A Missed Opportunity for American Jewish Organizations

In 2019, Gallup reported that ninety-five percent of American Jews have positive feelings toward Israel, and that seventy-six percent of American Jews said they “were at least somewhat emotionally attached to Israel.” I often like to juxtapose these data points with the statistics on how American Jews have voted in the past decade. Jewish voters went seventy percent to Obama and thirty percent to Romney in 2012, boasted similar numbers for Clinton in 2016, and swung farther to the left in 2018 and 2022, with more than seventy-five percent voting for the Democrat in down ballot races including the presidency. Not surprising to anyone who is attuned to the political socialization of American Jews, there is a unique ideological combination and perspective at play here. American Jews remain attached to Jewish nationalism (Zionism) but their sympathies for the political party that has a more “tough love” stance when it comes to Israel (especially its current government) have not wavered. In fact, there is no reason to believe they will ever waver, considering the younger generation of American Jews are even more likely to hold progressive views, including criticisms of Israel.

I’ve been privy to many conversations about these numbers in the past few years that can only be characterized as panicked. As the Democratic Party shifts left, and as Israel’s body politic shifts right, various Jewish organizations, chartered to engage American Jews in cultural enrichment and support for Israel, have been feverishly searching for an avenue to “connect” progressive Jews with the Jewish state in a manner that honors rather than sidelines their values. A favorite strategy thus far has been highlighting the ways in which Israel is already progressive, and how backward its enemies are. American Jewish organizations enjoy broadcasting the pride parade on the beach in Tel Aviv every year, general liberal attitudes toward reproductive healthcare, the tagline “the only democracy in the Middle East,” and the anti-gay, anti-Jewish, and anti-woman attitudes of Hamas and Iran.

However, considering our current political climate, it’s time to finally set the record straight. As a proud Zionist and a proud supporter of Israel, it is time to recognize that this strategy has only proven ineffective, out of touch, and to be making the American Jewish dilemma worse.

As a proud Zionist and a proud supporter of Israel, it is time to recognize that this strategy has only proven ineffective, out of touch, and to be making the American Jewish dilemma worse.

But first, a note on why this is all so important. Any rational observer can understand why millions of dollars are spent each year to entice American Jews to maintain their Zionism. The uncomfortable truth is that for American Jews who do not have faith, who do not keep kosher or attend shul on a regular basis, there is little keeping their Jewish identity afloat other than a sense of shared peoplehood, expressed by the modern state of Israel. Attempts to sway us with interpretations of Judaism merely through a twenty-first century social justice lens have proven hollow.

For millions of American Jews, Israel provides a method of feeling Jewish, as it is emblematic of Jewish particularity, a reminder that Jews are a unique ingredient in a country that defines itself by its differences, often more so than its commonalities. It is therefore of crucial importance for the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Federations, B’nai B’rith and others to sell Israel as if their lives depend on it, because it quite literally does. Not only will the alphabet soup of establishments fall into irrelevance if American Jews begin turning their backs on Zionism en masse, but so will American Jewish life as we understand it today—less organized, less unified, less engaged, less Jewish. This is why I believe so strongly that anti-Zionism is antisemitism, for not only does the ideology threaten Jewish safety in Israel, but also it threatens to fracture the very essence of Jewish self-expression in the Diaspora, beginning with where Jews have effectively organized themselves.

But where might such Jewish organizations find a solution to this very serious problem? In Israel, for 28 straight weeks, millions of proud citizens have been taking to the streets, to the steps of the rabbinical courts, to the airport, and to the train station to demand that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government pause its judicial overhaul plans, which would all but hand absolute power to the current extreme-right government. These Israelis, who have made the Israeli flag and various Zionist symbols the emblems of their cause, understand that Israel is at an inflection point: toward the encroachment of religious law in the public square, the dissolving of a two-state solution, the codification of corruption in the halls of power. In other words: Those who storm Kaplan Street every Saturday night with chants of “Demokratia!” are closely aligned with their American Jewish cousins ideologically. Both camps are Zionists, up against blatantly anti-Zionist forces—the likes of Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

And yet so far, there has been mostly silence from our American, Zionist Jewish organizations on the development of the Zionist protest movement, unless you count acknowledgment of the protests as merely a sign of how strong Israel’s democracy is, while ignoring the actual motivations and concerns of the protestors. This dynamic is similar to acknowledging the Tel Aviv Pride Parade as a triumph of Israeli liberalism, rather than using the moment to listen to what LGBT people within the Jewish state are saying, which in the last several months is not exactly all rainbows.

To their credit, the ADL published a one-pager shortly after the last Israeli election “expressing concern” over far-right extremists in the new government, and to their credit, the AJC did meet with leaders of the protest movement after a campaign of pressure. And to both their credit, it has been announced as I am writing this that both organizations have published letters of dismay regarding the passing of the first part of the judicial overhaul package, the removal of the standard of reasonableness from the High Court. But we need more than statements. There should be panels, social media campaigns, routine condemnations of extremism and consistent statements of support for the protest. American Jewish organizations should be sending speakers to address the protestors, in English, each Saturday night. The hysteria about the ongoing alienation of progressive Jews from the Zionist cause is legitimate, yet it can be tackled. But not with old tactics.

Considering the political attitudes of American Jews, if their legacy organizations championed the Israeli protest movement, gave it their unrelenting support, and leveraged the democratic awakening against the far-right in Israel as a method of connecting their constituents to the Jewish homeland, it would be a “slam dunk” in public relations. American Jews want to feel that they are a part of Israel and the greater Jewish story. They want to feel as though there is shared history and shared purpose with their cousins overseas, and there is hardly a better way to accomplish this than connecting shared struggles for democracy and pluralism.
One might pose several critiques to this argument. One might assert that when it comes to Israel, it is the duty of American Jewish organizations to remain bipartisan, considering they represent a big tent that, regardless of whether it may be clear that there is a majority on one side, is not homogenous. But the fact is that bipartisanship regarding Israeli policy has never been a feature of American Jewish organizations. Just last year, the American Jewish Committee praised then Prime Minister Yair Lapid when he affirmed his support to the United Nations for a two-state solution, a policy of which the AJC has made clear their support for years. In 2018, Jonathan Greenblatt, Chief Executive Officer at the ADL, wrote an opinion piece entitled “Don’t kill the two-state solution.” Put bluntly, if you publicly stand for policies such as the two-state solution, then you should be brave enough to fight for them as well.

Another argument is that American Jews do not have a right to interfere in Israel’s internal political scene. Many supporters of Israel express feelings of contempt for Americans imposing their ideas and opinions on those who understand in a far more profound way the implications of living in the Middle East. As sympathetic as I am to this argument, I believe that in our current political climate, we can no longer afford such ordinance. The strife within Israel has made its way into international news, meaning anyone can form reasonable and informed opinions without ever having been to a hafgana, or protest. Additionally, we simply cannot have it both ways when we correctly stress the importance of American Jews feeling connected to Israel. Either American Jews are allowed to espouse their outlook on Israeli society and governance, or they are not, but if they are not, one cannot expect their warm feelings for a national homeland to persist. A relationship is a two-way street, and Israelis cannot demand support on one day, and silence and complicity on the other, especially when pursuing policies that dramatically contradict most American Jews’ understanding of how civilized countries should operate.

I don’t know the future of judicial reform in Israel. But I do know at this moment that Israelis who stand for democracy are in great pain.

I don’t know the future of judicial reform in Israel. But I do know at this moment that Israelis who stand for democracy are in great pain. We are not sleeping, we are heading straight from work to stand for hours in the boiling sun, and we share this anguish with Jews overseas who also consider Israel an integral part of their identity. It would be a tragic missed opportunity if, after all is said and done, American Jewish organizations could have done more in lending their voices to the fight. It would be a mistake for their own prospects in staying relevant, for their continued legitimacy, and it would be a mistake to send a signal to Israelis that American institutional support for Israel lacks the courage to fight for a Jewish and democratic state.

Blake Flayton is the New Media Director and columnist for the Jewish Journal.