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| Israeli Education and Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett (WJD) |
The question is why is this the case? Why are American Jews
abandoning Israel’s cause? There was a time where most American Jews defined
their very Judaism by their support for Israel. Other than that there was little
else they did that distinguished them as Jews. They were basically
indistinguishable from their non Jewish American neighbors. Social justice is
what concerned the more idealistic Jews among them. As did the soft antisemitism of the time that
had quotas for Jews in ivy league universities and barred Jews from from certain
country clubs.
But all American Jews who were mostly non observant loved Israel
and supported her with massive donations - raised by Jewish federations. They viewed with pride Israel’s idealism
as expressed by secular Zionism with socialist type communes (called Kibbutzim)
working to make the desert bloom. In those days it was all about building up the country.
That kind of idealism has all but disappeared in Israel right along with most Kibbutzim. Today’s Israel
is more like America where the profit motive fuels economy. They saw a country whose pioneers were idealistic, where Jews that lived in and
worked on collective farms (Kibbutzim) were all working for the same cause of
bettering the society in which they lived. The profit motives seemed at
most to be secondary if they existed at all. That is what socialism is all
about. And they were doing this while under the threat of constant attack from
hostile neighbors. It was a time where the labor government ruled and
believed their reign would last forever.
That changed after the Six Day War,
especially when the Israeli electorate turned rightward – and voted labor out
of office replacing him with Menachem Begin. From that moment on the country
started moving away from socialism and more towards capitalism. Kibbutzim started dying out as a result.
That is one reason support has waned. But in my view – by far
not the most important one.
There are at least 2 other factors that better help explain
this new disaffection. One is the huge influences anti Israel Leftist
professors in universities. Some of it so extreme that it refuses to see Israel as
anything other than an oppressor state that should be boycotted and protested.
Unfortunately there are a lot of young Jewish students – ignorant of their own
heritage that easily buy into that narrative. They boycotting Israel see it as a socially
just cause.
Another big factor is one Bennett alluded to. American Jews have
almost completely lost their Jewish identity and have no reason to support a
Jewish State. They also see injustice in the fact that Heterodox rabbis have been
barred from any official influence in Israel because of out sized influenced of
the religious parties in the Knesset. That good people like those rabbis are denied
any power in a Jewish democracy is a huge turnoff to many American Jews. And those
rabbis make sure their voices are heard on this matter – which of course exacerbates
their apathy.
90% of Jews in America that are not Orthodox have raised
their children with hardly any real identifiable Jewish content at all. Urging
their children to have a sense of social justice is hardly a value unique to Judaism.
Why should any of those children care if they are Jews? This is probably why
the intermarriage among the 90% that are not Orthodox is over 70%!
Naftali Bennett’s concerns are therefore very real and based on the
existing reality of a Judaism in America that has little if any resemblance to
actual Judaism.
I actually had an online debate about this with a dear
friend who identifies as liberal. He believes that Israel’s move to the political
and religious right is what causes this problem. He worries that the
above mentioned American Jewish apathy will substantially reduce its generosity and
irreparably hurt Israel. He believes Israel needs that financial support
and can’t afford to lose it.
He further believes that the policies of Israel’s current government
alienates world support too. And that Israel cannot survive as a nation – isolated
form the rest of the world.He also laments the bipartisan support Israel had
until the current Israeli government alienated the Democratic party. He does not believe it benefits Israel to lose
or substantially reduce bi-partisan support.
I agree that ideally it would be best to have bi-partisan
support in congress and have the support of all the nations of the world. I
also agree that Israel has lost and will continue to lose some American Jewish support.
But I do not agree that it will hurt Israel to maintain its current policies. It
is not a one way street with Israel The US needs Israel too. Which is why
financial aid, military and intelligence cooperation increased substantially under
a President who couldn’t stand Israel’s leader.
Trade with Israel benefits the nations
of the world too. It is not a one way street. It has contributed mightily to the welfare of the entire world through
its accomplishments in a variety of fields.
What about the money they will lose from Jewish American
donors? My hope is that Israel will at some point no longer need their donations.
A point that they have already reached. Their economy is strongest its ever
been. Sure, Israel does not want to lose
any support. Everything helps. But if they lose some of it, I do not believe it
will destroy them; will not even hurt them that much in the short term; and in the long run they will be better off.
I therefore believe that Israel’s current religious ‘move to
the right’ is a good thing. (Even though I would tweak it a bit for reasons
beyond the scope of this post). Because at the end of the day, Israel was given
to the Jewish people so they could serve God through Torah and Mitzvos. Without
that, there is no reason to have a Jewish state at all.
