Publications

Israel’s international standing has suffered severe damage in the wake of the Gaza war. This decline is evident across most areas of national life—the economy, academia, culture, the security of Jewish communities in the diaspora, and most essentially – the basic legitimacy of the State of Israel and its right to defend itself. Attempts to isolate Israel are not new. They are rooted in disagreements over the appropriate resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, ideological opposition to Israel’s existence, and internal demographic and societal trends in various countries unrelated to Israel. However, the Gaza war has been marked by an unprecedented peak in the intensity of the cognitive campaign and efforts to isolate Israel, a challenge for which Israel was insufficiently prepared. The purpose of this policy paper is to identify the range of failures with the aim of correction and to present decision-makers with a series of practical steps required for improvement.

What were each side’s objectives heading into the historic meeting between the two presidents—and were they achieved?

The Jewish community of the United States is a valuable national security asset of the State of Israel. Over the years, including during the Gaza war, American Jews have helped to secure essential diplomatic and military support for Israel in the United States and have raised much-needed funds for Israeli civil society and nonprofit organizations. The capacity of American Jews to provide such support in the future, however, is called into question by a range of developments, including a weakening of American Jewish communal institutions, growing divisions over Israeli policies, and rising antisemitism and hostility toward Israel in the broader American society. This policy memorandum describes the changes afoot in the American Jewish community and recommends policies that Israel should adopt to help strengthen American Jewry, rebuild its broad support for Israel, and solidify the partnership between the Jewish state and the world’s largest diaspora community.