The Strange Fixation on Imagined Israeli Intransigence

Oct. 10 2024

In recent coverage of U.S.-Israel relations in the American media, Seth Mandel detects a leitmotif: the White House can’t seem to manage to get the stubborn Israelis to follow its orders. This (supposed) problem was, for instance, put forcefully before Kamala Harris by Bill Whitaker of CBS. Mandel observes:

Vice-President Harris could easily have rejected the premise of the question. . . . But Harris didn’t want to reject the premise, so she gave an incoherent answer implicitly reinforcing the idea that the administration believes it has the right to dictate policy to Israel.

But, Mandel notes, the evidence brought by reporters like Whitaker in fact suggests that the real problem lies elsewhere:

President Biden’s problem, it turns out, isn’t Israel’s defiance— it’s Iran’s defiance. Israel resisted going into Gaza until Hamas got tired of waiting and invaded Israel instead. Israel didn’t go into Lebanon until Iran made clear that it would be the only way to return displaced Israelis to their homes in the north. Iran-backed attacks have continued also from Iraq and Yemen, as well as from Iran itself.

Nobody has been asking Biden or Harris why the Iranians don’t listen to them. . . . Does the U.S. have sway over anybody? A major obstacle to getting an answer to the question about U.S. influence is that we only seem to ask it about the one country under assault and surrounded by genocidal enemies: Israel.

Read more at Commentary

More about: Joseph Biden, Kamala Harris, Media, U.S.-Israel relationship

 

A Jewish Obligation to Vote

On October 3, 1984, Rabbi Moses Feinstein—a leading figure among American Orthodox Jews, whose halakhic opinions are obeyed and studied today—wrote a letter encouraging Jews to vote in the upcoming elections. Feinstein, a talmudist of the old school, was born in a shtetl in the vicinity of Minsk, then in the Russian empire, before elections were known in that country. He came to the U.S. in 1937, at the age of forty-one, to escape the ever-worsening persecution of devout Jews in the Soviet Union. That experience no doubt shaped his view of democracy. Herewith, the letter in full:

On reaching the shores of the United States, Jews found a safe haven. The rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights have allowed us the freedom to practice our religion without interference and to live in this republic in safety.

A fundamental principle of Judaism is hakaras hatov—recognizing benefits afforded us and giving expression to our appreciation. Therefore, it is incumbent upon each Jewish citizen to participate in the democratic system which safeguards the freedoms we enjoy. The most fundamental responsibility incumbent on each individual is to register and to vote.

Therefore, I urge all members of the Jewish community to fulfill their obligations by registering as soon as possible and by voting. By this, we can express our appreciation and contribute to the continued security of our community.

Read more at X

More about: 2024 Election, American Jewry, Democracy, Halakhah