by Shlomit Levy Bard

Basma Hino, a Druze Israeli, lost her husband when he was mortally wounded as an IDF soldier during the Second Intifada in 2002. Newly married and pregnant at the time, she raised their son, Noor, who later chose to serve as a combat soldier in the IDF despite his exemption as the only child of a fallen soldier. On the morning of October 7, 2023, Noor was called to his unit, but Basma begged his commanders to keep him away from the fighting. At the last moment, they pulled him off a jeep headed toward the site of the Hamas attacks, in the south of Israel. The jeep was ambushed that afternoon, killing two soldiers and injuring the commander.

After October 7, Basma’s restaurant struggled as business dried up. With food about to spoil, she cooked 400 meals for her late husband’s battalion. And when she saw some soldiers abstaining because the food wasn’t kosher, she made the costly decision to make her restaurant kosher—so she could continue honoring her husband’s memory by feeding Israeli soldiers.

Basma Hino, a Druze Israeli, and her son Noor – Photo on exhibit by Shlomit Levy Bard

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO COMPLETE THIS PROJECT? WHY DID YOU CHOSE UCLA AS A VENUE FOR YOUR EXHIBIT?

I’ve been working on this project since May 2024, so about 11 months. UCLA was a natural fit for a number of reasons – it was the site of many of the most extreme protests (and antisemitism) and counter protests on a college campus. Second, I am a UCLA alum, and feel very connected to the university and what happens there.  Third – I live in Los Angeles, and wanted to share this work locally to start with. The exhibit itself is at Hillel at UCLA, but is open to the public daily from 10-4. I hope that the community at large, and not only Jewish students and faculty at UCLA, come to engage with it.

HOW DID THE EXHIBIT FINALLY COME TOGETHER? ANY LAST MINUTE THOUGHTS?

It’s been a labor of love, and the work isn’t over. Due to space constraints, I can show most, but not all of the images. We are still working on audio and video editing, an exhibit catalog, a teaching guide, and much more. So that all of this can happen, we are now in the fundraising stage as well, which is a world unto itself!

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE MOST STRIKING THING YOU LEARNED FROM THIS PROJECT?

I learned a lot, but one thing in particular is that I found that Israelis define Zionism and Anti-Zionism differently from how non-Israelis would define those terms. It’s sort of like how you can criticize your own family, but if someone from outside criticizes them, it’s not okay. Outside of Israel, Anti-Zionism is often just a modern expression of antisemitism, particularly when Israel is singled out, its very legitimacy questioned. Within Israel, it’s not so black and white – there’s a lot of discussion and self-reflection about the ideas of Zionism and what they mean historically, and today. 

WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS?

I am still running my portrait business, and I plan to continue to do that. In the spirit of (RE)DEFINING ZIONISM, the next project, which will be based here in L.A., is about redefining success, and what that idea means to women in their 40s and beyond.

And in terms of (RE)DEFINING ZIONISM, I’m planning to have the exhibit travel nationally to other campuses, with the goal of reaching 20 campuses over the next three years. It will be a space in which students are invited to engage in dialogue about this complex topic.

REDEFINING ZIONISM: PORTRAITS AND PERSPECTIVES FROM A POST-OCTOBER 7 ISRAEL runs through June 13, 2025, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. A reception is scheduled on Monday April 7 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Hillel at UCLA is located at 574 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Entry is free.