When Israel celebrates 71 years of restored Jewish national independence, it bows its head to the 23,741 Israelis who have been killed in action defending the national freedom of the Jewish people. While the price is high, the price of lacking Jewish national freedom was always incomparably higher.
When Imams in mosques in North Carolina, New Jersey, Texas and California called for the killing of Jews, American organizations were quiet. No one protested or called on President Donald Trump to confront Muslim supremacy.
Liberal American Jews are free to disagree with President Trump. Yet, if they still consider themselves Jews, they owe Trump a measure of respect for his support for the Jewish state of Israel and cracking down on its enemies.
Many American Jews may feel fondness for Israel but do not respect the people of Israel to determine what is good for Israel themselves. They discount the Israeli perspective and do not fully appreciate Israeli democracy.
Before the establishment of Israel, the destiny of millions of Jews was decided by the whims of Christian Europe and the Muslim world. What has changed dramatically is that today there is a powerful Jewish state.
Talking is good. The sticky part however, is that it’s not so much “we need to talk” on the part of the Federation as it is what they feel they have a right to insist upon vis-a-vis Israeli cultural, religious and other policies.
Beyond a nearly universal approval of Israel’s existence, Jews outside of Israel have to reconcile Israel’s political necessities and national interests with those of their home nation, very often putting them at odds.
Admitting Hamas is wrong means acknowledging Israel has been right, and an entire industry of ‘peace making’, the fodder that the current ‘narrative’ provides academia, journalists and a host NGOs would collapse, leaving thousands looking embarrassingly stupid.
Arabs and Jews have vastly different historical experiences that dramatically affected their respective cultures, values and mindset. To Jews compromise is a virtue; for Arabs, an invitation for further aggression.
Ronald Lauder would be smart to learn from Israel's "Nation-State" law to strengthen Jewish identity among the fading American Diaspora instead of virtue signaling on the pages of the NY Times.
In the Israeli political discourse, the New Israel Fund is identified with the most extreme fringes of the left and in the eyes of many Israelis, the NIF undermines Israeli democracy.
Many who recognize the legitimacy of Jewish national rights in the Land of Israel are troubled by the new Basic Law. A look at the background and some of the facts about the law that are misrepresented.
According to Ronald Lauder, Israel must be either perilously insecure; or demographically untenable. This is an utterly false dichotomy.
Ron Lauder blames Israeli policies for the impasse with the Arabs and for the assimilation occurring in the Diaspora, while oblivious to the realities in Israel that completely refute his claims
In pursuit of bipartisanship, AIPAC should strive to persuade “progressives”, not pander to them; to convert them, not co-opt them.
The ADL criticizes Israel for expelling illegal infiltrators in a meaningless act of virtue signalling, while Israel is one of the leading providers of aid to African countries.
Jews in the Diaspora are increasingly at odds with mainstream Israel in a replay of the timeless Jewish challenge of finding the right balance between particularism and universalism.
