בס״ד Had the legislation  עש״ק פרשת כי תצא 13 Elul 5778 NEWS not been passed, August 21, 2018 Israel’s constitution Issue number 1208 A collection of the week’s news from Israel would have emerged as an inchoate From the Bet El Twinning / Israel Action Committee of listing of humanistic platitudes devoid 6:33 of distinguishable essence, ultimately Toronto 7:50 Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto Congregation endangering the country’s very raison d’être. Israel’s new Nation-State Basic Commentary… Law forces an objective point of reference. It declares that there is indeed a national identity that matters, The Nation-State Law, a Constitutional Showdown with that words matter, that history matters, that culture matters, that both faith Postmodernism By Yechiel M. Leiter and reason matter. Condemnations of Israel’s new Nation-State Basic Law are rolling in The law breathes new life into Israel advocacy because it defines and from the usual international chorus of Israel’s detractors, and Israel’s clarifies the fault lines of debate. The issues must no longer be seen as advocates are summarily rushing to the front lines in her defense. It’s a intermittent and localized but constant and enveloping of all Western painful ritual that we’ve experienced many times before. Or is this time civilization. different? Israel’s Nation-State Basic Law should serve as a source of By constitutionalizing Israel as the exclusive homeland of the Jewish encouragement to all those who have been struggling against the scourge people, a special majority of Israel’s elected representatives have of postmodernism’s deconstructionism to build the requisite social functionally and fundamentally changed the terms of engagement on the constructs that will create a new Enlightenment, one far better than the battlefield of Israel’s struggle against her ill-wishers. In doing so they have first. (Jerusalem Post Aug 16) potentially changed, much for the better, the future of Western civilization. Sound overly dramatic? Not really. Around the same time Israel was defending herself from annihilation in The President Won't Betray Us By Ariel Kahana 1967, a group of French academics, intellectual heirs to the unrepentant So U.S. President Donald Trump is making juicy headlines once Nazi advocate Martin Heidegger, created postmodernism, an idea that has again, and right away little experts pop up and explain that he's going to since engulfed in entirety the world of academia, the news media and much turn on Israel. of Western political life. Well, friends, I'm sorry to disappoint you. Although there are those The horrific events of the 20th century were interpreted by the among us who are secretly wishing a Trump disaster on Prime Minister postmodernists as the result of the failure of modernity. Radical , the most supportive president of all time intends to Enlightenment had replaced faith exclusively with the capacity for human maintain his attitude. In his world, there are good people and bad people, reason. And after Auschwitz, the Gulag Archipelago and Mao’s killing and he sees Israel – like America – as on the right side. Unlike former fields, it appeared that reason alone was not the answer. President Barack Obama, Trump will never say something like "Iran is a So, while for many social movements the response was to put faith complicated country – just like we're a complicated country." And unlike back into the moral equation, the response of the postmodernists was to Obama, who dropped his friends and brought his rivals closer, Trump remove reason as well. sticks to his word and his values. So he'll keep supporting Israel because With faith and rationalism both gone, everything was now he supports America. deconstructed. Reality turned subjective, words rendered meaningless, fact For almost two years, we've been told that any second now Trump will and fiction morphed into one, law became literature and history became let Israel have it, but what can you do? The facts say the opposite. Trump poetry, the self was decentralized, the traditional family dismantled and has done unprecedented things for us – and by extension, as he sees it, for society fragmented into multicultural divisiveness. America. He recognized Jerusalem as the capital; withdrew from the 2015 For the postmodernist, Marcel Duchamp and Leonardo da Vinci are nuclear deal with Iran, and is giving Israel a nuclear umbrella in the U.N. both artists, Nicki Minage and Amadeus Mozart are both musicians, Nothing like this has ever happened. and Benjamin Netanyahu are both national leaders, and A large sector of the voters who put Trump in the White House are Palestinian terror organizations and the Israel Defense Forces both bear evangelicals, who won't re-elect him if he does anything to harm Israel. arms. Trump knows that very well. He is surrounded by family and personal But that was only the first stage. It didn’t stop there because extreme advisers who are fervent supporters of Israel, from Vice President Mike relativism can’t just keep things on par. In the next phase, postmodernism Pence to National Security Adviser John Bolton to Secretary of State Mike elevated toilets above the , twerking above The Magic Flute, Pompeo, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and close associated Jason Abbas above Netanyahu and Palestinian terrorism above the IDF. Greenblatt and David Friedman. They are his DNA. He won't betray them It is in this phase, too, when Palestinian spokesmen can perniciously and as a group, they won't betray Israel. label Israel a racist and apartheid state ad nauseam. Israel, where a sitting This is the background. Now, let's address the issues themselves. Is Arab judge on the Supreme Court can send a sitting Jewish president to jail this the first time that Trump has spoken about Israeli concessions as part for seven years for sexual misconduct, and Arab Knesset members can lead of a peace plan? It is not. Even during his campaign and immediately after a demonstration in Tel Aviv where Israeli Arab citizens chant “With blood he was elected, the president said there would be concessions. He has even and fire we will redeem Palestine.” Yet the media shamelessly and already used the phrase "a higher price because of the embassy move." continuously recycles the racism canard. Has anything happened? The Israel advocate goes to the front lines and speaks truth to lies If there was any rationale to the declaration, which was made as part without realizing that for his interlocutors truth is relative and facts are of a campaign speech in , it was an attempt to calm down subjective. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The Americans' main What’s more, he speaks in historical terms and doesn’t understand that problem is the Palestinians, who are boycotting them, so if Trump's words for the postmodernist, nothing is worse and nothing is to be rejected more had any purpose, it was to pacify the recalcitrant Abbas – not threaten his forcefully than grand historical narratives. “Simplifying to the extreme” friend Netanyahu. By the way, it won't happen. Abbas won't forgo his wrote postmodernist Jean-François Lyotard, “I define the postmodern as boycott. incredulity toward metanarratives.” In any case, the second part of that sentence was "if a peace deal is Now where is one to find a greater metanarrative than the story of ever signed." In other words, Trump might want the "deal of the century," Israel? And what forces incredulity (a function of reason?) toward but he understands very well that it is far off and almost unrealistic. So his postmodernism more than the people of Israel returning to the Land of remarks about a "higher price" are completely theoretical. But even after Israel, speaking the same language, celebrating the same holidays and the U.S. peace plan is rolled out, if it ever is, the U.S. won't "impose a honoring the same capital? peace" on Israel and the Palestinians, as Bolton said on Wednesday. If “Simplifying to the extreme,” nothing engenders incredulity more than that's the case, why is everyone so upset? the success of Zionism. It is an unparalleled metanarrative of three-and-a- So please, stop annoying us with empty scare tactics. We're sick of half millennia, now formally ensconced in Israel’s fledgling constitution. them. The real problem with the Trump administration isn't its pressure on Israel, but rather that Israel isn't pressuring it enough. This is, again, the

Readers are requested to please mail contributions to: BAYT - re: Israel News, 613 Clark Avenue West, Thornhill, Ontario. L4J 5V3 Annual Rates: Friend - $36, Supporter - $50, Benefactor - $180. Dedications are welcome at $120/week. Call (905) 886-3810 for further info. See Israel News on the internet at www.bayt.ca and www.frumtoronto.com or email [email protected] to request to be added to the weekly email. Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of BAYT. most supportive U.S. administration in history. With a little more effort, to Israeli democracy. If I don’t scream, nobody will hear me.” determination and originality, we could make a lot more of this opportunity. Another reason are so breathless is that they feel ( Aug 23) powerless to affect the country they care about. They don’t vote in Israel, they don’t participate in the Hebrew-language policy debates, and no matter how much they feel Israeli decisions might affect them, they really A Dam Against the Demographic Flood By Reuven Berko don’t, at least not in the way they affect Israeli voters and taxpayers. After an exhaustive examination of the definition of "apartheid" and In fact, the disconnect between American-Jewish adrenaline about how appropriate that term is to the reality in Israel, it turns out that there is Israel and the actual, objective success and stability of the country is so no evidence that the accusation applies. What a disgrace. We Israelis and enormous that it forces us to ask: What are you really worried about, the Palestinians belong to the same Semitic race and our skin is the same American Jews? color. Some of our best and brightest risked their lives to bring our beloved The short answer, the only one that makes any sense, is this: It’s about dark-skinned brethren from the hatred toward them in Ethiopia to our you. ancestral land. American Jews want desperately to care about something Jewish, but The Palestinians still cling to the deluded dream – helped by notable don’t really want to face the fact that their kids aren’t continuing the anti-Semites, BDS sanctions, and a few suicidal members of the Israeli Left identity, that they have lost a sense of belonging, that their synagogue- – of turning Israel into South Africa, an ostracized apartheid country that based communities are dissolving into infinite WhatsApp groups and will eventually fall apart into a binational Palestinian state that stretches groups and political action committees, that their kids are, in from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. some cases, getting blamed on campus for things that Israel is accused of The short history of our Palestinian cousins (in Gaza, for example) doing. teaches us that if they were to seize control of "occupied Palestine," the first Meanwhile, over here in Israel, something totally different is thing they would do would be to murder Jewish collaborators – they loathe happening. Under the radar, Israel has turned itself from a cultural traitors. Then they would plan another Arab state in which there would be backwater into something vibrant, edgy, and increasingly influential. no apartheid but whose citizens would be equally subject to abuse, killing, Remember Start-Up Nation? Now it’s happening with culture: Israelis are rape, imprisonment, and persecution. changing the face not just of hi-tech but of music, architecture, film and The truth is that that there is nothing new in the nation-state law. It TV, of design and art and dance. doesn't revoke the Declaration of Independence; it strengthens it and When will American Jews notice? When will they tell their kids: Go enshrines its essence in a Basic Law. Therefore, there was no need for it to to Israel because something amazing is happening there. Forget Left and repeat the content of the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, which Right—it’s not important. Forget BDS—it doesn’t matter. A nation’s complements it and grants liberty and equality to every citizen of this creative spirit, its deep Jewish soul, its language and culture—all these are troubled nation. Civil equality, yes – collective national rights for the much bigger and more important for you than anything you read in the Palestinians – no. Let them seek that among their brothers in Arab countries news. with an abundance of land and resources, if they don't try to wipe out their This is not about Whataboutism or going “Beyond the Conflict.” hosts first. Israelis don’t live in the conflict and don’t need to go beyond it. Israeli So what is bothering the Supreme Arab Monitoring Committee and the reality is mainly about what everybody else’s reality is about: Work, Knesset members from the Joint Arab List? A review of the committee's family, vacation, entertainment. In short, life. manifest and remarks by Arab MKs suggests the true source of their pain: But it’s also a different reality—an incredible life, full of creative Demography as a way of eradicating Israel – which is the last weapon in energy, new thoughts, big gambles and brass tacks. This can be a lot more their arsenal now that they despair of their failed military attempts to get rid interesting to young American Jews looking for something to anchor their of us. identity in than all the endless political sword-fighting. The Jews' battle against the Palestinian demographic threat is indeed The point is: A government is not its people. For Americans to get given expression by the word "equality" being left out of the nation-state worked up about Israel based on who is in power makes no more sense law, which was democratically passed by a Knesset majority. We are than for Israelis to decide whether to visit or do business with the United talking about a non-egalitarian privilege that gives – by virtue of the state States based on the latest tweets coming out of the White House. being defined as Jewish – only our people, who were persecuted throughout Instead of showing your caring by reacting to headlines, there’s a the Diaspora, the right to return home, which is anchored in the Law of different way to care—a much healthier way, one that will take you farther Return. That right, alas for the pundits on the High Court, does not apply to and bring your kids closer: Find the Israel that adds value to your life. the Palestinians (who are a contemporary invention), who are demanding Visit. Learn the language. Meet the people. Listen to the music. Drink their own version of it in the form of right of return for Palestinians and the wine. Enjoy the country. Treat it like an exotic foreign land, not a family reunification – which both aim at annihilating us through rotting shack in your backyard that used to be pretty but now is full of demography. dung. Israel is not rotting, it has only gotten more beautiful, and it’s The nation-state law is a legitimate method of self-defense for Israel. frankly not your backyard. The law keeps a demographic flood from turning us into another weak Arab In an important essay last year, David Hazony made this point about state. This isn't apartheid, it's a realization of the Jewish people's right to “Israeliness” as a key to the Jewish future in America. He ended by saying self-determination in its only homeland. We intend to uphold that. that the path to Israel means rediscovering Israel as a country, not just a (Israel Hayom Aug 22) cause, and yourself as someone searching rather than acting out of certainty… to see the Israeli other not as a threat but as a resource for your own journey. Israel Is a Country, Not a Cause By Adam Bellos Bring to Israel your sense of exploration and wonder rather than If you’re like a lot of American Jews, you’ve gotten pretty worked up anxiety and anger, and you’ll be shocked how much more it has to offer. lately about the Nation- State Law, the questioning of Peter Beinart at Ben Your kids will be grateful, too. (Jewish Journal Aug 22) Gurion Airport or the LGBT protests about surrogacy. Before that, there The writer is the founder of The Israel Innovation Fund. was the Kotel controversy, and the Jerusalem embassy, and before that the Iran deal—and so on. There is no country on earth whose domestic and foreign policy grips Is Israel Turning Off Diaspora Jewry? By David Eliezrie American Jewish attention like Israel. Because it’s the “Jewish state,” and That’s the question that new head of the Jewish Agency, Yitzhak American Jews care. Herzog discussed with US Federation leaders recently, and that’s what But there’s something wrong with all this caring. lamented on the pages of , among the In America, where many Jews don’t know Hebrew, arguments about cries of other Jewish leaders. They point fingers at the Nation-State Law, Israel tend to be shallow and shrill mirrors of debates in Israel—after all, Israeli support for Trump, the lack of egalitarian prayer space at the Kotel what do people use to interpret the news other than what Israeli right- and numerous other issues, for discouraging Diaspora Jewish support of wingers and left-wingers are telling them? Israel. This kind of second-level arguing, however, is usually a waste of While these are all true to some degree, this is a distorted picture of a breath. more nuanced reality. Why? In part, because it’s stripped of context. Israelis shout when they First, it’s not a crisis with Diaspora Jewry. Among the Orthodox, argue, even when they write. A writer from can declare the rise of Israel support is as strong as ever. Outside the United States, the vast Israeli fascism, and another one from Israel Hayom can scream about majority of Jews are members of Orthodox congregations, even if they treason against the nation, yet it’s a small Middle-Eastern country—when aren’t fully observant. The claim of the leaders of the American liberal they’re done shouting, they still go to the same bars, the same family meals, movements that they represent Diaspora Jewry is disingenuous. In fact, listen to the same radio news, or run into each other at the gym or the their membership numbers have dropped precipitously in the past decades. boardroom. Today in the US, the Pew Study reported that just 11% of American Jews A columnist for Haaretz once told me: “Of course I overstate the threats are members of Conservative congregations and 14% Reform. 50% are not affiliated. 25% of US Jews are either Orthodox or traditional and attend consequences. Chabad. Today the liberal movements represent just 25% of American Some parents have difficulty with their children’s maturation and Jewry and a much smaller percentage outside the US. separation. After so many years, their children’s dependency becomes the Second, the real issue isn’t that Jews are drifting away from Israel. It’s family norms making independence difficult for some parents to accept. that Jews are drifting away from Judaism. And if Judaism isn’t important to This dependency contributed to their own identity. While such parents you, Israel won’t be. Two weeks ago at a conclave of national Jewish may genuinely take pride in their adult children’s individuality and student leaders on campus, I asked them about what they think of these hot achievements they still seek to be closely involved in their children’s lives, issues. What are the average student’s thoughts on the Nation-State Law, particularly with regard to decision making. But the needs and capabilities the Kotel? of one’s child at age 30 or 40 are not the same as when she or he was at “Nothing,” they said. “Most kids haven’t even heard of these age ten. The inability to acknowledge changes that come with time and questions.” relate appropriately causes friction in the parent/adult-child relationship. Some 40 to 50 years ago, American Jews were passionate about Israel “The times they are a changing,” wrote Jewish troubadour Robert and Judaism. Everyone had a grandmother who kept kosher and personally Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan. David Breakstone is deeply familiar with this knew a Holocaust survivor. The community was galvanized by the plight of seminal 1960’s era song and its message. Yet he seems to have forgotten Soviet Jewry. Even though was shrinking in the post-world its verity in his “We’re on the edge of a precipice here” (Jerusalem Post, war era, memories of quotas in Harvard, covenants that banned Jews from August 17). buying homes were fresh. Even Jews with a low Jewish literacy were The parenting and change metaphors can reference the 70-year engaged in Jewish life. relationship between America’s Jews and the state of Israel. Although at Today, external threats aren’t pushing anyone to consider their Jewish no time was Israel wholly dependent upon the American Jewish identity. Memories of are fading, Grandma is not called community for its existence, no one denies that from the day of Israel’s Bubbe, Soviet Jews are no longer oppressed and you can get into any birth in 1948, and especially in the decade following the 1967 Six-Day country club. Jews know much less about their heritage and are much less War, organized American Jewry dedicated much of its political capital and educated than previous generations – and they’re starting to just not care philanthropic largess to supporting and advancing the Jewish state. But anymore. throughout the years many American Jewish supporters acted on the basis At the same time that young Americans are drifting away, Israeli Jews of an unwritten assumption, namely that as the recipient of millions of are becoming more and more connected with Judaism. Some 30% of American Jewish dollars, Israel was beholden to its overseas patrons, and Israelis are Shabbat observant and over 60% eat only kosher – three times that as long as money flowed from west to east, this relationship would the number of Americans. In the US, for many Jews their involvement it remain. No government of Israel, it was understood, regardless of who may be a pilgrimage to services on Yom Kippur for a few hours. In Israel, was in power, would therefore enact any policy that would offend the Judaism is woven into the fabric of the society. sensibilities nor contradict the purported values of the American Jewish Just take a look at Israeli TVs political satire show Gav Ha’uma, where community. Some American Jews seemed to relate to the sovereign host Lior Schleien kibbitzes with religious Knesset members about building Jewish state as if it were just another, albeit exceptionally large, Jewish the Third Temple. Or the Israel version of The Voice, where haredi singers organization grateful to receive their financial and political support, in compete with aspiring rock stars. return for which they as donors had a say in its running. American Jews and Israelis are heading in two different directions and But as early as 1999 in his The Death of the American Uncle (Hebrew, the divide is growing. republished in English in 2000 as My Brother’s Keeper), Yossi Beilin, So no, it’s not Israeli politics that’s turning people off. It’s not the then Israel’s minister of justice, shocked much of the Jewish world when Kotel, the peace process, or the Nation-State Law. Let’s be honest. Liberal he drew readers’ attention to the changing relationship between a stronger Jewish leaders use that narrative simply so they can push their agenda in Israel and a weakening . Beilin argued that rather than Israel, where the membership does not rise even to 1%. It’s really the lack being essential to Israel’s well-being and progress, American Jewish of Jewish education and identity that’s disenfranchising young American philanthropy was not as important as it once was, and benefits more the Jews. donor than the recipient. Yes, we can take the sexier road and lament the haredim, protest the There is no doubt that over the years this trend has only grown. During “occupation” and claim that this is driving Jews away from Israel. While it the last quarter of a century, Israel’s economy has enjoyed unprecedented may be true for a small percentage, these issues are simply not on the radar growth. Using methodology employed by the World Bank, the State of for the vast majority. Because Judaism isn’t. As a veteran Birthright tour Israel is currently valued at approximately $5.03 trillion. While Israel is guide told me, “Years ago participants had a modicum of Jewish still a recipient of donations from around the world, particularly from Jews knowledge. Now we are seeing a marked changed. Many of those coming in the United States and , gifts to its non-profit sector make up a know almost nothing about Judaism.” tiny percentage of the country’s total economy. A proper reordering of To strengthen the support for Israel, we would have to start with financial priorities by Israel’s politicians and the state treasury could cover bolstering Jewish education. With Hebrew School attendance down and most of these costs. In fact, in an unprecedented gesture, over the summer millennials seeing little relevance of Judaism or of the Jewish homeland, in a group of American Jewish day school principals approached the state of their lives, there will inevitably be a lack of commitment to Israel. Israel for financial aid. Let’s tackle the real issue together. Let’s create more avenues for A similar trend pertains to political support. Even as the impact of Jewish education, add to programs like Birthright and Masa that engage American Jewish dollars in Israel was diminishing, there were claims that Jews with an Israel interwoven with Judaism. Let’s make Jewish education Israel still needs the clout of American Jews in Washington. But the great a top communal priority. Let’s raise Jewish awareness to college students, majority of American Jews are Democrats and according to a January millennials and families with programs that are inspiring. Let’s show them 2018 Pew survey, Democratic support for Israel is at 27%, while among a Judaism and love for Israel that aren’t dependent on outside oppression or Republicans it is at 79%. Sadly, America’s Evangelical Christian negativity. community currently surpasses American Jews in support of Israel and the It’s time for Jewish leaders to be more responsible. Please don’t current government. exaggerate a crisis between Israel and Diaspora Jewry just to advance an Israel has matured, and in doing so has become much more agenda. Instead, work to promote Judaism and tackle the real issues facing independent of the American and other Diaspora communities that our nation. (Jerusalem Post Aug 20) nurtured it in its earlier years. The reality, even if painful to some, is that The writer is founder and Director of North County Chabad Center and not all of Israel’s internal interests are in harmony with the interests of president of the Rabbinical Council of Orange County California. Jews abroad. Some, like Ronald Lauder, have a hard time with this. His attitude toward Israel is paternalistic and regressive. Of course, the state of Israel appreciates the support it receives from Jews around the world, but Israel-Diaspora Changes By Ardie Geldman when the Jewish Federations of North America hold their General Certain changes are difficult for some people to acknowledge, yet alone Assembly in October in Tel Aviv with the theme, “We Need to Talk,” the accept. The parenting experience offers a good example. My wife and I talk should be between two mutually respectful adults, not between parent watched with pride as our six children went from birth and infancy through and child. childhood, their teen years and onto adulthood. They are now all, thank God, grown, financially responsible and independent; some are parents themselves. Throughout childhood and their adolescent years we supported Lauder Loses the Plot By and advised them. Even though from time to time we still “help out,” in Ronald Lauder is a billionaire and respected art collector who became truth they can manage fine without our gifts. Occasionally they will consult passionately committed to Jewish life when, as US ambassador to , with us, but major decisions, their own internal family decisions, they take he witnessed virulent antisemitism. I have known him for more than 20 on their own. In truth, we have not been happy with all of their adult years and was involved in no small measure in his election as president of decisions. Some, albeit unintentionally, have even caused us pain. But they the . are now adults who make their own decisions and must live with the The WJC was founded in Geneva some 80 years ago as the dark clouds of Nazism were gathering, to serve as the umbrella body for Jewish “wonder if the nation they cherish is losing its way” and that the communities. Its greatest achievements were the German reparations deal government seems “to be tarnishing the sacred value of equality,” with negotiated by and Edgar Bronfman’s success in pursuing many of its supporters feeling “it is turning its back on Jewish heritage, the and acquiring restitution for Holocaust victims and their heirs, including Zionist ethos, and the Israeli spirit.” He even made the shocking statement $1.25 billion of unclaimed assets from murdered Jews deposited in Swiss that the policies of the Israeli government represented a threat to the future banks. of the Jewish people. He demanded that the Israeli government “listen to Regrettably, in 2004, shameful financial irregularities were exposed the voices of protest and outrage being heard in Israel and throughout the that tarnished the standing of the WJC and caused a drastic reduction in the world.” He warned that unless the government hearkened to his warnings, generous donations from American Jews who financed the organization. alienated young Jews “may not fight the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions In June 2007, Lauder assumed the presidency of what had deteriorated movement, they may not support Israel in Washington and they may not into a discredited, bankrupt body. He succeeded in resurrecting the WJC to provide it with the strategic rear guard that Israel so needs.” its former glory, recruiting new professionals, headed by CEO Robert Several liberal American Jewish organizations have in recent months Singer. The organization became active on the global political scene, become increasingly critical of Israeli policies, but none have been as promoting (at most times) the interests of the Jewish people. outrageous as Lauder, nor have they vented their spleen in The New York Lauder is one of the Jewish world’s most generous donors. He currently Times. supports 62 projects in 16 Central and Eastern European countries, At a time when Israel faces hostility and double standards in many contributing to a resurrection of Jewish life throughout the region. But counties (excluding the US), I challenge Lauder’s right to speak on behalf above all, he is a passionate lover of Israel and is among the greatest of world Jewry when he publicly vilifies Israel. Before he was elected to philanthropic contributors to the Jewish state. the presidency, he promised that he would strictly enforce governance. I For many years, Lauder had been a close friend of Prime Minister challenge him to deny that he failed to circulate this diatribe for Benjamin Netanyahu and among his principal financial backers. endorsement or amendment among his constituents. Regrettably, in 2011, as a major shareholder in Channel 10, he had a Many anti-Israel American Jewish liberals will applaud him for this confrontation with Netanyahu over the station’s despicable allegations outburst, but I surmise that even a large number of those who may be about the prime minister’s wife, Sarah. It was beyond Lauder’s capacity to inclined to agree with some of his criticisms would consider it most accede to Netanyahu’s request to close the station and since that day, the improper for a WJC president to express such views in The New York prime minister has refused to acknowledge his existence. Times. As a consequence, despite Lauder’s genuine love of Israel, the ongoing Those members of the WJC who are appalled by the behavior of humiliation and lack of access to Netanyahu began to have an impact. Lauder will remain silent because they are aware that without his funding Even though he was a longstanding Republican with ties to US (at least $5 million per annum) the organization would collapse. But they President Donald Trump, Lauder was also surrounded by liberal “personal” should try to impress upon him that despite his largesse, the WJC cannot advisers, many of whom were bitterly opposed to the current Israeli function as a one-man band. government. These advisers ultimately deluded him into believing that he Lauder is a decent person and generous philanthropist who loves Israel could become a historic figure by bypassing the Israeli government and and the Jewish people, but he has been misled. He should take a step back personally achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians. and appreciate that such initiatives, even if well-intentioned, when His first major foray in this direction was in March of this year. Even expressed by someone purporting to represent world Jewry, may backfire though, as WJC president, it was inappropriate to publicly oppose the and impact negatively on the Jewish people. policy of the government of Israel, he wrote an op-ed in the New York One would hope that on Lauder’s next visit to Israel, efforts will be Times calling for the creation of a Palestinian state and condemning made by the prime minister to set aside his personal feelings and reconcile Netanyahu. This was at a time when the openly anti-Semitic PA head with him, re-establishing the vital contact so as to avoid future outbursts. Mahmoud Abbas was already supporting terrorism and paying huge sums (Jerusalem Post Aug 21) to murderers and their families. Lauder, the Republican castigating Netanyahu as an obstacle to the peace process, was like manna from heaven for most American Jewish A Victory for Sanity By Eran Bar-Tal liberals and he received waves of support from those who had hitherto held Up until the late 1980s, Pepsi wouldn't touch Israel. It entered the him in utter contempt. Israeli market when Pizza Hut opened its first branch in the Jewish state in This month, Lauder published yet another, even more bizarre op-ed in 1990, offering Pepsi to Israeli customers for the very first time. When the the Times that suggested he had really lost the plot. Some of the issues he corporation exhausted its competition with Coca-Cola in the U.S. market, raised could have been expressed personally and legitimately debated, but it it began to compete for the European market, and then Israel. is inexplicable for a public figure purporting to speak on behalf of the This history may be unpleasant to hear at a time like this. After all, Jewish people to distort and blow such issues totally out of proportion. PepsiCo just announced it would purchase Israeli home soda-machine Lauder condemned the role of the haredim in areas as such as manufacturer SodaStream for $3.2 billion. But this information is conversion, Shabbat observance, egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall, important mainly because it is still relevant. and surrogacy legislation. Most Israelis would like to see an end to the For years, SodaStream has been the target of the boycott, divestment overriding influence of haredi extremists. But is this an issue for a WJC and sanctions movement. The firm's answer to the provocations against it president to promote in a mainstream newspaper that is hostile to Israel? He was to return fire. SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum's response was to could have said this to the Jewish media. Besides, how can he have the stamp the Israeli flag and a "Made in Israel" logo on every product offered temerity to suggest that this is “creating the impression that the democratic by the company. He traveled the world, even going to the , and egalitarian dimensions of the Jewish state are being tested”? to speak out against BDS. That is why Pepsi's acquisition of SodaStream – Does Lauder really believe that the principal reason non-Orthodox Jews beyond all the other repercussions – is a victory for sanity. have drifted from Judaism and from Israel is the Western Wall fracas? Most SodaStream has been through quite a lot since it was first founded in have never visited Israel and would never have heard of it had they not been England in 1903. In 1998, it was purchased by Israeli company Soda- whipped up by their frenzied left-wing liberal rabbis and Jewish leaders. Club. It dealt with its last crisis just four years ago, but now that's history. Nor does Lauder realize that the problem of alienation does not stem from Birnbaum's efforts to rebrand have proven themselves more effective than Israel, but from the appalling lack of Jewish education and abysmal anyone ever expected. Since its rebranding, SodaStream has grown from ignorance of our heritage among non-Orthodox American Jewish youth. Is your average beverage company to a green, or environmentally friendly, Lauder not aware of the massive hemorrhage of the American Jewish company. That is how SodaStream has been marketed and that is how the community in which rates of intermarriage have skyrocketed to levels of brand is perceived around the world. 80%? Is Israel responsible for this? Soda water is the preferred beverage of adults in Europe and the U.S. To add to his outburst on religion, Lauder also criticized the Nation- In Western countries, where people are increasingly conscious of the State Law, threatening that it may “have severe national and international environment, SodaStream offers the perfect solution – it requires no repercussions” and negatively impact on “the sense of equality and disposable bottles or for water to be transported from one place to another, belonging of Israel’s Druze, Christian and Muslim citizens.” and in the end, people who use the SodaStream are really drinking water. In in a recent column, I expressed support – with minor criticisms – of Pepsi needs this rebranding, and if it comes with SodaStream's the Nation-State Law, which is primarily an affirmation of the Jewish amazing profit margins, all the better. Like PepsiCo, SodaStream is a low character of the state and in no way compromises the civic equalities of tech company. It employs some 2,200 people, mainly at its manufacturing minorities. Many of its critics – presumably Lauder himself – may not have plant in the Negev. Pepsi's announcement that operations would remain read or fully understood it. and even expand in Israel is particularly encouraging. I do not propose to analyze Lauder’s ridiculous remarks. Education Just like other successful high-tech firms, Pepsi's SodaStream is also Minister Naftali Bennett has done so in a superb response that The New in effect an Israeli public relations company, and with this acquisition, the York Times was obliged to publish. company has already recorded its first victory on this front. (Israel hayom Lauder summarizes his disgraceful column stating that some Jews now Aug 21)