The American-Jewish magazine Moment recently asked a diverse group of thinkers to comment on the relationship between American Jews and their Israeli coreligionists. Herewith, Yossi Klein Halevi’s comments:
To a certain extent, a divide is inevitable because of geographic circumstances and opposite cultural makeup. Israelis live in the most dangerous and inhospitable neighborhood in the world; American Jews live in the most hospitable environment that Jews have ever lived in. . . .
I . . . find the inability of so many liberal American Jews to understand Israeli vulnerability . . . appalling. Too many American Jews speak of ending the occupation as if Israel were an island in the South Pacific and not a minuscule country surrounded by some of the most lethal terrorist groups in the world.
[Just as] I don’t understand how Israeli Jews can miss the deep offense that American Jews rightly feel for the way the state of Israel has disenfranchised entire [Jewish] denominations, . . . I don’t understand how many American Jews can miss the acute sense of vulnerability Israelis live with as their daily reality. . . .
Here is the essence of the problem: for many Israelis, American Jews sound hopelessly naïve, and for many American Jews, Israelis sound brutal. The danger here is that each community will perceive the other as betraying an essential element of Jewishness. For Israelis, the essential element is Jewish solidarity and self-protection. For American Jewish liberals, it’s empathy for the other, especially the oppressed. We have deep structural misunderstandings. But even so, I believe deeply in the future of the American Jewish relationship despite the minefields. I am optimistic about the relationship because we are the Jewish people. We are the joint custodians of the Jewish story: we have no choice but to get this right.
Read more on Moment: http://www.momentmag.com/growing-gap-israel-american-jews/