Rosner’s Torah Talk: Parshat KiTisa with Rabbi Howard A. Berman

The tight relationship between Trump and Netanyahu masks the real debate over Israel churning in the Republican Party, and Israel’s standing among Democrats has never been lower.

There is little chance that the combination of a weakened Trump and an emboldened Democratic Congress produces similar levels of support for aggressive action against Iran and its proxies, and other policies that a wide spectrum of Israelis see as crucial to their security.

In the diaspora and in Israel, we cannot turn back the clock and undo the harm that was done to us. But we can shape our own future. Israel is strong and resolute. So must we be.

Democrats who were long considered “moderates” or even pro-Israel have been signaling over the course of the last year that they can no longer be relied upon to back a Jewish state under assault by Iran and its terrorist proxies.

History teaches that you can always trust the fanatics to overplay their hand, allowing muscular moderates to reassert power.

How do voters reconcile longstanding party loyalties with changing views of Israel, communal security and American political leadership?

For me, the disaster isn’t that Democrats won or Republicans lost. It’s that politicians who demonize Israel, deny Jewish self-determination and explain away antisemitism are finding an increasingly receptive electorate in the world’s most important democracy.