This session examined the relations between the communities from the perspective of national security. How important are Israel’s relations with American Jewry to Israel’s national security? What elements affect this evolving relationship? What is the significance of the State of Israel’s status as the national homeland of the Jewish people within this context? What are the long range implications of this relationship, and how might the leaderships, communities, organizations, and publics in Israel and the United States work together to cultivate these relations?
Dr. Michal Hatuel-Radoshitzky - Here at INSS we’ve undertaken a research program this past year, with the generous support of the Ruderman Foundation, examining the U.S.-Israel relationship and, more specifically, the contribution of American Jewry to Israeli national security. Of late, there has been much talk about the strained relations between American and Israeli Jews. We will explore some of the reasons behind these strains in our session today.
In a Nov-Dec 2017 survey conducted by INSS we asked questions concerning the contribution of American Jews to Israeli national security. 38% of Israeli Jewish respondents believe American Jewry contributes to this security through advocacy for US support of Israel in the international arena. We were surprised to find that 50% of Israelis don’t see a recent change in relations between American and Israeli Jews, while 29% feel relations have actually improved. For those who responded that the communities are growing apart, 56% believed this was due to Israel’s treatment of non-Orthodox Jews. 83% of respondents believe Israel is the center of the Jewish people, while 17% believe the Jewish people have two equally important and large centers.
We’ve seen the data on what the Israeli public believes about the connection between the two communities – so I’d like to ask Na’ama and Jonathan: do you agree that there isn’t a problem, or if you do believe there is a problem, where does it come from?
Ms. Na’ama Ore - The data you showed, in fact that’s where the problem begins. We need to distinguish between building a state and building a community; for Israelis, we are asking ourselves 70 years into this experiment, what does it mean to be part of the Jewish people? We’re not really a community here, we’re a state. And those in the United States are not a single community either. There, they’re much more conscious of the question how to wake up every day as a Jew; for us, it goes without saying. Shared memory, shared ancient text (with many interpretations), shared state of Israel, and shared Hebrew language characterize the ways in which these communities can be linked.
Mr. Jonathan Greenblatt - There absolutely is a growing distance between the American Jewish and Israeli populations, which is ironic because accelerations in technology are actually bringing us together more than ever before, opening new lines of communication. We have “Taglit,” Israel studies programs opening around the U.S., companies like Waze and WeWork and Gett, Gal Gadot and Fauda – but if we thought all that familiarity would engender good relations, we were wrong. President Obama, my former boss, made a series of missteps on Middle East foreign policy, which engendered a great deal of negative reaction from the Republican side of the ledger in the U.S. Only 22% of American Jews voted for our current president, who has embraced Israel in ways which are remarkable but which are also exacerbating the partisan divide in the U.S. Trump’s strong embrace of Israel has given folks on the Left in the U.S. ammunition to join de-legitimization campaigns. This is extremely damaging. Youth-driven organizations are quite committed to agendas with which most of us in this room would find extremely uncomfortable. Even anti-semitism has become a debated, partisan issue. Dynamics in Israel have contributed to the strained relations; for US Jews, it’s deeply disconcerting to see the lack of momentum on the peace process, and they’re confused and upset about the conversion bill and the Kotel decision. I think it could get worse. Take a look at the situation with African refugees: if you start deporting them, American Jews will make parallels to “Dreamers” in the U.S. The resource of American Jewry won’t always be there if you squander it.
MHR - I want to ask Einat and Dan about the question we posed in the survey concerning Israel and/or the U.S. as the center of Jewish life. How do you see this issue?
Dr. Einat Wilf - The old contract between Israel and the diaspora gave those in the diaspora two options: either make Aliyah or send money and feel badly about not making Aliyah. We need to build a new contract that sends the following message: we want Israel to be the first or second home of all Jews in the world. By “second home,” I mean that Israel becomes something meaningful to Jews in the diaspora throughout their lives. How do we do this? Through debate. Being a Jewish state means being the only state in the world where we actually debate what it means to be a Jewish state. Israel is obviously the center of sovereign Jewish life, since we don’t have any other Jewish state, but I would tell Jews in the U.S. and elsewhere in the diaspora: don’t stop arguing with us, don’t silence yourselves. The debate will make us better.
Amb. Dan Shapiro - It’s possible to overstate the sense of crisis, of the rift between the two communities. There remains a strong base of support in all the traditional pillars of the relationship: a sense of common history, of common destiny, and a commitment to one another. Nevertheless, we’re dealing with two communities which are evolving in two different directions. In the US, Jewish society is becoming more liberal, more secular; in Israel, the population is perhaps becoming more conservative, more religious. This isn’t something to be condemned, but rather to be understood. There are obligations on both sides. On the American side, our responsibility is chiefly in the realm of education, to teach our citizens the history and the language of the Jewish people in order to enable American Jews to engage with Israeli society. We also have to acknowledge that Israelis live here, they send their kids to the army, and they vote for their leaders. We need to understand those realities. On the Israeli side, there are also obligations: maintaining the notion that this is one people, and therefore to be respectful of the concerns of this larger people, especially when it comes to issues of Jewish identity. We’ve had some very rough moments in the last few years; the decision to cancel the Kotel agreement was very difficult for American Jews. Israel also needs to be very careful about entering the hyper-partisan environment of American politics. And she is making a strategic mistake in writing off 2/3 of American Jews (i.e., non-Orthodox). This is also a moral mistake and goes against the notion that we are all one people.
MHR In 2017, the Anti-Defamation League issued reports indicating an uptick in anti-semitic events in the U.S. What does the Jewish community in the U.S. expect from Israel in circumstances like Charlottesville, which elicited little to no response from the Israeli government?
JG - It’s true that anti-semitic incidents increased last year, though not attitudes. It’s key to remember that the increase is coming from the left and the right. We might have liked a swifter response from the Israeli government, though I’m glad they came out and said what they said when they finally did. As we look ahead, we would hope that whatever elected government we find here in Israel will take anti-semitism in the US as seriously as you take it everywhere in the world.
MHR - To Dan, I’d like to ask how you see the relationship from a strategic standpoint? How do you see the differences in American and Israeli leadership affecting the relationship?
DS - The Iran deal was a good example of how the Israeli leadership has every right to express its view on policy. At the same time, it’s important not to put natural allies in the position of being essentially accused of not caring about Israel’s security if they analyze the issue differently. Throughout 2015, a very difficult year for the relationship, many in the US felt they were put in that position -- to “choose.” We face a somewhat different situation with the current administration, and it’s a different challenge for the Israeli government. We’re in an unprecedented period of polarization, so it should be possible to cultivate a positive relationship with the current administration while also ensuring the U.S. President’s opponents in the US are not dismissed because this administration will be out one day and those opponents will have their turn. Israel should not burn its bridges in the intervening years.
MHR - To what extent can Israelis in the U.S. be a bridge between the communities?
NO - Most Israelis in the US are secular and without much in the way of a Jewish identity, so they sometimes feel isolated. Since they don’t feel inclined to connect with the American Jewish community, insofar as the latter is religious, we felt a need to create community among Israeli Americans. There’s definitely a way in which Israelis in the US can be a bridge. As an example, when Israelis in Boston wanted to “talk Israel” in the US, we found that American Jews were also interested in that conversation. So we’ve brought the two communities together through the IAC platform.