Jews around the world, and particularly in the United States, are feeling the dismay that brought many of us into Israel's streets in recent weeks.
Most of these American Jews are Democrats still traumatized by the Trump years, even if they’ve mostly caught their breath two years later. But when they see what’s happening in Israel today – with ministers who don’t even try to hide their hatred of Arabs or the LGBTQ community, Reform and Conservative Jews, secular Israelis, civil servants and their political opponents, and are advancing what amounts to regime change under the guise of “legal reform” – they are once again left speechless.
These Jews know Bibi well. They often disagree with what he stands for, and they don’t forget how he treated President Barack Obama, but they know he’s capable. Were he American, they muse, he’d likely be a viable Republican presidential contender.
But they also remember the racism and incitement of Meir Kahane. Now, during every television segment about Israel, their eyes are fixed on his disciple, Itamar Ben-Gvir. They wonder whether his smiling image is now the true face of Israel.
Suddenly, before they've even come to terms with the formation of this new (duly elected, but quite worrisome) government, before they could even understand whether its extreme coalition agreements were a plan of action or mere slogans, a shocking plan to fundamentally alter Israel’s system of government emerged.
At first, many thought they perhaps didn’t understand this plan correctly. But in the weeks that followed, they’ve heard sharp condemnations from mainstream and even right-leaning pro-Israel figures such as Alan Dershowitz and Abe Foxman, and internalized that something deeper is at stake.
We share this deep dismay because the State of Israel has achieved so much. Israel isn’t without its flaws, but there’s no denying that our nation-state is a success story. We’ve created a hi-tech superpower with a strong economy and a powerful army, and above all, a vibrant Jewish center that continues to write a glorious and unprecedented chapter in Jewish history. It is impossible to be Jewish in today’s world without Israel being part of your identity, whether you are a supporter or a critic.
What role do Jews around the world and especially in the United States have to play in the discussion about Israel's possible transformation from a liberal democracy to an Orbanist state? The official and legal answer is clear: They don’t have one; they don't live or vote here. But should they play a part in the battle against these dangerous changes? Yes, absolutely.
After all, for decades, the U.S.-Israel alliance and Israel's relationship with American Jews have both been strongly rooted in the fact that both nations are liberal democracies. How, then, are true friends of Israel supposed to behave when they see Israel’s leader, on trial for corruption, advancing “reforms” that could spell the end of Israel’s democracy?
After all they have heard the prime minister himself brag about Israel’s Supreme Court for years, and emphasize that “A strong, independent court allows for the existence of all other institutions in a democracy.”
While they debate what they can do to counter this risk, the clock is ticking. Some American Jews will join in longtime Zionist Tom Friedman’s piercing call for U.S. President Joe Biden to save Israel from itself. Another possibility is a boycott of the government or its ministers – as British Jewry’s Board of Deputies recently did, when they refused to host Bezalel Smotrich.
Perhaps a time will come when there will even be calls for protests outside Israeli embassies, like American Jewry once did outside the Soviet Embassy – even though this would be a public diplomacy disaster, and perhaps cause irreparable damage.
There are also Jewish Americans who are now acknowledging what might have been a strategic mistake. Many have long supported projects that Israeli governments have labeled as important, out of a well-founded belief that such partnership is critical.
As a result, today most liberal and progressive Jewish philanthropy is invested in undoubtedly worthy government-endorsed projects (aliyah, Birthright, Masa), while right-wing American Jewish donors have succeeded in directly changing Israeli society by making unprecedented investments of foreign money into overtly political projects.
Two notable examples are the Adelson family’s ownership of the Israel Hayom newspaper, and billionaires Arthur Dantchik and Jeffrey Yass, who funded the Kohelet Forum, the think tank behind the dangerous legislation currently on the table.
A change in Israel’s democratic nature will have extensive consequences. One such consequence is strategic and, indeed, existential. Israel needs American support to remain the military superpower it is today. But no less important is the fact that a Jewish state that isn’t democratic will quickly transform from a dynamic, fascinating place, loved despite its flaws, into a place that Jews will feel the need to distance themselves from, in order to maintain their own Jewish identity.
Committed Zionists like myself recognize this danger, and will fight to ensure democracy remains the integral part of the Zionist vision that it has always been.
Yizhar Hess is the Vice Chairman of the World Zionist Organization
American Jews Won't Stand With an Undemocratic Israel
Jews around the world, and particularly in the United States, are feeling the dismay that brought many of us into Israel's streets in recent weeks.
Most of these American Jews are Democrats still traumatized by the Trump years, even if they’ve mostly caught their breath two years later. But when they see what’s happening in Israel today – with ministers who don’t even try to hide their hatred of Arabs or the LGBTQ community, Reform and Conservative Jews, secular Israelis, civil servants and their political opponents, and are advancing what amounts to regime change under the guise of “legal reform” – they are once again left speechless.
These Jews know Bibi well. They often disagree with what he stands for, and they don’t forget how he treated President Barack Obama, but they know he’s capable. Were he American, they muse, he’d likely be a viable Republican presidential contender.
But they also remember the racism and incitement of Meir Kahane. Now, during every television segment about Israel, their eyes are fixed on his disciple, Itamar Ben-Gvir. They wonder whether his smiling image is now the true face of Israel.
Suddenly, before they've even come to terms with the formation of this new (duly elected, but quite worrisome) government, before they could even understand whether its extreme coalition agreements were a plan........
© Haaretz
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