As Israel is the Jewish state, how could Jews around the world not become targets of those who dislike the behavior of Israel?<\/p>\n
The behavior of Jews and of the Jewish state profoundly affects how Jews are treated by non-Jews. <\/p>\n
Actions have consequences. When Jews assert themselves in ways that harm non-Jews, non-Jews push back. This is popularly called “anti-Semitism.” How come there is no term for anti-Gentilism? Just as many non-Jews hate Jews, so too do many Jews hate non-Jews. You may argue that Jews are tiny and powerless. Well, any look at a Fortune 500 list shows you that Jews aren’t powerless (they usually comprise about a third of that list, for instance).<\/p>\n
J.J. Goldberg writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n The real shocker of the cabinet meeting, though, was what wasn\u2019t covered in the briefing: namely, the most explosive of the assessment report\u2019s 12 chapters, \u201cRelations of the Communities and Israel.\u201d It describes dramatic changes detected in the past year, mostly for the worse, in Diaspora Jewish attitudes toward Israel, its government policies and its military actions. …The report has a lot more to say about the other factor affecting relations with Israel: fallout from last summer\u2019s Gaza war. This is reflected in several spheres, but most important are the strains placed on Diaspora Jews\u2019 relationships with their \u201cenvironment,\u201d as the report puts it. These strains are serious and growing…<\/p>\n Far more alarming, the report says that Israel\u2019s wars have a strong, direct impact on the relationships of Diaspora Jews to their surrounding communities and societies. Mainstream Jewish community leaders in several countries told the institute that there is an \u201cautomatic tendency\u201d for the surrounding non-Jewish society to \u201cview Jews as representatives of the pro-Israel position.\u201d The Jewish People Policy Institute was founded in 2002 at the initiative of the then-chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Sallai Meridor. In an interview at the time he told me that one of his major goals was to set up a channel to help the Israel government consider the needs and interests of Diaspora Jews when it makes decisions that might affect them. As Israel is the Jewish state, how could Jews around the world not become targets of those who dislike the behavior of Israel? The behavior of Jews and of the Jewish state profoundly affects how Jews are treated by non-Jews. … Continue reading
\nIn part the changes reflect shock at Israel\u2019s behavior, both in the domestic arena and in warfare. In part they\u2019re due to discomfort and inability to explain Israel\u2019s actions when asked by non-Jewish friends and family. And in part they\u2019re due, particularly among European Jews, to the increase in \u201cfrequency and severity\u201d of anti-Jewish attacks whenever Israel takes military action against its neighbors.<\/p>\n
\nThis has the direct result \u2014 as the institute initially noted last year, the current report points out \u2014 of \u201cincreasing the frequency and severity of harassment\/attacks on Jews in various places around the world.\u201d
\n\u201cThis insight was particularly emphasized this year in light of the bloody incidents in the Jewish community of France,\u201d the report says. It quotes a Jewish community leader from France saying: \u201cEvery time [Israel uses force] synagogues are burned.\u201d
\nCuriously, the report avoids the word \u201canti-Semitism\u201d when describing these attacks as consequences of Israeli actions. No less curious, there\u2019s an earlier chapter in the report, Chapter 8, that\u2019s devoted exclusively to the rise in European anti-Semitism, essentially referring to those same attacks. But Chapter 8 never mentions the testimony by European Jewish leaders in Chapter 9 about a link between Israeli actions and attacks on European Jews. \u201cAnti-Semitism\u201d and \u201cIsraeli actions\u201d don\u2019t appear in the same chapter.
\nIn a way, the reticence is understandable. Drawing a causal link between European anti-Semitism and Israeli behavior \u2014 between any anti-Semitism and any Jewish behavior, for that matter \u2014 is taboo in current Jewish discourse, to the point that suggesting it is itself treated frequently as an anti-Semitic act. It must have been frightening for scholars operating in this environment to stumble across first-hand testimony that the link is real. Even more frightening when they\u2019re preparing to face an Israeli cabinet some of whose ministers view criticism of Israeli military actions as tantamount to treason…<\/p>\n
\nMeridor said he\u2019d been profoundly shaken up by the bombing in 1994 of the AMIA building, the headquarters of Argentina\u2019s main Jewish organizations. Israeli intelligence believed it was carried out by Hezbollah and Iran in retaliation for Israel\u2019s assassination in 1992 of Hezbollah\u2019s founding leader, Sheikh Abbas Musawi. Meridor had been present as a senior aide in Israel\u2019s Defense Ministry at the time the decision was made in 1992 to \u201ctake out\u201d Musawi, he said, and it never occurred to anyone at the time to wonder whether the action might blow back onto Diaspora Jews.
\nSince then, the recommendation that Israel develop a channel to consult with Diaspora Jewry before taking actions that might affect them has appeared in nearly every one of the institute\u2019s annual assessments. Never, though, was it driven home as powerfully as it was this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"