By Rabbi Michael J. Broyde and Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein:
The Annapolis Peace Conference has come and gone, and negotiations are really just beginning, some in private and some in public. And while differences of opinion abound within the Orthodox world, during wartime our public differences ought to be put aside.
Israel is at war in the Middle East. It is at war with Hamas in Gaza (and maybe even with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank); it is at war with Hizbullah in Lebanon; and it is at war with Iran regarding its funding of terrorists and its potential nuclear capacity.
Every war has its chain of command. Soldiers may detest a general, but the consequences can be lethal if they choose not to listen to authority. Calls for massive protests against possible Israeli decisions, no matter how compelling, have to be seen against this backdrop. The stakes are not Israel’s borders, but its existence.
Many Palestinians realize they are no match for the IDF. So with skill and determination, they’ve opened up yet another front – the battle for the hearts and minds of people around the globe. In this battle, they have the upper hand.
The Durban conference on racism in 2001 unleashed a torrent of anti-Semitism the likes of which had not been since the Holocaust and made hatred of Jews fashionable once again. While Israel succeeded in remarketing itself into a biotech giant and a go-to place for venture capital, Arab propagandists were busy doing their own rebranding of the Jewish state.
The relentless portrayal of Israel as an occupier and an aggressor has made it one of the most detested countries on earth. The propagandists have gone from campus to campus, church to church, patiently telling a one-sided story that has not been balanced by our version. Many campus faculties, labor unions, and church denominations have been enlisted in the campaign to delegitimize Israel and all those who believe in the eternal bond between Eretz Yisrael and the Jewish people.
The combined depredations of Jimmy Carter, Walt and Mearsheimer’s book on the Israel Lobby, and others have brought the battle to the United States in a larger sense than ever before. Israel’s enemies used to criticize its actions. Today they criticize its very existence, demonizing it as in illegal pariah state. This should be a profoundly sobering realization for all of us who care about Israel.
Left, right and center, all of us in the Orthodox world should understand that anti-Zionism is all too often a cover for anti-Semitism. The government of the State of Israel, like it or not, is seen by the vast majority of the population of this planet as the government of the Jews. Supporting that government in public, even if we have to bite our lips while doing so, means supporting the notion of a Jewish nation.
When we withhold that support, many cease to regard us as a nation and see us only as a fractious family, a house divided. We must realize this and understand how our criticism of Israel can be misunderstood by others.
Public advocacy against the policies of the government of Israel confuses friends of the Jewish state, who see that even Israel’s most fervent advocates do not support the government. Many of Israel’s remaining supporters are genuinely puzzled by the internal divisions within American Jewry, and by the diminished ardor that American Jews have for Israel. The Orthodox community functions as a model of commitment to Israel, partially compensating for that diminished ardor.
In the minds of many, “Orthodox” translates into Jews who take their tradition and history seriously. We should not abdicate that role. As a matter of prudence, the message of American Orthodoxy has to be that we offer unqualified support for the State of Israel, and the American government needs to hear that message delivered in a very loud voice. If we need to express our concerns and indignation, we should only do so quietly (but forcefully) – when the cameras are not on us, the microphones are off, and only our family and closest friends are listening.
Around our non-Jewish neighbors and colleagues, every question, every criticism of Israel ought to be accompanied by a countering statement of genuine and unqualified support. If they are to hear the negative, they must hear the positive as well, lest they come to believe that our passion has cooled. When, according to a recent study, only twenty percent of American Jews under the age of thirty-five declare strong attachment to Israel, all of us need to become ambassadors, offsetting the counterexample of others.
We should also prepare ourselves for the possibility that the government of Israel will make choices that we might not fully support. If the people of Israel embrace options that we disagree with, we should not become victims of our own rhetoric and be any less passionate in our support of the State of Israel, even if we disagree with a particular decision.
