Open Letter to our Diaspora Affairs Minister
Dear Minister Yuli Edelstein, On April 5, Anshel Pfeffer welcomed you as Diaspora Affairs Minister with a bleak open letter in Ha'aretz, lamenting: "What a pity you've been given the emptiest brief of all in Netanyahu's mammoth cabinet." Pfeffer called your portfolio useless and toothless, with no budget, status, or clear mandate. I disagree. Of course I wish you had a huge war chest and a clear mission. But there is such a vacuum of leadership in this area, and such a pressing need for visionary statesmanship, you can accomplish much as a public leader. Jews in Israel and the Diaspora are thirsting for inspiration. The Minister of Israel-Diaspora Affairs is essentially responsible for promoting, fulfilling - and at this historical juncture - reviving Zionism. You have what American President Theodore Roosevelt called a "bully pulpit" to complete this important task. Good luck with it. Olmert disses the Diaspora - and the Jewish People
In an unfortunate temper tantrum as his administration peters out, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly erupted at a recent Cabinet meeting when a respected think tank report made the rather obvious point that Israel's corruption scandals are demoralizing the Jewish people. The occasion was the annual presentation of an assessment of the Jewish people, prepared by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, an independent think tank based in Jerusalem, subsidized by the Jewish Agency. "This is none of Diaspora Jewry's business and none of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute's business," Olmert shouted when his Justice Minister Dan Friedmann passed him a note pointing out that the report mentioned Israel's "ongoing corruption problem." "On what basis do you conclude this? he asked, echoing Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky debacle. "I haven't been charged with anything yet; these are only suspicions. And former president [Moshe] Katsav" - whom the report also cited - "has also yet to be indicted." Conservative Rabbis should foster Zionism before pushing Aliyah
At its recent annual convention in Jerusalem, the Conservative Movement's Rabbinical Assembly launched a campaign to boost Aliyah - immigration to Israel. The slogan "A Call to Action - Putting Aliyah on the Map," illustrated that Aliyah barely ranks on American Jews' agenda. With 399 Conservative North American olim (immigrants) in 2008, this campaign has nowhere to go but up. But trying to boost Aliyah among American Jews is like trying to encourage virtuosity among music ignoramuses. The goal, while noble, is out of reach. Before pushing Aliyah, the Conservative Movement should stimulate a more pressing conversation about what Israel and Zionism can mean to American Jews. Pushing Aliyah usually alienates American Jews - and has distorted attitudes toward Israel and Zionism. Although when I speak about Zionism I neither push Aliyah nor negate the American Jewish community's validity, questioners frequently accuse me of both. So many speakers before me have pitched Aliyah so aggressively, that as soon as I mention "the Z word" the already alienated questioners become defensive. Actually, many American Jews reject Aliyah as a goal. For them, it is like trying to sell ham in a synagogue. A pledge to fight anti-SemitismI have considered myself a "Daniel Pearl Jew." Like that Wall Street Journal reporter Islamist terrorists kidnapped then beheaded in Pakistan - whom I never met - I was born in the early 1960s into the post-Auschwitz covenant. The world had sinned against our people, but now condemned anti-Semitism. We felt especially protected as Americans. Welcomed by America's meritocratic openness, we were lucky enough to attend elite schools, I went to Harvard; he went to Stanford. Our final layer of protection came from working as professionals for world-class institutions, me at McGill University, him at the Wall Street Journal. Is the Green Movement-Meimad the little counterweight that could (help tremendously)?As an American historian, I instinctively dismiss third parties. In American elections they usually are spoilers. At best, they fulfill the role the historian Richard Hofstadter identified, serving as bumblebees, stinging larger parties, injecting their ideas like toxins into the system, then dying. In Israel, at best, third parties have been comets, illuminating an issue brilliantly but fleetingly, then crashing and burning. Usually, Israeli third parties are like rotten eggs, their stench creates a strong presence you cannot ignore even though most voters wish the politicians would. Yet in this desultory but critical election campaign, with three flawed candidates leading three tired political parties, third parties may once again shape Israels future. And one party in particular - the Green Movement-Meimad -- may play a particularly constructive role. Gaza war shows Israel's democratic resilience
After the Second Lebanon War, one former tank commander sighed, "when my kids were teenagers and stumbled, I reassured them that, fortunately, the lessons learned outweighed the damage done: so too with Israel's army." Two and a half years later, forced to confront Hamas's rocket barrages targeting Israeli civilians, Israel fulfilled this prophecy. Great democracies like Israel can transform citizens' grumblings into constructive self-criticism, turning officials' failures into redemptive improvements. Ironically, while applying many lessons learned, this war illustrated the Lebanon War's success. Hizbullah's inaction as Israel pummeled another Iranian proxy, Hamas, suggests Israel's message of deterrence worked. Still, despite this gain, the civilian Winograd commission and numerous internal IDF reviews proposed clever solutions to the logistical and strategic problems that plagued the battlefront and the homefront. 'Thank you, George W. Bush'Once again, in Israel's hour of need, George W. Bush has supported the Jewish state eloquently, passionately, gracefully. At a time when most presidents use their rapidly shrinking bully pulpit to burnish their legacies, Bush devoted one of his final Saturday radio addresses to defending Israel's actions and condemning Hamas. "This recent outburst of violence was instigated by Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group supported by Iran and Syria that calls for Israel's destruction," Bush declared. He added that "Since Hamas's violent takeover in the summer of 2007, living conditions have worsened for Palestinians in Gaza. By spending its resources on rocket launchers instead of roads and schools, Hamas has demonstrated that it has no intention of serving the Palestinian people." George W. Bush has consistently used this kind of clear rhetoric to distinguish between Palestinians' self-destructive addiction to terrorism and Israel's justified self-defense. Mumbai "Blowback" - terrorists miscalculated again
Islamist terrorists are no doubt celebrating the Mumbai mayhem, convinced they triumphed somehow by turning luxury hotels, a train station and a Jewish community center into killing fields. And in the media's pathological patter - shaping too many Westerners- defensive defeatism - talk of the "militants'" "successful operation" feeds these triumphalist delusions. In fact, once again, the terrorists miscalculated. Their depraved actions triggered another "blowback." India's three days of terror boosted George W. Bush's legacy, strengthened Barack Obama's fortitude in combating terrorism, embarrassed many Indian Muslims, highlighted the ugliness of Islamist anti-Semitism and triggered worldwide sympathy for the victims. Strangers united to mourn the spiritually-inclined American father and daughter shot in a hotel, the altruistic Montreal doctor and social worker slain on vacation, the lovely Lubavitch Jewish couple murdered in their outreach center, and the dozens of good citizens of India who suffered the most from these thugs. The GA should not be remembered as another bad date between American Jews and IsraelisThe General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities brought over 2500 of America's most generous Jews to Israel for a conference in mid-November. Unfortunately, the warm feelings many participants experienced have been upstaged by a controversy that continues nearly two weeks later. "GA largely ignored by Hebrew press," a Jerusalem Post headline proclaimed on November 21. The article quoted Yediot Aharonot's Diaspora reporter characterizing the GA as "one big kiss-up to rich people. American Jews are not authentic; they're obsessed with money; there's something annoying about them." Echoing the nastiness, one of America's top Conservative Jewish leaders sneered: "Israelis speak Hebrew, but many live lives devoid of Judaism. Just closing your schools on Shavuot is not the totality of Judaism." What should have been a great bonding moment risked becoming another bad date between American Jews and Israeli Jews. Polarized Jews in a depressing election
Political campaigns are like social stress tests, regularly scheduled exercises that add enough extra pressure on the system to expose weaknesses - and strengths. The long 2008 election has uncovered certain American fault lines. Within the Jewish community, the results of the 2008 electoral stress test have been equally sobering. Partisans from both sides have behaved abominably, demonstrating a growing hysteria and close-mindedness. Perhaps the most infamous Jewish contribution to this campaign is unproven. Many reporters have claimed the various e-mails accusing Barack Obama of being a Muslim targeted Jews or originated with Jews. There is no solid proof of this. Internet hoaxes, like most urban legends, are hard to track. But anytime I have written anything remotely positive about Obama in the Jewish media, many bloggers have charged that "Barack HUSSEIN Obama" is secretly a Muslim and I am helping this Manchurian candidate deceive America. |
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