In an opinion piece in The New York Times on Monday, World Jewish Congress President Ron Lauder said he believes Israel's current policies are threatening the country's democratic character.
Noting those on the Right who support the annexation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Lauder, a self-described longtime Likud supporter and former friend of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Lauder accused the current government of moving away from the two-state solution. Lauder argued that this, along with the exclusion of women and religification in Israel, are pushing American Jews away from Israel, and by so doing, said aloud what many of us already know to be true.
Let us put aside, for now, the wild applause Netanyahu received when he spoke before a captive and admiring crowd at the conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. This is but a well-orchestrated display, a political Broadway production if you will. But every stage production has its backstage area, and of particular interest here is what transpires in the dressing room.
Young Americans are increasingly less interested in what transpires in Israel. They do not see the values they were raised on in Israel's politicians. The discrimination against minorities and the deportation of refugees are not part of their liberal agenda. The bottom line is, despite the warm embrace U.S. President Donald Trump received at the annual AIPAC conference, around 70% of American Jews voted for former President Barack Obama and former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
What does a young liberal American woman have in common with Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, who talks of the annexation of settlements without regard for the rights of the 2 million Palestinian residents residing in Israeli territory? She is an Orthodox woman who cannot embrace any other form of Judaism. Unfortunately for Hotovely, a majority of Jews in America are either Reform or Conservative; yes, those same Reform Jews who want women to be able to pray at the Western Wall and allow gay weddings. When young Americans cannot identify with someone like Hotovely or Habayit Hayehudi MK Bezalel Smotrich, another polarizing figure on the Right. To young Jewish Americans, these two figures are no different from the radical Republicans and evangelical Christians with whom they have nothing in common. Add to that the fact that neither these young people nor their parents personally experienced the Holocaust, and so they do not see Israel as a refuge or safe haven for the Jewish people. They are much less scared of the world around them. For these young Jews, Israel is just another place on the map.
There are those who will respond by saying, "Who cares what those Jews think? We don't need them." That is nonsense. Without the American Jewish lobby, Israel would be a much weaker country. Lauder's remarks are not just idle chatter; they are a wake-up call.
