ANNUAL ASSESSMENT 2010 Executive Report No. 7
Special In-Depth Chapters: Systematic Indicators of Jewish People Trends De-Legitimization and Jewish Youth in the Diaspora !e Impact of Political Shifts and Global Economic Developments on the Jewish People
PROJECT HEAD Dr. Shlomo Fischer
CONTRIBUTORS Avinoam Bar-Yosef, Sylvia Barack Fishman, Barry Geltman, Avi Gil, Inbal Hakman, Michael Herzog, Arielle Kandel, Yogev Karasenty, Judit Bokser Liwerant, Dov Maimon, Alberto Milkewitz, Yehudah Mirsky, Steven Popper, Shmuel Rosner, Avia Spivak, Shalom Solomon Wald
EDITOR Rami Tal Editor Rami Tal
Copyright © !e Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) (Established by the Jewish Agency for Israel, Ltd.) Jerusalem 2011/5771
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ISBN 978-965-7549-02-5 Annual Assessment 2010 - Table of Contents
Foreword – Amb. Stuart Eizenstat 5 Major Developments and Policy Directions 9 Selected Indicators on World Jewry – 2010 17 1. A System of Indicators for Measuring the Well-Being of the Jewish People 19 2. Significant Global Developments & Challanges 2009-2010: Possible Implications for the Jewish People Developments in the Geopolitical Arena and their Possible Implications for Israel and the Jewish People 49 2010 – !e Triangular Relationship between Washington, Jerusalem and the Jewish Communities 71 Global Economic Changes: Implications for Israel and the Jewish People 83 Asia’s Rise: Implications for Israel and the Jewish People 107 Latin American Jewry Today 123 3. In Depth Chapter – De-legitimization of Israel and Israel Attachments Among Jewish Young Adults in North America and Europe 139 4. Developments to Watch 2010 Religious Issues and Israel-Diaspora Relations 193 !e Jewish Free School Case in London and the Hebrew Charter Schools in the US 197 New Findings Concerning the Genome Structure of the Jewish People 201
Foreword
!e Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI), whose In October 2010, JPPI’s annual conference brought board of directors I am privileged to chair, was 120 Jewish leaders, thinkers, and decision makers, created in 2002 with a unique mission, which no with a stronger representation than ever before other organization in the world performs: to serve from Latin America and Europe, as well as North as a think tank for the Jewish people worldwide, America. We organized into several working looking at strategic challenges facing all major groups, on crucial subjects like the e"ort to de- Diaspora Jewish communities and the State of legitimize Israel as a nation state for the Jewish Israel, and proposing recommendations to policy people; the growing challenge of di"erent standards makers to meet those challenges. for conversion to Judaism; Israel’s security threats JPPI performs this critical and unique task with and the peace process; Diaspora-Israel relations; a group of distinguished scholars and fellows in and the special challenges of European Jewry. Jerusalem who bring world-class expertise to the !e importance with which Israeli leaders hold examination of both internal challenges facing our conference was demonstrated by the fact the Jewish people - like demographic trends, that some half dozen senior ministers of the Jewish and Israeli cohesion, intermarriage, and the government spent hours with us in these working multiple facets of Diaspora-Israel relations, and groups. We were addressed in plenary sessions by external threats, from Iran’s nuclear ambitions the President, Prime Minister, Defense Minister, to the arms buildup by Hamas and Hezbollah, leader of the opposition; and the Chairman of the and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. JPPI Jewish Agency. produces papers, books, and notes on these and With all of these activities, perhaps the single most other topics, sponsors seminars and conferences, important contribution JPPI provides to the Jewish and brings together leaders of major Jewish world is our annual assessment. Like its predecessors, organizations, and leading Jewish figures from the the 2010 JPPI Annual Assessment provides an four corners of the world in an annual conference invaluable snapshot of the major developments in Jerusalem. and policy directions in the Jewish world, along with
THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 5 significant global developments and challenges in companies was highlighted by Israel’s admission the broader world in the future. !ese include geo- in 2010 to the Paris-based Organization of political developments; global economic changes Economic Cooperation and Development and their implications for the Jewish people and the (OECD), the organization of leading industrial State of Israel; the importance of the rise of Asia; and democracies. Yet, the Annual Assessment the triangular relationship between Washington, points to a troubling decline by Israeli Jerusalem, and the American Jewish community. students in international tests, at a time when !e 2010 Assessment also presents a fascinating educational attainment is the most important set of indicators that tell us who we are and where ingredient nations need to compete and we are headed globally. !ese indicators also tell us succeed in the global marketplace. about Jewish day school participation, per capita t U.S. support for Israel has always been GDP, out-marriage rates, Aliyah, and numbers of bipartisan. But the JPPI Annual Assessment Jews by country visiting Israel. warns that while there is continued support I would like to highlight a few of the particularly among American Republicans, enthusiasm by interesting areas and policy recommendations some Democrats is waning. covered by the 2010 JPPI Annual Assessment. t JPPI in 2010 stresses the importance of Jewish t !e upheaval in the Arab world is reviewed organizations and supporters of Israel focusing with a fresh and objective perspective on its on college campuses in the U.S. and Europe, in impact on Israel. which Israel is increasingly cast in a negative t !ere is an important action-oriented light by its opponents. !is is from where recommendation to further strengthen Israel’s our leaders for the future will be coming, but relationship with the US, its most important they, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, are often ally, at a time of economic stress in America: not armed with facts to counter false attacks a “Buy American” campaign in Israel to buy against Israel, part of the e"ort to de-legitimize U.S. products, such as automobiles for Israeli Israel as a Jewish state. government fleets, and other American t Looking forward, Steven Popper, one of JPPI’s products and services. bevy of expert scholars, describes a novel and t !e Assessment analyzes a series of troubling important project he has embarked upon, to illiberal religious and political initiatives in provide a multi-year examination, of the health Israel, including loyalty oaths for non-Jews, of the Jewish world from multiple perspectives: which could a"ect Israel’s image in the world, Its hard and soft power; the perpetuation of and among Diaspora Jews. Jewish culture; the traditional Jewish concept of betterment of the world, Tikkun Olam; Jewish t Israel’s remarkable economic progress as a religion and practice; Israel as a Jewish nation global leader in high tech and other start-up
6 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE state; and strengthening Jewish communities around the globe. Professor Popper’s project furthers JPPI’s unique contribution to the Jewish people.
Everyone connected to the production of the 2010 JPPI Annual Assessment is to be congratulated for their contribution to this important volume. Special thanks go to Dr. Shlomo Fischer, the Project Director, for this Assessment, and to Avinoam Bar- Yosef, the president of JPPI, who injects a sense of purpose and direction to the Institute, and with whom I am proud to serve.
Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat Chairman of the Board and Professional Council Jewish People Policy Institute
THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 7
Major Developments1 1 and Policy Directions
In 2010 the Jewish people started to face challenges A. !e Geopolitical Plane which seem to be qualitatively di"erent than those with which it has been confronted hitherto. 1. !e Arab Israel Conflict Among the developments which represent these challenges we find the following: the breakdown a. Breakdown of direct talks between Israel and of direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians Palestinian Authority in September 2010. and attempts to introduce a solution imposed b. Palestinian appeal to the international from outside; a de-legitimization campaign community to recognize Palestinian state directed against Israel which involves numerous within borders of June 4, 1967. !is course geographical locations and arenas; popular of action represents a Palestinian move uprisings involving government and regime away from bi-lateral negotiations conducted change in the Middle East; a perception of the between Israel and the Palestinians in favor of decline of American economic and political power a solution imposed from outside. and the economic and political rise of China, Publication by Al Jazeera of papers concerning India and other emerging powers such as Brazil the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations of and Turkey; possible changes in the attachment 2006-2007 demonstrates the seriousness to Israel among young Jews in the Diaspora. of negotiations during the Olmert !e following section on Policy Directions and administration. Publication was conceived Strategic Agenda briefly describes these and other as an attempt to damage, by the Palestinian developments and where appropriate, suggests opposition, Mahmud Abbas and the policy directions. Palestinian Authority. !e papers also show that despite the progress that was made in the negotiations, disparities still remained between the two sides.
THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 9 2. !e Campaign to de-legitimize Israel 3. !e Middle Eastern Regional Complex !e Gaza Flotilla incident along with the Goldstone a. Popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Report gives new impetus to de-legitimization In Egypt the military takes over and confirms campaign against Israel. !is campaign goes way adherence to all international treaties and beyond the immediate parameters of the conflict obligations, including Peace Agreement with between Israel and the Palestinians. It involves Israel. Arab youth demonstrates commitment numerous geographical locations and many arenas, to democratic values and ability to utilize including legal and economic attacks (Boycott, information technology and social media. !ese Disinvestment, Sanctions). Potentially, it could new developments challenge the stability of develop into a serious strategic threat for Israel. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Yemen and Syria, and perhaps encourage the opposition in Iran. Policy Directions b. !ese developments signify the potential for !e de-legitimization phenomenon, which aims significant change in the region. "!ere [is] … to challenge/subvert the Jewish people's right to a pervasive sense that a shared system of poor sovereignty in the Middle East, is damaging not governance by one party, one family or one only to Israel but also to Jewish identification, clique of military o#cers backed by brutal secret the support of friends of the Jewish people, and police was collapsing."2 Israel could benefit the Israel-Diaspora relationship. Israel and the from the democratization of Arab countries in Jewish people should develop a comprehensive the long run; however, in the short term, the strategy vis-à-vis this phenomenon, as well as expression of popular sentiment could lead to establish networks and collaborations among the crystallization of negative policies towards the plethora of bodies involved in this area. Israel, especially if it leads to the adoption of an !e Israeli government should re-examine Islamist direction by Arab regimes. its policies in order to locate elements which facilitate the de-legitimization of Israel, and Policy Directions consider revising such elements. Following the civilian uprising in Egypt Better use should be made of actively Israel- and the ongoing upheavals in other Arab attached young adults (the "New Zionists") countries. Israel and the Jewish people who have knowledge and experience in must prepare for a new Middle-Eastern global civil society, in combating Israel’s de- reality, which embodies both threats and legitimization. Younger elements especially opportunities. !e considerations made should be encouraged to take a larger role in heretofore regarding various strategic issues combating de-legitimization because of their must be re-examined and updated in light expertise in social media. of the changing reality: the relationship with
10 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Egypt, the connection with the US, the peace in Asia, Asian studies in Israel and more. process, Hamas, Turkey, and more. Israel and world Jewry can and should find c. Iran continues to make progress towards ways to help Asia's rising powers to address acquiring nuclear weapons despite the stuxnet their most urgent challenges, including, in worm and attacks on major nuclear scientists. particular, energy security, fighting poverty Planned US withdrawal in Iraq leaves Iran with and rural development. enhanced power in the Persian Gulf while Israel and the the Jewish people should asserting its influence in Lebanon and other monitor closely such countries as Brazil, parts of the region. Turkey and Indonesia which are gaining d. Turkey emerges as a regional influential power. economic and political importance. !e Jewish It adopts a new Islamic and Middle Eastern people (including the State of Israel) should orientation which entails increased coldness devote resources to empowering the Jewish and even hostility toward Israel. communities of these countries to become bridges to the surrounding societies and 4. !e Global Arena governments and centers of local influence. a. Continued perceived erosion of American power c. Beginnings of cultural backlash against multi- and international standing. !e US emerges culturalism in Europe. Electoral success of right- slowly from Great Recession but still with high wing parties in various European countries. unemployment and record budget deficit. Sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone. Rise of economic nationalism alongside attempts to b. Rise of China and new Chinese assertiveness strengthen the Eurozone and its unity. in economic, foreign policy and military arenas. India also enjoys growing political 5. Political Developments: and economic clout in the regional and Washington – Jerusalem – American international arenas. China and India have Jewish Community Triangle increased their presence and importance in the Middle East. Increased economic and Despite e"orts by both Washington and political importance of other emerging market Jerusalem to reach an understanding in light of states – Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia etc. the mid-term congressional elections and the problems of the coalition in Israel, the challenges Policy Directions facing the triangular relationship remain. !e American response to the upheaval in Egypt, Israel and the Jewish people should reach symbolized by the "cold shoulder" shown to out to Asia, focusing on cultural policies Mubarak, has been a matter of concern to and information exchanges, science and other allies in the Middle East. Yet the new technology policies, Judaism and Israel studies situation may also empower new reformists
THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 11 and progressive regimes and reinforce mutual opinion on the other hand, require a interests between Israel and the United States continuous e"ort to reinforce the strength which may draw them closer. As such, it is a and economic power of the US. Israel and the primary interest of Israel and the Jewish people North American Jewish community should globally that the status of the US as the leading make every e"ort to strengthen their ally. superpower doesn’t erode. t Israel should be conscious of American Past experience shows that cultural values, global interests without diminishing its democracy, and common interests of Israel own critical security requirements on one and the United States eventually overcome hand, and on the other, it should consider a controversies and even severe crises. !e most “Buy American” campaign that encourages, recent events require intensifying e"orts to for example, purchasing American cars by achieve strategic cooperation and coordination Israelis and for the fleets of the State of Israel between the United States, Israel, and the Jewish and the IDF and promoting the import and community. use of US goods and services.
Policy Directions t With former President Katsav's conviction, indictments of other leaders and measures taken t !e challenges facing Israel in light of regional against other senior figures, Israel may be parting changes require its leadership to make a ways with the attempt to grant legitimacy to decision as to its direction, to confront the the improper conduct of public figures. !is challenge of preserving its Jewish character, is the beginning of a welcome process that take the initiative in areas that require urgent may eventually improve trust of the young intervention, and be alert to other arenas in Jewish generation globaly and contribute to order to adapt policy accordingly. strengthening the ties between Israel and the t Every possible e"ort should be made to Diaspora. !is process should be encouraged. prevent the Middle East conflict from t !e de-legitimization phenomenon aiming becoming a point of contention between to subvert the right of the Jewish people to the Republican and Democratic parties in sovereignty in the Middle East harms not the United States, and to remove Israel and only Israel but also Jewish a#liation, support the Jewish community from the American, of friends of the Jewish people, and Israel- internal political debate. Diaspora relations. !is phenomenon requires t !e concern of a possible erosion in US a comprehensive evaluation and treatment in international status on one hand, and the various arenas to minimize damage. general support that Israel and the Jewish t Despite the erosion of the standing of new people enjoy in North American public Jewish organizations that attempted to establish
12 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE a lobby in opposition to the Jewish American approach to Halacha and Jewish establishment and Israel, there is a continuing tradition. trend among the young, American generation 4. !e arrest of a leading member to organize independently to promote agendas, of Women of the Wall also caused unrelated to the establishment or Israel. Against severe criticism by many American this background, Jewish organizations must Jews. make a special e"ort to open their ranks to the young and encourage them to assume key roles b. Emergence of illiberal religious and political in the community. Israel, for its part, must use initiatives in Israel such as the proposal of its resources to increase its investment in the parliamentary investigation of human rights future of the young generation, in education groups; the initiative regarding loyalty oaths for and in expanding the frameworks shared by non-Jews who apply for citizenship; rabbinic Israel and the Diaspora. prohibition on renting apartments to Arabs and the expulsion of the children of foreign workers; 6. New initiatives in Israel relating to immunity from prosecution according to the religion and politics Law against Incitement to rabbis claiming to rely a. 1. New conversion law sponsored by on the halacha. Some American Jewish liberals Yisrael Beiteinu threatened to place all claim that these developments are making Israel conversion under the sole control of the into an anti-democratic obscurantist religious Chief Rabbinate. !e threat of severe ethno-state which is harder to identify with or opposition and alienation by American defend. Support for such initiatives seems to Jewry caused Prime Minister Netanyahu come, at least in part, from widespread insecurity to shelve the law. regarding Israel's identity as a Jewish State due to de-legitimization and post-Zionism. 2. Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef confirmed the validity of IDF conversions, then c. !e recent wave of corruption scandals retreated somewhat in the face of damages Israel's image among non-Jews and severe Ashkenazic Haredi opposition. Jews alike. At the same time, Israel's ability Yisrael Beiteinu sponsors law recognizing to deal with these scandals judicially and IDF conversions. Shas and Yahadut administratively potentially strengthens its HaTorah oppose the law. image as a society which strongly adheres to the rule of law. 3. M.K. Rabbi Chaim Amsalem split from the Shas party. Amsalem's move could represent the first step in the growth and consolidation of a [Sephardic] Haredi inclusive-pragmatic
THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 13 Policy Directions Substantial natural gas reserves discovered o" Israeli policy makers and legislators should the coast of Haifa, auguring important revenue take into consideration the e"ect of illiberal stream with potential long-term energy, legislation, which casts Israel in undemocratic economic, financial, ecological and geo- light, upon the image of Israel in the eyes of political Implications, though fully developing Diaspora Jews and Israel supporters abroad. !ey these reserves is several years o". Recognition should also realize that such steps add fuel to the of Israel's economic achievements by accession de-legitimatization campaign. to the OECD. !e Israeli government should consider c. Despite these strengths, Israeli ability for canceling its decision to expel 400 children e"ective collective government action is of foreign workers who were born and are impaired as can be seen by poor educational educated in Israel. performance by Israeli students on international tests, prolonged strikes by public servants and Israel should strengthen internally its self-identity the Carmel fire. as both a Jewish and democratic state. In its expanded civics program for students it should d. American Jewish philanthropy still adversely stress that national identity and being a nation- a"ected by the financial crisis (and Mado" state does not contradict democratic and liberal fraud repercussions). At the same time funding values but rather fulfills them. needs within the American Jewish community increased (especially for Jewish education). American Jewish support for Israeli non-profit B. !e Jewish People Plane ("third") sector drops o". Policy Directions 1. !e Economic dimension of Jewish life: Diaspora Communities and Israel Israel, both the Israeli government and private individuals, needs to contribute a. American and European economies still more financially, and in certain areas replace adversely a"ected by the financial crisis. Both in Diaspora funds, in regard to projects designed need of structural and regulatory reform; both to enhance the well-being and strength of the experience a real decline in the value of their Jewish people such as Birthright, and Jewish currency. As a result of these developments, education. America might be poorer vis-a-vis other countries. Israel should consider which steps are necessary to restructure its institutions b. Israel emerged relatively unscathed with very of governance to better strengthen the high growth (7.8 % annual growth rate in the capacity to undertake e"ective collective fourth quarter) and record low unemployment.
14 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE action, to translate national priorities Israel and Zionism as an irrelevant or even into action and to undertake complex negative factor in regard to what is important public sector challenges that cut across and valuable in Jewish life. ministerial portfolios. It needs to establish a systematic strategic perspective to guide Policy Directions both short- and long-term domestic policy Travel to Israel programs such as Masa and actions. Birthright should be amplified for young Jews living in the diaspora. Travel to Israel Jewish Identity and Israel Attachment programs should be organized around a Among Younger Jews variety of perspectives and orientations, and a. For a signigicant segment of young Jews, Israel not reflect just one approach. is not the single most important pillar of their Israel travel programs ought to be extended to Jewish lives. Fewer young Jews are willing to European Jewish youth. Programs deepening identify Israel as occupying the most central attachment to Israel should be set up for place in their Jewish landscape. European Jewish youth and children visiting b. For many younger American Jews the concept Israel with their parents. of ethnic peoplehood, the world divided Within the framework of Israel education for into "us" and "them," is not salient. Younger young Jews, one should amplify cultural and Jewish leaders are interested in Judaism as a social factors including language, literature, way of providing meaningfulness in life. !ey food, film, friends, touring Israel and the respond to Jewish culture and Jewish activities, like. but not to the idea that there are distinct In contrast to this, educators should exercise di"erences between Jews and non-Jews. !ey caution in dealing with policy issues and are unresponsive to activities to "protect" Jews when discussing Israel's vulnerability, topics since they don't feel vulnerable, discriminated which are controversial among young Jews. against or di"erent. Jewish mainstream spokespersons should c. Criticism - even severe - of Israel is increasingly avoid labeling Jewish critics of Israel as "self- acceptable, and a mode of "critical attachment" hating Jews" in order not to alienate them to Israel has developed among young people. from the larger Jewish community. We also note a rise in the realm of discourse of Diasporism and post-Zionism. On the political Hasbara for young Jews in the Diaspora plane new groups are challenging the general should be the same as that which is targeted consensus. For limited segments of young to the general public. Israel and the Jewish Jews it may be increasingly acceptable to view leadership should not create special hasbara
THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 15 programs for young Jews which are based Endnotes upon the assumption that their Jewish identity makes them automatically pro- 1. !e geopolitical Plane section and the section on the economic dimension of Jewish life reflect Israel. Wherever possible, in hasbara aimed developments over the past year. !e section on at the general public, non-Jewish, pro-Israel Jewish identity and Israel attachment reflects trends groups should play a leading role, in hasbara over a longer period of a number of years. !e aimed at the general pulic. developments in that section reflect the special chapter on de-legitimization and Israel attachment !e Jewish organizations are committed to among younger Jews.
a special e"ort to open their ranks to young 2. "Unrest Spreads Some Violently in Middle East", people and to encourage them to assume key New York Times, Feb. 17, 2011, http://www.nytimes. roles in the life of the community. !e state of com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17protest. Israel, on its part, must utilize its resources in html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp order to enhance the investment in the future of the younger generations, in education and extending joint frameworks shared by Israel and the Diaspora. It is crucial to listen and respond honestly to young people who ask critical questions about Israel's and its policies. Such questions should be answered with reliable information and balanced judgments. Severely critical points of view should be allowed to be heard in Jewish frameworks such as Hillel chapters and other Jewish organizations, together with other opinions which are more positive to Israel and Israeli policies. Disenfranchising such severely critical voices will only increase their alienation. At the same time, advocates of the destruction of Israel and those who wish to use BDS against the very existence of Israel as a Jewish state should be singled out.
16 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Selected Indicators on World Jewry – 2010
2 Jewish Day- Visited GDP per Out- Jewish Population, HDI Israel, Capita school marriage Aliyah Core Definitiono Rank Attendance % of Jew. Country (PPP $US) Rate (%) (%) Pop.
Projected Most Most Most 1970a 2010b 2008d 2009* 2008e 2020c recenta recenta recenta World 12,633,000 13,428,300 13,827,000i 86,008-268 13,681f Israel 2,582,000 5,413,800 6,453,000i 28,474 27 97 5 100 - 47,440 – North America 5,686,000 5,652,300n 5,581,000 2,281 39,098 United States 5,400,000 5,275,000 5,200,000g 47,440 13 25h 54 >35 2,019 Canada 286,000 375,000 381,000 39,098 4 55 35 >65 262 Latin America 514,000 387,300 364,000 955 Argentina 282,000 182,300 162,000i 14,408 49 50-55 45 >50 188 Brazil 90,000 95,600 90,000i 10,466 75 71 45 >50 208 Mexico 35,000 39,400 42,000 14,534 53 85 10 >70 83 Other 107,000 70,000 70,000i 18,977-1,317 75 15-95 >50 476
Europe non-FSU 1,331,000 1,144,500 1,070,000 82,441-6,897 2,598
France 530,000 483,500 482,000 34,205 8 40 40-45 >70 1,562 United Kingdom 390,000 292,000 278,000i 36,358 21 60 40-45 >75 505 Germany 30,000 119,000 108,000 35,539 22 <20 >60 >50 86 Hungary 70,000 48,600 34,000 19,533 43 <15 60 .. 54 Other EUj 171,000 148,900 134,000 82,441-22,097 10-25 33-75 >50 262 Other non-EUk 140,000 52,500 34,000 53,738-6,897 5-20 50-80 .. 227 FSUl 2,151,000 330,000 173,000 20,561-2,023 5,603 Russia 808,000 205,000 130,000i 15,948 71 <15 80 .. 2,600 Ukraine 777,000 71,500 25,000i 7,342 85 <15 80 .. 1,310
Rest FSU Europel 312,000 34,900 15,000i 20,561-2,984 <15 65-75 .. 590 FSU Asia 254,000 18,600 3,000 11,434-2984 <15 50-75 .. 1,103 Asia (rest)m 104,000 19,200 21,000 34,116-930 134 Africa 195,000 76,200 60,000 20,829-268 1,892 South Africa 118,000 70,800 57,000 10,136 129 85 20 >75 257 Oceania 70,000 115,000 105,000i 36,918-2,108 119 Australia 65,000 107,500 97,000i 36,918 2 65 22 >65 109 * UN HDI Report 2009 | a Source: Division of Jewish Demography and Statistics, !e. Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. | b Source: S. DellaPergola, World Jewish Population, 2010. Berman Institute – North American Jewish Data Bank, 2010-Number 2. | c Source: adapted from DellaPergola, Rebhun, Tolts (2000), medium variant. | d Source: IMF 2008 data. | e Source: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (2008). | f Including country not specified. | g After downward reduction following NJPS 2001. | h Based on adjusted response from NJPS 2001. |i Revised population projections for 2020.| j Without Baltic states, Romania, Bulgaria. | k Including Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria. | l With Baltic states. | m Without Israel, FSU and Turkey. | n Includes Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands | o Includes all who, when asked, identify themselves as Jews or who are identified as Jews by a respondent in the same | household, and do not have another monotheistic religion.Also includes persons of Jewish parentage who claim no current religious | or ethnic identity.
THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 17
PART 1
A System of Indicators for Measuring the Well-Being of the Jewish People
A System of Indicators for Measuring the Well-Being 3 of the Jewish People
1. Introduction and the environment within which they exist, what is the purpose of measurement? !e first JPPI Annual Assessment was prepared in As we near the end of the decade in which JPPI was 2004. !at first e"ort was a comprehensive, multi- established, it seems appropriate to ask what has faceted benchmark for the state of the Jewish people changed. What state do the Jewish people find at the beginning of the 21st century. It also posed themselves in today? one over-riding question: Are the Jewish people as a whole, and in their various communities, thriving !e following five graphs show trend lines for or in decline? several di"erent measures of interest for the Jewish people. In each case, at least two measures have JPPI also took up as its main task the application been grouped into one graph. !e time scales di"er of analysis to the critical future-shaping decisions between the graphs because for slow-changing the Jewish people face. !e goal is to improve trends it is useful to see if the trends during that the means available to Jewish people institutions decade followed those of the prior periods. !e to make better decisions. Clearly, these two main discussion of the graphs will be found after their thrusts are related. Without measurement and presentation. benchmarks how is it possible to be e"ective in assessing priorities and framing policies? Without a desire to a"ect both the state of the Jewish people
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igure 1.1. Balance! %:11:3$5!)#:($of Security in!:%!)#$!4'&:'!4$'&:5 Israel: Deaths(9!! "#$!5&(;/((&:.!:%!from Terror )#$!A'04#(!3&11!?$!%:/.5!0%)$'!)#$&'!4'$($.)0)&:.9! ! and Numbers of Missiles Held by Hezbollah, 1999-2010
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) (Source:!"#$%&'()E)' JPPI | Data:'2"A& Israel'01'F&G"69'H0I$-,3"0.'".' Central Bureau of Statistics; DellaPergola,56%,&-B' 201039&'J)2)',.<'2) 39&'K&63'01'39&'8",6I0%,'' !"#$%&'())*++,-))) ./0/()),6%/'2)>'?0%/2)@$%'/$)#A)"0/05605&68).'22/+'%B#2/C)DEFE55=) 22 THE JEWISH) PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE
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! !(Source: Jewish People Policy Planning Institute | Data: Ben-David, 20093) !"#$%&'()F'',VUDHO¶VG.-@-5H+''C),)'271&@1/'I%7@1&A'1-'J/%7&6"'2%"@."B76'J@8&@1-%/' 7@A',VUDHO¶VK7=-%'2%-A$.1"8"1H'4-5B7%&A'1-'LG4M'N8&%7#&D'=H'O&7%)' !ese"#$%&'()!!*(4651!+($28(!+$86'B!+8/7767;!,75060%0(-!! data suggest there are multiple trends, not relevant in providing! indicators of Jewish people 666 strictly./0/)!! comparable,E(7L./A6M>N that paint a mixedK! picture well-being? of Jewish! people’s progress. According to some Clearly, measuring the progress of the Jewish measures,O1(5(!M/0/! the trends5%;;(50 appear! 01(&(!/&(!P%80628(!0&(7M5
24 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Meaningful indicators for the Jewish people should t Make it easier to assess whether the Jewish be derived systematically. !ey must cover the wide people or individual communities are thriving swathes of geopolitics, economics, demography, or declining. culture, society, education, and religious life to t Inform strategic decisions and the framing of name a few. Further, any system of indicators Jewish people-oriented policies, and needs to address the bottom-line question of what goals should any Jewish people initiatives, plans, t Allow us to measure the performance of and actions seek to achieve. !e answers are far initiatives and actions to understand what from clear and could in themselves cause discord. is working and when modification might be required. !ese issues are profound and the stakes could not be higher. For these reasons, JPPI’s newest project is !e project is not a substitute for rigorous devoted solely to developing meaningful indicators research; it is its complement. A “dashboard” of for the well-being of the Jewish people. !e following well-chosen indicators would provide lay and section will more fully introduce this project whose community leaders with gauges for assessing the scope clearly takes it beyond the means of any single state of being of the Jewish people in its various institution of the Jewish people to carry forward. JPPI communities. !e fruits of research would provide must rely upon the research being done by others. the inputs and the dashboard would add value by Yet, the JPPI project will in turn provide leverage drawing the best insight we have into one place to for those e"orts by bringing their outputs together be more easily accessed by a wider public. !e full in one venue. !e goal is to attain greater insight panel of dashboard gauges would provide more through their intelligent juxtaposition and produce insight than any one indicator viewed in isolation. a synthesis that will prove meaningful in helping Juxtaposition can also point to what we do not understand and meet the challenges that face the yet know (or perhaps previously never asked) but Jewish people in the years to come. whose importance may be made clearer. Indicators of Jewish People Well-Being No matter the vision, the challenges are great. !e JPPI indicators project seeks to enhance !is is true even in businesses whose bottom-line understanding of where, when, how, and to what goals are few, whose interactions are governed e"ect policy may a"ect Jewish people concerns. by bodies of law, regulation, and practice, and Measurement of important indicators could: whose organization is determined by long-shared experience, legal practice, and industry norms. To t Provide more e"ective early warning on do so for the Jewish people with more than 3,000 emerging issues. Even if apparent to some, years of history, experience, custom and practice issues could gain wider consideration and – and who continue to interact with surrounding be evaluated more e"ectively within a larger cultures - presents a daunting task indeed. framework.
THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 25 !e next section discusses how JPPI intends to approach Few human groups who consider themselves a this task, and then is followed by an introduction to unity match the Jewish people for diversity. !e the types of data inputs that will be considered. touchy issue of core Jewish values can spark more heat than light. One way to remove the need for 2. A Framework of Indicators for codifying a core set of Jewish goals is to instead Jewish People Policy observe what it is that Jews, as individuals and A useful system of indicators would address issues communities, do. Fundamental Jewish values of recurring importance to Jewish communities and are expressed as recurring activities or historical also provide insight into events that occur during the “projects”. Similar to the economic concept year. !ere are technical concerns, but first come of revealed preference, Jews reveal through more general questions: How do we identify what their allocation of e"ort what matters to them. indicators would be truly !inking in terms of the Jewish agenda places the Fundemental useful? What does any focus on these projects rather than the values Jewish values individual indicator mean that may impel them. are expressed for the entire fabric of Jewish All who identify themselves as part of the Jewish as recurring people concerns? Choosing people are likely involved in at least one of these activities or solely based on data projects. !e five major projects to be discussed historical availability is expedient but below also have an integrated quality. Success "projects" might cause fundamental in any one of these projects is at worst neutral issues to be untended. with respect to progress in the others. Most Jews Indicators should be selected systematically. !e will, in fact, see a positive interaction: while as initial strategy for doing so is to apply a version of the individuals they may not be equally attached to Balanced Scorecard now used in many businesses.4 each project, they are glad that others are pushing !is is designed to provide an integrated view across them forward. many aspects of a complex organization’s interests A Balanced Scorecard highlights more dimensions and actions. It could be modified into a dashboard for assessment than the traditional bottom-line for the Jewish people as well. We will outline below approach. It achieves coherence because the the directions JPPI will explore. common denominator is the progress of a specific 2.1 What do Jews care about? enterprise. So, too, the Jewish enterprise of 3,000 years consists of several projects. What would be Strategy consists of choosing actions that will move the balanced scorecard equivalent for getting a us closer to achieving goals we consider desirable. sense of how the Jewish enterprise is faring? If we are to measure and assess trends to aid Jewish people decision making, what purposes do we seek !e following areas of long-standing Jewish interest to advance? are the projects for this enterprise:
26 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Sustain and Develop Judaism Create Culture Emanating from Jewish !is project is based on the religious-value Roots component of Jewish peoplehood. It is directed !is project seeks to perpetuate the cultures of toward building and living within communities the Jews and build upon their accomplishments in that are predicated upon interpretations of Torah– generating wisdom, aesthetics, and contributions and actively exploring what it means to do so while to ethical progress. also members of the surrounding mass society and in the face of external pressure for change. Bettering the World Jewish thought has been instrumental in the idea Israel as a !riving Jewish Nation-State of progress. !e concept of ‘tikkun olam’ repairing !e Jewish national project seeks a modern, a wounded world to bring it closer to the ideal democratic, Jewish nation-state in the historical framed in Torah has been generalized in recent land of Israel that is accepted by the community years and raised to a significance that troubles of nations and regarded by them as being equal in some. 5 We use it here, however, as a convenient sovereignty, legitimacy and respect. theme: Discovering the foundations of human
Figure 2.1. Balanced Scorecard of Major Jewish People Projects
[Source: JPPI]
THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 27 health and employing that knowledge to combat drivers that a"ect Jews and their interests. Two earlier disease is, in this sense, a project emerging from JPPI projects identified several such key drivers.7 Jewish roots. From these and other works, we identified a list of drivers that would seem of greatest importance for Ensure Secure, !riving, and Connected their e"ect on Jewish people issues: Communities t !e demography of Jewish communities and !is project involves security, socioeconomic the Jewish people in the world; conditions, collective action toward Jewish ends, t Formation and strengthening of individual and the thriving of identity. !is project seeks to Jewish identity; maintain the spirit of both formal and informal community among people who identify themselves t Relations between Israel and Diaspora as part of the Jewish people and encompasses communities; the collective structures and actions of those t !e economics of the Jewish people and Jewish communities. communities; Figure 2.1 places these five Jewish people projects t Jewish creativity and culture; in a Balanced Scorecard format. For each the key t Leadership in Jewish communities and their questions are what indicators are relevant, how can institutions; we measure them practically, what analyses will they support, and what initiatives would further t Geopolitics; and them. t Sources and balances of hard and soft power
2.2 Main drivers of Jewish well-being !e indicators in the five graphs in the previous section each relate to at least one of these An over-riding issue for devising indicators and drivers. But it is also clear that while drivers they measures is to determine what we truly need may be, they are also are complex composites of to measure. If we measure, analyze, and derive forces, trends, outputs, outcomes, implications, policy implications from individual dimensions and potential venues for action. Moving toward such as demography, economics, culture and measurement and analysis means achieving geopolitics, considering each in isolation, this will clarity on the distinctions within these prismatic lead to biased inferences and possibly counter- dimensions. "Increased Jewish identity" may not in productive policy recommendations. We need a itself be a clear goal or a good in itself – its value framework providing an overarching structure to lies principally as a driver towards something else our inquiries. – e.g. increased Jewish engagement, or increased A dashboard should arise from consideration of Torah study or enhanced Jewish family life. Jewish people goals (the projects above) and those
28 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Health; Health; various Semitism; Semitism; Economics; S&T; Energy; S&T; Environment; Environment; Cyberspace… Demography; Culture; Anti- Culture; Globalization;
Hard Hard & Soft power 1-5 year riving or Decline or riving External Dimension
! Geo- 1 year politics
ship Leader- 5-7 year
1-5 year Creativity
1 year Economic odes in Determining Jewish People People Jewish Determining in odes N
Israel- atrix atrix 1-5 year Relation Diaspora M nternal Dimensions I
Identity 5-7 year
graphy Demo- 7-10 year
Table 1. Weighting of Importance of Change practice Jewish rootsJewish nation-state Secure, thriving, Major relationhips Jewish religion and and religion Jewish Bettering the World the Bettering Sustain develop and Jewish People Projects People Jewish Culture emerging from from emerging Culture Key: Core relationships Core Key: “No-surprise” Interval of connected communities Israel as a thriving Jewish Jewish as a thriving Israel [Source: JPPI] [Source:
THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 29 2.3 Systematic Framework for Jewish indicators in the issues of greatest interest to Jews People Indicators in communities around the world. For example, Table 1 shows where core relationships exist We now place together the two principal elements between demography and three Jewish people we have discussed, goals and drivers. Table 1 is projects. Each such intersection might yield one an initial design of the structure within which we or more indicators for a dashboard of indicators will situate the indicators to be included in the constructed along Balance Scorecard principles. dashboard. !e columns correspond to the main Table 2 shows some candidate indicators for drivers/dimensions that a"ect the fortunes of the inclusion into a Jewish people dashboard. Jewish people. !e rows lay out the major projects of the Jewish people. Each cell of this matrix JPPI’s indicator project will follow the program therefore allows us to determine what relationship we have outlined in this article to engage in the between forces and outcomes may exist and what construction of such a dashboard. As a first step, measures would serve as indicators to understand we present below some early explorations into the nature and meaning of trends. available data and their types by examining several issues that most of the Jewish people would find Clearly, any framework will be an over- important. simplification. !e interconnections between the elements are many and profound. But we can begin with the intersections that would seem to 3. First Steps toward Measurement matter most. Table 1 shows such a first cut, based on a review of previous literature. Color coding !is section illustrates the four di"erent types of shows those relationships at the core of the Jewish data that would be necessary to draw upon in enterprise and, in a lighter shade, those that while constructing the indicators for a Jewish people perhaps not core still have major influence over dashboard. !e first involves the direct use of events and outcomes. We have also noted that quantitative data. !e second explores the use of for some dimensions it is meaningful to construct existing data series to construct indirect indicators indicators of change on a yearly basis. For others, that may provide a perspective on issues of in the absence of major surprises, it is more interest. !e third examines using survey data appropriate to look across several years before to understand attitudes toward Israel and Jewish observing detectable change. identity in three diaspora Jewish communities. !e JPPI indicators project will develop measures !e last uses qualitative descriptors within a as part of a dashboard that will illuminate the systematic framework to tally changes in the trends among the important drivers and the geopolitical environment. !e examples illustrate intersection of these trends with the specific the strengths and limitations of the various kinds projects of the Jewish people. We will root these of data.
30 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Table 2. Examples of Indicators Based on Demography for Potential Use in Jewish People Balanced Scorecard “Dashboard”
PROJECT ISSUE INDICATOR
What are the trends within JP faith Size and rates of growth of di"erent Judaism groupings, including una#liated and Jewish people faith communities secular?
Size and rates of growth of Jewish How may demography a"ect the and non-Jewish communities Jewish character of Israel? within Israel Israel How do issues related to daily life and Relative rates of Jewish immigration security a"ect decisions on emigration to and emigration from Israel from Israel?
How are specific Jewish communities Size and rates of growth of JP thriving or declining? communities, including una#liated
What are the trends in identity and Percentage of children under 18 a#liation among out-married couples who are being raised by in- and Jewish Community and their children? out-married couples.
How do JP communities change Size and rates of growth of JP new according to definitions of Who is a entrants through conversion Jew? or choice
3.1 ‘Take You the Sum of All the !e project will draw upon such data but also seek Congregation of the Children of Israel’ to understand what lies behind them. For example, two additional recent studies of the size of U.S. Jewry Demographic and economic data appear the most find numbers of as much as 6.3 million for 2010 definitive of all. Numbers of people or amounts rather than 5,275,000 as in Table 3.8 !e di"erence of goods and services lend themselves to precise between the two numbers lies largely in issues of definition and measurement. Table 3 has appeared methodology and data gathering. While these are in previous Annual Assessments, updated by the to large extent technical, they also reflect upon the most current data.
THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 31 f e - 54 86 83 505 188 208 134 257 262 227 119 109 590 476 262 955 2,600 1,892 5,603 1,310 2,019 1,103 2,598 1,562 2,281 2008 13,681 Aliyah a ...... 100 >50 >75 >50 >50 >70 >75 >50 >35 >65 >50 >70 >65 Jew. Jew. % of Pop. Most Israel, recent Visited Visited a 5 60 80 45 45 10 20 80 54 22 35 >60 Most Out- 40-45 33-75 50-80 65-75 50-75 15-95 40-45 recent Rate (%) marriage a h 60 71 85 97 85 65 75 40 55 25 <15 <20 <15 <15 <15 <15 (%) 5-20 Most 50-55 10-25 recent school Jewish Day- Jewish Attendance 2 8 4 43 22 71 21 49 75 53 13 27 85 129 HDI Rank 2009* S) d U e. Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. of University Hebrew Jewry, Contemporary of Institute Harman e. ! 6,897 2,023 7,342 2,108 2,984 1,317 6,897 2008 19,533 35,539 10,136 36,918 15,948 34,205 36,358 14,408 10,466 14,534 47,440 28,474 22,097 39,098 39,098 53,738- 20,561- 36,918- 20,561- 18,977- 82,441- 82,441- Capita 47,440 – GDP per 86,008-268 34,116-930 20,829-268 (PPP $ (PPP 11,434-2984 i i g i i i i i i i i i c 3,000 2020 34,000 21,000 60,000 57,000 34,000 42,000 25,000 70,000 97,000 15,000 90,000 108,000 173,000 482,000 134,000 381,000 364,000 130,000 105,000 278,000 162,000 o 5,581,000 1,070,000 Projected 6,453,000 13,827,000 5,200,000 n b 2010 71,500 48,600 70,000 34,900 19,200 76,200 70,800 52,500 18,600 95,600 39,400 Table 3. Selected Indicators on World Jewry – 2010 119,000 330,000 205,000 107,500 483,500 115,000 148,900 375,000 292,000 387,300 182,300 5,413,800 1,144,500 5,275,000 13,428,300 5,652,300 Core DefinitionCore Jewish Population, Jewish a 1970 70,000 30,000 65,000 90,000 35,000 70,000 777,000 107,000 808,000 530,000 312,000 104,000 195,000 118,000 171,000 140,000 286,000 254,000 390,000 514,000 282,000 2,151,000 2,582,000 1,331,000 5,686,000 5,400,000 12,633,000 l k j m FSUl Israel Brazil World Africa Other Other Russia France Mexico Canada Ukraine Oceania Hungary FSU Asia FSU Australia Germany Country Other EU Other Argentina Asia (rest) South Africa United States States United Latin America Other non-EU Other North America Europe non-FSU Europe Rest FSU Europe FSU Rest United Kingdom United * UN HDI Report 2009 | a Source: Division of Jewish Demography and Statistics, Statistics, and Demography Jewish of Division Source: a | 2009 Report HDI UN * | b Source: S. 2010. Jewish DellaPergola, Population, – World NorthBerman Institute American Jewish Data Bank, 2010-Number 2. | c Source: adapted from (2000), medium variant. | d (2008). Source: | IMF f 2008 of Including data.Statistics country not Tolts Bureau DellaPergola, Rebhun, | e Central Source: Israel specified. | g After downward reduction following NJPS 2001. | h Based on adjusted response from NJPS 2001. |i j Revised Without population Baltic projections for states, 2020.| Romania, Bulgaria. | k Including Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria. | l | o Includes asked, Islands identifyall who, when Bahamas, Rico,as Virgin asJews identified Puerto With themselves Jews orsame who in the are a by respondent | Baltic states. | m Without Israel, FSU and | Turkey. n Includes identity. | or ethnic religious no current includes who claim persons religion.Also parentage of Jewish household, monotheistic another do and not have
32 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE f e - 54 86 83 505 188 208 134 257 262 227 119 109 590 476 262 955 2,600 1,892 5,603 1,310 2,019 1,103 2,598 1,562 2,281 2008 13,681 Aliyah a ...... 100 >50 >75 >50 >50 >70 >75 >50 >35 >65 >50 >70 >65 Jew. Jew. % of Pop. Most Israel, recent Visited Visited a 5 60 80 45 45 10 20 80 54 22 35 >60 Most Out- 40-45 33-75 50-80 65-75 50-75 15-95 40-45 recent Rate (%) marriage a h 60 71 85 97 85 65 75 40 55 25 <15 <20 <15 <15 <15 <15 (%) 5-20 Most 50-55 10-25 recent school Jewish Day- Jewish Attendance 2 8 4 43 22 71 21 49 75 53 13 27 85 129 HDI Rank 2009* S) d U e. Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. of University Hebrew Jewry, Contemporary of Institute Harman e. ! 6,897 2,023 7,342 2,108 2,984 1,317 6,897 2008 19,533 35,539 10,136 36,918 15,948 34,205 36,358 14,408 10,466 14,534 47,440 28,474 22,097 39,098 39,098 53,738- 20,561- 36,918- 20,561- 18,977- 82,441- 82,441- Capita 47,440 – GDP per 86,008-268 34,116-930 20,829-268 (PPP $ (PPP 11,434-2984 i i g i i i i i i i i i c 3,000 2020 34,000 21,000 60,000 57,000 34,000 42,000 25,000 70,000 97,000 15,000 90,000 108,000 173,000 482,000 134,000 381,000 364,000 130,000 105,000 278,000 162,000 o 5,581,000 1,070,000 Projected 6,453,000 13,827,000 5,200,000 n b 2010 71,500 48,600 70,000 34,900 19,200 76,200 70,800 52,500 18,600 95,600 39,400 Table 3. Selected Indicators on World Jewry – 2010 119,000 330,000 205,000 107,500 483,500 115,000 148,900 375,000 292,000 387,300 182,300 5,413,800 1,144,500 5,275,000 13,428,300 5,652,300 Core DefinitionCore Jewish Population, Jewish a 1970 70,000 30,000 65,000 90,000 35,000 70,000 777,000 107,000 808,000 530,000 312,000 104,000 195,000 118,000 171,000 140,000 286,000 254,000 390,000 514,000 282,000 2,151,000 2,582,000 1,331,000 5,686,000 5,400,000 12,633,000 l k j m FSUl Israel Brazil World Africa Other Other Russia France Mexico Canada Ukraine Oceania Hungary FSU Asia FSU Australia Germany Country Other EU Other Argentina Asia (rest) South Africa United States States United Latin America Other non-EU Other North America Europe non-FSU Europe Rest FSU Europe FSU Rest United Kingdom United * UN HDI Report 2009 | a Source: Division of Jewish Demography and Statistics, Statistics, and Demography Jewish of Division Source: a | 2009 Report HDI UN * | b Source: S. 2010. Jewish DellaPergola, Population, – World NorthBerman Institute American Jewish Data Bank, 2010-Number 2. | c Source: adapted from (2000), medium variant. | d (2008). Source: | IMF f 2008 of Including data.Statistics country not Tolts Bureau DellaPergola, Rebhun, | e Central Source: Israel specified. | g After downward reduction following NJPS 2001. | h Based on adjusted response from NJPS 2001. |i j Revised Without population Baltic projections for states, 2020.| Romania, Bulgaria. | k Including Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria. | l | o Includes asked, Islands identifyall who, when Bahamas, Rico,as Virgin asJews identified Puerto With themselves Jews orsame who in the are a by respondent | Baltic states. | m Without Israel, FSU and | Turkey. n Includes identity. | or ethnic religious no current includes who claim persons religion.Also parentage of Jewish household, monotheistic another do and not have
THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 33 socio-economic and cultural characteristics of the population, whether core, enlarged or Law of Jewish population. Both surveys point toward large Return depends on the question being asked numbers of individuals who and also the purpose behind asking the question. !e 2nd Intifada self-identify as Jews but are !e apparently simple issue of measurement is and the short- indi"erent to Jewish culture intimately bound to fundamental concepts and range missile (secular or religious) or definitions which each, in turn, have implications attacks from issues of Jewish concern. for policies and Jewish people-based strategies. If the larger number is Lebanon and 3.2 ‘How Goodly Are !y Tents, Gaza changed accepted, it implies an increasing, rather than O Jacob’: Residence Construction perceptions in Israel about the decreasing, population vulnerability trend. But it also implicitly of Israel's suggests a greater incidence Existing data bases may be used to gain insight, albeit population of individuals indi"erent to indirectly, into issues of Jewish policy interest. In the Jewishness and decreases absence of surveys, it might be possible to detect the share of Jewish children changes based on how people act. !is is not a in Jewish educational frameworks. substitute for formal scholarship. Rarely can individual e"ects be isolated as a controlled experiment. Rather, Furthermore, both estimates refer to what constructing such indirect indicators from existing demographers call the "core" Jewish population. data is potentially a cost-e"ective expedient for !ere are other Jewish populations that might be developing indicators, not evidence that would, in counted. For the US there is an "enlarged" Jewish itself, be su#cient to prove a case. population of 6.7 million which: !e second Intifada and then short-range missile Includes core Jewish population plus non- attacks from Lebanon, Gaza and Sinai changed Jewish members of the respective households. perceptions about the vulnerability of Israel’s A similar figure of 6.7 million obtains for total population. !e threat of a vastly more massive persons of Jewish parentage, regardless of current Hezbollah missile attack looms as does the possibility of identification. Further adding all the respective non- similar assaults by Syria and, conceivably, Iran. Coupled Jewish household members generates an aggregate with the Iranian nuclear threat, such capability by a of about 8 million. By the criteria of [Israel’s] Law of state that misses no opportunity to display its enmity Return, the total number of eligible persons might toward Israel would profoundly change the world. approximate 10 to12 million Americans.9 What e"ect has this had on individual Israeli families and the behavior of Jews outside Israel? !is reinforces the JPPI interest in indicators that are rooted in core concerns as in Table 2. Jewish One potential gauge is the price and supply of housing in Israel. In Israel as elsewhere, housing usually
34 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE represents the largest single component of household 3.1 shows average residential prices, by size class, in budgets. Housing prices and supply are subject to the major cities over twenty years.10 !e data do not many influences, especially in a nation of immigrants. otherwise characterize quality or neighborhood, But economic growth will also a"ect prices and both significant determinants of price. !e figure construction. Moreover, a decision over how much also shows GDP per capita from 1995. housing a family can a"ord is based upon attitudes All categories show the same general trend through toward future individual and national prospects. In 2000. !e two highest-priced categories peak in Israel there is the additional component of Jews from 1997-1998, then decline. !e others peak a year or outside purchasing part-time housing, principally in two later in 1998-1999.11 Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. !is last component could be quite volatile. Tourism to Israeli was greatly a"ected by From 2001, the prices in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv track the outbreak of the second Intifada causing especially with the changes in economic growth. In fact, during vulnerable sectors to su"er heavily. the first years of this latter period, prices in most size categories appear to be mildly counter-cyclical. !at What do residential housing statistics tell us about is, they hold steady or even grow in the years GDP per how sensitive Israel is to changes in internal and capita declines. !ese years, 2001 and 2002, were also external mood? Have Jews outside of Israel “voted the height of the second Intifada terror campaign. with their feet” on Israel’s future prospects? Figure
Figure 3.1.! Average Price in Constant NIS"# !(1,000s) for Residences in the Major Cities of Israel, by Residence Size, 1988-2009; and Real GDP Growth per capita, 1995-2009
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THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 37 3.3 ‘If I Forget !ee, O Jerusalem’: !is is but one instance of the complex relationship Attachment to Israel and Jewish between Jewish identity, diaspora communities, identity. and Israel. To what extent does identification with Israel form a part of individual Jewish identity? A recent article by Peter Beinart brought the What role should Israel play in modern Jewish “distancing”! hypothesis to the attention of "# the! consciousness? To what extent does attachment to Jewish world.15 !is holds that in some diaspora $%&'()*+,!'*-!&.($/*(.!0%/)0.(1!!2%.&.3/&.,!(4&5.6(!'&.!7/8%!.$)(/-)0!'*-!-)33)0498!8/!Israel enhance Jewish identity or, on the contrary, to communities the Jewish population, particularly 0/:$'&.1! what extent could disa"ection with Israel actually among! the young, has grown more distant from impair Jewish identification? formerly;.<)(%!$./$9.!)*-)0'8/&(!(%/49-!%'5.!8%.!'88&)748.!/3!0/*()(8.*06!8/!7.!/3!:/(8!5'94.1 strong identification with Israel. !e !! 2%)(!:'=.(!(4&5.6!-'8'!$'&8)049'&96!$&/79.:'8)01!!>/<.5.&,!':/*+!8%.!?1@1!;.<)(%! Beinart0/: article:4*)86!8%.&.!)(!/*.!'**4'9!(4&5.6!8%'8!:')*8')*(!0/*()(8.*06!)*!A4.(8)/*(!'*-! puts forth a political explanation: Data to illuminate these questions are most often Israeli actions&.($/*(.(1!! have! come to be perceived as running gathered through surveys, an expensive process. ! Surveys of Jewish opinion are complicated because counterB)+4&.! to theC!(%/<(!$'&8!/3!8%.!&.($/*(.(!8/!8.7'4&%5':9?.%7,873'"8'0+&"%'@"/&' Identity is "Not VeryAB Important"C5&,%'9.D"8#',D&%,#&-E in !eir L' ife (3-year moving averages)
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! Jewish people indicators should have the"#! attribute !e data do suggest that the source of distancing of consistency to be of most value. !is makes from Jewish identity itself needs to be sought $%!&'(!)$**+survey!!,-!$&'(.!/$.012!/(!3$4*0!-$&!1&5&(!/6&'!3(.&56-&7!&' data particularly problematic. However, elsewhere.5&!&'61!1'5.(!'51!3'5-8(0! !e share of those for whom Jewish 04.6-8!&'(!9::;among! the<"#9#!)(.6$0+ US Jewish ! community there is one"#! identity is irrelevant appears to be on the rise. !is ! annual survey that maintains consistency in rose from an average of less than 8 percent in 1993- ='(!05&5!0$!1488(1&!&'5&!&'(!1$4.3(!$%!061&5-36-8!%.$>!?(/61'!60(-&6&7!6&1(*%!-((01!&$!@(! questions and responses. 1995 to more than 14 percent in 2008-2010. Even 1$48'&!(*1(/'(.(+!!='(!1'5.(!$%!&'$1(!%$.!/'$>!?(/61'!60(-&6&7!61!6..(*(A5-&!5))(5.1!&$!@(!$%!&'(!)$**+!!,-!$&'(.!/$.012!/(!3$4*0!-$&!1&5&(!/6&'!3(.&56-&7!&'5&!&'61!1'5.(!'51!3'5-8(0! 04.6-8!&'(!9::;<"#9#!)(.6$0+! $-!&'(!.61(+!!Figure='61! 3.3 shows.$1(!%.$>!5-!5A(.58(!$%!*(11!&'5-!B!)(.3(-&!6-!9::; part of the responses to two of assuming<9::C!&$!>$.(!&'5-! a 3-percent error rate, the growing change 9D!)(.3(-&!6-!"##B! <"#9#+!!EA(-!5114>6-8!5!;<)(.3(-&!(..$.!.5&(2!&'(!8.$/6-8!3'5-8(!%.$>!from previous years appears to be real. !is suggests the='( survey!05&5!0$!1488(1&!&'5&!&'(!1$4.3(!$%!061&5-36-8!%.$>!?(/61'!60(-&6&7!6&1(*%!-((01!&$!@(! questions. It plots responses of those ).(A6$41!7(5.1!5))(5.1!&$!@(!.(5*+!!='61!1488(1&1!&'5&!4-*6F(!0615%%(3&6$-!%.$>!,1.5(*!&'5&!that unlike disa"ection from Israel that may be a >57!@(who1$48'&!(*1(/'(.(+!!='(!1'5.(!$%!&'$1(!%$.!/'$>!?(/61'!60(-&6&7!61!6..(*(A5-&!5))(5.1!&$!@(!!5!*6%( feel<373*(!)'(-$>(-$-!G&'5&!612!&'(!7$4-8!>57!%((*!5!*(11!1&.$-8!5&&53'>(-&!&'5&! very distant from Israel and those who say life-cycle phenomenon (that is, the young may feel >57!8.$/!/6&'!58(that$-!&'(!.61(+!! being Jewish2H!061&5-36-8!%.$>!?(/61'!60(-&6&7!6&1(*%!>57!@(!58(='61! is .$1(!%.$>!5-!5A(.58(!$%!*(11!&'5-!B!)(.3(-&!6-!9::;not very important in their life. <3$'$.&!.(*5&(0I!!<9::C!&$!>$.(!&'5-! 7$4-8(.!9D!)(.3(-&!6-!"##B!58(!8.$4)1!5.(!%$.>6-8!@(*6(%1!&'5&e data have been ;<<('=6.'>?;?)%%!@,5#-2/,%4,,32$5)!%' %!@'%.'3,%2$%N,*2)+%%PB AB ! 29,$-2-&!%CB %%!@'%)0,12#3% #--#1+6,$-!% %%!F-.'$5%#--#1+6,$-!% %!M60'.-#$-%.'3,%2$% GAB %%!@,5#-2/,%4,,32$5)!% N,*2)+%29,$-2-&!%>OB AB %%!@'%)0,12#3% #--#1+6,$-!% %%!D'9,.#-,% ,-1&6&4&(+! #--#1+6,$-!%AEB Q5&5I!!R$1>6-2!S('.>5-2!5-0!T$*0@(.82!9::UV! %%!F-.'$5%#--#1+6,$-!% %!M60'.-#$-%.'3,%2$% GAB T.5'5>!5-0!K$702!"#9#+W! N,*2)+%29,$-2-&!%>OB !! [Source: Jewish People Policy Planning Institute | Data: Kosmin, Lehrman, and Goldberg, 1997; Graham and Boyd, 2010.] ! NO$4.3(I!!?(/61'!P($)*(!P$*637!P*5--6-8! %%!D'9,.#-,% ,-1&6&4&(+! #--#1+6,$-!%AEB Q5&5I!!R$1>6-2!S('.>5-2!5-0!T$*0@(.82!9::UV! T.5'5>!5-0!K$702!"#9#+WTHE JEWISH! PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 39 !! ! for others what areas are deserving of further Jewish inference about individual attachment to Israel people e"ort. For example, no other Jewish community and issues of identity. yields similarly consistent survey data. Figure 3.4, !e UK and French polls are suggestive and provide based on two surveys of the United Kingdom’s Jewish as good a baseline as we are likely to find for those community, illustrates some of the di#culties. !"# communities. But it is the direction of change that Both surveys, in 1995 and 2010, were professionally would be of greatest interest. !ese three examples conducted. !e fact that they were not done from the leading diaspora communities illustrate how # annually is not in itself a problem; the results are national organizations in the other major centers of $%&'#()*+,-(.#/0#"112#304#!5"5.#6,*,#7*%8,((/%039as credible as those for the AJC annual surveys. world9-#:%04):&,4 Jewish population;##<',#83:&#&'3& could both extend#&',- and deepen#6,*,# 0%&#However,4%0,# 300)399-#/(#0%&#/0#/&(,98#3#7*%=9,>the two surveys asked di"erent questions ?#&',#*,()9&(#3*,#3(#:*,4/=9,#3(#&'%(,#8%*#&',#our knowledge in the realm of individual identity @AB#300)39#()*+,-(;##and framed possible responsesC%6,+,*.# so that&',#&6%#()*+,-( comparison formation#3(D,4#4/88,*,0&# and the e"ectsE),(&/%0(#304#8*3>,4# on community health. 7%((/=9,#between *,(7%0(,(# them di#cult(% as#&'3&#:%>73*/(%0 well as comparisons#=,&6,,0#&',> to #4/88/:)9(#6,99#3(#:%>73*/(%0(#&%# (/>/93*#*,()9&(#,9(,6',*,;# similar results elsewhere. 3.4 ‘Nation Shall Not Lift Up Sword # Against Nation’: Geopolitics F%*#&',#&'/*4For the third-largestG93*H,(&#A,6/('#:%>>)0/&-.# Jewish community, France,F*30:,.# &',*,#3*,#0%#(/>/93*#()*+,-(;##I,#/(;## F/H)*,#there areJ# ('%6(no similar#%0,#7%/0&#,(&/>3&,#8%*#&',#-,3*#!55!#&'3&# surveys. Figure 3.5 shows one !e realm 344*,(( of geopolitics,(#A,6/('#/4,0&/&-# holds considerable 4/*,:&9-#=)'(%#/04/*,:&9-#399%6(point estimate for the year 2002 that# /08, addresses*,0:,#3=%)& importance#/04/+/4)39#3&&3:'>,0&#&%#K(*3,9# for Israel’s security as well as304 for# the /((),(#%8#/4,0&/&-;Jewish identity directly# but also indirectly allows health and well-being of all Jewish communities. # !"#$%&'Figure()''*&+&,-&.'%&/$+-/'0%12' 3.5. Selected results from3 'a41++'10'5&6/'"7 poll of Jews in France,'!%37,& 20028'9::9)' !"#$%&'$(&')*$+,$+&-.$/0/1.2$3&4$4&')*$%&'$4153$6&$+,$ +&-.7!$89::9; $$!<&.=>,4153! ?@ $$!"*,.616%$/.*$ A)/(,$/-,$.&6$ 1BA&-6/.6! $$!>,4153$1.$ ?C@ "5-/,)! FG@ $$!>,4153$1.$63,$ D1/5A&-/! E9@ [Source: JPPI | Data: Cohen, 2009] # #LM%)*:,N##AOOK;### 40P3&3N#THE B%',0.#!551QJEWISH PEOPLE POLICY# INSTITUTE # <',#RS#304#F*,0:'#7%99(#3*,#()HH,(&/+,#304#7*%+/4,#3(#H%%4#3#=3(,9/0,#3(#6,#3*,#9/D,9-# &%#8/04#8%*#&'%(,#:%>>)0/&/,(;##$)&#/&#/(#&',#4/*,:&/%0#%8#:'30H,#&'3%)94#=,#%8#H*,3&,(&# /0&,*,(&;##<',(,#&'*,,#,T3>79,(#8*%>#&',#9,34/0H#4/3(7%*3#:%>>)0/&/,(#/99)(&*3&,#'%6# 03&/%039#%*H30/U3&/%0(#/0#&',#%&',*#>3V%*#:,0&,*(#%8#6%*94#A,6/('#7%7)93&/%0#:%)94#=%&'# ,T&,04#304#4,,7,0#%)*#D0%69,4H,#/0#&',#*,39>#%8#/04/+/4)39#/4,0&/&-#8%*>3&/%0#304#&',# ,88,:&(#%0#:%>>)0/&-#',39&';# # !"#$$!"%&'()$*+%,,$-(&$.'/&$01$*2(34$56%')7&$-%&'()#$%% 89(1(,'&':7$ !"#$%#&'($)*$+#),)'-.-/0$")'10$/)20-1#%&3'#$-(,)%.&2/#$*)%$40%&#'50$0,:)*/&-#3(#6,99#3(#8%*# &',#',39&'#304#6,99G=,/0H#%8#399#A,6/('#:%>>)0/&/,(;##K'(%#7*,(,0&(#3#4/88,*,0&#(,&#%8# :'399,0H,(#8%*#>,3()*,>,0&;##I'/9,#(/>79,#E)30&/&3&/+,#/04/:3&%*(#>/H'&#=,#4,(/*3=9,.## 8,6#6%)94#:37&)*,#&',#0)30:,(#%8#&'/(#*,39>;##M):'#<',#>%(&#%=+/%)(#E)30&/&3&/+,# It also presents a di"erent set of challenges for experts on how to weigh the relative importance or measurement. While simple quantitative indicators influence of specific events. We caution, however, might be desirable, few would capture the nuances of that perhaps the last thing we should desire when this realm. !e most obvious quantitative indicators facing an uncertain and potentially highly varied would be largely peripheral to the most significant future is too-early consensus. History has shown developments. time and time again how important it is to have Jewish people indicators need not be limited to several guesses about the world to come. numbers. Rather, the selection should be rooted In the balance of this section, we will illustrate the in the importance – or perceived importance – of value – and hazards – of dealing with this type of the phenomena involved. In the case of geopolitics, data. We will take a retrospective look at salient it may be su#cient to highlight what appear to be geopolitical developments since the founding of salient developments. JPPI in 2002 that have specific importance for Jews, !is calls for judgment and therefore raises the Jewish communities, and Israel, as the potential for bias. Of course, biases exist with Israel as the civilizational only nation- quantitative indicators as well; in many ways they are state of the Jewish people. state that has even easier to mask. Bias may be reduced by applying We first compiled events a specifically a consistent framework when viewing the geopolitical and trends under four Jewish landscape. Yet, even with an objective perspective main categories. First character, there will almost certainly be a gap between what we were location-specific recognizes may believe is significant and what actually become occurrences in Europe, Asia, Jewish concerns the main drivers of future events and circumstances. the FSU, North America, as a matter of Latin America, the Greater By the nature of the subject, geopolitical indicators will Israel's very Middle East, Iran, and focus a good deal on Israel. While today we witness raison d'ĕtre the rise of non-state actors, historically and for the Israel. Our second category foreseeable future the principal geopolitical actors will included developments be nation-states. Israel, as the only nation-state that with a global character such as the new geography has a specifically Jewish character, recognizes Jewish of cyberspace and media as well as international 16 concerns as a matter of Israel’s very raison d’ĕtre. organizations and NGOs. !e third category was called “Game Changers” – events that incline us For these reasons, JPPI will explore means for to view the before and after as two di"erent eras. drawing in the views of experts in geopolitical Finally, we included “Trends to Watch”: clear events dynamics. We will employ collaborative analytical or trends that may or may not have importance for methods to develop indicators that may then be Jewish people interests as well as trends that may not included in the larger “dashboard”. It may be possible fully emerge but would clearly have importance if to provide normative input by consulting panels of they did. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 41 We then selected the leading events or trends from a large number of the major events are either these lists and placed each into one of the four ambiguous or favor Jewish people interests. !is categories presented in the geopolitics section of may suggest the presence of opportunities not yet this Annual Assessment: !ose directly a"ecting the seized or brought to fullest bearing on the trends security of Jewish people, a"ecting general Jewish that surround Jewish people geopolitical interests. people interests, bearing on the Arab-Israeli conflict, or influencing the “triangle”, the relationship between Washington, Jerusalem, and US Jews. Each was then 3. Moving Forward assigned a current understanding of its character. – a continuation of past trends, an event breaking from How well are the Jewish people doing? A definitive past trends, or a new trend.17 answer will always be di#cult to frame. !e previous discussion will convince some that the search for Finally, each event or trend was color coded as being appropriate indicators will itself confound this widely seen to benefit (green) or harm (red) Jewish question even more. Others will be confirmed in their people interests. !e Table 4 enries left uncolored view that the task JPPI has taken on is impossible. pull in di"erent directions or exhibit less common agreement on net e"ect. !e early 2011 turmoil in We remain agnostic on this latter point; we are Egypt provides a case in point. While it may be argued determined to address the former. !e discussion that the apparent fall of the Mubarak regime in Egypt has laid out the course we will follow in realizing should be color-coded red because of seriousness of what JPPI has envisioned. !is course is motivated losing the prime guarantor of the Egypt-Israel peace by two sets of words, widely separated in place and treaty, another argument could be raised that that time. !e seventeenth century’s Francis Bacon, one very event illustrates the fragility of the basis upon of intellectual founders of our modern world, said: which that peace was predicated. !ere at least exists If we begin with certainties, we shall end in doubts; a possibility that if the formality of peace between but if we begin with doubts, and are patient in them, the two countries can be preserved, it may be done we shall end in certainties (Novum Organum, 1620). on a broader and possibly more secure footing than before. Time will tell. We couple this with words arising from the core of !is section and Table 4 only introduce the issue Jewish tradition: of geopolitical indicators. It is not surprising ¨¤¥ ¨«¥´¡£« ¶¨¡´¡ª¨ §¨ª ¨§¦¥¨®¨ that most entries are in red followed by those of (It is not incumbent upon you to finish the work. Yet, uncertain direction. While current discomfort you are not free to desist from it.) (R. Tarfon; Pirkei becomes all too apparent, potential benefits are Avot, 2:21) usually less easily perceived. It is worth noting, however, that while both the continuing and new It is in this spirit that we approach the task. trends would appear to be unfavorable on balance, 42 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE rmed; 17 # taste New Trends “metastasizes” political calculations of territories changes region’s of territories changes region’s bases for autocratic, secular rule economic, military and influence Perceived decline in US political, decline in US moral, Perceived Post-Afghanistan al-Qaeda survives and Post-Afghanistan ects stories “background” Israeli and Jewish - Decline news of reporting profession-al - cognitive environment is personalized is to environment cognitive Hezbollah/Hamas all-but-sovereign control - - " .S. Jews, 2002-2010 - Rise a ofidentity individual internet: a - Wave of popular Arab unrest undermines past of popular - Wave U 17 ect " Atzmaut Atzmaut and and ecting Jewish People Security, Interests, " Kadima parties leadership Consensus” ‘No’s of Khartoum” ‘No’s in U.S. and Europe and in U.S. philanthropic needs.philanthropic Palestine negotiations Palestine Defeat of Second Intifada Palestinian communities Palestinian - Barak Obama’s election - Barak Obama’s scandal emphasizes new ‘normal’ Trend-Breaking Events Trend-Breaking - " - J Street manifests cracks in “AIPAC cracks manifests in “AIPAC - J Street - Complete separation of Israeli and and separation of Israeli - Complete - US invasion and occupation of invasionoccupation Iraq and - US - Formation of - Formation of lower Jewish giving with new local with giving of Jewish lower - Renewal of US engagement in Israel- engagement of US - Renewal Death of Yasser Arafat; rise of Palestine- Yasser Death of - Overthrow of post-1952 order in Egypt “Great Recession” begins; greatest e begins; Recession” greatest “Great - focused (as opposed to Israel-focused) PA focused (as opposed to Israel-focused) PA Arab League peace plan repudiates “Three - - Mado - - Second Lebanon War; Operation Cast Lead - Second Lebanon War; vents or Trends A Trends or vents E remains widespread remains Continuing Trends Continuing Growing visibility of Islamic Growing or nuclear-free Middle East US popularUS support Israel for - - Zionist’ of anti-Semitism forms BDS, de-legitimization, ‘anti- and strength, especially in high-tech strength, communities in Western Europe in Western communities Growth of offensive missile capacity, missile capacity, Growth of offensive - - Continuing polarization of- Continuing Israeli peace, settlement, and religious life peace, religious and settlement, - Growth of political,- Growth Islam militant in Syria and by HezbullahHezbollahh - Widely-perceived Israeli economic Israeli - Widely-perceived Iranian nuclearization: raises regional political parties of along dimensions - - threat; fuels drive for either nuclearized the Arab-Israeli Conflict, or the Washington-Jerusalem-Triangle: Table 4. Salient Geopolitical Jews conflict Directly Directly ecting Jewish ecting Jewish Arab-Israeli Arab-Israeli " Washington- Jerusalem-US " people security people interests A a (Source: JPPI) (Source: THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 43 Endnotes among individuals to find a means to define their particularity as Jews while reconciling 1. !e figures on rockets and missiles of all types this with the universal ideal that has become in the hands of Hezbollah must necessarily more normative in Western societies. be rough estimates when relying upon non- 6. !e 2030 project led by Avi Gil and Einat Wilf classified sources. !e time series in the graph identified several dimensions to describe is largely based upon articles appearing in alternative scenarios of the future thriving or the New York Times: “U.S. Strains to Stop decline of the Jewish people. !ese include Arms Flow” (6 December 2010), “Stronger internal dimensions described as constituents Hezbollah Emboldened for Fights Ahead” (6 of the motive force providing for varying October 2010), -“Israel Says Syria Gave Missiles degrees of Jewish-people “momentum”. !e to Hezbollah” (14 April 2010), “A Disciplined macrohistory project of Shalom Wald, on Hezbollah Surprises Israel with Its Training, the other hand, instead looked into the past Tactics and Weapons” (7 August 2010), to determine what have been the patterns “Arming of Hezbollah Reveals U.S. and Israeli of civilization-scale rise and fall and then Blind Spots” (19 July 2006). extrapolating what appear to be the core 2. DellaPergola, Sergio (2010). “World Jewish lessons for understanding the thriving or Population, 2010”, Berman Institute – North decline of the civilization of the Jewish people. American Jewish Data Bank, 2010-Number 2. 7. See Tighe, Livert, Barnett & Saxe (2010). “Cross- 3. Ben-David, Dan (2009). “A Macro Perspective survey analysis to estimate low-incidence of Israel’s Society and Economy” in Ben-David, religious groups.” Sociological Methods & Dan (ed.) State of the Nation Report: Economy, Research 39 56-82; and Sheshkin, Ira and Society and Policy in Israel, 2009. Taub Center Arnold Dashefsky (2010). “Jewish Population for Social Policy Studies in Israel, September, in the United States, 2010”, Berman Institute pp. 17-48. – North American Jewish Data Bank, 2010- Number 1 4. Kaplan, R. S. and D. P. Norton, "!e balanced scorecard: measures that drive performance", 8. DellaPergola, 2010; p. 62. Harvard Business Review, Jan – Feb pp. 71-80, 9. Data on prices derived from various time series 1992.; Kaplan, R. S. and D. P. Norton, Balanced shown in the 2009/2010 Jerusalem Statistical Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action, Yearbook (Choshen, 2010) and the CPI deflator Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press, was constructed from data obtained from the 1996. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. We have 5. While a marginal concept in traditional Jewish changed the original price (995.5)reported in thought, its growing usage may signal a desire the time series for the average price of 1.5-2 44 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE room dwellings in Haifa in 1990 to one of in prices for all residences that began in 2009 95.5. All pricing data are averages from the and continued through 2010 as shown in the October-December quarter of each reporting pricing data series which goes through 2009. year. !e figures are not disaggregated by 13. If we look at three-year moving averages to actual dwelling living area (other than number dampen some of the year-by-year volatility, of rooms), actual quality of the residence, or the trends for Tel Aviv seem more responsive nature of the neighborhood. !us, if there to the growth in the overall economy while are significant di"erences in the ratios among those for Jerusalem decline. di"erent classes of dwellings in terms of these characteristics the comparison between cities 14. Beinart, Peter (2010). “!e Failure of the would not be strictly comparable. !is is, of American Jewish Establishment”, New York course, over and above any distinguishing Review of Books, 10 June. circumstances that may have occurred in one 15. While not geopolitical in the narrowest reading city and not the others in the comparison. of the word, some of these trends have the potential for profoundly a"ecting the e"ective 10. Prices are measured only in the last quarter of the year whereas the GDP per capita figures are distance between individuals and groups, the annual. !us in 2000, the GDP per capita series pacing of international discourse and action, and shows a local peak whereas housing prices in the fundamental lens of perceptions by which October-December of that year would reflect all events and developments are characterized. the influences of both the piercing of the “Dot In this sense, they are included for their power Com” bubble (the rapid decline in the value in framing the general environment governing of information and computer technology the dynamics of geopolitics. companies), and possibly a reaction to the 16. Each item that appears in the boxes of the outbreak of the second Intifada in Israel. matrix in Table 4 is intended to be self- contained. While it is clear that some are 11. Another explanation could be that in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv local economies might quite related to others that appear in this be more resilient and better connected to list, Table 4 is not intended to imply the general economic trends than was Haifa’s. Yet, existence of a dialectic dynamic, read from while plausible for Tel Aviv the relative lack of left to right. Rather, some of the major trends industrial development in Jerusalem coupled continue while others appear as new entrants with its large dependence on tourism makes not previously present or seen as dominant. this not at all certain. While some of the trend-breaking events may, indeed, play a part in a"ecting the trajectory 12. !e most recent construction data go through of trends, that would require analysis beyond 2008 and so do not reflect the sharp upswing the simple heuristics of Table 4. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 45 17. At the time of this writing in early 2011, the full extent of change in the Arab world is unclear. But the fact that popular dissent was able to force the departure of Hosni Mubarak from power in Egypt and perhaps transform the basis of government that has operated in that country since 1952 is in itself an event that changes perceptions. It further will require, at the very least, a revisiting of Israel's basic security concepts and will clearly have an e"ect on wider Jewish interests in a manner presently di#cult to forsee. And, as indicated in other evaluations presented in this Annual Assessment, it is one more potential factor a"ecting the triangle of Washington, Jerusalem, and American Jewish perceptions and questions about each other's roles. Although this is an event that falls outside the intended timeline of this section, it would appear remiss not to take advantage of the opportunity to examine how well such a potentially important event may be accommodated within the framework presented in this paper. 46 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE PART 2 Significant Global Develpments and Challenges: Possible Implications for the Jewish People Developments in the Geopolitical Arena and their Possible Implications for Israel 4 and the Jewish People (2009-2010) !e developments in the geopolitical arena in the to Israel’s security and Jewish-democratic passing year continue to pose significant dangers nature, helping to fuel the de-legitimization and challenges to Israel and the Jewish people. phenomena against Israel; concurrently, !ere is a continuation and often exacerbation of the possibility of reaching a decision point negative trends in geopolitical complexes that are regarding the core issues of the permanent relevant to Israel and the Jewish people: settlements is posing di#cult dilemmas, some of which have a significant Jewish dimension. A. !e Global Complex, where the erosion in the power and international standing of the US – D. The Jerusalem-Washington-US Jewry the superpower whose friendship and aid to Relationship Triangle Complex, which is a Israel are extremely critical, and which is also the crucial strategic resource for the strength of Israel home of nearly half of the Jewish people who are and the Jewish people that could face di#cult enjoying unprecedented thriving – continues. challenges in the coming year. B. !e Middle-Eastern Complex, where Iran !ese complexes are inevitably a"ected by each continues to make progress towards acquiring other. A large part of the trends taking place nuclear weapons and increases its subversion within them is not responsive to any intervention in a region that is fraught with instability, measures by Israel and the Jewish people, but in extremism and terrorism; a region that is a limited number of cases, the policy pursued by also revealing a new regional assertiveness Israel and the Jewish people could have a major by Turkey, characterized by Islamic and anti- impact. !e year ahead could bring to maturation Israeli overtones. several critical processes which would necessitate C. !e Israeli-Arab Conflict Complex, where the either-or decisions whose influence on Israel and lack of a solution continues to pose a threat the Jewish people would be fateful. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 49 A. !e Global Complex: Changes in period immediately following the collapse of the the International Arena are Eroding USSR and the end of the Cold War has ended, and US Relative Power that the geopolitical arena is consolidating into a new, multi-polar world order. (Some even suggest that !e defeat su"ered by the Democratic Party in until a new and functioning world order is the US mid-term elections (November 2, 2010) consolidated, the international system will be marked stemmed from the disappointment caused by by disorder, making the challenges of the times – President Obama’s failure to ensure recovery which require increased international cooperation from the deep economic crisis in which it has – even more di#cult to cope with.) According to been embroiled since 2008. !e grim economic this view, the economic crisis, the worst in the last figures (especially in terms 75 years, is a severe blow to the geopolitical power of unemployment and of the West and causes the continued shift of !e Chinese national debt), the economic might to the East, at the expense of the and Indian dearth of foreign policy US and Europe. !e economic crisis has exacerbated economies achievements and the in Europe trends that undermine the very concept continue to rise of China, India and of the European Union and raises doubts regarding grow and are other powers all highlight the future of the Euro as a viable common currency. leading the the question whether !e appointment of lackluster figures to EU process of we are in the midst of a leadership positions (November 19, 2009) indicates recovery from transformation in the US’s the corrosion in Brussels’ position and the increase the global (and the West in general) in nationalist trends, which are blossoming also in economic crisis international standing. response to the growing aversion to the swelling !is question is crucial for ranks of Muslim immigrants on the Continent. Israel and the Jewish people. !e unprecedented !e Chinese and Indian economies continue to grow thriving of the Jewish people in recent decades and are leading the process of recovery from the is significantly correlated with the US, both as global economic crisis (adding a powerful rationale home to nearly half of the Jewish people, and as a for Israel and the Jewish people to strengthen their supportive strategic partner to Israel. Any crack in ties with the Asian world). In this view, the global the US position in the international arena therefore center of gravity is slipping farther away from the holds dangerous implications for the robustness of US, who is going to lack the necessary resources Israel and the Jewish people. to demonstrate a globe-encompassing strategic !e ongoing economic crisis supports the school activity. Data shows that already by 2015, the US’s of thought that argues that the US is on a course of total debt will equal its GNP (whereas a decade ago historic decline. Proponents of this approach argue the average national debt/GNP ratio was 35%). !e that the uni-polar moment that characterized the harsh national debt figures indicate not only the 50 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE bleak situation of the American economy but also against the economic crisis and unemployment. the severe constraints on Washington’s ability to act Obama succeeded where his predecessors have in the international arena. !e e"ort to reduce the failed, and has managed to pass the Health Reform debt may leave its mark on a wide range of areas: Bill (March 23, 2010), but here too, the bill has from avoiding any new wars to cuts in the foreign spawned controversy and severe criticism, citing aid budget (which could a"ect Israel, which is at the misguided presidential priorities in a time when all top of the list of aid beneficiaries). resources should have been channeled to economic recovery and job creation. !e image of a weakened !e “American Decline” school has its opponents, president leading a weakened superpower is eating of course, who argue that the basic variables that away at Obama’s ability to act successfully in dictate the power equation in the geopolitical the international arena. arena (demography, geography, science, Upon his entry to the technology, natural resources, culture, education, White House, and in !e image of etc.) have not changed significantly as a result declared contrast to his a weakened of the economic crisis, and that it is too early to predecessor’s approach, president eulogize US centrality. !e candidates to replace Obama has introduced leading a the US as world leader or at least to become part a foreign policy that in weakened of the world’s leadership are not equipped with an theory does not claim superpower ideology that can compete with the appeal of the to impose US values on is eating away American ethos and culture; they are far from eager other countries, prefers at Obama’s to claim world leadership; and they are deeply dialog to belligerent ability to act immersed in their internal problems (authoritarian options and opts to successfully China may soon face increasing demands by its conduct itself in the in the growing middle classes for representation and international arena international democratization; India is still poverty ridden, with through collaborative arena 400 million citizens still living without electricity). multi-national moves !e mid-term defeat raises the question whether rather than as a single ‘super-player.’ Obama turned President Obama’s desire to focus e"orts on foreign to US declared enemies in speeches and letters, policy in general and on the peace process in the calling upon them to "unclench their fists" and meet Middle East in particular would increase or decrease his extended hand in peace.1 Within a few months he in the coming years. !e coming months should was able to transform the anti-American sentiments provide some answers, but it is still worthwhile to that had escalated during his predecessor’s term, examine where the President is positioned after two and even won the Nobel Prize for Peace (October years in o#ce. Obama’s political defeat is not due to 9, 2009) as a token of appreciation of his wishes and his functioning in the international arena, but to his not necessarily his actual accomplishments. incapability to provide achievements in the struggle THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 51 Two years later, it appears that these changes of Chinese currency, in a way that is detrimental atmosphere are not enough to secure success in to the US economy. North Korea, a nuclear the di#cult tests threatening world stability: the power facing an imminent change of power, economic crisis, the ecological crisis, poverty, is not deterred. It did not hesitate to drown nuclear proliferation, Iran, North Korea, the a South Korean warship, causing the death of Israeli-Arab conflict, radical Islam, terrorism, 46 sailors (March 26, 2010), and to fire deadly Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and more. artillery (November 23, 2010) on the South It appears that the events and processes that Korean island of Yeonpyeong. fuel points of crisis around the world may not US di#culties in leading the world are evident be exclusively derived from the content and in international forums as well. !us the Climate style of US policy, but Conference in Stockholm ended feebly (December are largely the result Islamic 18, 2009) without reaching a resolution that could of rooted problems terrorism keeps e"ectively curtail global warming. Along with and long-term trends. rising and these hardships, there are achievements as well, Indeed, the picture at threatening, as in the success to muster international support mid-term is quite bleak. and the Arab – especially by China and Russia – which enabled Iran continues to make world is the passing of a sanctions resolution against Iran progress in its nuclear disappointed at the UN Security Council; and the successful program, and has not yet by the broken e"ort to "reset" the relationship with Moscow. succumbed to sanctions. promises given On April 8, 2010, a new START treaty was signed Islamic terrorism keeps by Obama in his regarding the reduction of stockpiled nuclear rising and threatening, Cairo speech warheads and limitation of strategic o"ensive the Arab world is (June 2009) arms and launching facilities. !ere is, however, disappointed by the no encouraging news from the three current broken promises given in warfronts, which have already claimed the lives of the Cairo Speech (June 4, 2009), and especially more than 5,600 American soldiers. by the lack of progress in the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the Iraq: failure to stop the settlement activity (which, As of August 2010, the American presence in Iraq according to Obama in Cairo, is illegitimate and was reduced to 50,000 soldiers, and those are must be stopped). Other fronts of US foreign expected to return to the US by the end of 2011. policy provide reasons for frustration. China is Iran aspires to fill the vacuum created by the increasingly more aggressive in its dealings with US withdrawal, already increasing its subversive its neighbors, while refusing to obey the US activities and managing to push for a new Iraqi demand to avoid artificial devaluation of the government that relies on a Shiite coalition led by 52 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Nouri al-Maliki. Al-Qaeda has proven that it was the local government’s capabilities. !e talks still a force to be reckoned with by murderous recently initiated between Karzai and the attacks in Baghdad. !us the question remains Taliban leaders demonstrate the futility of the open whether Iraq could overcome the religious aspirations to achieve an unequivocal victory and ethnic divisions and function as a state, or in Afghanistan. !ese dismal facts were taken become a focus of internal violence and external into consideration by the NATO members who meddling (by Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria) which have decided (in Lisbon, November 20, 2010) could spill out and undermine the stability of to withdraw their forces from Afghanistan by the entire region. 2014. Instability continued to characterize the situation in Pakistan as well, where in addition !e Pakistani-Afghani Complex: to the continued According to October 2010 polls, six out of ten presence of al-Qaeda October 2010 Americans think that the war in Afghanistan is warriors in the tribal polls: 6 out lost, and half of the interviewees do not have regions on the Afghan of 10 any idea what the war is about. Obama made border, there are severe Americans it clear (March 27, 2009) that the US' goal was economic problems, think that to defeat al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan internal conflicts and the war in and to prevent their return to either country ongoing tensions vis-à- Afghanistan is in the future. For that goal to be achieved, the vis India. !e great floods lost, half do not struggle against Taliban fighters must go on, that inundated 20% of have any idea as they are harboring and aiding al-Qaeda and the country’s territories what the thwarting the e"orts of the central government (July, 2010) exposed the war is about in Kabul to govern the country. In his campaign poor infrastructure and for presidency in 2008 Obama argued that the total incompetence the threat to US security was greater from of the corrupt government. !ese in turn fuel Afghanistan than from Iraq, and that from his the fears for the fate of the nuclear arsenal point of view this was "a war of necessity". On possessed by Pakistan and the danger that it December 1, 2009, Obama decided to dispatch may fall into the hands of terroristic and Islamic 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan, while at extremist factors. In this context, the DNI the same time promising to withdraw them assessment (April 2009), according to which all in July 2011. Commanders in the battlefield al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations are have di#culty understanding how they are striving to obtain non-conventional weapons supposed to achieve victory in such a short (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) time, when according to their view such victory and that they would not hesitate to employ largely depends on a patient reconstruction of them, is still a major cause for concern. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 53 B. !e Regional Complex in recent times. In the passing year there have been relatively few security events. Israel’s deterrent Direct Security !reats power seemed e"ective, vis-ā-vis Hezbollah !ese days, in which the present review is being and Hamas' hostile activity, and the Palestinian concluded, provide two sharp reminders – in security forces in the PA proved their competence Jerusalem and in Chicago – regarding the direct in maintaining security and curbing terrorist security threats which stem from the Middle East activities. !e heads of the Israeli security and which Israel and the Jewish people continue system describe the level of cooperation with to face. In Jerusalem, Major-General Amos Yadlin, Palestinian security apparatus as unprecedented head of the IDF’s Intelligence Branch, upon his and praise their performance. !is achievement retirement, in his final is largely attributed to Palestinian Prime Minister briefing to the Knesset’s Salam Fayyad, who is devoted to building the Former chief of Foreign A"airs and infrastructure of the ‘future state’ and boasts Israel’s military Security Committee impressive accomplishments in the Palestinian intelligence: (November 2, 2010), economy (an IMF periodic report indicates high “!e processes presented an extremely growth rates in the first half of 2010: 9% in the West of re-armament distressing picture of the Bank, 6% in Gaza). Israel is praised for its handling of in the region threats faced by Israel, the economic crisis and Stanley Fischer, Governor continue, and only a few days after of the Bank of Israel, was crowned by the financial in the next the report that Jewish magazine Euromoney as Governor of the Year confrontation institutions in Chicago (October 2010). On the UN Human Development we will be were the destination of Index, published in November 2010, Israel went up facing more intercepted explosive to the 15th place (from the 27th in 2009). In a recent than one front” packages which were visit to Israel (December 2010), Vikram Pandit, sent from Yemen by al- CEO of Citigroup, summed up his impression of Qaeda activists. Major-General Yadlin said that Israeli economy: "When you look at Israel's 4% “the recent calm is unprecedented, but it must growth, 4% deficit, and 6% unemployment, there not mislead us, because the processes of re- are few such economies in the world today, and it armament in the region continue, and in the is truly thanks not only to crisis management, but next confrontation we will be facing more than also to the relationship between the parties. Above one front. !at confrontation will be much all, it is something that touches on the clean way in harder with lots of casualties.” !e bleak picture which everyone works together to create a global described by Yadlin seems to be inconsistent with competitive advantage and create an economy an atmosphere of relative calm in terms of security that is productive, original, and entrepreneurial. It and the economic prosperity characterizing Israel is pleasant to be in such a place in the world where 54 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE there is such a feeling, a feeling that is not common questions marks surrounding Iran’s intention to in the contemporary economic world." Such obtain nuclear arms or the capability to build positive figures create a background that seems them quickly. (Bear in mind that in 2007 the US to be diametrically opposed to Yadlin’s warnings Intelligence Community report asserted that Iran about the developments going on underneath the had discontinued its military nuclear program in surface, which could soon confront Israel with a 2003.) !us, already in its first report under its new dramatically di"erent reality. Tel-Aviv, rated third Japanese Director General, Yukiya Amano, in a by the Lonely Planet guidebook’s list of the top ten sharp departure from the ambiguous language that cities to visit in 2011, could, according to Yadlin’s characterized its predecessor, Egyptian Mohamed warning, be the target of a missile attack launched ElBaradei, the International Atomic Energy Agency by both Hezbollah and Hamas (not to mention (IAEA) expressed its explicit Syria and Iran). In his briefing, Yadlin referred to fear about the possibility the entire range of threats: a massive procurement that Iran is carrying out !e American by Hezbollah, Hamas and Syria (who is shopping clandestine operations to e"ort to mount intensively for advanced weapons from Russia, manufacture nuclear arms an international mainly anti-aircraft systems which would hamper (February 19, 2010). !e coalition Israel air force’s maneuverability, and lethal ground/ American e"ort to mount to impose sea missiles); and, of course, Iran, which is currently an international coalition sanctions forced to cope with technical faults that hinder to impose sanctions on Iran on Iran was the progress of its nuclear program. In this context, was relatively successful. relatively world media carried reports about sabotage acts Washington convinced successful attributed to Israel: a computer worm nicknamed Russia and China to Stuxnet, which wreaked havoc on management impose another sanction package (the fourth in a and control systems in Iranian plants connected row) on Iran in order to persuade it to stop uranium with its nuclear program, along with the asttacks on enrichment and allow e"ective supervision of its two senior nuclear scientists in Tehran (November nuclear program (June 9, 2010). !ese sanctions 29, 2010). Despite these delays, according to Yadlin, are designed to prevent Iran from acquiring heavy Iranians have enough enriched uranium stockpiled weapon systems (and indeed Russia announced to build one bomb, and soon they will be able to that it will not supply Iran with the S-300 ground/ manufacture two. air missile systems), as well as curtail the activity of Indeed, the passing year has continued to exacerbate financial institutions and specific persons involved the threat posed by Tehran. On September 25, in the nuclear program. Washington was even 2009, it was revealed that Iran has erected another successful in convincing a number of countries enrichment facility near the city of Qom and (Europe, Australia, Canada, Japan) to impose concealed its existence. !ere are no longer any additional sanctions on Iran. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 55 !e US thus seems to have gained some ground nuclear capability. Even assuming that Israel in applying its declared strategy vis-à-vis Iran: has the capability of significantly hindering the both in terms of consolidating the international Iranian nuclear project and cause its completion coalition to impose sanctions and the impression to be delayed, Israel must calculate carefully the that these measures are causing real damage to possible costs of such an o"ensive, which include Iranian economy. !e Iranians, however, do not the increased incentive of Iranian leaders to obtain seem to have succumbed to the pressure and refuse a nuclear bomb at all costs; positioning Israel to take Obama's extended hand o"ering dialog. as a more concrete target for an Iranian nuclear !ey continue to pursue their nuclear program, revenge; the reinforcement of the Ayatollahs’ preventing e"ective supervision and increasing regime, and increased public support of the regime subversion in the Middle against an attack by an external force; a possible East. Paradoxically, crisis in the relationship with the US should the An Israeli the exhaustion of the Israeli move be taken against the US position, attack on the American strategy thereby putting US soldiers, citizens and interests Iranian nuclear (concurrently with at risk; an Iranian military reaction against Israel; project taken Iran's progress towards a terrorist attack against Israeli and Jewish targets; against US obtaining nuclear arms) igniting the northern front (marked by calm in the position could is bringing closer the passing year) using Hezbollah, and pushing Hamas cause a crisis in moment of decision, to attack southern settlements up to Tel-Aviv with the US-Israel should this non-violent missiles and mortar fire. relationship strategy come to no avail. Only then would the Regional Processes of Change and meaning behind Obama’s repeated commitment, Realignment that !reaten to Damage i.e. “!e United States is determined to prevent Iran Israel’s Strategic Power from acquiring nuclear weapons”, become clear. !e threat posed by Iran and Iran’s striving for In the period ahead Israel will keep facing regional hegemony have a significant impact on the dilemma, whether to act militarily and the geopolitical picture of the Middle East. Upon independently against Iran, or to wait for the this background the unprecedented weapons international e"ort led by the US to bear fruit. From deal – worth $60 billion – signed between the US Israel’s point of view, Iran’s possession of nuclear and Saudi Arabia is salient (October 2010). Israel weapons changes entirely the regional strategic is faced with a complex reality: On the one hand, picture, because it would create a nuclear threat to Saudi Arabia’s armament is designed to curb Iran’s Israel, increase Iran’s subversion in the region and ambitions; on the other, is it safe to rule out the drive other countries in the Middle East (headed possibility that these weapons may one day be by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey) to acquire turned against Israel? Along with the potential 56 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE nuclear threat, the Iranian component has possesses nuclear weapons and the capability to implications for almost any issue relevant to Israel’s launch them (alternatively, Iran could stop on the strategic environment. Iran supports the Hezbollah brink, a ‘turn of the screw’ away from this capability, and Hamas both militarily and financially. Iran has so that it is still able to claim that it does not have a strategic alliance with Syria. It seeks to fill the a nuclear bomb). Concurrently, Iran is branching vacuum created by the US imminent withdrawal out to the entire region, building outposts and from Iraq, and threatens the stability of the alliances from Baghdad to Gaza. Ahmadinejad’s regimes of moderate Arab countries. !e “Israeli recent visit to Lebanon (mid-October 2010) and Card” serves Tehran’s subversion very e"ectively his declaration there, that “the Zionist entity will (Tehran is vehemently opposed to the Arab peace disappear”, have demonstrated Tehran’s scope initiative), and its speakers’ belligerent and anti- of influence. !e power Israeli rhetoric is well-received by the Arab street. of Iran and Syria weighs !e abundance of confidential cables exposed by against the moderate and Iran is Wikileaks reveals, among other things, how the pro-Western forces in branching out ‘Arab Street’ works to deter Arab rulers from saying Lebanon. !e ‘pilgrimage’ to the entire in public what they believe should be done against of Lebanon’s Prime region, building Tehran (the Saudi king is quoted in leaked reports Minister Saad Hariri to outposts and as urging the US to “cut o" the snake’s head” …). Damascus (December 19, alliances from 2010) and his embrace Baghdad !e passing year has accelerated the regional to Gaza dynamics which is unfavorable to Israel. Although of the Syrian President, referring to Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and al- whom he regarded Qaeda as a consolidated and coordinated axis may until very recently as responsible for his father’s be an exaggeration, one should not ignore the murder, reflect the victory of anti-Western forces common denominator: severe hostility towards in the Lebanese arena. Lebanon’s fragile stability Israel. !e radical camp is highly energized is expected to face a significant test soon, when and keeps accumulating achievements. !e the International Court of Justice will point at sophisticated terrorist attempt using explosive several Hezbollah operatives as responsible for packages sent from Yemen in cargo airplanes, as Hariri’s assassination. Backed by Tehran, Hezbollah well as the series of suicide bombings in Baghdad leader Nassrallah has declared that he did not on the eve of US mid-term elections suggest that recognize the authority of the International Court, global Jihad is far from vanquished, and that when would not allow his people to be extradited, and displaced from one base it is quite capable of would not have his organization disarmed. Iran’s finding alternative bases. Despite the economic meddling in various locations in the Middle East, sanctions, Iran has not given any ground yet, and including its e"orts to influence the composition continues to get closer to a situation in which it of the government in Baghdad, give rise to great THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 57 concern in Arab capitals as well as in Jerusalem. nuclear issue (May 2010), their objection to the !e stability of the Arab countries may be sanction in the UN Security Council (June 9, 2010), a"ected by the leadership changes expected in the reservations raised by Ankara regarding NATO’s both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, whereas the chance decision to deploy an anti-missile system against of mounting a regional alignment which would the Iranian threat (November 2010), and of course include Israel against Iran and the extremist forces, its blatant policy towards Israel, are only some is conditioned, according to observers in the of the manifestations that intensify the question Arab world, on substantial progress in the Israeli- marks in the West surrounding Turkey’s long-term Palestinian process. intentions. !e negative regional trends have been augmented One should not be carried away and lump Turkey last year by the sharp together with Iran, although it is di#cult to assess deterioration in the where Ankara’s voyage back into Islam is going !e negative Israel-Turkey relationship. to stop. While Turkey demands an apology and regional trends !is relationship, which compensation for the Flotilla incident, it does not have been had been jeopardized call for the eradication of Israel (and was also quick augmented by Operation Cast Lead to help put out the huge fire in the Carmel forests last year by (December 27, 2008 – in early December 2010). Turkey’s President stated the sharp January 18, 2009), took in the last UN Assembly (September 2010) that deterioration in a turn for the worse “Turkey has always supported every e"ort to achieve the Israel-Turkey following the Gaza Flotilla peace in the Middle East, and Turkey welcomes relationship incident (May 31, 2010), the talks between Israel and the Palestinians and in which nine Turkish hopes they will produce an agreement.” Following citizens were killed after the Israeli soldiers who Israel’s consent, the UN set up (August 2, 2010) an raided the ship encountered extremely violent international inquiry team to investigate the Gaza resistance which endangered their lives and forced Flotilla events; the resulting conclusions may serve as them to use live fire. Along with the obvious hostility a basis for stopping the erosion in the relationship. towards Israel and the revocation of most of the Signs of a potential erosion may be found in leaks special security accords between the two countries, from a paper written by the Turkish National the Ankara government, led by the Islamic Justice Security Council, in which Israel’s policy is defined and Development party, is tightening its relationship as conducive to instability in the region and an arms with Syria and Iran. !e new orientation of Turkey’s race, thereby creating a strategic threat to Turkish foreign policy, shaped by Foreign A"airs Minister interests (October 31, 2010), as well as in Erdogan's Ahmet Davutoğlu, is causing alarm in the West as statement during his Lebanon visit, that “Turkey will well. Ankara’s attempt, in collaboration with Brazil, not be silent and will stand by Lebanon” in case the to reach a compromise with Tehran regarding the latter is attacked by Israel (November 25, 2010). 58 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE C. !e Israeli-Arab Conflict Complex for American diplomacy to persist in its attempts to formulate with the parties a solution for the !e passing year has not yielded any breakthrough construction problem in Judea and Samaria so in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Lack of that the direct talks can be resumed. !ese e"orts agreement regarding the issue of building in Judea ended in failure after Israel and the US announced and Samaria continues to hinder the e"ort to (December 7, 2010) that they could not reach an discuss the core issues and make progress towards agreement on a formula that would have enabled a the negotiation of a permanent agreement. In new three-month freeze, an accelerated discussion November 2009 Israel announced a 10-months of the borders and security issues, in return for the temporary freeze on housing construction in the free supply of 20 F-35 fighter planes and additional territories. In early March 2010 the Palestinians diplomatic support and acceded to “proximity talks” moderated by security guarantees. American envoy George Mitchell, but Israel !is failure leaves many Lack of has clarified that essential issues would only be question marks regarding agreement discussed in direct talks. Indeed, after a persistent the future. Is there an regarding the pressure campaign, the Palestinians, backed by the alternative way to kick- issue of building Monitoring Committee of the Arab League, agreed start the political process, in Judea and to begin direct talks. !e talks commenced on or are we going to witness Samaria September 1st with an impressive launch ceremony a double crisis: between continues to in Washington (attended by Pres. Obama, PM Israel and the Palestinians hinder the Netanyahu, Pres. Abbas, Pres. Mubarak and and between Israel and e"ort to discuss King Abdullah of Jordan), followed by three the US (and the West the core issues meetings between Netanyahu and Abbas In their in general). !e picture meeting, the latter made it clear to Netanyahu that emerging as these lines are being written suggests if construction in the settlements was resumed (the that the US intends to continue its e"orts to bring end of the 10-month moratorium was scheduled the parties to signing a permanent agreement. for late September 2010), the Palestinians would !e Secretary of State has clarified (December 10, withdraw from the talks. And indeed, following 2010) that it was time to discuss the permanent Israel’s refusal to accept the US request to extend issues and that the US would take an active role in the freeze by two more months (in return for a leading this move: generous “compensation package” which included It is time to grapple with the core issues of the significant political and security components), the conflict on borders and security; settlements, Palestinians announced the termination of direct water and refugees; and on Jerusalem itself […] !e talks with Israel for as long as construction in the United States will not be a passive participant. We settlements continues, albeit leaving a time frame will push the parties to lay out their positions on the THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 59 core issues without delay and with real specificity. (and not interim arrangements), the core issues, We will work to narrow the gaps asking the tough which matter the most to Jews wherever they are, questions and expecting substantive answers. And are now up for discussion – and first and foremost, in the context of our private conversations with the the future of Jerusalem. !ere are also several parties, we will o"er our own ideas and bridging historically significant dilemmas, such as, could proposals when appropriate.2 an Israeli-Palestinian agreement mark a positive !e discussion of the sensitive issues of the turning point in the history of the relationship permanent agreement is thus at the core of between Judaism and Islam? !e content of the American strategy, and the very need to lay out answers to such questions could a"ect not only explicit positions regarding the borders, Jerusalem, Israel’s positions in the negotiations but also the refugees, etc., may ignite architecture of the entire political process. an intense controversy In his Bar-Ilan speech (June 14, 2009) Prime Minister !e Palestinian in Israel and the Jewish Netanyahu described the roots of the Israeli-Arab leadership people. conflict as stemming from a refusal to recognize refused to the right of the Jewish people to a state of its own recognize Israel In this context it should be noted that Prime Minister in its historic homeland.” In that light, he goes on to as the Jewish assert Israel’s demand: “!e fundamental condition people's historic Netanyahu, having repeatedly committed to for ending the conflict is the public, binding and homeland, but sincere Palestinian recognition of Israel as the stated: “Israel not retract on his decision to refuse to extend the national homeland of the Jewish people.” !e is entitled to Palestinian leadership responded negatively to this define itself construction freeze, said in a speech in the Knesset demand. O#cial Palestinian spokespersons stated in any way it that they were ready to sign a peace agreement wishes” (October 11, 2010) that “If the Palestinian leadership and recognize the state of Israel, and as far as they will say unequivocally to were concerned Israel was entitled to define itself its people that it recognizes Israel as the homeland in any way it wished. !e Palestinians explain that of the Jewish people, I will be ready to convene my accepting the Israeli demand in a negotiation government and request a further suspension of process would be received with great hostility by construction for a fixed period.” (the Palestinians the Palestinian public, which, they argue, is “now instantly rejected Netanyahu’s o"er).3 !e proposal required to formally agree that their expulsion from advanced by Prime Minister Netanyahu sheds light their land was just and based on the right of the on the “Jewish dimension” of an Israeli-Palestinian Jews”. In addition, the Palestinians explain that their peace agreement. Because according to the brethren – the Israeli Arabs – object to a Palestinian current outline of the peace process, the parties recognition of Israel as a “Jewish state” because this are supposed to discuss a permanent agreement “would exacerbate the deprivation they su"er as 60 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE a minority, and may even, so they claim, lead to Geneva Accords, which are Israeli-Palestinians their expulsion from Israel.” In Israel, opinions are attempts to reach a model of a peace accord, do divided regarding the importance of insisting on a include a reference to Israel’s Jewish character). It Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. therefore appears that an Israeli “insistence” on Its proponents attribute critical importance to a the inclusion of this provision in an agreement historically, nationally and religiously significant might be accepted, especially if the negotiators Arab acknowledgement that the roots of the on the Israeli side are willing “to pay a price” for Jewish people are in the Land of Israel, and that this achievement. Of course, the question remains the Jewish people is therefore its rightful owner. open how vital it is – from the perspective of the Indeed, this is the spirit in which the Prime Minister interests of the Jewish people – to insist on the presents the issue as a “fundamental condition” for issue in a negotiation of an agreement. Others, however, are of the opinion a permanent agreement. that this is not a critical stance, because Israel’s An equally important !e current identity would always be determined by Israel question is, in case Israel Palestinian itself, and not by the declarations of its neighbors. decides to insist on this refusal to demand in the negotiation, recognize !e current Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel Israel as the as the state of the Jewish people reflects a stance whether it is su#cient for the Palestinians to state of the that is more rigid than stances previously held by Jewish people the Palestinians. For example, in an interview to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, or should the reflects a more Haaretz (June 18, 2004), Arafat responded that rigid stance he “absolutely” accepted that Israel is and would demand be addressed to the entire Arab world. than stances remain a Jewish state. According to Arafat, the previously held Palestinians accepted this publicly and o#cially in !e Arab Peace Initiative the session of the Palestine National Council in 1988, (Beirut, 2002), the result and remained committed to this tenet ever since. of a Saudi move, manifests an Arab willingness Indeed, that session (November 15, 1988) adopted for a comprehensive peace with Israel, the end of the “Palestinian Declaration of Independence”, the conflict, normalization and a good neighborly which states that “the UN General Assembly relationship. !e language expresses a significant Resolution 181 (1947), which partitioned Palestine shift, especially when compared to the language into two states, one Arab, one Jewish, […] is [the] of the Khartoum Resolution (1967): No peace, not Resolution that still provides those conditions of recognition, no negotiation with Israel. Since 2003 international legitimacy that ensure the right of the the Arab Peace Initiative has won the support of Palestinian Arab people to sovereignty.” (It should the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), be mentioned that extra-governmental initiatives which incorporates 57 member countries. Recently such as the Ayalon-Nusseibah initiative and the this position has been re-endorsed by the OIC THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 61 Council of Foreign Ministers in Dushanbe, Tajikistan simultaneously may provide Israel and the (May 18-20, 2010). !e Council’s declaration, Jewish people with vital achievements that are which included harsh criticism of Israel’s policy, unattainable in a bi-lateral negotiation lacking a also stated support for the Road Map. Opinions regional dimension (such achievements refer not in Israel are divided regarding the value of the only to a substantial thawing of Judaism-Islam Arab Peace Initiative and the wisdom of relying relationship, but also to an overall normalization on it in order to advance a permanent Israeli-Arab and peace with all the Arab countries, regional agreement. Proponents argue that the initiative security arrangements, and more). reflects a fundamental change in the position of the An Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement based on Arab world and a declared willingness to recognize the two-states solutions (which Israel has accepted) Israel. Opponents point would hand over to Palestinian sovereignty the to the price attached to A peace majority of the Judea and Samaria territories the initiative: return to the agreement (except for the settlement blocks, security areas, 1967 borders, division of which includes and other territories adjacent to the 1967 lines, Jerusalem, and an agreed- a land swap of to be transferred to Israeli sovereignty as part of upon solution to the 5% of the West land swaps arrangements). So for instance, a peace refugee problem based on Bank would agreement which includes a land swap of some 5 UN Resolution 194 (which, necessitate the per cent of J&S would necessitate the evacuation according to opponents’ evacuation of of 100,000 settlers out of the 300,000 settlers now interpretation, stipulates 100,000 settlers residing in J&S (not including some 200,000 residing that Israel must recognize out of 300,000 in the Jewish neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem, the Right of Return of the who are expected to remain there). Hilary Clinton’s 1948-9 refugees into the formula, which has been repeated by various territories of the state of Israel within the 1967 representatives of the American administration borders). !e support of the Muslim world for the over the past year, is an indication of the US Arab Peace Initiative (excluding Iran) underlines position, as the leader of the political process: the question whether a political peace agreement can significantly thaw the historical Islamic We believe that through good-faith negotiations hostility against the Jewish people. A positive the parties can agree to an outcome which ends answer to this question may increase the interest the conflict and reconciles the Palestinian goal of an in choosing this architecture of a comprehensive independent and viable state based on the ‘67 lines, regional negotiation over a sequential progress with agreed swaps, and Israel’s goal of a Jewish state based on one bi-lateral negotiation after another. with secure and recognized borders that reflect According to this reasoning, talks about a general subsequent developments and meet Israel’s security agreement and settling all the bi-lateral conflicts requirements. 62 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Beyond the security implications of an Israeli would leave its sovereignty intact in the Arab withdrawal, the move bears substantial Jewish neighborhoods in the eastern city and the sites consequences: both the retreat from the land sacred to Islam. Any agreement that is based on walked on by the biblical heroes, where the a compromise in Jerusalem implies the revocation roots of the Jewish people lay deep (Cave of the of current Israeli sovereignty in various parts of the Patriarchs, Rachel’s Tomb, Joseph’s Tomb and city, including the Holy Basin. According to this many other sites), and the need to evacuate tens scenario, Israel will have to reach a historic decision of thousands of Jewish settlers (some of whom that touches upon the very focus of identity and are expected to oppose the evacuation by force). holiness of the Jewish people as a whole. !e internal !e debate over the future of J&S territory and debate could be extremely bitter, which would the great settlement project is expected to raise revolve, first and foremost, a highly emotional political, security, national on the actual concession and religious controversy. Some expect the in Jerusalem, and then, on Beyond the evacuation to be accompanied by brute violence, the nature of the preferred security civil disobedience and the refusal to obey orders compromise. Very weighty implications, by the forces assigned the task. In any case, the questions would fill the a retreat from evacuation is expected to be traumatic and deepen agenda of Israel and the Judea and the divisions among the Jewish people in Israel and Jewish people: What are Samaria bears the Diaspora. It also raises questions about how the implications of a substantial are Israel and the Jewish people are going to cope compromise in Jerusalem Jewish with the expected trauma and whether its impact on the Jewish people? consequences can be reduced (through appropriate monetary Will it cause a trauma compensation, smooth re-absorption, “ideological that would split the Jewish people and create compensation”, an empathic and “embracing” an irreparable rift? And if a decision is made to attitude, an Israeli insistence on the inclusion of a compromise, what form of arrangement would provision allowing Jews to continue to reside the best suit the interests of the Jewish people? Should J&S under Palestinian sovereignty, etc.). the compromise over Jerusalem be reached in !e most charged and sensitive of all is of course negotiations with the Palestinians only, or is it the issue of Jerusalem. !e Holy City symbolizes better to involve the entire Islamic world (with like nothing else the focus of the Jewish people’s a view to acquire Islamic legitimization for the aspirations and identity throughout history. agreement and make it a turning point in Islam- Following the Six Days War, Israel has extended its Judaism relationship)? sovereignty by law over the eastern parts of the !e negotiation of a permanent agreement vis-à- city. !ere is currently no Palestinian or Arab party vis the Arab world thus put on the agenda highly willing to sign a peace agreement with Israel which sensitive issues close to the heart of the Jewish THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 63 people in Israel and the Diaspora alike: Securing of Diaspora Jews is taken into consideration in the the state of Israel’s safe existence, the future status decision-making processes taking place in Israel of the holy places and historical sites in Judea on issues concerning the Jewish people as a whole. and Samaria, the evacuation and dismantling of !is dilemma is a practical test for the discourse settlements, preserving the Jewish majority in currently emerging about the necessity of a new Israel and the Jewish-democratic nature of the “paradigm” in Israeli-Diaspora relationship. !is state, and above all, the nature of the agreement new approach seeks a pattern that is based on over Jerusalem. It is therefore no surprise, that in more equality, relinquishing patterns implicitly anticipation of the possibility of the subject being based on a “senior/minor partner” hierarchy raised in the negotiation led by Ehud Olmert in between Israel and the Diaspora. Will the 2008, the President of the “theoretical” commitment to more equality in this World Jewish Congress, relationship be translated into actual steps as the !e impending Ronald Lauder, wrote to process approaches the historic decisions involved moment of the Prime Minister of the in the peace agreements and which concern Jews decision raises state of Israel (January 8, wherever they are? Controversies among the the question 2008): Jewish people in the Diaspora regarding the way in whether the which the Israeli-Arab conflict should be resolved Diaspora Jewry Jerusalem has been both the capital of Israel and the have existed for many years, and in a sense they are is entitled to a mirror image of the controversies dividing Israel capital of the entire Jewish and must take itself on this issue. It is no coincidence that as the people for 3,000 years. an active part political negotiation approaches the sensitive core While recognizing Israel’s in the public issues, so does the intra-Jewish debate heat up – inherent prerogatives debate of these and not just about the opportunities or threats as a sovereign state, it is issues in Israel embodied in the process, but also regarding the inconceivable that any question whether (and how) should Diaspora changes in the status of our Jewry take part in these historic decisions which Holy City will be implemented without giving the could a"ect the future of Jerusalem, Israel and Jewish people, as a whole, a voice in the decision. the entire Jewish people. !e very emergence !e impending moment of decision in the of J-Street, which is perceived as a lobby with an permanent arrangement issues is straining and alternative message to that of AIPAC, and the threatening internal solidarity in Israel and in foundation of J-CALL, its European counterpart, the Diaspora, raising the question whether the are an indication of the eruption of the intra-Jewish Diaspora Jewry is entitled to and must take an debate in the Diaspora about the political process: active part in the public debate of these issues in both about the stances Israel should adopt on Israel, and whether new e"ective channels and the issue, the very legitimacy of promoting views mechanisms should be established so that the voice 64 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE that are opposed to those of the government of D. !e Dynamics of the Triangle: Israel by Jewish organizations, and the nature of Jerusalem-Washington-US Jewish actions vis-à-vis the American administration Community and other governments (such as, how legitimate is it for a Jewish organization to ask the American !e Jerusalem-Washington relationship does not administration to exert pressure on Israel in order follow the common bi-lateral pattern, and must be to promote peace agreements?) In this context, it examined in a tri-lateral framework: Washington, should be mentioned that the Palestinian side has Jerusalem, and the Jewish community in the US. also realized the importance which the American US Jewry, which constitutes a major part of the administration attributes to the position of the fabric of this relationship, has a profound e"ect Jewish Community in the US. !us the Palestinian on its contents, and is in President has used his visits to Washington (June itself influenced by the !e Palestinians 2010) and New York (September 2010) to meet dynamics within it. US have realized with the leaders of the Jewish community in the attempts to promote the the importance US in order to convince them of the sincerity of peace process between which the his intentions to achieve peace with Israel (among Israel and the Palestinians American other things, Abbas clarified in these encounters in the passing year, which administration that he did not deny the roots of the Jewish people have yet to bring about a attributes to in the Land of Israel and emphasized that he had significant breakthrough, the positions instructed his ambassadors in Poland and Russia have manifested two key of the Jewish to attend Holocaust Memorial ceremonies in their components of these community in countries of service). dynamics: (1) Sympathy the US and deep understanding of Israel’s concerns and needs, along with the administration’s frustration and criticism of Israel’s settlement policy (the administration is highly critical of the Palestinian side as well); (2) !e administration is mindful of the political and financial might of the Jewish community in the US (especially towards the mid- term elections on November 2, 2010). At this point it is hard to determine to what extend the current American policy towards Israel is a “voluntary” product of its deep-rooted empathy and sympathy towards Israel and the Jewish people (an attitude THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 65 that is deeply anchored in the American public Palestinian tensions often flare into violence and and Congress), and to what extent it is a product large-scale armed confrontations. !e conflict of cold calculations, political timetables, pressure foments anti-American sentiment, due to a equations and “hand-forcing”. As the American perception of US. favoritism for Israel. Arab anger policy towards Israel is increasingly more a"ected over the Palestinian question limits the strength by the latter, the danger of negative policy and depth of US partnerships with governments changes increases as well. Along with generous and peoples in the AOR and weakens the legitimacy manifestations of of moderate regimes in the Arab world. Meanwhile, Along with friendship, in the past al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that criticism, US year Israel has also had the anger to mobilize support. !e conflict also gives o$cials are opportunity to experience Iran influence in the Arab world through its clients, careful to Washington’s “cold Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas.4 describe the shoulder.” !is was clearly And indeed, Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu was depth and demonstrated in the forced to accept the two-states principle (Bar Ilan quality of the White House preventing Speech, June 14, 2009), and even passed the decision American- the craved photo-op at the to freeze housing construction in J&S for ten Israeli meeting between President months (November 25, 2009). !e disagreements relationship Obama and Netanyahu between Washington and Jerusalem on the subject (March 23, 2010). flared up seriously during Vice-President Biden’s !e President’s fundamental attitude to the Israeli- visit to Israel, when in the midst of the visit (March Palestinian conflict and the importance he sees 9, 2010), the plan to build 1,600 housing units in in its resolution are part of a broader conception Ramat Shlomo was made public. and a comprehensive strategic perspective. It Along with the criticism, administration o#cials is not the product of a single man’s mind, but are careful to describe the depth and quality of rather the reflection of deep trends and a fairly the relationship between the two countries. !us, broad American consensus on foreign policy. !e for example, in an address by Special Assistant to establishment of a Palestinian state is perceived as the President, Dennis Ross, to an AIPAC function consistent with a deep American interest. General (October 25, 2010), he stressed that the strategic David Petraeus explained this reasoning to the dialog between Jerusalem and Washington is Senate’s Armed Services Committee (March 16, unique in its intensity and depth and range of 2010): issues, and that this degree of operative-defense !e enduring hostilities between Israel and some coordination is unprecedented. Among other of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our things, Ross mentioned the President’s decision ability to advance our interests in the AOR (US “to supplement our annual $3 billion in military Central Command’s Area of Responsibility). Israeli- assistance to Israel with a $205 million request to 66 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Congress to support […] the Iron Dome short- Arab countries in order to prevent the conference range rocket defense system”, the joint military from ending in failure once again. !is is despite exercises with the IDF, US diplomatic support in the fact that there are historical understandings defeating e"orts by international forums to single between Jerusalem and Washington since 1969, out or de-legitimize Israel, and the successful which were continuously renewed by all succeeding coordinated opposition to the IAEA General administrations, including Obama’s, according Conference singling out Israel’s nuclear program to which the US shall not exert pressure on Israel for rebuke. to join the NPT and open its nuclear facilities to !e sensitive nuclear issue should be examined in external scrutiny. Indeed, to Jerusalem’s relief, in the context of President Obama’s overall nuclear the press conference following his meeting with policy. In his Cairo speech, the President expressed Netanyahu at the White House (July 6, 2010), a vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. It is In reference President Obama clarified important to emphasize that what may seem at to the nuclear “that there is no change a first glance as a utopian wishful thinking has issue, Obama in US policy when it actually won the support of esteemed figures such clarified: comes to these issues. as Henry Kissinger, George Shultz and other senior “Israel has We strongly believe o#cials,5 and under certain circumstances in the unique security that given its size, its future could become a concrete policy, which has requirements, history, the region that implications for Israel. !us, the final resolution and must it’s in, and the threats document of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty be able to that are leveled against Review Conference (May 28, 2010) included a respond to any it, that Israel has unique clause calling upon Israel to join the NPT treaty, combination of security requirements. and accordingly, to open its nuclear facilities to threats in It's got to be able to the inspection of IAEA. Another clause calls for the region” the establishment of a Middle East zone free of respond to threats or any nuclear weapons and all other non-conventional combination of threats weapons (biological, chemical); for which a regional in the region. […] And the United States will international conference should be convened never ask Israel to take any steps that would in 2012. To promote the idea of the conference, undermine their security interests.” In that a special coordinator will be appointed and spirit, at the 54th General Conference of the supervised directly by the UN Secretary General. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) While the US announced that it “deeply regrets” (September 20-24, 2010), the US worked hard to that the Conference’s resolution is focused on Israel, block a resolution calling upon Israel to join the media sources have publicized that the US had in NPT and subject its facilities to IAEA inspection. fact conceded to pressures from Egypt and other !is sensitive issue will probably continue to top the THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 67 agenda and Israel will continue to need American Tensions could also flare up, of course, in case Israel assistance (for instance, Iran insists on including is portrayed as the guilty party for the fact that the the eradication of Israel’s nuclear capabilities on peace process is stalled. !e Jewish community in the agenda it seeks to impose on the discussions of the US may find itself in an uncomfortable position, its own nuclear capability). especially in light of the claims that American !e passing year has exposed the sympathetic and foreign policy in the Middle East is influenced by supportive face of the American administration, Israel and the Jewish lobby in a manner that is but at the same time its ability to be irate and contrary to US interests. angry with Israel. Israel’s immense dependency on !is reality, in which Israel is named as the party the US requires very careful conduct and avoiding that hindered the e"ort to make peace may lead, the portrayal of Israel as a among other things, to the exacerbation of violence “spoiled brat” who keeps in the territories, a unilateral American plan for If the peace acting in contradiction to the a permanent agreement, the increased political process is American interest, as written isolation of Israel, the rekindling of de-legitimization stalled and by !omas Friedman in moves, and acceleration of the trend by world Israel is reaction to Israel’s refusal to countries to recognize a Palestinian state within portrayed as accept the President’s request the 1967 border, as already proclaimed (December the guilty party, for a construction freeze 2010) by Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. the Jewish extension: community !e central and most urgent topics on Israel and in the US may How spoiled Israel has become the Jewish people’s agenda – the Israeli-Arab find itself in an that after billions and billions of conflict and the Iranian nuclear threat – each bear inconvenient dollars in U.S. aid and 300,000 weighty strategic implications. !ese issues, which position settlers already ensconced in are a"ected by the dynamics in the global arena the West Bank, Israel feels no and the US global standing, are involved in another compunction about spurning strategic component whose importance cannot an American request for a longer settlement freeze be overestimated – the Jerusalem-Washington-US (!e New York Times, October 19, 2010). Jewry triangle. !e maturation of these issues into If the US indeed pursues its declared intention and decision points may confront Israel and the Jewish leads the parties in the coming year to a detailed people in the coming year with the need to make discussion of the permanent agreement issues, it fateful historic decisions. is also safe to assume that it would put pressure on Israel (as well as the Palestinians) to agree to painful bridging formulas. As a result, tensions may rise in the Washington-Jerusalem relationship. 68 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Endnotes 1. !e president tried on several occasions to 5. “A World Free of Nuclear Weapons,” !e Wall send positive signals to Tehran. !us, before Street Journal, January 4, 2007, By George P. the Iranian New Year (March 19, 2009), he Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger and sent a video message in which he expressed Sam Nunn. his wish for dialog and thawing; again, in his Cairo speech (June 4, 2009) he presented in an almost symmetrical manner the wrongs done by Iran alongside with the wrongs done by the US (when in 1953 it took part in the overthrow of “a democratically elected Iranian government”), clarifying that he understood those who protest against a reality in which “some countries have weapons that others do not”). 2. Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Secretary of State, remarks at the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy Seventh Annual Forum, Washington, DC (December 10, 2010). 3. Palestinian spokespersons said that in the absence of progress in the process as outlined so far, they will consider approaching the international community and the UN for recognition of a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders (an idea rejected both by Israel and the US). 4. Statement of General David H. Petraeus, US. Army Commander, US Central Command, before the Senate Armed Services Committee On the posture of US Central Command, March 16, 2010. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 69 2010 – !e Triangular Relationship between Washington, Jerusalem, 5 and the Jewish Communities Following Obama and Netanyahu's second year that, some recent improvement in the economy in o#ce, the developments in the triangular and unemployment numbers is perceptible and relationship between Jerusalem, Washington, and is received with satisfaction by the administration. the American Jewish community remain shrouded His foreign policy also has not been able, to date, in a fog of uncertainty and an atmosphere to show positive movement in the United State's of mutual distrust hangs between the two position in the world in general, and in Muslim administrations. Both leaders continue to deal countries in particular. with complex political situations internally, and With the beginning of the revolt in Egypt, the with unprecedented external challenges. American position, which expressed reservations nearly to the point of abandoning Hosni Mubarak's Washington regime, raised alarms among its allies and among Middle Eastern rulers identified with the moderate Obama’s party su"ered a significant loss of power Sunni axis. For thirty years the deposed Egyptian in the midterm congressional elections, losing the president was one of the pillars of Egypt's closer House majority while also sustaining a significant relationship with the West, and he led the moderate decrease in the Senate. !ese losses are perceived axis in the Middle East. In return for his moderate as resting on the shoulders of the President. policies he received military aid and economic Obama’s approval rating is relatively low, mainly and political support. !e peace between Cairo the result of increasing di#culties in the domestic and Jerusalem was the cornerstone of American arena and his inability to signal a significant influence in the Middle East. change in dealing with the economic crisis that A deterioration leading to regime change in Arab broke out towards the end of the Republican states belonging to the pro-West axis may transfer Bush administration. Obama’s administration is US military and technological capabilities and finding it di#cult to make up for the lack of jobs, know-how into the hands of fundamentalist, and the high rate of unemployment. Having said hostile regimes, which could then turn them THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 71 against the United States and its allies. !e Jerusalem first signs of the American policy, which was interpreted as supporting the opposition to During his second year in o#ce, Netanyahu the regimes in moderate Arab countries, was continued to deal with a problematic coalition, received in Israel and the region with frustration which raised obstacles in setting an agenda with and incomprehension, and may further erode regards to domestic a"airs and the political process. America's image in the world, already damaged !e Iranian threat continued to be an existential due to the administration's restraint vis-à-vis challenge to Israel in the year 2010. Despite success the provocations of North Korea and Iran. !e in the economic realm, joining the OECD, and as subsequent unrest in Bahrain was a warning of now, the impressive response to the economic signal and raised the need crisis, the social gap is increasing, and there is for a reevaluation of regional considerable erosion in the position of the middle despite the policy. On the other hand, class. In this context, there is an increase in social impressive the fact that the uprisings in tensions between the productive, participatory response to the the region were led by many sector of the economy, which bears the brunt of the economic crisis, secular activists may lead to burden in addition to contributing to the country's the social gap a positive and progressive security, and other sectors of the population: the is increasing in shift in the future. Ultra-Orthodox, which is perceived as utilizing its Israel, and there considerable political power to gain benefits for its Under Obama's leadership, is erosion in the constituency bearing no relation to its contribution the erosion of the West's position of the to society, and some of the Arab minority, which strength and influence in favor middle class does not feel part of Israeli society. of Asia continues, although the process is slow and does !e stagnation in the political process between not herald an immediate reversal in the world Israel and the Palestinians – widely treated in the order. Even his successes – passing the Health geopolitical section of the document – has been Care Bill and the new START agreement with met with mixed emotions in Israel. !e calm Russia – have been met with harsh opposition and based on the success of routine security measures criticism. Among Jews, even though the rate of along with disappointment and mistrust of the support for the Democratic Party has not reflected Palestinian partner, fed by the lessons of the Second the downward trend in the general public, there is Intifada and the rocket attacks on the Western obvious disappointment with Obama over what is Negev that followed the Gaza disengagement, perceived to be an intransigent attitude towards give Netanyahu's government political breathing Israel and Netanyahu's government and a reserved room. attitude towards the Jewish community and its At the same time, there is a growing fear that the leadership. lack of an Israeli political initiative along with its 72 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE refusal to freeze construction in the settlements him like a "Sukkot etrog, (citron)" – with infinite are contributing to the strained relations with care and delicacy, turning a blind eye to some the Obama administration and may prevent a improper conduct in his immediate environment. future two-state solution. !e alternative, a bi- !ese elements justified their approach with national state, endangers the Zionist movement's their appreciation of his leadership and political aspiration to establish a Jewish and democratic about-face – the disengagement from Gaza – that state that would constitute a national home for characterized his term of o#ce. !e indictments the Jewish people, in the Middle East. of Katsav, former finance minister, Avraham 2010 ended with the former president, Moshe Hirchson, former prime minister, Ehud Olmert, Katsav, convicted of rape, sexual harassment, and and others marked the beginning of the end of this obstruction of justice. !is terrible a"air constitutes period. It must be emphasized that no criminal a peak in a series of investigations and legal actions allegations have been raised against Galant, and aimed at Israeli leaders, some of which have yet the background of his the revocation to be concluded. !e year 2011 began with the actions is completely of Galant’s initiation of a criminal investigation into the di"erent from those appointment Boaz Harpaz “forged document” a"air, which was under indictment. to Chief of Sta" meant to influence the Chief of Sta" appointment. However, the revocation may signal !is scandal reveals misconduct among the IDF's of his appointment to the end of the top echelon. In addition, the appointment of Chief of Sta" may signal willingness of Yoav Galant to Chief of Sta" was revoked as he the end of the "etrog" the public to was accused of appropriating land that did not phenomenon, and with su"er breaches belong to him, and of submitting to the court it the willingness of the of proper two a#davits containing inaccurate statements. public to su"er breaches conduct !e revocation of Galant's appointment, an of proper conduct. outstanding o#cer and exemplary warrior, closes a circle that began during the premiership of Ariel !e Jewish Community Sharon. !e main damage during this period was the silent acceptance and even legitimization In the United States too, the Jewish community – granted by the media and a significant part of was in uproar over several episodes of corruption the Israeli public – of problematic conduct and and misconduct by prominent Jews. Past annual improper use of governmental power. assessments of the Jewish People Policy Institute Misconduct of public figures has occurred in the have pointed out the possibility of damage to past as well, but for the most part such missteps the self-image of Jews as a consequence of these were investigated and resolved. During Sharon's incidents and warned of the risk to the desire of time, senior journalists in Israel preferred to treat the world’s young generation of Jews to identify THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 73 with their Jewish roots. Although the State of of the new Jewish organizations attempting to Israel has shown its ability to deal with these build a lobby in opposition to the Jewish and negative disclosures with greater courage and Israeli establishment has deteriorated, there is determination than other Western countries, the a continuing trend among young adults in the trend of distancing among the young generation Jewish community to organize independently, has grown stronger this year, due also to the without any establishment or Israeli connections, growing processes of de-legitimization. for the purpose of promoting a Jewish agenda. !is campaign, aimed at undermining the Jewish people's right to sovereignty, is fostered not only !e Challenge to Israel: American by elements outside Israel or the Jewish people, Bi-Partisan Support such as anti-Semitism or the Arab-Islamic BDS campaign, it is also fed !e twisted obstacle course that has characterized by harsh criticism in the the relations between Israel and the United in crucial world media of the States ever since the change of administrations subjects degrading treatment of in Washington and Jerusalem is not a new concerning radical Israeli elements phenomenon. !e two countries have proven vital areas of towards Palestinians and in the past, ever since Jewish sovereignty was Israel's security, the Arab minority in Israel, established in the Middle East, that their shared the American as well as the aggressive cultural and democratic values and mutual administration conduct of the security interests can overcome harsher disagreements and has continued forces. In the view of crises than the current one: the 1956 Sinai War, the and even many, these phenomena, "reevaluation" after the second Sinai disengagement intensified alongside the political agreement in 1975, the Pollard A"air in 1986, and cooperation standstill, are seen as the suspension of loan guarantees in 1991. between the harming liberal values two countries And indeed, in crucial subjects concerning dear to many young Jewish vital areas of Israel’s security, the American Americans. administration has continued and even !e special chapter in this annual assessment intensified cooperation between the two on North American campuses shows that the countries. In the case of Iran for instance, where de-legitimization phenomenon primarily causes Obama himself promised to do his utmost to internal damage, harming Jews and friends prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, of the Jewish people, even though it is widely the administration has not only joined the agreed that a double standard is applied to Israel e"orts to apply sanctions, but also initiated compared to other countries in the East and covert American activities intended to delay the West. Although, in the past year, the standing program's development. In the UN and in other 74 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE political forums, the United States continues representing a broad range of opinions from Right, to grant Israel political support, as seen in the Left, and Center. Among the participants were: wake of the Goldstone Report, Turkish flotilla the Head of the Middle East Forum, Daniel Pipes; a"air, and its February 2011 security council CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, Abe Foxman; veto of a resolution condemning settlement Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz; former construction. However, this support cannot deputy to the Head of the National Security be considered automatic and may be used to Council and current senior fellow of the Council leverage pressure in the future. on Foreign Relations, Elliott Abrams; Brandeis !e main point of contention with the Obama University historian, Prof. Jonathan Sarna, who administration resulted from the stagnation of is also a senior fellow of the Jewish People Policy the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which is Institute; Director of the perceived as an American strategic interest, and Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Robert “Obama’s the ongoing construction in East Jerusalem. But actions in the Israeli refusal to extend the construction Satlo"; Aaron Miller from the Woodrow Wilson the Middle freeze east of the green line after the conclusion East must be of the ten month freeze agreed upon at the end Center in Washington; the President of the Union for watched closely of 2009 also had a part in damaging the trust in order to between the two administrations. !e Palestinians Reform Judaism, Rabbi Eric Yo#e, and others. prevent him demanded extending the freeze as a pre-condition from trying to for resuming direct talks. In the context of Upon reading these essays pay with Israeli political standstill and other developments, an and after discussions held currency for internal American debate re-surfaced around the with some of the authors closer relations question of whether Israel is an asset or a liability. and with additional with Islamic In this context, several extremely harsh remarks prominent figures in countries” were attributed to Vice President Joe Bidden and the Jewish community to International Security Assistance Force in in preparation for this Afghanistan Commander, General David Petraeus, chapter in the annual assessment, it seems both of whom were quoted as warning that Israel's that the attitude towards Obama is loaded and activities in the territories may bring about further suspicious. Although some still express support American casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. for the President out of traditional loyalty to the In June 2010, the American magazine Commentary Democratic Party and its values, most believe that conducted a written symposium headlined: his actions and policies in the Middle East must be "Obama, Israel, and American Jewry: the watched closely in order to prevent him from trying Challenge." !e editorial board gathered 31 critical to pay with Israeli currency for closer relations with essays by prominent Jewish writers and activists the Islamic countries. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 75 As to the question of how the Jewish community of security is not involved. In the 2008 presidential will or should deal with the tensions between election, four out of five Jews supported Obama, Jerusalem and Washington, opinions are divided. despite apprehension about his attitude towards It is assumed that as long as there is no existential Israel. !is level of overwhelming support is not threat to the State of Israel from Iran's nuclear guaranteed in 2012. Indeed, although the Jewish project or from an overall military attack on Jewish vote does not carry a decisive weight in the elections, sovereignty in the Middle East, the community the financial support and the organizational ability will not rise to take extensive action. Prof. Alan of the Jews during the election campaign are very Dershowitz describes it thus: "the line in the sand significant. One leader defined it as follows: "if there for me has always been Israel's security…I'm worried is one thing I will not forgive Obama regarding his about the direction that behavior towards Israel and the Jewish community, the Obama administration it is if I am driven to vote for the Republicans." the Jewish seems to be taking with vote does not Prof. Jonathan Sarna's analysis matches the spirit regard to Israel's security. I of those words: "Much can change between now carry a decisive will not join the chorus of weight, but and 2012, but signs abound that support for the condemnations by right- Democratic administration is waning. !e real the financial wingers directed against support and the question, looking ahead, is whether the Republicans the Obama policy with will be able to use this to their advantage. To do organizational regard to the settlements, ability of so, history suggests, they will need to nominate a or even with regard to a candidate whose views on American policy, foreign the Jews in divided Jerusalem. !e the election and domestic, comport with those most Jews hold Obama administration has dear. If Jews decide that the Republican candidate campaign are not yet crossed my line in very significant in 2012 more closely aligns with their views than the sand. I hope it never Barack Obama, it is a safe bet that the Republican does so, but if it does, I will candidate will win many more votes than McCain be extremely critical. In the meantime, those of us and Palin did in 2008." who supported Obama must continue to pressure him against compromising Israel's security and In this context, one must also refer to the rise, prior against suggesting a false and dangerous linkage to the elections, of the "Tea Party" movement, between Israel's actions and the safety of American which was meant to garner support for fiscally troops." conservative Republican candidates on a local basis. Although it is still too early to estimate the future Traditionally, most American Jews support the significance of this phenomenon on the national Democratic Party, out of many considerations, level, it must be noted that alongside support of especially internal American ones. Israeli issues do Israel, some of the "Tea Party" supporters hold not usually top the agenda, as long as the subject contrary tendencies: an isolationist approach with 76 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE cross-the-board cuts in foreign aid. !at said, the a bi-partisan approach concerning the Middle Jewish community has duly noted that Republican East. !e picture currently being formed must support of Israel has been stable and has even risen, set o" alarm bells in Israel and among Jewish compared to the erosion of Democrat support of organizations in the United States, due to the Israel. threat of the Arab-Israeli conflict being turned An October 2010 survey conducted for !e Israel into a point of contention between the two Project by the prestigious strategic consulting firm, parties, thus endangering the desire to preserve Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, shows that for the first Democratic as well as Republican support for time since June 2009, support for Israel in American Israel. public opinion dropped below 50 percent. !e gap in favor of Israel as opposed to the Palestinians is still large – 44 percent in favor of Israel as opposed Politics and Statesmanship to 8 percent in favor of the Palestinians, but the On January 17, 2011, problem is more notable using a party cross Defense Minister Ehud section. Among Republicans, support for Israel is Barak surprisingly Barak’s 62% as opposed to 2 percent for the Palestinians. announced his resignation resignation Among Democrats, support for Israel drops to 32 from Labor along with four from Labor was percent while support for Palestinians rises to 14 other Members of Knesset, preemptive, percent. !e results are a"ected by media criticism and the establishment of designed to of Israel's conduct towards the Palestinians, and the "Independence Party." avoid the the de-legitimization campaign against the right of In so doing he acted creation of Israel to maintain its Jewish character in the context preemptively, avoiding majority bloc of liberal positions held by the Democrats. a blow he would likely against him in !e attitude taken by the American administration have su"ered due to the the party with the onset of the Egyptian riots, and the cold creation of a majority bloc shoulder shown to Hosni Mubarak by President against him in the Labor Party, which could have Obama have left a bitter taste and bolstered led to his ouster. !e same day Labor Ministers doubts of the current administration as a source of Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Avishay Braverman, and support, not only among leaders in the moderate Isaac (Buji) Herzog, announced their decision to Arab camp, but also in Israel and among some of immediately resign. Despite the numerous inner the Jewish leadership in the United States. controversies, the eight remaining Labor MKs decided to refrain from an additional split. Israel's standing in the United States, since its establishment, and the influence of the American Seemingly, the coalition's base has narrowed, but Jewish community derive, to a large extent, from in practical terms, the Labor Party's exit from the THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 77 government may prolong its existence, even though public and among secular voters who appreciate at the same time it increases the negotiating power his skills, are convinced that he has "paid his debt of Yisrael Beiteinu, headed by Avigdor Lieberman. to society," and has learnt the obligatory lessons. Barak's move took the entire political system Another possibility is that Barak and company’s by surprise, even though he had coordinated it resignation from the Labor Party and their beforehand not only with the MKs who joined him, continued support of the coalition are part of but also with the Prime Minister, who wished to a broader political move that may secure the avoid a future, abrupt exit of the entire Labor party government an additional safety net. Lately, several from his coalition. Such a development could have new figures have joined the Kadima Party, including set o" a dynamic leading to new elections. former Chief of Sta", Dan Halutz; Chairman of !e prior evening former Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank and former Head of the Minster of Interior, Aryeh Israeli Internal Security Service, Yakov Perry; and !e Netanyahu- Deri, announced his Gilad Sharon, son of former Prime Minster and Barak intention to return to Kadima founder, Ariel Sharon. Such reinforcements partnership political life. Deri, one of may spur several Kadima veterans to leave the seems stable, the founders of Shas, was party and join the coalition headed by Netanyahu, and one cannot convicted of bribery, fraud, since they may fear that their chances of reelection discount their and breach of trust, served have been diminished. !e Prime Minister still standing for the a three-year sentence holds two unmanned, ministerial portfolios: the next elections in prison, and finished Ministry of Welfare and the Ministry for Minority in a joint bloc a seven-year period of A"airs, as well as having overwhelming influence disgrace that until recently over several other senior political appointments. had prevented him from returning to the political If several opposition members cross party lines, sphere. On the eve of Barak's resignation, Deri said Lieberman's position and his ability to dismantle that he had not yet decided in which framework the coalition will be weakened. he will be running for o#ce, and that he may join !e main question begging for an answer in light a non-religious party. Although it seems that his of these possible changes to the political map is: natural place would be in Kadima given his public "For what purpose?" !e assumption is that Prime political statements and his close relationship with Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak Kadima's Council Chairman, Haim Ramon, it is have their sights on the political horizon, beyond possible that he wishes to join a new, secular party. the completion of the current government's tenure. !e establishment of the new Independence party !eir partnership seems stable at this stage, and provides him with an opportunity to begin from one cannot discount their standing for the next an enhanced negotiating position. !is, due to the elections in a joint bloc. support he enjoys from the religious Sephardic 78 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE In order to increase their chances of reelection, that if the Attorney General decides to indict him, Netanyahu and Barak require impressive that is not the end of the matter, as Lieberman achievements in the political arena: an agreement will obviously be given the right of a fair hearing with the Palestinians (and perhaps Syria) as a and will be able to argue against his indictment, a part of the Arab world’s process of acceptance, process that could take many months. or an achievement in the defense arena vis-à-vis It is possible that Netanyahu's di$culties are based, Iran. In short, making peace or winning war. As among other things, on the fear of the wider Israeli of now, it is unclear if they have decided where public that Abbas intends to promote a two-state they are headed. solution: one Palestinian and the other bi-national, !e American administration has the data and which will eventually unite, thus putting an end the ability to read the situation in Israel. It is to Jewish sovereignty in the region. !e lack of possible that this is the reason Netanyahu was trust among a significant o"ered a "security package" at the end of 2010 part of the public, which the Israeli in order to enable the resumption of direct talks was evident in the results nightmare – between Netanyahu and Abbas. of the last election, was a two-state also influenced by the However, the political considerations have solution, one memories of the Second additional components. It is possible that Palestinian Intifada, which erupted Netanyahu had the political power required to make and the other after Barak's far-reaching a far-reaching political move even without changes bi-national, o"er to Arafat at the end to the political map. !e various components of which will of Bill Clinton's presidency, the coalition have no interest in breaking up the eventually put as well as by the memory partnership. Even before his departure from Labor, an end to Jewish of the rockets hurled at Barak and his party did not enjoy widespread sovereignty approval among the public. If Barak felt that he Sderot and other towns would be able to increase his power in elections, it in the south after Sharon’s is likely that he would have led a move to dismantle Gaza disengagement. the government, regardless of the peace process. !e American administration too has doubts, Shas leader, Eli Yishai, is not in a position to ignore mistrusting the current Israeli government's Aryeh Deri and the in- fighting of his own party. sincerity with respect to the peace process. !ese One may assume that Yisrael Beiteinu leader, doubts grew as a result of what was seen as, on Avigdor Lieberman, who may be facing indictment one hand foot-dragging in the political process, - depending on the Attorney General's impending and a series of decisions to resume construction decision - will be faced with a dilemma: whether to in the settlements and in East Jerusalem on the leave the coalition and go forth into the unknown other. On the Israeli side and among parts of the or to preserve his political power. It must be noted American Jewish community, there is concern THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 79 stemming from doubts about Obama's approach international recognition of their independence, to the Middle East conflict, his appreciation of rebuilding mutual trust and in early coordination Israel's existential concerns, and what is seen between both sides. Significant steps should as an alienated attitude toward the Jewish be taken by Obama, with the support of the community. President Obama and Secretary Quartet, to reestablish Israeli confidence in his of State Clinton’s reaction to the riots in Egypt, administration. which have spread to other countries belonging to the moderate axis, has not strengthened trust in the current administration as a source of Concluding Remarks support and alliance that can be trusted. In this context, we Despite e"orts by both Washington and Jerusalem must refer to the to reach an understanding in light of the mid- the American Israeli demand that the term congressional elections and the problems response to Palestinians recognize of the coalition in Israel, the challenges facing the upheaval Israel as a Jewish state the triangular relationship remain. !e American in Egypt, and as the national home response to the upheaval in Egypt, symbolized symbolized of the Jewish people. If by the "cold shoulder" shown Mubarak, has been by the “cold the agreement that is a matter of concern to other allies in the Middle shoulder” taking shape is based on East. Yet the new situation may also empower shown the 1967 borders, with new reformists and progressive regimes and Mubarak, has several amendments reinforce mutual interests between Israel and been a matter accompanied by land the United States which may draw them closer. of concern to swaps, then the only As such, it is a primary interest of Israel and the other allies in concessions the Israeli Jewish people globally that the status of the US the Middle East public may have gained as the leading superpower doesn’t erode. are the end of the Past experience shows that cultural values, conflict, legitimization of the Zionist project and democracy, and common interests of Israel and the improvement of the security situation. United States eventually overcome controversies As the contours of a viable agreement have been and even severe crises. !e most recent events set, and with the stalled peace process in mind, require intensifying e"orts to achieve strategic the possibility once again arises that the United cooperation and coordination between the United States will place its own mediation proposal on States, Israel, and the Jewish community. the table, and work to implement it. !e success t !e challenges facing Israel in light of regional of such a move primarily depends on forestalling changes require its leadership to make a a unilateral Palestinian attempt to garner 80 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE decision as to its direction, to confront the legitimacy to the improper conduct of public challenge of preserving its Jewish character, figures. !is is the beginning of a welcome take the initiative in areas that require urgent process that may eventually improve trust intervention, and be alert to other arenas in of the young Jewish generation globally and order to adapt policy accordingly. contribute to strengthening the ties between t Every possible e"ort should be made to Israel and the Diaspora. !is process should be prevent the Middle East conflict from encouraged. becoming a point of contention between t !e de-legitimization phenomenon aiming the Republican and Democratic parties in to subvert the right of the Jewish people to the United States, and to remove Israel and sovereignty in the Middle East harms not the Jewish community from the American, only Israel but also Jewish a#liation, support internal political debate. of friends of the Jewish people, and Israel- t !e concern of a possible erosion in US Diaspora relations. !e phenomenon requires international status on one hand, and the a comprehensive evaluation and treatment in general support that Israel and the Jewish various arenas to minimize damage. people enjoy in North American public opinion on the other hand, require a Despite the erosion of the standing of new continuous e"ort to reinforce the strength Jewish organizations that attempted to establish and economic power of the US. Israel and the a lobby in opposition to the Jewish American North American Jewish community should establishment and Israel, there is a continuing make every e"ort to strengthen their ally. trend among the young American generation t Israel should be conscious of American global to organize independently to promote agendas, interests without diminishing its own critical unrelated to the establishment or Israel. Against security requirements on one hand, and on this background, Jewish organizations must the other, it should consider a “Buy American” make a special e"ort to open their ranks to the campaign that encourages, for example, young and encourage them to assume key roles purchasing American cars by Israelis and for in the community. Israel, for its part, must use its the fleets of the State of Israel and the IDF and resources to increase its investment in the future promoting the import and use of US goods of the young generation, in education and in and services. expanding the frameworks shared by Israel and the Diaspora. t With former President Katsav's conviction, indictments of other leaders and measures taken against other senior figures, Israel may be parting ways with the attempt to grant THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 81 Global Economic Changes: Implications for Israel 6 and the Jewish People Last year's Annual Assessment (2009) focused on 1. Introduction – A General the economic status of the Jewish people and the Description of the Financial Crisis implications of the global financial crisis on Jewish philanthropy. In this year's Assessment we focus Israel and the United States are the two on the global crisis itself, its causes and its nature, countries with the highest concentration of Jews. and especially its di"erential impact and policy !erefore, their economic situation must assume treatment in the US and Israel. an important place in any assessment of the !e global financial crisis has had important situation of the Jewish people. !is claim is true e"ects in four arenas of central importance to every year, but even more so in years in which the Jewish people policy: 1) !e international arena financial crisis is prominently featured in world in which a major re-alignment of power relations news. Understanding the current economic is occurring 2) the Israeli economy 3) the Jewish situation and the measures required to improve communities in the Diaspora 4) the relationships it in Israel and the United States is necessary for and equilibrium between Israel and the Diaspora the formulation of an assessment of the situation communities. in the two countries and the Jewish communities residing in them. !us we are providing a brief analysis of the origins and nature of the global crisis, the policy responses !e 2008-2009 financial crisis, which has yet to end, to it and their influence on the above four arenas is commonly considered to be the worst since the in the hope of formulating a more e"ective Jewish 1929-1932 crisis. Since that time there has not been people policy. We will especially focus on the US a recession with such consistent and continuous and Israel as a backdrop to understanding the drops in economic activity, as measured by gross changing relationship between the American and domestic product (GDP); no recession since then Israeli Jewish communities. has had rising unemployment rates that refused to go down for such a long time; no crisis arose in which the government was forced to inject THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 83 hundreds of billions of dollars in order to save the John Maynard Keynes, who met with Roosevelt, did financial system from collapse. not succeed in convincing the American president Notwithstanding the above, the current crisis is of the advantages of a federal deficit as a way out minor, relative to its predecessor of eighty years past. of the recession. And indeed, the moment the In the previous crisis, the rate of unemployment American economy slightly recovered, Roosevelt was 25%, and in the current one it is close to 10%. attempted to balance the budget, and there are In the previous crisis the United States experienced those that believe that this policy caused the 1 a 33% drop in production, in the current crisis a recession relapse of 1937. drop of only 2.4% in one year – 2008. !e current crisis is not accompanied by political !e magnitude of the previous instability in any Western country. !e American crisis brought about far voter punished the Democrats in the mid-term !e large, reaching political changes and elections (November 2010) but did so within the expected instability in the international framework of the regular political process. Stormy American arena. Nazi Germany was political arguments are conducted between budget deficits established in 1933 out of the left and the right, and there is an upsurge in in the coming a longing for an order and a radical, anti-government sentiment (represented, years and the regime that had been shaken among others, by the Tea Party). However, unlike need to deal by the financial crisis (and the 1930s, there is no totalitarian model pointing with them prior to it, due to the hyper toward an alternative to the current democratic undermine inflation of the 1920s). !e regime – not the Soviet Union, nor Germany, the US’ ability United States underwent an nor Italy, and therefore the political changes are to intervene essential change in the extent conducted according to the legitimate, democratic militarily and volume of government ground rules. in regional involvement in the economy: Yet, even if changes are not expected in conflicts the establishment of a social the political arena within countries, in the security system, deposit international arena the crisis may have significant insurance and bank oversight, a substantial e"ects. !e strength of the United States as a increase in the government share of production, sole super power derives in large part from its etc. !is rise in involvement did not stem from economic might. !is might is directly expressed an ideological change, but from the urgent need in the United States' ability to finance a global of the government to take care of its citizens and army and navy and indirectly in the standing of prevent dangerous political instability that could the dollar as an international currency. !e large, have evolved into a regime change. !erefore, expected American budget deficits in the coming Roosevelt's policy was not Keynesian. Contrary to years and the need to deal with them undermine a common misconception, the great economist the United States' ability to intervene militarily in 84 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE regional conflicts. It is apparent, therefore, that the Arabs and the ultra-Orthodox. Infrastructure the United States' ability to project power as it neglect was chillingly apparent in the e"ort to has done in past decades is questionable. extinguish the large and severe Carmel fire, at the Negotiating the current crisis shows that contrary beginning of December 2010. Another structural to what is sometimes believed, the lessons of a issue is the need to protect the Shekel's exchange previous crisis can aid the negotiation of the next rate by increasing Bank of Israel reserves, a policy 2 crisis, as is currently the case. United States Federal that has been internationally criticized as of late. Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, acted quickly and decisively to save the financial system from 3 collapsing, and he succeeded in doing so. Citizens 2. !e Crisis in the United States are much better protected today thanks to the !e financial crisis began with the sins of credit, safety net erected during the Great Depression which grew unregulated of the 1930s: social security, unemployment and unchecked in the Households and insurance, larger government expenditures that parallel banking system entrepreneurs guarantee demand will not decrease sharply, and of investment banks to borrowed ever so on. Success in preventing a deeper crisis has an which Lehman Brothers more, in the ongoing price. !e price that everyone is aware belonged, and which hope that they of is the government debt, which grew from 42% almost caused the would continue of GDP in 2007 to 66% of GDP in 2010 and is collapse of the entire to profit from expected to reach 85% of GDP in 2015. President world system.4 !e credit real estate deals Obama recently announced a series of measures that grew unrestrained intended to reduce the debt, yet the larger price by matching equity is manifest in a decline in the capacity to deal with capital (Lehman reached a 1:30 relation between the structural problems of the United States; the capital equity and credit – an enormous degree of very problems that were the background of the leverage), led to a situation in which every minor crisis and to which we will refer in the following. shock impaired borrower ability to repay loans. In Israel, the impact of the crisis was smaller. !ere !is credit served to fuel the real estate bubble, nearly was a crisis in the corporate bonds market as it allowed households and entrepreneurs to but it was averted in the end. It must be noted borrow ever more, in the hope that they would that the situation in Israel is not as brilliant as the continue to profit from real estate deals. When aggregate data show. Israel su"ers from severe housing prices fell, the borrowers and lenders fell problems of income inequality and many years of with them. As lending banks did not hold enough neglect along various fronts including education, reserves to absorb the loss, several were forced to infrastructure, the geographical and socio- declare bankruptcy. !e collapse of some major economic periphery, and specific groups, such as financial institutions led to a series of collapses, as THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 85 Table 1 Main Macro-Economic Aggregates 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Canada 5.2 1.8 2.9 1.9 3.1 3.0 2.8 2.2 0.5 -2.5 France 4.1 1.8 1.1 1.1 2.3 2.0 2.4 2.3 0.1 -2.5 Germany 3.5 1.4 0.0 -0.2 0.7 0.9 3.6 2.8 0.7 -4.7 Real Growth Italy 3.9 1.7 0.5 0.1 1.4 0.8 2.1 1.4 -1.3 -5.1 of GDP Japan 2.9 0.2 0.3 1.4 2.7 1.9 2.0 2.4 -1.2 -5.2 (% change) Britain 3.9 2.5 2.1 2.8 3.0 2.2 2.8 2.7 -0.1 -5.0 United 4.1 1.1 1.8 2.5 3.6 3.1 2.7 1.9 0.0 -2.6 States OECD 4.2 1.2 1.7 2.0 3.2 2.8 3.1 2.7 0.3 -3.4 average Israel 9.2 0.0 -0.4 1.5 5.0 4.9 5.7 5.4 4.2 0.8 Canada - 0.7 1.8 0.9 2.1 2.0 1.8 1.2 0.2 -3.3 France - 1.2 0.3 0.4 1.8 1.3 1.6 1.8 0.0 -3.1 Germany - 1.1 -0.2 -0.3 1.2 0.8 3.5 2.8 0.3 -4.8 Italy - 1.8 0.1 -0.8 0.5 -0.1 1.5 0.8 -0.5 -5.2 Per Capita Japan - -0.1 0.1 1.3 2.7 1.9 2.0 2.4 -1.0 -5.1 Growth of GDP Britain - 2.1 1.7 2.4 2.5 1.5 2.3 1.9 -0.2 -5.6 (% change) United - 0.1 0.9 1.6 2.6 2.1 1.7 1.2 -0.6 -3.4 States OECD ------average Israel - -2.1 -2.5 -0.3 3.2 3.0 3.8 3.5 2.5 -0.9 Canada 6.8 7.2 7.7 7.6 7.2 6.8 6.3 6 6.1 8.3 France 9 8.3 8.6 9 9.2 9.3 9.3 8.4 7.8 9.5 Germany 7.5 7.6 8.4 9.3 9.8 10.6 9.8 8.4 7.3 7.5 Italy 10.1 9.1 8.6 8.5 8 7.7 6.8 6.2 6.8 7.8 Unemployment Japan 4.7 5 5.4 5.3 4.7 4.4 4.1 3.9 4 5.1 Rate Britain 5.4 5 5.1 5 4.7 4.8 5.4 5.3 5.6 7.6 United 4 4.7 5.8 6 5.5 5.1 4.6 4.6 5.8 9.3 States OECD 6.2 6.5 7.1 7.3 7.1 6.8 6.3 5.8 6.1 8.3 average Israel .. 9.3 10.3 10.7 10.4 9 8.4 7.3 6.1 7.6 86 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE "#$%&#%$'(!)$*+(,-"!./!#0,!1-,$.&'/!,&*/*-23!"*-,!*4!50.&0!'$,!6/*5/!'/7!*#0,$"! (,""!"*8!9*7'2!.#!."!'($,'72!6/*5/!#0'#!#0,!:,$2!(*5!(,:,(!*4!1-,$.&'/!"':./;"!5'"! $,")*/".+(,!4*$!#0,!&$."."!7%,!#*!#5*!4'&#*$"!#0'#!'$,!&*//,&#,7!#*!.#8! ! ! " ! <.';$'-!=!! "$ʥʺʥʠʭʢʸʺʬʬʥʫʩʠʬʯʫʬʥʭʩʹʸʺʤʺʠʧʥʺʴʬʬʥʫʩʠʬʩʰʠ"#ʤʨʩʠ " " every bank limited the credit available to others, as oversight? !e first is an increasingly widely they doubted their ability to recover it. In order to " shared pro-market ideology, a belief that markets prevent the collapse of the entire financial system are capable of running themselves and that they " following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, massive do so optimally without oversight. !e academic government intervention was needed. !e global " foundation for this ideology was the “e#cient collapse was indeed averted by massive injections market" doctrine that argued, and showed " of capital and liquidity made by central banks with statistical data, that financial markets and governments in various countries, led by the " work e#ciently – and therefore do not require 5 United States (and Britain) the epicenter of the " government oversight. !e previous Chairman financial earthquake. of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, presided " What fundamental elements enabled the over the final deregulation of the capital markets expansion of credit and prevented government " in President Clinton's time, a policy that had bi- partisan support. During his time the Federal " Figure" 1 " ! >*%",0*(7!<,+#!./!?"$',(!'/7!@#0,$!A*%/#$.," ! " ! &DQDGD ! )UDQFH ! *HUPDQ\ " ! ! ,WDO\ -DSDQ ! 8QLWHG.LQJGRP ! ,VUDHO " 8QLWHG6WDWHV" ! " ! " " ! " ! " " ! " ! " ! " ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! " ! ! THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE !87 Reserve also employed a low interest rate policy Second, alongside the low level of private savings in that fueled cheap money and the search for higher the United States, which continued to decline and returns through taking bigger risks. actually reached zero before the crisis, there was a Other fundamental factors relate to structural government deficit created during the George W. problems in the American economy, some of Bush presidency, which depleted all the reserves which are known and others less so. Today it is that had accumulated in the social security system already known that the very low level of American during Clinton's presidency. Negative national savings was responsible for the crisis due to two savings are usually manifest in a deficit in the factors that are connected to it. balance of payments, which was indeed the case in the United States. First, the surplus in consumption was funded Table 2 shows the development of the deficit in !e government by credit – the same credit the American BOP and its deterioration up to 6% deficit created that expanded and fed the of GDP in 2006, compared to an average deficit of during the real estate bubble. zero among OECD member countries. !e table George W. Bush also shows the relative strength of the German presidency As can be seen in the graph, economy, with a large export surplus that pulled it depleted all American credit rose from out of the crisis, the surplus in Japan's exports and the reserves 94.6% of income in 1997 Canada's quite reasonable situation. In Israel there accumulated to 137.6% in 2007; in other is a notable and constant improvement in the in the social words it multiplied by a current account, which transitioned from negative security system factor of almost 1.5. In to positive in the beginning of the decade. 2008 a decline can be seen. during Clinton’s !e policy of expanding consumption to raise presidency A higher rate of increase can be found only in aggregate demand, thereby creating growth, is not Britain – an increase by a new to the United States where consumption is the multiple of 1.7, from 107.1% to 185.8% in the same main engine of growth. Every year, in the period period. And indeed these two countries were the before Christmas, the economic press observes with major casualties of the crisis. It is noteworthy that trepidation consumer spending – waiting to see if European countries borrowed much less, as did it is large enough to herald continuing growth. !e Canada, which did not increase consumer credit novelty is that consumption had grown without in the decade prior to the crisis. And indeed, the growth in income and, therefore, had to be funded banking crisis was considerably more moderate in by a growth in credit. !e American economy these countries. In Israel consumer credit is much indeed did grow in the previous decade, but due to smaller than in the other countries shown in the the growth in inequality, the added income went graph, and it is even trending down. to the top income decile and primarily to the top percentile. 88 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE At the global level, the country that allowed the and at the same time China experiences growth United States to enjoy continued growth by and accumulates wealth while the United States increasing consumption, the country that funded becomes poorer and grows only artificially, at the consumption of the richest country in the the expense of debts to China and the rest of the world was a lot less well o" – China. For the past world. several years China has been maintaining the !erefore, the adjustment required by the United rate of exchange of its currency at a higher level States is seemingly simple: reduce growth in than that of equilibrium, and in order to prevent consumption, increase exports and investment in the strengthening of its currency it purchases the United States and reduce the federal deficit. hundreds of billions of dollars and invests them For this purpose the dollar must be devalued in in US government bonds and other assets. In this real terms relative to other world currencies and manner China can maintain an export surplus especially relative to the Chinese Yuan. Such a at the expense of an American import surplus, Table 2 Balance of Payments (BOP) - Current Account (percent of GDP) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Canada 2.7 2.3 1.7 1.2 2.3 1.9 1.4 0.8 0.4 -2.9 France 1.4 1.8 1.2 0.7 0.5 -0.5 -0.5 -1.0 -1.9 -1.9 Germany -1.8 0.0 2.0 1.9 4.6 5.1 6.4 7.7 6.7 4.9 Italy -0.6 -0.1 -0.8 -1.3 -0.9 -1.7 -2.6 -2.4 -3.6 -3.2 Japan 2.5 2.2 2.9 3.2 3.7 3.6 3.9 4.9 3.2 2.8 Britain -2.6 -2.1 -1.7 -1.6 -2.1 -2.6 -3.4 -2.6 -1.6 -1.3 United -4.2 -3.7 -4.3 -4.7 -5.3 -5.9 -6.0 -5.1 -4.7 -2.7 States OECD -0.4 0.0 0.1 -0.1 0.4 0.0 -0.1 0.3 -0.2 -0.6 average Israel -3.2 -1.5 -1.1 0.8 1.6 3.3 5.2 2.6 1.0 3.9 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 89 devaluation will encourage exports, make American !e increase in inequality of income is attributed citizens e"ectively poorer, and will therefore by many economists to the technological and encourage savings and discourage consumption. economic changes of the past decades, which !is is a structural change that takes time as created a high premium for education. !e United the economy and all its units must adjust to it. States, which was a world leader in secondary and However, the American government does not have university education, now trails behind Europe in time. !e ongoing crisis exacts two, heavy political the number of university graduates and thus loses prices. First – a high rate of unemployment that growth potential. American infrastructure also lags does not decrease despite relative growth (jobless behind European infrastructure. recovery) and second – a continued increase in the In order to put the United States back on a track of deficit and in federal debt. sustainable growth, structural changes are needed !ese are fundamental, that will support a more balanced growth in incomes structural elements and and higher productivity of the American worker. Israel managed therefore the resolution of Mainly, this means improving the education system to negotiate the crisis depends on fixing and infrastructure. But in the shorter term, the fiscal the crisis quite them. !e problem is that aspect will also require treatment in order to ensure well, relatively fixing these elements a decrease in debt relative to GDP. speaking, but makes it di#cult for the it su"ers from United States and the rest 3. !e Israeli Economy structural of the world to quickly problems emerge from the crisis. Two international reports provide a suitable starting Remaining in crisis means point for understanding the Israeli economy at this an unemployment rate that does not decrease and time: the annual report of the IMF and the report this, in turn, exacts a heavy political price from the published by the OECD in preparation for Israel's American government. membership.7 In the immediate term, the way out of the crisis is Both reports note that Israel managed to to be found – despite everything – in increased negotiate the crisis quite well, relatively speaking, consumption, since, as yet, no other element has but that it su"ers from structural problems it 6 managed to replace it as an engine for growth. must deal with in the future. !e problems that In the long term, other elements of American everyone has been talking about for years are aggregate demand must rise, such as an export income inequality, which is the highest among surplus or fixed investments, in order to bridge OECD members (at a rate similar to that of the the gap that will be created between the drop in United States); deficiencies in infrastructure and consumption and the rise in national savings. education; and the economy's need to integrate 90 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE groups that constitute a significant share of Israeli assume that this expansion will not continue at children – Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews. Less the current pace. !e CBS estimates that in 2010 is said about governmental failures – the inability exports rose by 6.7% and industrial exports by of the state to carry out tasks for reasons that 11.2%. In contrast, in 2011 exports are predicted will be detailed below. !e basis of this failure is a to rise by 4.3% and industrial exports by 5.5%. !e lack of long-term thinking but also an inability to expected result is a more moderate growth. Still, maintain systems such as the firefighting service, these data are excellent compared to 2009, which whose severe problems were exposed during the had an infinitesimal growth rate of 0.8% and a peak Carmel fire at the beginning of December, 2010. unemployment rate of 8.0%.8 !e inability of the state to carry out national In order to understand tasks and prepare for emergencies is especially why the Israeli economy !e inability disturbing, considering the strategic threat of did not experience the of the state conventional missiles covering the entire area of powerful financial and to prepare for the country. !e economic-administrative issue economic crisis that emergencies advances, therefore, to the head of Israel's strategic engulfed the United States is especially considerations, while hitherto it concerned only and Europe and how the disturbing businessmen and professionals. current economic recovery considering the !e growth rate in 2010 totaled 4.5%, with is taking place in Israel – strategic threat unemployment dropping to 6.6%, and additional which is contrasted by of conventional jobs spread out over the entire economy. the lackadaisical growth Unemployment is at an historic low. Since and high unemployment missiles 1987, with an unemployment rate of 6.1%, the characterizing the covering the Israeli economy has always had higher rates of American economy – one entire area of unemployment, except for 2008 when the rate can utilize economic and the country returned once again to 6.1%. statistical analyses that !ese data point to a feeling of optimism. examined the question: what caused the variations Employers do not raise the number of their in the magnitude of the crisis? employees if they do not believe that they can sell Such data concerning di"erences were provided in additional products. Investment in structures and the tables above, which show that Canada su"ered equipment rose by 6.1%, and private consumption less from the crisis, although it is the United rose by 5.9%, a testimony of consumer trust in States' neighbor and largest trading partner. !ese their own economic prospects. Rising above all analyses show that the increase in private credit of these is the sector that is leading growth in explains the magnitude of the crisis. 9 And indeed, Israel - exports, which rose by 16.5%. However, in Israel, private consumer credit did not expand. the future looks less bright, as it is reasonable to Analyses of the events point to the role of the THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 91 banking system: where the damage to the banking a large devaluation of the Shekel and low public system was smaller, so was the crisis. !erefore the confidence in price stability. At the height of the basis for understanding the situation in Israel is the crisis, the rate of exchange reached 5 NIS per dollar, strength of the financial system: in Israel, banks and there was fear of a significant devaluation. did not go bankrupt and did not even experience !e government could not borrow from the local di#culties requiring Bank of Israel intervention. market, as interest rates on government bonds had !ere was no outbreak of inflation or rush to foreign peaked. !is crisis was averted by rapid action on currency, nor was there a significant drop in credit the part of the Bank of Israel and the government, available to companies and households. Another in the form of a raise in the interest rate and explanation is that Israel's main export market budget cuts. !ese actions restored confidence in – the high-tech sector – the financial system. recovered quickly from !e continued !e lessons from this crisis were that the Bank of the crisis, and therefore growth in Israel should be allowed to control the interest the country did not su"er exports rate without interference, that the Ministry of a problem in demand established Finance must have control of the deficit, and that for its primary export the Shekel’s it is necessary to reduce the ratio of debt to GDP, component. Is the absence strength and since the fear of government bankruptcy decreases of a financial crisis a result made it easier when its debt is reduced. Another conclusion was of good fortune or good to conduct a that bank supervision must be tightened to ensure thinking? Apparently, a policy aimed that they hold a larger share of equity capital in little bit of both. Several at preserving relation to the credit that they provide in order mistakes were made, but stable prices to be able to withstand future crises. All of these they were overcome with items were implemented and thus strengthened good fortune. the foundations of the economy, which allowed it Paradoxically, and fortunately for Israel, the global to withstand the economic earthquake that is the crisis of 2002 hit Israel harder than the rest of the current crisis. !e continued growth in exports world. !e crisis, a result of first the bursting of the established the Shekel's strength and made it easier high-tech bubble amplified later by the economic to conduct a policy aimed at preserving stable aftershocks from 9/11, was accompanied by the prices. Second Intifada and therefore greatly damaged On the other hand, in the United States, again Israeli exports. It was preceded by a financial crisis paradoxically, the problem was that the 2002 crisis in which the banks su"ered losses, and faith in the was less severe and was quickly ameliorated by system dropped. At the same time inflation began aggressively lowering the interest rate, a measure once again, due, among other things, to a one- taken by then Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan time reduction in the interest rate, which caused Greenspan. !e temporary success of this policy 92 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE concealed the need to deal with the structural traded with low interest, close to the rate of the economic problems. Meanwhile, the savings banks and the cell-phone companies, despite their problem was exacerbated when the Bush significantly higher risk. And indeed, when the administration turned the budgetary surplus crisis arrived, the risk became reality. !e interest inherited from Clinton administration into a record rate on real estate company-issued bonds, such deficit due to tax cuts and large expenditures on as those of Africa-Israel, rose by several dozen the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. percentage points, and finally there was a series of bankruptcies, most of which concluded in creditor arrangements. 10 !e 2008-2009 corporate bonds market crisis !e corporate bonds !e routine reports regarding the Israeli economy crisis brought about a !e Ministry and its resilience in the face of the crisis do not complete halt in bond of Finance represent the complete financial picture. !ere was issues during the months supplied a a severe problem in the capital market, although of the crisis at the end of limited safety not in the banking system. Beginning from 2004, 2008 and the beginning net that helped Israel experienced a financial reform outside the of 2009, and there to calm the banking system which was tied to the propensity was concern that this corporations’ for deregulation but which almost resulted in a market would collapse. bonds market local financial crisis. !e issue was credit provided !e account holders in by institutional bodies to business corporations, in the provident funds, the form of corporate bonds. A series of reforms who lost dozens of percentage points o" their conducted in the capital market and in long-term investments, began to increase their withdrawal savings (the Bachar Reform was just one of them) rate. Fortunately, the panic did not spread to brought forth a situation in which the institutional most of the Israeli public, which understood bodies - provident funds, pension funds, and that it would be preferable not to sell at the insurance companies - searched for investment height of the crisis. In addition, the Ministry of avenues for their clients. !e banks were not Finance supplied a safety net – quite limited in interested in these monies, and the institutional scope, to be sure – but apparently it helped calm bodies, for their part, were not overly interested in the market. 11 investing in the banks. !e result was that Israeli !e corporate bond market is, therefore, an corporations, both large and small, issued their own example of luck overcoming a lack of solid thinking bonds – corporate bonds – which were snapped on the part of the economic policy makers. It up like hotcakes without su#cient consideration is noteworthy that other reforms planned by of risk. Bonds issued by corporations owned by the Ministry of Finance were not implemented tycoons who invested in foreign real estate were – reforms that were supposed to bring to Israel THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 93 American-type institutions and arrangements, war or an intifada involve financial risk which the very foundation of the current crisis. One can hurt the economy, just like in the Second such reform was the creation of mortgage-backed Intifada (although in the Second Lebanon War securities (MBS), the same financial products at this risk was not realized).12 the root of the recent world crisis. It thus appears 3. !e political situation. Political isolation of that the Israeli bureaucracy actually contributed, Israel can turn into economic isolation. !is is, in this case, to the stability of the economy. apparently, a long-term threat, since currently the trend is opposite, as evident in Israel 4. !e Strategic Risks Facing the becoming a member of the OECD. Israeli Economy and its Structural 4. !e structural problems of the foreign Problems currency market. Since its inception, Israel has su"ered from a chronic lack of foreign !ere still exist several considerable risk factors currency. In the past few years this trend has regarding continued growth and its contribution reversed itself: exports are growing faster to Israeli national resilience. than imports and there is a surplus in the 1. !e global economic situation and its e"ect current BOP. !is surplus creates pressure on exports. Indeed, Israeli high-tech has for a revaluation of the Shekel. Due to home almost returned to the level of activity before bias (the preference of investing in the local the crisis, but it is not insulated from the local capital market), this surplus does not find and global economy and as such, the expected its way abroad in the form of investments of rate of growth in exports is expected to steeply the institutional bodies. !is preference is decline in 2011, as mentioned above. On the strengthened by the good performance of the other hand, the financial crisis has severely local market in recent years. !erefore, there harmed the funding sources of Israeli high-tech is concern that the blessing will turn into a research and development, which threatens curse, since continued growth depends on the growth of this sector. the leading sector, which is exports, which, in 2. !e security situation. Peace talks between turn, requires a comfortable rate of exchange. Israel and the Palestinians are currently in !e probability of a significant increase in crisis. In order to reach rates of growth that foreign currency savings due to the o"shore will close the gap between Israel and the most natural gas discoveries greatly aggravates this developed countries, peace, which will permit problem. !e Bank of Israel cannot continue the reduction of the burden of security on the to buy foreign currency without limit, and economy, is required. Moving away from peace therefore a government-sponsored fund does not bode well for the economy. Also, must be established, which will invest the surplus abroad to the benefit of the younger 94 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE generations. Recently, it has been reported !e final two items, 5 and 6 are related. Economic that the government is indeed examining growth permits allocation of resources to these the possibility of establishing a fund for issues, although this has not happened in the past government investment abroad in which part few years owing to the government's inability to of the income from the natural gas discoveries deal with them. will be invested. !e decline of the public sector and the 5. Government functioning. !e Carmel problem in government functioning conflagration at the end of 2010 focused public attention on this structural problem, which !e weakening of the public sector is a strategic constitutes a long-term risk for growth. !e threat to Israeli society. A society that is at peace fire showed that the government is sometimes and does not have enemies on its borders can allow incapable of dealing with long-term issues, itself to weaken the government's ability to act in although the need was clear and there were an organized manner at all levels, from the central government decisions concerning this matter. government to the local government. !is is the !e dysfunction of the government in matters situation in the United States, Britain, and Europe. such as the firefighting service is also a security But in adopting American and British approaches, problem, as it is estimated that in the next war one must take into account the country's unique the home front will be attacked by thousands geopolitical situation. of missiles. !e root of the problem seems to be that the Israel 6. Structural problems. !e structural problems of governmental process has increasingly shown the Israeli economy have been discussed for years itself as being incapable of weighing costs and without any actual improvement. !e OECD benefits across several dimensions e"ectively and report notes many of them: the education system within both the short and long-term time frames. – elementary and secondary schools as well as !is problem is systemic, having to do with the the university level – is in crisis; transportation structures of government but also is a reflection and water infrastructure have fallen behind; and of the changing needs of Israel as it grows and is the electrical infrastructure is also at risk due transformed, and occurs within most if not all to the inadequate capital structure of the Israel of the major institutions of the Israeli governing Electric Corporation. !ere are massive gaps, system. When dealing with an issue of su#cient which include the lack of integration of Arabs complexity that it requires a cross-agency process and the ultra-Orthodox in the economy; housing and response, the entire system enters paralysis. prices have risen by 40% in the past two years and Crucial decisions are put o" for decades, or are have made housing for young couples extremely hastily taken on an ad hoc basis, or even, too often, di#cult to attain; and a decrease in perceptions both. In response to this paralysis, the Budget o#ce of personal security due to insu#cient policing. of the Ministry of Finance takes over the decision THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 95 making power and makes decisions concerning the of the President Medvedev of Russia and caused entire governmental system.13 Naturally, it makes disruption in the provision of consular services those decisions based upon its point of view and to citizens. perspective which is that of reducing the role of In this connection, it is of note that two former government in the economy, balancing the budget, senior o#cials of the Bank of Israel, Prof. Ben cutting taxes, removing barriers to competition, Bassat and Dr. Momi Dahan wrote a book for the including in the labor market and in the export Israel Democracy Institute (Ben Bassat & Dahan, and import markets, and so on. 2006) in which they detail the need to decrease the !e failure to deal with the large fire in the Carmel elaborate control that the Ministry of Finance has in December 2010 exemplifies the problem. In the over the government. !ey explain the technique absence of a set procedure through which the Ministry of Finance has taken for implementing cross over the entire civil service, including the prime In Israel, crucial agency decisions, the minister's role in this process, and they suggest decisions are attempt to implement strengthening the Economic Council in the put o" for reforms in the firefighting Prime Minister's O#ce so that it will constitute decades, or are service turned into a a counterweight to the Budget Department in hastily taken on stando" between the the Ministry of Finance during preparation of the an ad hoc basis, firefighters and the national budget. or even, too Ministry of Finance, often, both with the firefighters Discussion and Summary demanding large improvements in their pay and benefits in !e International Arena exchange for giving up the right to strike and the Finance Ministry withholding all funding for As we indicated at the beginning of this expanding and improving the firefighting service Introduction, the financial crisis has serious until the personnel issue had been resolved. implications for four areas of Jewish people policy Similar stando"s occurred in regard to the planning. !e first is the international arena. prosecutors' strike and the strike in the Foreign In connection with the financial crisis, we are Ministry. !e prosecutors' strike caused severe witnessing a global realignment and redistribution damage including the release from custody of of power. Whereas between 1991 (the collapse those accused of severe crimes, among other of the Soviet Union) and 2008 the United States reasons, because the Ministry of Finance refused enjoyed significant global dominance, today it is to even talk to the strikers. !e strike in the being increasingly forced to share economic and Foreign Ministry caused damage to foreign political power with rising states, most notably policy, brought about the cancellation of the visit China but also Brazil, India and Turkey. 96 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE As we have seen, the United States has incurred !e US, most of Europe (with the exception a number of long-range, structural economic of Germany) and Japan are all su"ering problems. !ese include a huge federal deficit from deleveraging, slow growth and high (along with state and municipal deficits) financed unemployment. In contrast to both China and by huge federal debt, a very large portion of which Israel, US annual growth in the third quarter was is held by foreign countries, some of which like 2.60%. !e US model of political freedom and China, are emerging as rivals to the US. !is foreign market-based capitalism is seen as risk-prone debt itself is a point of strategic weakness as Richard and discredited after the financial crisis and N. Haas and Roger Altman have pointed out: that it ultimately may lead to poorer societies "…During a crisis over Taiwan, for example Chinese and lower standards of living. central bankers could prove more dangerous In contrast China in 2010 enjoyed around than Chinese admirals. A simple announcement 10% growth as it has averaged for the past that China was cutting back its dollar holdings three decades. It is the could put huge pressure on the US dollar and/or world's leading exporter “A simple interest rates. !is would be similar to the way the and manufacturer and announcement United States used economic pressure against the China's economic that China was United Kingdom during the 1956 Suez crisis, when prowess is already cutting back its Washington refused to support an IMF loan to the allowing Beijing to dollar holdings British government unless it agreed to withdraw its challenge American could put huge military forces from Egypt." influence all over the pressure on world. !e Chinese are In addition, the requirement to rein in the the US dollar the preferred partners deficit could pressure cuts to the American and/or interest of many African defense budget and will also inhibit America's rates” ability to intervene militarily especially in governments and the wars of choice, and its presence in Iraq and biggest trading partner Afghanistan will be a"ected. Furthermore, the of other emerging powers, such as Brazil and authors point out, budgetary pressures will also South Africa. China is also stepping in to buy a"ect humanitarian interventions, foreign aid, the bonds of financially strapped members intelligence and homeland security.14 of the Eurozone, such as Greece and Portugal. Fortune's latest ranking of the world's largest Similarly, the US will have a weaker voice companies has only two American firms in the within the IMF and other global institutions, top 10 – Walmart at No. 1 and ExxonMobil at it will be unable to undertake direct financial No. 3. !ere are already three Chinese firms interventions, and perhaps most importantly, in the top 10: Sinopec, State Grid, and China the soft power of the US is being undermined. National Petroleum."15 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 97 In addition, China is translating its economic rise One of the most important directions of Jewish into new diplomatic and military assertiveness. As people policy is to form policies that adequately Gideon Rachman put it: address this potential shift of global economic At the G-20 summit in November, the U.S. drive and political power, not only to China but also to deal with "global economic imbalances" was to countries like Brazil, India and Turkey. !is essentially thwarted by China's obdurate refusal assessment addresses the issue in the general to change its currency policy. !e 2009 climate- geopolitical discussion above and in the special change talks in Copenhagen ended in disarray essay on the Jewish people and the rise of Asia. after another U.S.-China stando". Growing Chinese A second geopolitical area in which the economic economic and military clout clearly poses a long- crisis has a"ected the Jewish people is the term threat to American result of the midterm elections in the US. !e hegemony in the Pacific. Republicans, and especially Tea Party candidates Fortune’s latest !e Chinese reluctantly emerged triumphant, taking control of the House ranking of the agreed to a new package and narrowing the Democrat majority in the world’s largest of U.N. sanctions on Iran, Senate. !is seems to be due to the combination companies has but the cost of securing of continued very high unemployment and only 2 Chinese agreement was a hard times on "Main Street" on the one hand, American firms weak deal that is unlikely to together with a perceived "moral deficit" in the in the top 10, derail the Iranian nuclear administration policy vis-à-vis Wall Street on compared to program. Both sides have the other. !e US government (albeit the prior 3 from China taken part in the talks Republican administration) bailed out those with North Korea, but a financial institutions that were deemed "too barely submerged rivalry prevents truly e"ective big to fail" (such as AIG), yet could not put an Sino-American cooperation. China does not like end to the huge profits and huge bonuses of the Kim Jong Il's regime, but it is also very wary of a Wall Street firms. !us, Wall Street firms were reunified Korea on its borders, particularly if the not perceived as having paid for the economic new Korea still played host to U.S. troops. China is misery that they brought upon the nation. !is also competing fiercely for access to resources, in fueled and gave credence to the anti-government particular oil, which is driving up global prices.16 sentiment that the Republicans and especially On the military side, the Chinese are developing the Tea Party propagated. weapons systems that can challenge the American !e Republican victory produced a House of military, ranging from aircraft carriers and "carrier- Representatives that seems to be highly supportive killer” missiles to stealth bombers and missile of Israel and the current Israeli government and carrying drones.17 its policies. It also entailed the election of many candidates who had Tea Party associations. While 98 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE these candidates are largely pro-Israel, the Tea Party challenge of a rapidly changing world. As we does have isolationist leanings which could have have seen, the first decade of the new millenium implications for US foreign aid to Israel (especially featured the rising prominence of China and India. in light of the budget deficit) and for involvement Israel will su"er if the shift of exports from the West in the Middle East. If, as certain indicators show, to the East encounters di#culties and if growth in the American economy is improving, it could the West is not renewed. In the foreseeable future have positive electoral implications for President the United States will continue to be Israel's main Obama and the Democrats in 2012. (See the essay export market due to Israel's focus on high-end, on the Jerusalem-Washington-Jewish Community innovative technologies. triangle for further elaboration). But the risk inherent Israel and Its Economy in the profound global structural changes is In the !e two main countries in which most Jews also accompanied by foreseeable currently reside, Israel and the United States, opportunity. Israelis are future, the US experienced the financial crisis di"erently: Israel renowned for their ability will continue to was barely harmed while the United States is still in to identify opportunities be Israel’s main the midst of the crisis and its aftermath. Yet, both and realize them due export market are in need of significant structural changes. to the flexibility of the due to Israel’s Structural changes in the United States are related Israeli way of doing things. focus on high- to fixing global imbalances such as a lack of savings Israeli business culture has end, innovative in the United States compared to a surplus of many disadvantages – the technologies savings in China. Structural changes in Israel are price paid for flexibility necessary to renew growth and to solve urgent social – yet, in a swiftly changing world, this culture problems. Both countries are in need of significant has advantages. !erefore, it is entirely possible improvement in infrastructure and the education that Israel will emerge from the crisis in better system. !e deficiencies of the education system condition than its competitors in the rest of the in both countries are partly responsible for the world. Non-Israeli Jews share this cultural attribute high degree of socio-economic inequality, which of being able to identify opportunities and being has risen sharply in recent decades. Improving innovative and original. these systems is also necessary to maintain and What is the role of the Israeli state and the enhance their technological advantages which institutions of the Jewish people in these special permit the two countries – still – better economic circumstances? In Israel, all the government performance, relative to the rest of the West. bodies must be made more capable of identifying Internal structural changes, if implemented, will changes and acting flexibly in new circumstances, allow Israel and the United States to face the to create infrastructure that will permit realizing THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 99 these opportunities on the one hand, and to !e American Jewish Community minimize the damage caused by changes on the As mentioned, the United States requires structural other. In Israel, the venture capital funds, whose changes. creation was inspired by the state, are an example of a most successful governmental action: the In the United States, Jews are on average better establishment of the infrastructure necessary educated and have therefore enjoyed a higher for realizing the opportunity in creating a high- return on human capital in the United States and tech industry. In contrast, the failure to deal with have attained a larger share in growth relative to 18 those cast out of the textile industry, along with their proportion of the population. However, the entirely unnecessary rapid pace in which the factors that harm the US economy or lead to industry was exposed to declines in living standards will surely a"ect the competition from China well-being of American Jews. A central issue and India is another in which the !e institutions of the Jewish people, for their part, example of the problems economic must be aware of the economic structural changes, of Israeli governance capabilities identify their e"ect on the Jewish people, and system. of the Jewish prepare for them with appropriate infrastructure. community has In addition, in order to A central issue in which the economic capabilities significance for stay competitive vis-à- of the Jewish community, as individuals and as the continued vis economies such as a collective, has significance for the continued Jewish life is the Singapore, New Zealand, existence of Jewish life is the cost of living Jewishly. cost of living Chile and Eastern Europe, Educational and communal infrastructures of Jewishly Israel has to improve Jewish life are not cheap, and there are those who its ability to mobilize are already claiming that the cost of participation e"ective collective distances Jews from participating in Jewish life. If action to strengthen its educational system and the economic capabilities of Jews as individuals and its various infrastructures (transportation, civil as a collective changes for the worse, it will require defense, civil service etc.). Such strengthening thinking through and finding solutions. At this may involve changes regarding the relative point, the issue must be watched and preparations strengths of the various arms of government, made for the various possible scenarios. such as the Department of the Budget in the As pointed out in last year's Annual Assessment, Finance Ministry and their role in the budgetary the analysis of the cost of living Jewishly is quite process. In addition, Israel has to integrate complex and involves a range of choices and the ultra-Orthodox and Arab sectors into the preferences. Nevertheless, one area in which workforce and the productive economy. economic considerations seem to have played a role is that of Jewish day school enrollment. 100 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE As pointed out in the 2009 Annual Assessment, in donations to the Jewish Federations of North "Jewish day schools have also been hard hit by the America had in 2008 been 25%, but in 2009 it was whipsaw of declining enrollments and increasing 19%.20 In 2010 donations seem to have entered demand for financial aid; during the past year, at a slow "thaw." "Charities," says the Chronicle of least a half-dozen day schools closed their doors." Philanthropy concerning general giving in the !is decline in enrollment also continued from the US, "that raise the most from private sources 2008-2009 to the 2009-2010 school years, though are expected to eke up by a median of just 1 not as much as feared. For schools with over 250 percent this year, meaning that half expect to do students, total enrollment dropped an average of less well and half anticipate doing better. !at is 3%. However, schools with fewer than 100 students a big improvement over 2009, when donations experienced a drop of 7%. Simultaneously, there tumbled by a median of nearly 6 percent, but still was also an increase in financial aid. Solomon “Jewish day Schechter Day School Association schools reported a long way from the sums most groups were raising schools have a 14.9% increase in the amount of tuition assistance. been hard hit Five of the 16 Progressive Association of Reform before the economy slowed."21 In addition, as by the whipsaw Day Schools schools benefited from emergency aid of declining provided by the Jim Joseph Foundation. With the last year's Assessment noted, the Mado" enrollments exception of Cleveland, each community in PEJE’s and increasing (Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education) scandal also egregiously harmed American Jewish demand for data reported increases in the amount of financial financial aid” aid awarded. Boston’s 2% drop in enrollment philanthropy. !e e"ects benefitted from a 24% increase in financial aid of the scandal continued awards. Phoenix drop of 3.2% was accompanied by to reverberate this year, as certain philanthropic a 15% increase in awards amounts.19 One response endeavors such as Hadassah Women returned to these emerging economic di#culties in regard gains acquired by investing in Mado"'s fraudulent to Jewish education has been the emergence of a funds and other organizations are under the small number of public Hebrew charter schools threat of the "clawback" of these funds. which provide Jewish/Hebrew education for free. But even if the American economy, as certain (See the brief discussion of this phenomenon in indicators are starting to show, fitfully improves, the Developments to Watch section below.) the structural weaknesses and the steps needed Another area that has been adversely a"ected to repair them may not only keep the American by the financial crisis has been philanthropic Jewish community weaker than it had hitherto donations. While the decline in donations has been, but also may encourage a change in relations continued from 2008 into 2009 the rate of between the American Jewish diaspora and the decline has slowed. !us the decline, year to year, State of Israel. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 101 !e Relationships and Equilibrium between wealthy class.23 All these developments point to Israel and the Diaspora Communities the fact that there needs to be a "rebalancing" of Israel-Diaspora relations. Whether in terms !e salient economic fact in the Jewish world of government or private funds, Israel needs today is the discrepancy between the Israeli to contribute more, and in certain areas, take economy and the economies of the countries of the place of Diaspora funds, in regard to certain residence of the other large Jewish communities projects designed to enhance the well-being and – !e United States and Western Europe. As we strength of the Jewish people. have seen, the American economy is still in the throes of unemployment of over 9% and low To a certain extent, this is already happening. As growth, even though the Great Recession has pointed out in last year's Annual Assessment, formally ended. Similarly, American Jewish philanthropy to Israel in recent economists foresee a years has focused upon the "third sector," the non- Israel needs decade of slow growth for profit, non-governmental sector which advances to contribute Europe due to austerity projects for social amelioration and change. As more in regard measures undertaken to American Jewish philanthropic donations have to projects stem market fears about declined, the Israeli "third sector" has also su"ered designed to surging public debt levels greatly. In response, the Israeli government enhance the and a central bank focused allocated a NIS 200 million package to help well-being and more on controlling struggling social welfare organizations for the years strength of the inflation than boosting 2009-2010. !is program was designed to replace Jewish people growth.22 Furthermore, or supplement American Jewish funding of these global market forces and organizations. !is program has been renewed for US actions have put in place a real devaluation 2010-2011. of the dollar meaning that America’s relative Another, much smaller, initiative involves private purchasing power has declined and will likely donations. A consortium of American Jewish continue to do so. philanthropic organizations (!e Avi-Chai Israel, on the other hand, enjoys growth of 4.5% Foundation, !e Jewish Federation of New York, and record low unemployment (6.1%). !e NIS has !e Jewish Funders Network and Keren Tmurah) been gaining in strength and Israel has very large undertook during 2010 to match donations given foreign currency reserves. Furthermore the recent by Israeli individuals to organizations and projects discoveries of major natural gas reserves hold the dealing with Jewish renewal. !e consortium prospect of providing Israel with a domestic energy matched gifts from 40,000 NIS to 200,000 NIS. !e source with both positive economic and security express purpose of the program was to encourage implications. On the individual level, Israel has and increase Israeli private philanthropy. Finally, the in the past two decades developed a substantial Israeli government has just announced that it will 102 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE greatly expand its support for "Birthright" reaching 350 million NIS over three years. !is move has induced the American Jewish supporters of the project to expand their funding so as to maintain the 2:1 ratio of private American Jewish support to Israeli government support. When future trends are analyzed it is important not to fall into the trap of accentuating short- term trends and ignoring the long-term trends that balance them. For instance, although Israel traversed the crisis better then the United States, there is no basis to the claim that Israeli Jews will, in the coming years, be wealthier than Jewish Americans. !e demographic and technological forecasts predict high growth for the United States, relative to Europe, and in the index of GDP per employee, Israel has not grown faster than the United States in the past thirty years. Not only is it too early to eulogize the United States as the wealthiest nation in the world, it is also too early to say that Israel is closing the economic gap between it and the rest of the developed countries in the Western world. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 103 Endnotes 1. !is issue has been widely discussed in 9. See Lane and Milesi (2010). Roosevelt's new biography. See Brands, 2008. 10. See: Spivak (2010, In Hebrew) and also Ahdut- Regarding the crucial importance of the crisis Spivak (2010, in Hebrew). for making changes in the American economy, 11. See: description of the safety net in the Ministry see Bordo et al., 1997. of Finance's website www.mof.gov.il/hon, 2. See the IMF for veiled criticism of Israel http:// Report of the Supervisor of the Capital Market, www.imf.org/external/np/ms/2010/112910. 2009. htm and the OECD report upon Israel's membership http://www.oecd.org/documen 12. At the time of this writing, the stability of the peace with Egypt has become a concern again t/54/0,3343,en_2649_33733_44392758_1_1 for the first time in decades. _1_1,00.html 13. See (Ben Bassat & Dahan, 2006) who explain 3. Many of the ideas raised here can be found the technique through which the Ministry of in several recently published books about Finance has taken over the entire civil service, the crisis: Rajan (2010); Johnson-Kwak (2010); including the prime minister's role in this Akerlo"-Shiller (2009);Reinhart-Rogo" (2009). process, and they suggest strengthening the 4. A professional description, which can be Economic Council in the Prime Minister's O#ce understood by any layman, may be found so that it will constitute a counterweight to the in Johnson-Kwak (2010); a more technical Budget Department in the Ministry of Finance explanation may be found in Brunnermeier during preparation of the national budget. (2008). 14. Roger C. Altman and Richard N. Haas, 5. !is position is emphasized in Johnson-Kwak "American Profligacy and American Power: !e (2010), pp. 67, 71. Consequences of Fiscal Irresponsibility," Foreign 6. On of the goals of the quantitative easing A"airs, November/December 2010. initiated by the Federal Reserve was to make 15. Gideon Rachman, "American Decline – !is the public feel richer and thus consume more. Time it's for Real", Foreign Policy, January- 7. OECD (2010). IMF (2010). February 2011. See also Martin Wolf, "In the Grip of a Great Convergence", Financial Times, 8. At the time of this writing, we were notified of January 4, 2011. a development that can contribute greatly to the development and prosperity of the Israeli 16. Rachman, "American Decline". economy: a discovery of large quantities of natural 17. "A Chinese Stealth Challenge," !e Wall Street gas in the "Leviathan" field, o" the Haifa coast. Journal, January 5, 2011. 104 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE References 18. It is reasonable to assume that Jews have a larger part, relative to their share of the population, Brands, H.W. Traitor to His Class: !e Privileged Life in the financial sector in the United States and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. and Britain. !is is one of the sectors that lead Random House 2008. growth in the past decade, and it is also the Michael Bordo, Claudia Goldin, and Eugene White, sector that is currently facing uncertainty as to eds. (1997), !e Defining Moment: !e Great its future. Depression and the American Economy in the 19. MOFET-JTEC, http://jtec.macam.ac.il/portal/ Twentieth Century (Chicago: University of Chicago ArticlePage.aspx?id=543 Press). 20. !e Chronicle of Philanthropy, Oct. 17, Richard A. Posner (2010), A Failure of Capitalism: 2010, http://philanthropy.com/section/ !e Crisis of ‘08 and the Descent into Depression. Philanthropy-400/237/ Harvard University Press. 21. http://philanthropy.com/article/Charities- Atkinson A.B. and T. Piketty, eds. (2010). Top Change-Tactics-to/124942/ Incomes: A Global Perspective. Oxford University Press. 22. http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/01/07/ economists-say-europe-faces-low-growth-for- OECD (2010). Economic Survey of Israel. published a-decade/tab/print/ on 20 January 2010. 23. According to a survey conducted by Merril IMF (2010). Israel, Article IV Consultation— Lynch Israel enjoys the third fastest growth Concluding Statement of the Mission rate of millionaires in the world. http://www. November 29, 2010. ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3909038,00.html Leah Ahdut and Avia Spivak: !e Pension System in Israel and Fifteen years of Reform, Research Policy No. 8, Van Leer Institute, June 2010 (in Hebrew). http://www.vanleer.org.il/econsoc/ pdf/1_research_polilcy8.pdf Avia Spivak (2010). !e Non-Bank Credit Crisis in Israel in the Beginning of 2009. Van Leer Institute, In printing. (in Hebrew) Moshe Yustman and Avia Spivak (2006). !e State Budget Following the War. Paper No. 2 in the THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 105 series: Controversies in Economics. (in Hebrew).. http://www.vanleer.org.il/Data/UploadedFiles/ EconSoc/1/dispute2.pdf Avi Ben Bassat and Momi Dahan (2006). !e Knesset, the Government and the Budgetary Process in Israel. !e Israeli Democratic Institute. (in Hebrew). http://www.idi.org.il/Parliament/2007/ Pages/2007_56/56_B/Parliament_Issue_56_b. aspx 106 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Asia’s Rise: Implications for Israel 7 and the Jewish People 1. China and India on the Way to face enormous internal and external challenges. Great Power Status !eir long-term military and economic power, their ability to absorb great external shocks and Since the early 1990s, a steady shift of global power their willingness to help protect global peace has been in the making. It is the slowly accelerating and the environment and project a meaningful transfer of power from West to East, particularly message to the world are not at all guaranteed. In China and more recently and slowly India. Many fact, both countries are likely to encounter major observers agree today that this trend will transform internal and external bumps in the road, but no both countries – certainly China and probably country has ever become a great power without India – into great powers in less than a generation, overcoming obstacles. with regional dominance and major continental So far the doubters have been wrong and Ben- or global influence, economically, politically and Gurion proved right. Of course he did not ignore militarily. that China, in his time, was enduring self-imposed Very few predicted the rise of China and India isolation, foreign embargoes, political turmoil and before and even after World War II. One of the ruinous economic experiments while India was few and most remarkable among them was Israel’s stagnating politically and economically. But he was founding father David Ben-Gurion. In 1963 he not impressed by the daily events. He tried to look predicted with some anticipation that before long further ahead and understand the deeper forces the two Asian states – China and India – would that were driving these oldest, surviving and proud become the greatest powers in the world. civilizations. He knew that they remembered their To this day quite a few Western and Russian great past and would struggle to reclaim their commentators follow Asia’s rise with an air place in history, temporarily lost to the West. In th th of disbelief, dismay or disapproval. !ey have fact this loss was very recent. In the 17 and 18 correctly assessed that both China and India still centuries, China was a great power, and India a very important power. Cultural and religious immobility THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 107 and an inability to incorporate modern science Energy is the determinant driver of greater and technology, but also foreign intervention and relations and interdependence between Asia and internal strife then sapped their independence and the Middle East in the 21st century, although it is economic strength. But the memory of a recent, not the only driver. Asian countries heavily depend more glorious past explains both China’s and India’s on the continuous supply of energy to sustain their sense of identity and the strong “will to power,” booming economies and growing populations to use Nietzsche’s term, that can be found in the and to alleviate energy poverty among the rural elites of both countries and in large parts of their masses. !e resulting surging demand in Asia populations. In contrast, the “will to power” seems for oil and gas, conjugated with the immense to have waned in Europe and it may be weakening hydrocarbon resources of Mideast countries and in the United States. the geographical proximity of the two regions, have made Asia and the Middle East close energy trade partners. Today, the Asia-Pacific region is 2/3 of Asian 2. Asia Moves into the destination of over two-thirds of the Mideast countries' oil the Middle East producers’ total petroleum exports. Conversely, no imports come less than two-thirds of Asian countries’ oil imports from the Middle Asia’s rise and its global come from the Middle East, and most projections East, and implications are well known indicate that Asian import dependence on the Asian and widely discussed. Much region will rise to eighty percent by 2030. dependence less known are the economic Non-energy trade and investment constitute another on the region and geo-political implications significant driver of growing interdependence will rise to for the Middle East. To the between the two regions, although to a lesser 80% by 2030 term ‘Middle East’ which they disregard as Eurocentric, extent than the energy factor. Today about a third Chinese and Indians prefer of the Middle East’s total imports come from Asia, the designation ‘West Asia,’ in accordance with and over half of its non-energy exports are destined the geographical proximity of the region to the to Asia. Asia has thus become the Middle East’s Asian subcontinent and long-standing historical first export destination, far ahead of Europe and ties between the two sides. !e growing relations North America. Trade between the two regions is observed today between Asia and the Middle East likely to continue expanding over the next decade, are revisiting and reinvigorating ancient ties. In the especially once the Gulf Cooperation Council recent period, owing to the rise of China and India concludes bilateral free trade agreements with the as global economic powers and to the remarkable Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China and growth of other Asian economies, links between India. Investment flows between the two regions are Asia and the Middle East have expanded to an also expected to continue expanding. For Middle unprecedented extent. East investors, Asian countries, with their high and 108 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE sustained economic growth, cheap skilled workforce on the US. !erefore, Asian and Middle Eastern and dynamic markets, have become more attractive countries have greatly increased bilateral naval investment destinations than the West. cooperation in recent years. India in particular, has undertaken on several occasions joint naval Human flows constitute the third major driver exercises with Persian Gulf states, including Iran, of increasing interdependence between the two Oman and Qatar. Besides, reports have emerged regions. !ey include, first and foremost, the recently that China might be considering setting up massive presence and continuing arrival of Asian military bases and deploying forces in the Middle workers in the Persian Gulf, who began migrating East over the next decade, as a means of protecting to the region after the 1973 oil price increase gave its access to strategic resources, especially oil, rise to a massive investment program by Gulf oil- and substantial Chinese producing states, resulting in growing demand for investments in the region. foreign labor. Today, the total population of Asian China may workers in the Persian Gulf is estimated at around Asia already has some form consider setting 8.5 million, nearly half of them Indians. Asia and the of military presence in the up military Gulf countries are increasingly interdependent; the Middle East, as Asian states bases and economy and society of several Gulf countries could contribute personnel to deploying forces no longer function without their Asian labor force. the UN peacekeeping in the Middle forces operating in the East over the Concurrently with the development of economic region. Today, no less than next decade links, Asian countries have endeavored to advance eight Asian-Pacific states to protect mutual understanding and closer political and (Bangladesh, Brunei, its access diplomatic cooperation with their western China, India, Indonesia, to strategic neighbors. Senior Asian government o#cials have South Korea, Malaysia and resources, stepped up o#cial visits to Mideast countries over Nepal) contribute to the especially oil the last decade, and the governments of the two UNIFIL force operating on regions have signed major bilateral agreements the Israel-Lebanon border, in fields ranging from business development and providing over 5,000 peacekeepers out of a total of education to the fight against terrorism and drug about 12,000. China likes to show its contingent in tra#cking. Southern Lebanon on Chinese domestic television, perhaps with the double aim of demonstrating Ensuring the safety of the Indian Ocean’s sea-lanes China’s contribution to world peace but also is critical to both Asia and the Middle East because of making the Chinese people familiar with the the bulk of oil and gas supplies as well as trade flow Chinese army’s presence in remote countries. through these lanes. For the time being the safety of the sea lanes is protected by the US Navy, but Asia’s economic, military and diplomatic clout Asian countries do not wish to depend completely in the Middle East has increased considerably in THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 109 recent years, and Asia’s strategic footprint in the 3. !e Stakes in Asia are High Middle East is likely to grow stronger. Looking at this trend, various long-term scenarios are possible For Israel and the Jewish people the stakes in Asia depending on whether the current reduction of are high. Sixty years ago, and within no more than America’s commitments and military presence twenty-six months, three of the world’s oldest in the Middle East turns out to be permanent, living civilizations went through extreme changes: or whether America will again project its power India reclaimed its independence and statehood in into the Middle East in order to compete with 1947, Israel did so in 1948, and the new Communist Asia for control of the region’s precious energy China came to be in 1949, after many years of civil resources. In the first case, it does not take an strife and a partial conquest by Japan. All three had exuberant fantasy to imagine strong cultural roots and similar historic claims. a very di"erent Middle East !e leaders of India and China, Gandhi, Nehru, In contrast in twenty or thirty years. and Mao Zedong, were absorbed by their national to Western !e West’s military presence struggles and not interested in similarities with and Islamic and its capacity, or will, to others. For India and China, the emergence of tiny countries, China intervene might then be a Israel was irrelevant. However, for Israel the re- and India carry thing of the past, its economic emergence of these two great Asian civilizations no negative influence greatly reduced was potentially of enormous consequence. historic and and its political power to religious Both China and India carry no negative historic and a"ect events non-existent baggage with religious baggage with regard to Jews, in contrast in the case of a disunited regard to Jews to the Western and Islamic worlds. !ey knew no Europe and declining in the indigenous anti-Semitism, and when anti-Jewish case of the United States. In or anti-Zionist statements were made in the 20th that case China’s and India’s need to protect their century, they were imports from the West, Nazi vital energy imports, their immense investments Germany, Soviet Russia, the Muslim world or Japan. and their millions of citizens working in the !e absence of age-old prejudices in the main region will draw them into the Middle East both Asian nations could o"er Israel and the Jews new politically and militarily, whether they like it or opportunities, even if these nations are not always not. !e safety and stability of the oil-producing aware of the contributions of Judaic civilization. Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, will be a !e most obvious of these opportunities, and the national security priority for both China and India. best known, are economic. Israel, like all export- !is might change again but only if and when new oriented countries, and Jewish businessmen all pervasive energy technologies or major new oil over the world, benefit from Asia’s rapid economic producers outside the Middle East emerge, and growth. Many Jews and Israelis report that they are this could take another ten to twenty years. well received and respected in Asia, particularly in 110 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE China. But there is perhaps another, less material However, this could change in the next decades. It advantage, more valuable for Israel than for any is likely that China’s and India’s aspirations to global other country. Whether the Arab-Israeli conflict is power status will lead them to seek greater influence solved or at least greatly reduced and stabilized in and responsibility in resolving conflicts and challenges twenty or thirty years, or even if the confrontation in the Middle East. China’s activism in the UN Security continues, Israel may draw a long-term existential Council on the Iranian nuclear issue is notorious. benefit from a newly powerful Asia that has no Although it has voted in favor of a number of Security history of hostility to Jews – as long as Israel’s Council resolutions sanctioning Iran, China has also conflict with its direct neighbors does not threaten consistently worked to water them down and has vital Asian interests in the oil-producing Gulf succeeded to do so on several occasions. countries. In private, the language In comparison to the West, China and India relate of China and India At the present di"erently not only to Jews, but also to Islam and towards Israel is more moment, the Middle East, and this too could have positive understanding than there is no consequences for Israel, as will be shown later. If in public. When they evidence that Middle Eastern countries have increasingly to rely established diplomatic, Asian states on Asia’s giants for long-term protection they will economic and even aspire to play also tend to listen to these giants. military relations with a central role For the time being, and despite a noticeable Israel they signaled that in Arab-Israeli improvement of bilateral relations with Israel since they regarded Israel’s diplomacy or the early 1990s, Asian voting records and speeches presence in the Middle in other Middle at the United Nations – especially at the General East as legitimate and Eastern Issues Assembly – on issues related to the Arab-Israeli permanent. !ey have conflict remain resolutely in favor of the Arab repeated this position in states. !is pattern results to a large extent from various, quiet ways, particularly in their discussions the concerns of Asian states not to impair close with Iran. Chinese representatives informed Jewish ties and strategic interests with the Arab world, and Israeli contacts that they have conveyed to rather than real interest in or concern with the Iran their country’s disapproval of the threats Arab-Israeli conflict. In fact, notwithstanding their Iran’s leaders routinely utter against Israel. !ere is participation in UN peacekeeping forces in the a considerable reservoir of interest and sympathy Middle East, there is little evidence at the moment for Israel and the Jewish people among some of that Asian states aspire to play a central role in Asia’s, particularly China’s, elites and in segments Arab-Israeli diplomacy or in other Middle Eastern of the general public, although this sympathy issues. does not often find public political expression. But China’s and India’s growing power could lead THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 111 them to express their views more explicitly and of the Chinese Republic, endorsed the Zionist assume a much more active role in stabilizing a program and praised the Jewish contribution to future Middle East. Friendly relations with Israel, in world civilization. parallel to friendly relations with the Muslim states, No negative references to Judaism or Zionism can could also become a subtle way for China and be found in the early statements of Mao Zedong. India to convey to their partners that great powers In January 1950 Israel became the first country in decide their own policies and do not depend on the Middle East to recognize the People’s Republic outsiders, not even their oil of China, which some Chinese still remember. An Indian suppliers. During the years During the Korean War (1950-53) the United minister: when the Hindu nationalist States demanded that Israel cease all contacts with great powers party, the BJP, governed India, China. !is was the first episode in an unending decide their a government member once history of tensions between the United States own policies gave this reply when he was and Israel caused by policy divergences regarding and do not asked at a press conference China. From then on until the end of the Mao era depend on how his country could a"ord (1976), China pursued a policy of strident public outsiders, not to improve its relations with hostility to Israel, though Mao Zedong told Henry even their oil Israel when it depended so Kissinger in 1974 that he felt no antipathy toward suppliers much on Arab oil. Jews, on the contrary, and that he also encouraged all American steps to stop Soviet expansionism in the Middle East – which implicitly meant military 4. China, the Jewish People and Israel support for Israel. In 1978-79, long before China Small Jewish communities, the best known one and Israel established diplomatic relations, a secret in Kaifeng, lived in imperial China for centuries military relationship developed between the two without encountering any hostility. In the 20th countries, both of which were under serious Soviet century close to thirty thousand European Jews military threat. Israel shipped large quantities of found refuge and safe haven in Shanghai and weapons to China after it had performed poorly Harbin. Chinese intellectuals became aware of in a military confrontation with Vietnam, a Soviet a world-wide Jewish people only in the late 19th ally. century, and also learned that this people was In 1992, and in a complete break with the past, often mistreated. China established diplomatic relations with Israel. A feeling of a#nity partly based on shared su"ering !ere were many reasons for this change. One has played a certain role in the relations between was Chinese appreciation of the influence of the China and the Jews and Israel. In 1920, Sun Yatsen, American Jewish community, and the hope that the greatly respected founder and first president Jews might have some understanding for China and help ease the always-di#cult relations between 112 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE China and the United States. High-level bilateral these American induced crises is that Israel’s value visits followed at a brisk pace, and economic, to China has been greatly reduced. Until 2000 agricultural and military links grew. Reports began Israel was an important, highly respected country to appear in the Chinese media describing Israel’s for China, a strategic player, probably one of the achievements, for example in agriculture, with twenty most important countries. It has dropped obvious sympathy, and several Chinese universities from this list. China is likely to regard Israel now as started or expanded study programs on Jewish and an American vassal of dubious reliability. !e net Israeli history and civilization. advantage that America added to its global geo- strategic position by prohibiting Israeli military sales to China was very small. But the damage that 5. !e Intervention of the United Israel su"ered in its long- States term, global geo-strategic US capacity position is substantial. !e to exert !e relations between Israel and China came to a Chinese never believed pressure on precipitous halt in 2000 when massive American that Israel was in serious Israel has pressure forced Israel to break a legally binding existential danger. !ey reduced contract to sell China an Israeli-developed airborne have even less incentive significantly early warning system, the Phalcon. !e deal was now to take into the value of six years old, not a secret to anybody, and nearly account Israel’s concerns, Israel to China completed. !is provoked the most serious crisis particularly in regard to in Sino-Israeli relations thus far. In 2004 a similar the Iranian danger. incident occurred, though on a smaller scale, when the United States forced Israel to renege on Israel had no choice in this matter. America’s political the overhaul of Israeli-made aerial drones China and military support is indispensable to Israel and had sent back, again in line with a legally binding preserving the close links between the two nations contract. No American components were involved must override many other considerations; nothing in any of these Israeli technologies. !e American that China could say or do today could replace even explanation was that these systems could a"ect the a part of America’s support. America’s intention military balance in the Far East. China, of course, was not to harm Israel, but it was indi"erent to found other ways to satisfy its needs, and its anger Israel’s long-term strategic needs in Asia because with Israel dissipated after a few years. Relations it viewed Israel’s future only in the Middle Eastern with China are growing again in nearly all fields, context. but Israel is now obliged to ask for US approval of American concerns about Israeli defense links with all high-tech exports to China, whether military China were most certainly genuine though for much or not – a constraint that has not been imposed more complex reasons than those o#cially given. on any other sovereign country. !e end e"ect of China’s emergence as an economic powerhouse THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 113 has created a new, unusual situation with which in the Far East by squeezing America’s “Achilles the United States does not yet know how to cope. heel” in the Middle East. Some Chinese actions In China, the United States faces for the first time in the Middle East were “tit-for-tat” policies, for in its modern history a big challenger that draws example when China, more than ten years ago, its primary strength not from military power as sold Iran anti-ship missiles after the United States Nazi Germany, imperialist Japan and the Soviet had approved new weapons sales to Taiwan, or in Union did, but from many of the same virtues that October 2010 when China participated in aerial have made America powerful: the hard work of a maneuvers with the Turkish air force over Turkish large, diligent population, infrastructure expansion territory shortly after it had protested against joint and technology, large foreign investments, and American-South Korean maneuvers in the Far East international trade and near Chinese territory. currency interventions. But China feels Iran’s energy resources are important, but Western America still tends to look threatened commentators who believe that they are the only at the Chinese challenge by the chain reason for China’s opposition to Western demands from a military angle and of American of Iran are mistaken. In the last few years China reacts by strengthening its military bases has carried out a fast and massive policy reversal own military posture and its surrounding it to reduce its energy dependence on Iran. Two or defense and other links with and by the US more years ago approximately fourteen percent of China’s neighbors, in pursuit support China’s energy imports came from Iran. Today it is of traditional geo-strategic of Taiwan only approximately five to six percent. !ere could principles. !e Chinese in be no clearer indication that oil imports are not turn feel threatened by the the only, and perhaps not even the main reason for United States, particularly by the string of military Chinese links with Iran. bases surrounding China and by American support for Taiwan, and they seek countervailing powers. To sum up, Israel paid a double price as a result of !is is one of the main reasons why China wants the Sino-American rivalry. It had to cut its strategic to maintain good relations with Iran and opposes defense links with China, and it has to face Iranian really e"ective, biting sanctions against it: Iran is threats the world has failed to curb so far, partly America’s most resolute opponent; it is its “Achilles because of Chinese opposition. !at said, it is not heel” and poses the most comprehensive threat certain that the strong military links between China to America’s strategic interests in the Middle East and Israel would have continued or expanded for and beyond. China cannot and does not wish to many more years. China or Israel might have had challenge American military power in the Far East reasons to reduce their military links, but this by direct means. !erefore, the Chinese sometimes did not have to occur in 2000, and not through a react to what they regard as American provocation humiliating public rupture and breach of contract that damaged the interests of both countries. 114 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 6. India, the Jewish People and China in the same years, came to believe that Israel improving relations with Israel would not only enhance India’s standing vis-à-vis the American Jewish communities have lived and flourished in Jewish community, but also, in turn, help advance various parts of India for probably two thousand links with the US. !e Indians, like the Chinese, years. India and China are the only civilizations were and are still convinced that the American where Jews lived for centuries without encountering Jewish lobby has major influence on the foreign any hostility from the native population. !e policy decisions of Washington. !is perception founding fathers of modern India, Gandhi and was also the result of the active diplomacy engaged Nehru, knew that Jews had often been persecuted early on by several American Jewish organizations, in other parts of the world, but in stark contrast to for example the American China’s Sun Yatsen, they rejected the Jews’ right of Jewish Committee (AJC), !e Indians, return to their ancient homeland to become again the American Israel like the a sovereign nation. In 1921, one year after Sun Public A"airs Committee Chinese, hold Yatsen applauded the Zionist program, Gandhi (AIPAC) and B’nai B’rith the view that rejected it: “!e Jews cannot receive sovereign International, to promote the American- rights in a place which has been held for centuries links between India and Jewish lobby has by Muslim powers by right of religious conquest.” Israel, including valuable major influence !e hostility maintained by India toward the support provided to the on the foreign Jewish state during the entire Cold War period formation of an Indian policy decisions was not merely the result of Gandhi’s and Nehru’s lobby in the US. !e joint of Washington ideological opposition to Zionism. It sprang from cooperation between durable national interests and constraints, in American Jewish and particular those related to India’s close links with Indian lobbies played a role in obtaining the Bush the Soviet Union and with the Muslim world, as administration’s approval for Israel’s sale of the well as from India’s concern about its own sizeable Phalcon aerial reconnaissance plane to India – Muslim domestic population. India and Israel probably seen by the Americans as part of their established full diplomatic ties in January 1992, just response to a perceived “Chinese threat.” !e a few days after China normalized its relations with Jewish and Israeli lobby in the US has also worked Israel. actively for congressional support of the US-India civilian nuclear agreement, a bilateral accord on !e imperative for India to build sound relations full civil nuclear cooperation approved in 2008. with the US, the sole superpower in the new international system, was one of the key factors – As in the case of China, Israel’s military links if not the most determinant – that pushed India with India, including cooperation between air toward normalization with Israel. India, just like forces, was the beginning, and for a long time, the THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 115 core of the Indo-Israeli relationship. Since 1992, pawn in a global anti-Chinese strategy orchestrated Indian purchases of Israeli weapons systems and by the United States. technologies have considerably increased, and in !e strong hostility of the Indian left to close early 2009, Israel overtook Russia as India’s first ties with the Jewish state (especially in the military supplier. Indo-Israeli military cooperation military sphere) has been perceived as potentially has gone far beyond a buyer-supplier relationship, threatening to Indo-Israeli cooperation. And yet, with major joint research and development the Indian left has not succeeded in bringing about ventures initiated by Indian and Israeli defense any far-reaching changes in India’s Israel policy, and firms, and extensive bilateral cooperation in its political weight has significantly decreased since intelligence and counter-terrorism. the last 2009 Indian general elections. However, However, numerous the Indian left’s posture on Israel continues to Indo-Israeli constraints continue to permeate the views of the Indian intellectual military weigh on the development of elites, which have very little knowledge of Israel cooperation Indo-Israeli ties, from issues or Judaism, if any. !is is a major problem that a encompasses of bureaucracy and claims of much broader Jewish and Israeli cultural policy in joint R&D corruption to dissimilarities India should try to address. A considerable part of ventures and in business culture and the Indian intelligentsia has bought the one-sided extensive competition from foreign Arab narrative of the expulsion of the Palestinians bilateral companies. !e United States by Israel, but chooses to ignore the flight and cooperation regard Israel’s defense and expulsion of nearly all Jews from Arab lands. Still, in intelligence security cooperation with the sympathy conveyed to the Palestinians does and counter- India as positive, in contrast not express itself in hostility to or criticism of Jews terrorism to its hostility to Israel’s past in general, including the large majority of Indian military links with China. Jews who left for Israel. And even Israel’s most vocal Nevertheless, according to critics do not call for its elimination, as is the case in some reports, there is American opposition to some radical leftist circles in the West. In India, in some planned arms deals between India and contrast particularly to Europe, new anti-Zionism Israel. !e United States may see the military is not the bastard child of old anti-Semitism, and cooperation between India and Israel as a means therefore it might be easier to modify. Weighing to balance China’s rise in Asia. !is is still far from more significantly on India’s Israel policy are India’s a tri-partite strategic alliance against China. India sizeable Muslim population and its close ties with remains deeply allergic to any idea of being used by the Arab and Muslim world, as we shall show in the one great power against another major power, and following section. the very last thing Israel wishes is to see its relations Indian ties with Iran present a challenge to US with China further damaged by appearing as a and Israeli interests. It is true that in accordance 116 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE with its consistent support for the principle of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan were very bad, and its non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, the Indian relations with Pakistan not good either. Although government opposes Iran’s nuclear program and India is very aware of Israeli and US concerns about voted in favor of UN resolutions sanctioning Iran, its own national security concerns are more Tehran. Yet, a series of strategic interests makes compelling as could be expected. India unwilling to sever ties with Iran. As in the case of China, Iran is an important supplier of oil and gas to India, but even more than for China, this is not the only reason for India’s close links with Iran. 7. !e Trouble with Islam In early 2003, India and Iran signed a declaration It is useful to reflect on the historic origin of Jewish, proclaiming a “strategic partnership” between the Indian and Chinese relations with Islam because two countries. Only two months later, for the first this origin can still time, India and Iran conducted joint naval exercises explain current problems. in the Persian Gulf. Military ties between the two When the waves of Arab India's countries have since expanded, including India’s horsemen streamed out rapprochement training of Iranian military personnel, bilateral of the Arabian Peninsula with Iran is exchanges of defense and intelligence o#cials and, to conquer the world, seen by India according to reports, minor Indian weapons sales they changed history as a powerful to Iran. profoundly, not least counterweight India’s rapprochement with Iran largely relates to the history of the Jewish to Pakistan and India’s acute concern with neighboring Pakistan. !e people, India and China. the upsurge in deepening of Indo-Iranian ties serves as a powerful In the 7th century, almost Sunni extremist counterweight to Pakistan and to the upsurge in the entire Middle East and groups through Sunni Islamic extremist groups throughout South North Africa, where more South Asia Asia. To a certain extent, by moving closer to Iran the than ninety percent of all Indian leadership has also sought to express India’s Jews lived, fell under Arab domination. During the resentment that the US has never fully supported same years the Arabs conquered and Islamized for it against Pakistan and has even developed close the first time an important province of India which security ties with Islamabad. !e US forces are set to was followed by centuries of Muslim invasions. begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in July 2011, A century later, in 751, an Arab army defeated and India fears that the “Af-Pak mess” – as some and destroyed the Chinese army in present-day Indians call the interrelated troubles in Afghanistan Kirgizstan which led to the collapse of Chinese and Pakistan – will worsen after this withdrawal. If rule in Central Asia and the Islamization of this this is the case, India is likely to move even closer vast region. In the following centuries Arabs and to Iran particularly as Iran’s past relations with a Central Asian Muslims kept immigrating to China. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 117 !us, there is a certain historic commonality China and finance Arab and Muslim libraries, when between Jews, Indians and Chinese which has rarely possible also in China’s universities. In fact, some been noticed. !e Arabs defeated or occupied all Chinese experts and o#cials view these activities three in the same early centuries and hence, Islam with great unease, are not sure how to cope with has become a part of their own history and not them and admit privately that they regard Islam as only an external threat as in the case of Europe. China’s biggest internal threat. In public the issue is !e precise impact of Islam varied greatly between considered to be too delicate to be mentioned. these nations. India’s Muslims represent fifteen to !us, the trouble with Islam has a"ected and twenty percent of its total population. India has continues to a"ect the relations between the found a stable and mostly peaceful modus vivendi Jews, Israel, India and China. From the time of the between all its religions, Balfour Declaration, Asian nations have looked Chinese but the trouble with Indian at Zionist and Israeli aspirations with an eye on experts and Kashmir and the uncertain their Muslim minorities and sometimes on other o$cials admit political future of Pakistan Muslim nations – for reasons of “realpolitik” only. privately that remain sources of deep China supported Zionism in the early 1920s, but they regard concern. in 1947 yielded to internal Muslim and foreign Islam as In China, the Muslim Arab pressure and abstained in the United China's biggest presence was for many Nations’ vote to partition Palestine into a Jewish internal threat centuries unproblematic and an Arab state. !e leaders of India were from and had virtually no impact the 1920s to 1992 entirely hostile to Zionism and on Chinese civilization. !is Israel, in deference to Muslim and Arab wishes. In changed in the mid- and late 18th century when 1947 India was the only democratic country that there were violent, severely suppressed Muslim voted with all Muslim countries against the UN rebellions against Chinese rule, repeated in several resolution. parts of China in the 19th century. Today Muslims Widely spread among the Indian political represent only two to three percent of the total establishment was, and partly still is, a perception population, but many of them are Turkic-speaking that India has to be careful when dealing with Israel, Uyghurs who live in China’s largest, strategically lest the parties in power lose Muslim votes and the important province that shares a common border country jeopardizes its strategic interests in Arab with Muslim Central Asia and Pakistan. !e and Muslim states. It must also be said, however, incidents that occurred in this region not long ago that this argument lost some of its credibility when show that China has trouble with Muslim Uyghur it became clear to India in the early 1990s that even nationalism and separatism. Saudi Arabia and its most enthusiastic support for Arab causes did perhaps other oil exporters use their enormous not, and will not a"ect Arab support for their sister- financial resources to build new mosques all over Muslim country, Pakistan, whenever it clashes with 118 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE India. !e argument became even weaker when In the very long term, the situation might be less the bulk of India’s Muslims barely reacted to the negative for Israel because there are additional establishment of diplomatic relations between elements in this complex equation. It was said India and Israel. !ere were a few protests but no earlier that in comparison to the West, China and major violence. Today however, there are new India relate di"erently not only to Jews, but to fears that a segment of India’s Muslim population Muslims as well and that this could be a long-term could be drawn to Muslim fundamentalism and advantage to Israel and the Jewish people. !is terrorism coming from outside India, and that di"erence is the direct outcome of the early history a too visible and cordial relationship with Israel mentioned at the beginning of this section. China could hasten such developments. and India never invaded the Middle East, but were !e trouble and concern with Islam can still be a once invaded by Arabs. !e Asian giants have no dominant factor disturbing, delaying or preventing !e 2008 colonial past in the Middle the development of closer, publicly visible ties Islamic terrorist East, and thus, Arabs and between Israel and Asia’s main nations. On the attacks in Iranians do not have the other hand, many in China and India, including Mumbai same resentment against particularly their defense establishments, also enraged the them they harbor against recognize that they share a common enemy with public opinion the West. Conversely, Israel, namely Muslim extremism and terrorism. in India !ey appreciate Israel’s competence and success China and India harbor no in fighting these threats as well as Israel’s military guilt feelings with regard power and defense technologies. In fact, there is to the Muslim world. !ey may have tensions with close, but mostly secret cooperation between their own Muslims, and these have in fact already Israel and both India and China to prevent and gotten in the way of their relations with Israel, combat Muslim terrorism. !e current situation but these tensions have had, in the last years, no is fluid and the future wide open. Repeated and known negative e"ects on their links with the Arabs growing Muslim violence in India or China would and Iranians. During the 1992 communal riots in certainly enrage public opinion in these countries Ahmedabad, India, two thousand Muslims were as it did in India after the 2008 terrorist attacks in killed, and during the violence between Han Chinese Mumbai. It could push both countries into closer and Muslims in Urumqi in China in 2009 hundreds cooperation with Israel. For the time being, due to of people were killed or injured, and afterwards the trouble with Islam, Israel gains something but more than ten Muslim rioters were sentenced to loses more. Currently the balance for Israel seems death and executed. None of these events triggered negative. !is situation is unlikely to change soon particular protests in Arab countries or Iran, and did and in major ways unless there is a lasting break- not threaten links between the two Asian giants and through in the Middle East peace process. the Middle East. !is is very interesting because it THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 119 indicates a di"erent kind of relationship compared 8. Jewish and Israeli Outreach to to that between the West and the Muslim world. Asia: !e Need for a Long-Term China and India want the best possible relations with the Muslim world, but have less need than Vision the West to appease Arab, Iranian or other Muslim If Israel and the Jewish people want to ensure that grievances at the expense of others. Moreover, the Asia’s growing power in the Middle East will have “Holy Places” of Christians, Muslims and Jews are of more positive than negative e"ects for Israel in the no interest to their majorities. long term, they must become more proactive in As much as China and India seek friendly relations Asia now, without expecting, as they usually do, with the nations of the Middle East, the latter want quick political or economic dividends. If there is a and need such relations even dividend it will come only in the longer term and !e Jewish more. !ey listen to, and are as result of greater Jewish and Israeli attention to and Israeli likely to consult more and Asia, a better understanding of Jewish and Israeli mind-set of the more with China and India. history by Asia’s elites, and of more regular and 20th Century !e need of Middle Eastern sustained Jewish and Israeli e"orts to contact and was almost regimes for steady, long-term befriend Asia’s future leaders. Also, the Jewish exclusively friends who want stability in people and Israel must o"er Asia more than focused on this critical region, in addition common memories of past struggles or solidarity Europe and to or in replacement of the against common enemies, and they are able to America, and West, is likely to strengthen. o"er more, particularly in the fields of science and technology. ignored Asia In the meantime, Israel and the Jewish people have various !e Jewish and Israeli mind-set of the 20th century means to influence Asian was almost exclusively focused on Europe and policies and reduce or neutralize Muslim hostility. America and ignored Asia. !ere were objective One is to seek and strengthen friendly contacts with reasons for this: the strong Jewish communities in the Muslims of these countries, invite them to Israel the West compared to the minuscule number of and better inform them about the realities of Israel Jews in the main Asian countries, and the overriding and the Middle East. Israel is actively pursuing this importance of Israel’s political, economic and policy already with the Muslims of India. Another military links with the West compared to the way is to make the main Diaspora communities support that Asian countries have given to Israel’s more aware of the growing importance of Asia for enemies over many years. But there is also a deeper Israel. !e aim is to mobilize their cooperation in problem with the dominant Jewish and Israeli explaining to China and India that they may have perceptions of the world. !e Israeli Asia scholar something to gain in the wider world when they do Prof. Yitzhak Shichor paraphrased this perception not yield to pressures against Israel. gap by inverting a poem of the 12th century Spanish 120 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Jewish poet Yehuda Halevi. !e poet’s famous history and economic development is growing “Zionist” line says “My heart is in the East [Israel] year by year. but I live in the far West [Spain].” In contrast, the Yet in many other contexts the old mind-set has Jewish and Israeli lament has for too long been not disappeared, and Asia remains marginal. Jewish the opposite: “My heart is in the West and I live and Israeli media give little time and space to Asian [unfortunately] in the East!” Until the late 1980s a"airs. Asia has never been important enough for the Jewish people and Israel barely understood Israel’s media to send permanent correspondents Asia and with some exceptions, did not try to reach to the continent, in contrast to the Israeli and out to the continent. !e exhortations of Ben- Jewish media presence in the West. !e great Gurion mentioned at the beginning had long been American Jewish fiction writers of the 20th century forgotten, except by a small number of exceptional, and their Israeli colleagues dedicated Israeli diplomats who nearly all came who are known across the !e Jewish from the defense establishment and not from the world, including in China people and ranks of Israel’s Foreign Ministry which was then and India, have written Israel need completely oriented towards the West. Apart from many famous novels, but a long-term the defense establishment’s secret links with China none with an Asian theme vision of their and India before the establishment of diplomatic or background, as far as relationship relations, Asia was completely marginal to Jewish we could ascertain, with with Asia's and Israeli consciousness. only one exception. It is rising powers Since China and India established diplomatic A.B. Yehoshua’s Return relations with Israel in 1992, more Jews and Israelis from India (in the English have begun to show interest in Asia. Political translation, Open Heart). Another sign of Asia’s and other relations began to grow, tourism to marginality appeared at the opening of the Israel Asia expanded, books and articles about Asian Museum in Jerusalem in summer 2010, after many countries have appeared more frequently and Asian years of repairs. !e only section not yet completed restaurants have opened in Israel. Israeli youth was the Asian art wing. Art is the most accessible keep visiting Asia in large numbers, particularly and attractive way to connect with remote but India and Nepal. Today, Jewish and Israeli politicians important civilizations, and this is why many art are very aware of Asia’s importance, and Israel’s museums of the West are currently refurbishing, diplomatic representations in China and India exhibiting and enriching their Asian art collections have grown larger. Also, business enterprises, – but not so Israel. In general, the Israeli public has non-governmental organizations and individuals very few opportunities to become familiar inside are reinforcing links with China or India, and Israel with Chinese, Indian or other Asian cultures, the number of Israeli students who study Asian be it the visual arts, literature, music, theater, film languages, mainly Mandarin Chinese, or Asian or dance. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 121 Asian understanding of Israel and the Jewish people, and knowledge of their history, culture and religion, is equally limited, in spite of considerable interest that can be found in many places. !e ignorance is particularly noticeable in India although Indians have unlimited access to information. But while Asia can a"ord to be ignorant of Israel and the Jews, the latter cannot a"ord to be ignorant of Asia. What they need is a long-term vision of their relationship with Asia’s rising powers. !is vision should underpin a large, sustained and more generously funded outreach to Asia, focusing on cultural policies and information exchanges, science and technology policy, Judaism and Israel studies in Asia, Asian studies in Israel and more. Israel can and should not do this alone, the Jewish people across the world has to participate in this e"ort. It will take time because long years of mutual neglect cannot be overcome quickly. Also, it is clear that politics and national interests will ultimately be the main drivers of Chinese and Indian policies, but this does not mean that Israel and the Jewish people cannot do more to a"ect these policies. !e relative Jewish and Israeli neglect of Asia, and their fixation on America and Europe has an additional reason not mentioned above. Asia is the future, and Jews and Israelis have rarely been able to think of, or prepare for a long-term future. !ey plan for the next day, the next year, as if there is no long-term future. Asia is a test. Can the Jews and Israel this time, envisage and prepare for the long term? 122 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Latin American 8 Jewry Today Introductory Remarks of the inner-di"erentiation within the continent. A Region Under Change Neo-liberal citizenship regimes coexist with corporatist political forms, popular mobilization Latin American societies are going through deep and plebiscitary democracy. In Euro-American transformations. !e region currently experiences societies such as Argentine and Uruguay, where an increasingly expansive force of democracy massive immigration changed the socio-ethnic amidst global cycles of economic crisis and social landscape, democratic transitions have been conflict. !e emergence of a new political and characterized by increasing civic participation and cultural climate of pluralism follows a di"erent path pluralization of social and political actors in the in Latin America in the framework of globalization public sphere. In Indo-American societies, where processes and their multifaceted and contradictory immigration was limited and did not alter the character. Collective identities are exposed to original socio-ethnic demographic composition, redefinitions and recreations. Elective bonds the bigger the polity, as in Brazil and Mexico, the coexist with ethnic and/or religious a#liations, greater the tendency of hegemonic sectors to linking individuals and communities in diverse substitute grassroots democratic participation and sometimes opposing ways. !e recognition with sectorial representation (Avni, 1988; Bokser of di"erences, the politics of identity and the Liwerant, 2008). emphasis on heterogeneity act as a substratum Economic liberalization o"ers a disparate picture that widens the scope of civil society and the in which structures have been stabilized even public sphere. Simultaneously, new expressions of though the region has not reached a generalized essentialism and primordial a#rmations may act macroeconomic health. Latin America is as sources of exclusion. undergoing a process of incomplete integration Changes follow non-linear trends. When noting into international economic systems. Growing commonalities that cut across the di"erent Latin inequality, therefore, points to the fact that the America societies, one should be certainly aware search for inclusive political forms parallels strong THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 123 and persistent trends of exclusion, thus hindering (DellaPergola, 2010). During the 1970s, violence democracy itself (Kacowitz, 2009; CEPAL, 2009). and authoritarianism determined regional and New opportunities for collective recognition international emigration as well as political exile, and new interactions between majorities and especially in the Southern Cone. A decade later, re- minorities are on the move and di"erent social democratization was a pull factor for Jewish exiles movements attract vast middle-class sectors, and some others to return to their homelands. But including Jews, as civic participants in the national in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the intertwined arena (Sznajder, 2011). complex of economic crises and security problems pushed Jews again into a global international However, the demands for participation lead migration pattern. Since then, this tendency has not only to the interplay of grown, though intermittently. !e most recent !ough a"ected recognition and inclusion, but phases of accelerated globalization processes have by economic also to resistance, protest and witnessed significant increases in the number of and political diluting actions. !e fact that, Latin American migrants. crises, Argentina in spite of the consolidation of democratic regimes, since !ough a"ected by acute economic and political still hosts the crises, Argentina still hosts the largest Jewish largest Jewish 1993 fifteen presidents have not been able to complete population in Latin America (slightly over 180,000). population in !e demographic profiles of Jewish populations Latin America their term of o#ce illustrates 1 in Mexico and Brazil have been more stable due (slightly over this phenomenon (Bokser Liwerant, 2011). to more traditional socio-demographic patterns 180,000) and the influx of Jews from other parts of Latin America. Panama remains the only country in Latin America that has significantly increased its Jewish To Dwell in Transitions population since 1970. More recently, Venezuelan Jews have emigrated as a consequence of Hugo Although Latin American Jewry has historically Chavez’s populist regime. grown out of large-scale immigration, during the last decades migration patterns have tended Globalization and economic liberalization have led to be outwards: from Latin America to other to increasing disparities within Jewish communities, destinations, mainly the United States, Israel, and reflecting a strong polarization. Globalization, to a lesser extent countries in Western Europe – however, is twofold. On the one hand, it generated primarily Spain – and Canada (Bokser Liwerant, a middle class crisis, the impoverishment and DellaPergola and Senkman, 2010). unemployment of professionals, a decline of manufacturers who had enjoyed the protection !e number of Jews in Latin America dropped of autarchic industrial policies, a deterioration of from 514,000 in the 1970s to 390,000 in 2010 the economic standing of various sectors of the 124 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Latin American communities, and an increase of central focal referent – Israel – coexists with new the actual poverty levels among the lower classes. relational networks. !e classic Zionist paradigm On the other hand, segments of higher-to-middle that marked Jewish life in the region acquires classes succeeded in incorporating themselves new meanings in various ways, depending on the into the most dynamic venues and advantageous specific communities, their visions and even the positions for tapping into transnational commerce, age group. At present, Israel is not necessarily a high technology, services, the sciences, academia preferred destination for migrants. Today, when and its institutions, and the financial sectors. asked about their preferences, 27% of Argentine Among the professional and financial trends, the Jews preferred Spain as their destination, only 24% presence of younger generations is more frequent, chose Israel and 14% the United States. Israel's thus conditioning in sensitive ways the future centrality, indeed, remains in other realms of composition of Latin American communities collective identity and of a cultural nature. (Bokser Liwerant, DellaPergola and Senkman, With regard to the United 2010). States, host of one of At present, As in other regions, Jewish migration patterns the most important Israel is not involving Latin American countries have not groups of Jewish migrants necessarily been unidirectional. !ere have been known from Latin America, a preferred instances of return migration, of repeated and the question of the role destination for circular migration, and the presence of bi-local that these communities migrants or multi-local migrants. All of these features have might conceivably play contributed to the di"usion of transnational within the context of the networks and identities thus expanding the Latin interrelations between Latinos and the US general American Jewish world. Migration has lead to society takes on growing interest. !e quantitative new centers of relocation for Jewish life. New and political importance of the Latino presence in places of residence reveal variations of collective the US renders these questions highly relevant for behavior in Latin America societies. !ey also both the Jewish collective and for America at large reveal new dynamics of material and symbolic (JPPPI, Annual Assessment, 2008). interconnections, reinforcing the global conditions of Jewish life. !us, Latin American Jews show a sustained Jewish Organized Life- pluralization of options in a context of increased Signs of New Patterns interactions with societies in the region and Societies, regimes and national narratives that with the Jewish world. Multiple identification highlighted homogeneity are now open to global and institutional options have emerged. It is processes that recognize diversity and its expression likely that the historical configuration with one THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 125 in the public sphere. Traditional Jewish communal to face a heavy financial burden due to the exodus patterns have also experienced significant changes of important community sectors. As an extended as new spaces emerge in response to increasingly tendency in the region, organized communities are integrated communities. !e continent that overwhelmingly acting as providers of Jewish social has been able to establish powerful and original services under new pressure to help those in need patterns of Jewish life and community organization (Roniger, 2009, 2011). is now experiencing new patterns of collective life Concurrently, a global trend in most Latin America that influence the rich array of communal spaces, Jewish communities has been the transition associations and institutions developed in almost amidst voluntary leadership towards younger all the central fields of Jewish life. and more pragmatic generations. !e number of While widening the professionals in charge of organized Jewish life has In Argentina domains in which also increased. In this context of interacting and and Brazil, collective energies are varied factors, there are also changes in gender roles. the rate of channeled, Argentina In the past, women participated in the organized out-marriage and Brazil represent Jewish world in female-exclusive spheres; today exceeds 45%, centrifugal organizational this kind of activism has extended to other social while in Mexico models, while Mexico and community frameworks--communal, social and Venezuela epitomizes a more and human rights NGOs - or in more individual it remains centralized model with ways, within public sectors, academia and scientific below 10% a recognizable structural communities. profile. A high institutional A new sign of change in the region is the growing density characterizes this rate of out-marriage in the last decades, which “community of communities,” in which average certainly impacts the role of women, family and a#liation remains at 80%. Contrastingly, the Jewish communities. Nevertheless, cross-national average a#liation rate has diminished to 50% in variations remain present. In Argentina and Brazil, Argentina, a reflection of a community weakened this rate surpasses 45%, while in Mexico and by economic crises and a failure of Jewish leadership Venezuela it remains below 10%. (DellaPergola and Lerner, 1995; Goldstein, 2008; Bokser Liwerant, 2009). !e cultural domain of collective life reflects both current di"erentiating and unifying trends Although crises and the scarcity of resources have among Latin American Jewish communities. a"ected Jewish institutions, they have also led to !e educational system has been changing their diverse restructuration. A common thread has dramatically, expressing both religious and been the incorporation of new modalities for social cultural developments. !e historical, political and support. In Venezuela, where the Jewish community ideological currents that gave birth to the original once numbered 35,000, Jewish institutions continue 126 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE di"erentiation of schools have been replaced by !e Globalization of the new defining criteria, mainly communitarian Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and religious. While acknowledging the fact that the rise in religious education is a product of the !e globalization of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict incidence of social policies on communal cultural reveals a complex interplay of international, regional, profiles - as expressed in the support o"ered national and local processes. New meanings are through scholarship - it must also be noted that constructed in Latin America as a result of the this process reflects an increase in religiosity convergence of processes such as criticism of the and observance which constitutes part of the Israeli government’s dealing with the conflict, of meaningful changes currently sweeping through Israel as a whole - beyond particular governments, Jewish life (Avni, Bokser Liwerant and Fainstein, the framing of an anti-Zionist rhetoric with anti- 2011). Semitic content, and the interactions of the above One may underscore the spreading of the Orthodox with a historically pronounced anti-Americanism. Jewish movement such as Shas and Chabad as part Both the prevalence of a transnational religious consciousness, which of historically complex Young Jews interacts in complex ways with the historical relations with the United engage outside Zionist ethno-national attachment centered on States and the widespread the traditional Israel. !ey expand as frameworks of belonging dissatisfaction with the a$liation and social behavior, and espouse a moral code that e"ects of globalization frameworks, expresses the search for unresolved expectations have opened new e.g. in virtual through the organized community. opportunities for radical communities, movements in the region, As part of the Jewish world on the move, the the creation of including the neo-populist younger generations are encountering new milieus new minyanim ones of Venezuela, by increasingly utilizing technologies provided by an and cultural Bolivia, Ecuador and expanding information society: electronic networks; activities social, on-line media; cyberspace links, and forum Nicaragua. Some of these chats among Jews; communication between governments have led and within Jewish communities for information, discursive campaigns and practices de-legitimizing education, cultural enrichment and anti-defamation the State of Israel. Symbolic violence against Israel purposes. !us, as in other regions of the Jewish runs across di"erent national scenarios. world, there are new modalities of engagement It allowed for the extension of political groups of young Jews outside the traditional a#liation and publics that adhered to narratives and frameworks, which are expressed in such virtual political positions. It has certainly pushed further communities, the creation of new minyanim, various the deterioration of relations between Israel and cultural activities, and Jewish learning. Venezuela and its closeness with Iran. Despite THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 127 the fact that Israel has increased its economic !e process involving the problematic social exchanges with the region, as evidenced by the representation of Israel has acquired a new signing of free-trade agreements between Israel shared pattern in Latin America, although with and Mexico and with Mercosur (the Southern regional variations. In early December 2010, Common Market), one more factor that needs to several Latin American countries announced be considered is the presence of large Palestinian their formal recognition of a Palestinian state communities in several Latin American countries, based on the 1967 borders prior to the Six-Day including Chile, Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras and War. Brazil took the initiative and was followed Peru. !e largest of these communities in the shortly after by Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador. region – and the largest outside the Middle East Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas – resides in Chile, surpassing 400,000 members. In laid the cornerstone for a Palestinian embassy in contrast, the Jewish population is much smaller Brasilia on December 31, 2010. On January 28, (20,600 in 2009). 2011 Paraguay also announced its recognition Venezuelan President Hugo of Palestine. Earlier in January, Chile and Peru stated that they would recognize a Palestinian !e largest Chávez has tried to establish himself as a global player state but that its borders had to be mutually Palestinian agreed upon by both sides of the conflict. community and a regional leader in a multi-polar international Chile’s position followed strong pressure from (over 400,000) its powerful Palestinian community, as revealed outside the system. As part of this strategy, he has developed by motions introduced in the Senate and the Middle East Chamber of Deputies at the end of 2010, and resides in Chile regional oil initiatives – such as Petrocaribe and Petrosur in top-level meetings in the presidential palace – geared to providing oil with Palestinian diplomats, representatives of through “soft” financing and bankrolling. While the Arab League in Chile, and members of the Chávez’s government has declared his unwillingness to Palestinian communities and congressional foster xenophobic hatred, its political dynamic and its groups. However, its declaration makes no formal 2 polarizing rhetoric (coupled with a strategic alignment reference to the 1967 borders. against the United States) have reinforced chauvinistic Colombia has said it would not recognize a attitudes identifying Jews as allies of the “anti-people” Palestinian state until a mutual peace-agreement is and of enemy countries. Parallel discursive processes reached. Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama and practices de-legitimizing the State of Israel (i.e., and Belize have not indicated their positions. the government calling Israel a racist and genocidal Several Latin American countries had already state) have been followed by local anti-Semitic acts recognized a Palestinian state prior to the most (e.g. vandalizing the Tiferet Israel Sephardic synagogue recent lobbying e"orts, including Cuba, Venezuela in Caracas on January 31, 2009) (Roniger, 2009 ). (2009), Nicaragua and Costa Rica (2008). 128 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Diplomatic relationships between the Palestinian national and local activists. It is still premature Authority and Latin American governments to assess the impact that the wave of crises and continue to grow. Although cancelled due to changes in the Arab world may have on the Israeli- Egypt’s turmoil, Latin American leaders and ten Palestinian conflict as well as Israel’s position in the Arab heads of state were planning to participate region. in the !ird Summit of Latin American-Arab Countries (ASPA) aimed at enhancing economic relations, planned for February 12-16, 2011 in Focus on Brazil Lima, Peru. !ere was a suspected risk that this summit could provide Palestinian leadership with Brazilian Jews: facing challenges to Jewish the opportunity to seek further unilateral and continuity symbolic recognition of a Palestinian state by other In recent years, Brazil Israeli Latin American countries. has emerged as a leading diplomats: power, with increasing A sweeping symbolic tide of recognition in Latin “the wave of influence in key global America and elsewhere might exert political support for issues. Brazil is a multi- pressure on other regions. In this sense, according to Palestine from ethnic and multiracial Israeli diplomatic sources, what began as a “wave of Latin America society, with a strong support for Palestine from Latin America may turn may turn African component. It into a global, unstoppable diplomatic tsunami.”3 An into a global, is the largest and most undercurrent may form, however, if newly elected unstoppable populous country in South Brazilian President Dilma Roussef continues to diplomatic America and according distance Brazil from her predecessor’s attempt tsunami” to the 2010 census, its to play a leading role in the Middle East. Mexico, population numbers following a real and discursive rapprochement 185,712,713 people.4 with its northern neighbor, has not pronounced !e new president, Dilma itself on this issue. Rousse" (Workers’ Party), was elected with 56% of the vote on October 31, 2010, succeeding Luiz !e globalization of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Inácio Lula da Silva. Rousse" is the first woman will likely continue if certain conditions are present, ever to rule Brazil. such as the continued stagnation of the peace process, the eruption of new cycles of violence in !e Jewish minority represents less than 0.1% the Middle East, the strengthening of Islamic radical of the Brazilian population, and is estimated to groups in countries currently in political turmoil, include 100,000 Jews living mainly in São Paulo, Rio the presence of neo-populist governments in the de Janeiro, and Rio Grande do Sul. !e country is region and the particular interaction between predominantly Roman Catholic, but the Church strategic decisions of international, regional, now competes with evangelical denominations THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 129 and religions of African origin. Evangelical processes, they have attained significant social denominations, which have recorded the fastest mobility. rates of growth and have increasing power in the Culture, identity and a national myth of origin national and states’ parliaments, support Israel. have favored the integration of Jews. A dominant In the area known as the ideology of “whiteness” together with religious “Triple Border,” at the syncretism may explain the cultural traits and While convergence of Paraguay, codes that facilitated social interaction. contemporary Argentina, and Brazil, a Brazilian Jews !e successful social integration of Jews is also growing Muslim presence do not face evident at the personal level. Jews epitomize the is evident. But although restrictions future-oriented outlook of the open society, less the Jewish population of regarding attached to collective historical memory and the area is small, there are their identity, legitimizing ethnic diversity (Sorj, 1997). !e no conflicts between the Judaism is not closeness between the public and the private two groups.5 necessarily their spheres has also a"ected the search for identity, priority Brazil is South America’s limiting the quest for roots among Jews. !us, leading economic power while contemporary Brazilian Jews do not face and showed remarkable restrictions regarding their identity, Judaism is not powers of recovery in the recent economic necessarily their priority. crisis. Nevertheless, crime and a highly unequal Unlike the situation in other Latin American income distribution continue to remain pressing countries, the absence of a nation-state invested problems. with a strong civic and nationalist ideology that demands undivided loyalties reduced identity Processes of Inclusion and Integration conflicts for Jews while favoring, in subtle ways, processes of assimilation. In their socio-economic and cultural integration, Anti-Semitism has not been acute, but the 1990s Jews in Brazil have had a singular path in the Latin saw a wave of anti-Semitic and racist attacks led American scene, where integration is accompanied by neo-Nazi skinheads who profaned Jewish by endemic low levels of anti-Semitism. Analysts cemeteries and sprayed gra#ti on synagogues and have pointed to socio-political, economic, and schools. !ey also targeted blacks, homosexuals, cultural factors to account for these outcomes. and nordestinos (Brazilians from the north-eastern Jews are represented in a wide spectrum of region of the country). industrial, financial, professional, scientific, Several processes in the last two decades— and artistic activities and, as a result of high including the 1988 new “citizen constitution,” the economic growth and intense modernization actions of NGOs and international foundations, 130 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE and strong pressure by an organized black the leading fund raisers for the State of Israel in movement—have favored the new values of cultural Latin America, and a partner of the Federation, recognition and racial di"erentiation associated which plays a significant role in supporting and with multiculturalism. For Brazilian Jews, a “soft” promoting various activities and Jewish education. version of multiculturalism o"ers the possibility Jewish newspapers such as Tribuna Judaíca or of living in a society in which ethnic di"erences Semana Judaíca in São Paulo are also worth noting acquire legislative legitimation and the constitution (Goldstein, 2008). !e Jewish Communal School, forbids the promotion or discrimination of an established space in the past, has undergone individuals due to color, race, gender, or religion. significant changes since the 1990s. While no longer a center of communal life, the rate of attendance at Jewish day schools is still 71%. Jewish Communal Life in Brazil in an Organized Jewish World Jewish institutions face the important challenge !e Jewish Amidst intense social interactions and centripetal of transmitting Jewish communal forces, the Jewish community in Brazil established values and traditions even system in Brazil and consolidated a solid institutional system. Jewish though intermarriage has maintained life in Brazil is decentralized and characterized rates between Jews and strong by intermittent and sometimes circumstantial non-Jews are rising, solidarity ties membership in organized frameworks. !e recently reaching 45%. communal system, however, has maintained strong Synagogue attendance is solidarity ties and has persistently supported Jewish not frequent. schools, Zionism, the State of Israel, and the fight against anti-Semitism. !e Conservative movement has created a legitimate non-Orthodox alternative, but Centralist trends are not prominent in Jewish membership in these communities to a great communal organization since its federal structure, extent varies in accord with personal and life as well as the distribution of the Jewish population cycle circumstances and is often undertaken in across di"erent states, hinder attempts to order to fulfill specific ritual functions (such as coordinate communal life at the national level. Bar-Mitzvah). While Jews are full participants in !e São Paulo Jewish Federation, the umbrella the cultural, political, and social life of Brazil, the organization, has among its members several flimsy Jewish identity of the youth has evoked organizations that are well known all over the increasing concern. A central challenge for the world, like the Hebraica Community Center, one of Jewish community in Brazil is, thus, its continuity, the biggest in the world; the Albert Einstein Jewish due to the “centrifugal attraction of an open Hospital, the largest and best private hospital in society” (Falbel, 2001). Latin America; and its Keren Hayesod, among THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 131 Globalization has had a twofold impact on conflict, its struggle to become a permanent education and Jewish religious life. Orthodox member of the United Nations Security Council groups such as Chabad, especially in São Paulo, and its championship of the BRIC alliance,6 are all have capitalized on the new needs of the Jewish factors driving this active international policy. community. A growing and visible process of On December 3, 2010, during Lula’s last month teshuva points to the need of many Jews for in power, Brazil became the first Latin American collective belonging and identification (Topel, country to grant unilateral recognition to a 2005). But globalization is also evident in the Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967 growing preference for languages and technical borders. !e recognition of the Palestinian state training oriented toward the United States and the was supported by Mercosur, the South American developed world. trade bloc that includes most countries in the region (except for Venezuela). !e recognition !e De-Legitimization of Israel followed years of contacts between Lula and senior Palestinians representatives.7 !is action !e ramifications of the was also the culmination of Brazilian promises to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Orthodox Israeli-Palestinian conflict to extend such recognition at the proper time groups such have reached foreign (i.e., when peace negotiations failed, as stated as Chabad, policy and public opinion by the Foreign Ministry). Lula’s successor, especially in in Brazil, which has favored President Dilma Rousse", has unexpectedly São Paulo, have a complex political and distanced herself from this policy while seeking capitalized on symbolic process: the a closer relationship with the United States and the new needs de-legitimization of the condemning states that violate human rights, of the Jewish State of Israel and the thus signaling her reservations about the Iranian community in legitimization of Palestine. regime. Brazil An intersection of symbolic discourses, De-legitimization of Israel is also widening and economic interests, and deepening in the press, the social electronic political practices, such as the Workers’ Party’s networks, and the universities. Most newspapers highly critical stance on Israel during the eight-year obtain their information from sources that favor term of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his the Palestinians. University students are also rapprochement with President Ahmadinejad of Iran a"ected by the absence of non-partisan debate and may be seen as important elements in this process. of Jewish student centers. Most of the Jews prefer Lula’s attempt to consolidate Brazil’s regional not to act or socialize together as a group. !us power and its world role, as evident in Brazil’s o"er they can minimize the objections and questioning to play a mediating role in the Israeli-Palestinian concerning the controversies related to Israel. 132 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE In response, the Jewish Federation of São Paulo has historically shaping the Jewish condition developed two new programs, Lifnei Ha-Mashber worldwide, particularly in Latin America (Bokser and Esser Dakot, to promote discussions by and DellaPergola, 2010: 5). Simultaneously, experts on crucial Middle East issues, as well as to primordial referents such as religion or ethnicity prepare Jewish students to conduct more balanced have emerged with an unexpected strength, and rigorous discussions at university campuses delineating a tense oscillation between the (Milkewitz, 2010). universal and the particular. Latin America faces the challenge of strengthening connections between diversity, civility and institutionalism, Conclusions and Possible Scenarios between multiculturalism and democracy, between national and Processes of globalization have not created a transnational identities. !e Brazilian harmonious integrated global world and have !e Brazilian case shows case shows not generated homogenous practices and social that, in the struggle that in the spheres. !ey instead reproduce multidimensional, against anti-Semitism, struggle against multifaceted and contradictory characteristics. democratic structures anti-Semitism, !us, in Latin American Jewish life we witness the can work as barriers democratic combination of two processes: the recovery of a against intolerance. structures historic trajectory of ethnic and ethno-national A specific identity, can work as diasporas and the pluralization of new migrant culture, and mythology barriers against populations. can reject intolerant intolerance Migration had a very substantial quantitative and positions based on race qualitative impact on the original communities and or ethnicity, but myths of not a lesser impact on the reconstitution of a Latin origin and national culture o"er no guarantees American Jewish presence in other continents. It for the future (Sorj, 2008: 169). is a matter of changing numbers but also of the National values are historical products and, selective cultural, ideological, socioeconomic and as such, susceptible to change under the demographic impact of those who left and of influence of new social contexts. !e impact of those who stayed or arrived. globalization (including the globalization of the Both Latin America and the Jewish world Israeli-Palestinian conflict), of individualization express a dual condition. New and complex in modern urban life, of poverty, of frustrated patterns of interaction and network building expectations, may erode dominant beliefs and underscore the complex dynamics of encounters come to be exploited by new political movements and articulations that transcend national and charismatic leaders, including anti-Israel and frontiers. !is has been a characteristic process, anti-Semitic ones. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 133 !e process of de-legitimizing the State of Israel will most likely continue if the peace process remains stagnant and if violence again erupts in the region. !e current crisis and changes that are impacting the Arab world will certainly influence the place and image of Israel both in the region as well as in Latin America. 134 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Endnotes 1. !ese presidents were: Fernando de la Rúa, in direct encounters culminated in the first visit to Argentina (2001); Fernando Collor de Mello, in Brazil Palestine by a Brazilian head of state in March 2010. (1992), Hernán Siles Suazo (1985), Gonzalo Sánchez On this occasion, Lula also visited Israel. During Lula’s de Lozada (2003) and Carlos Mesa (2005), in Bolivia; visit to Ramallah, the Brazilian president inaugurated Abdalá Bucarán (1997), Jamil Mahuad (1999) and ‘Brazil Street’ outside the Palestinian Authority’s Lucio Gutiérrez (2005), in Ecuador; Jorge Serrano Elías headquarters. (1993), in Guatemala; Jean-Bertrand Aristide (2004), in Haití; Raúl Cubas Grau (1999), in Paraguay; Alberto Fujimori (2000), in Perú; Joaquín Balaguer (1994), in República Dominicana; Carlos Andrés Pérez (1993), in Venezuela and Manuel Zelaya (2009) in Honduras. 2. On the growing recognition of Palestine by states around the world, see also: http://blog.foreignpolicy. com/posts/2010/12/03/brazil_recognizes_ palestinian_state. http://www.worldbulletin.net/ news_detail.php?id=67040 3. Information obtained mainly from the following electronic sources: www.adl.org/main_International_ A"airs/Recognition-of-Palestinian-State.htmwww. globalpost.com/dispatch/chile/101229/palestinian- state-latin-america-recognition. 4. Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. www. ibge.gov.br/english. !e World Fact Book mentions a higher number: 201,103,330. www.cia.gov/library/ publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html 5. www.globalpost.com/dispatch/chile/101229/ palestinian-state-latin-america-recognition 6. BRIC is a bloc formed by countries that are newly advanced economies. It includes Brazil, Russia, India and China. BRIC has also been characterized as a political club. 7. Direct meetings began in 2005 and continued in 2009, with visits by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Brazil. Senior Palestinian figures such as Nabil Sha’ath (Fatah’s head of International Relations Commission) also met the Brazilian president. !ese THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 135 Bibliography in the Jewish World, Leiden Boston, Brill Editorial House, pp. 81-108. Bokser Liwerant, Judit and Eliezer Ben Rafael Avni, Haim (1988), “Jews in Latin America: the (2011), “Klal Ysrael Today. Unity and Diversity: Contemporary Jewish Dimension," in AMILAT Reflextions on Europe and Latin America in a (coord.), Judaica Latinoamericana [I] (Jerusalem: Globalized World”, in Julius Schoeps et al. A Road Magnes), pp 9-12. to Nowhere (European Jewry: a new Jewish Center Avni, Haim (2011), “40 años: el contexto histórico y in the Making?), Leiden and Boston, Brill Editorial desafíos a la investigación” (40 years: the historical House, context and research challenges) in Avni Haim, Cepal (2009), Panorama Social de América Judit Bokser Liwerant, Sergio DellaPergola, Margarit Latina. Documento informativo Comisión Bejarano, Leonardo Senkman (Edit.) (2011), Económica para América Latina y el Caribe Pertenencia y Alteridad. Judíos en/de América (Social Overview of Latin America. Economis Latina: cuarenta años de cambio (Belonging and Comission for Latin America and the Otherness: Jews in Latin America, 40 Years of Caribbean), Santiago de Chile. Change), Madrid, Iberoamericana.Verveurt, pp. 85-114. Della Pergola Sergio and Susana Lerner (1995), La Población Judía de México: perfil demográfico, Avni, Haim, Judit Bokser Liwerant and Daniel social y cultural( !e Jewish Population in Mexico: a Fainstein (2011), “Tres modelos de innovación demographic, social and cultural profile), Jerusalén- educativa en México: un análisis a tres voces” México, Universidad Hebrea de Jerusalén (!ree models of innovation in education in Mexico: a three voice analysis) in Avni Haim et al DellaPergola, Sergio (2008), “Jewish Autonomy and (ed) Pertenencia y Alteridad, Op. Cit., pp. 563-602. Dependency: Latin America in Global Perpsective” in Judit Bokser Liwerant et al (Edit) Identities in an Bokser Liwerant, Judit, Sergio DellaPergola and Era of Globalization, Op. Cit. pp 47-80. Leonardo Sekman (2010), Latin American Jews in a Transnational World, Redefining Experiences Della Pergola, Sergio (2011), “¿Cuántos Somos Hoy? and Identities on Four Continents (Jerusalem, !e Investigación y Narrativa sobre Población Judía en Hebrew University of Jerusalem). América Latina” (How Many are We? Research and Narrative on Jewish Population in Latin America”) Bokser Liwerant, Judit (2008), “Latin American in Haim Avni et al, Op. Cit., pp 305-340. Jewsih Identities: Past and Present Challenges. !e Mexican Case in Comparative Perspective in Judit Falbel, Nachman (2001), !e Double Edged Sword Bokser Liwerant et al (Edit) Identities in an Era of of Integration: !e Jewish Community of Brazil, Globalization and Multiculturalism. Latin America Jerusalem: Institute of the World Jewish Congress (Policy Study, 24). 136 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Goldstein, Yossi (2008), “Jewish Communal Life in Argentina and Brazil at the End of the 20th Century and the Beginning of the 21st: A Sociological Perspective” in Judit Bokser Liwerant et al , Identities in an Era of Globalization, Op. Cit., pp, 185-202. Grin, Mónica (2008), “Jews, Blacks and the Ambiguities of Multiculturalism in Brazil” in Judit Bokser Liwerant, et al, , Op. Cit., pp. 171-184. Kacowicz, Arie (2009), “Globalization, Poverty, and Inequality: !e Latin American Experience, 1982- 2007”, Annual Conference of the Association of International Studies, New York, February 14-18. Reyes, Giovanni (2001), “Principales teorías sobre desarrollo económico y social y su aplicación en América Latina y el Caribe”, Nómadas. Revista Crítica de Ciencias Sociales y Jurídicas, 4 (julio- septiembre de 2001): 1-33 Roniger, Luis (2009), Antisemitism, Real or Imagined? Chávez, Iran, Israel, and the Jews, Analysis of Current Trends in Antisemitism, No. 3, Jerusalem, !e Vidal Sasssoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, !e Hebrew University of Jerusalem, p 36. Roniger, Luis (2011), “Globalización, transnacionalización y las comunidades judías: el impacto del chavismo en Venezuela” (Globalization, transnationalism and the Jewsih communties: the impacto of Chavismo in venezuela”) in Avni Haim et al, Op. Cit., pp. 271-304. Sorj, Bernardo (2008), “Brazilian non anti-Semite sociability and Jewish Identity” in Judit Bokser Liwerant et al , Identities in an Era of Globalization Op..Cit., pp. 151-169. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 137 PART 3 Special In-depth Chapter: De-Legitimization of Israel and Israel Attachments Among Jewish Young Adults in North America and Europe De-Legitimization of Israel and Israel Attachments Among Jewish Young Adults in North America 9 and Europe Introduction for untenable Israeli policies.3 Jewish publications produced a flood of responses, ranging in tone !e subject of this chapter is the e"ect of the de- from angry defensiveness to expressions of concern legitimization of the State of Israel upon the Israel to breast-beating admissions of guilt.4 attachment of young Jews in the Diaspora. Many While Israel has been the object of de-legitimization among Israel’s supporters fear that Israel's case for many years, the de-legitimization of Israel has is being de-legitimized among highly educated, increased in quantum terms in the past decade. It is liberal populations-precisely the demographic fast becoming a growing trend progressing from the of most American Jews. !is anxiety is especially Middle East and the margins into the mainstream intense concerning young Jewish adults, who have of international discourse. Some observers perceive been described in some research1 as less attached an imaginary line stretching from the Durban to Israel than earlier generations. On college World Conference Against Racism in 2001, which campuses, anti-Israel programs, talks, rallies and was dedicated to the condemnation of Israel as a petition campaigns have attracted attention.2 racist state, to the Goldstone Report of 2009, which Some observers, both inside and outside the condemned Israel as guilty of crimes against humanity organized Jewish community, have assumed that in Gaza and continues to be featured on the UN this "Israel de-legitimization" is a primary factor agenda. A few days before this Annual Assessment in putatively decreasing support for Israel among went to press, Richard Goldstone published an younger American Jews. In a sharply-worded, article in the Washington Post, in which he much-discussed New York Review of Books piece, reconsidered some of the conclusions of the for example, journalism professor Peter Beinart Goldstone Report. He stressed that in contrast to declared, "Morally, American Zionism is in a Israel, which does its best to avoid civilian casualties downward spiral," and accused the organized and seriously investigates allegations regarding Jewish community of alienating young Jews by targeting of civilians and war crimes, Hamas commits adhering to a repressive policy of blind support war crimes and targets civilians deliberately and as THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 141 a matter of policy. !e Israeli leadership Abdullah Abdullah, emphasized yesterday that the enthusiastically embraced the article, but it is too early Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, which have started to tell what the practical results of the publication in Washington, are not a goal, but rather another of the article will be. Policy makers and research stage in the Palestinian struggle... He believes that institutes in Israel and the Diaspora have become Israel will not be dealt a knock-out defeat, but rather increasingly alarmed by this trend and are currently an accumulation of Palestinian achievements and devoting significant resources to documenting and struggles, as happened in South Africa, to isolate analyzing it as well as formulating adequate responses Israel, to tighten the noose on it, to threaten its to it and the threat that it represents.5 legitimacy, and to present it as a rebellious, racist state. '" [ Al-Hayat Al-Jadida , Sept. 9, 2010] !us, the main focus of this chapter is the critically important but little documented intersection of the However, in a contrasting twist, other materials Israel attachment and Jewish identity of young Jews utilized in campus rallies were not originally with the de-legitimization of Israel that is occurring anti-Israel in tone or intent, but were meant as on many university campuses in North America, constructive critiques of specific Israeli policies, often Western Europe and Latin America. We will start by suggested by Jewish peace organizations in Israel taking a short look at the concrete expressions of de- and the Diaspora, by human rights organizations in legitimization on college campuses and analyze their Europe, America, and Israel, and by academics and main thrust, arguments and appeal. We will then intellectuals in Israel and elsewhere. analyze the proximity of some manifestations of de- Nevertheless, while the motivations and concerns legitimization to contemporary liberal and globalizing may be grounded in a passionate engagement with discourses and practices and the implications of this Israel, the evidence and claims they produce are often proximity for today's young Jews. reframed by anti-Israel groups. !us, texts created by individuals and groups committed to Israel's survival are frequently appropriated and interwoven in Part I - De-legitimization on University campus events with the language of those who hope Campuses in North America ultimately to isolate and weaken Israel. and Europe Finally, in yet another complicating turn, veteran For over a decade an increasingly sophisticated surge Jewish organizations both in the United States and of anti-Israel material has been circulated on college Israel appear to treat these intermingled attacks campuses and in the cyberspace venues that are so as a unified whole. Not only the leaders of Jewish influential in young adult lives. Some unequivocally peace and human rights organizations but also anti-Israel rhetoric comes directly from overtly younger American Jewish religious leaders, public anti-Zionist sources, such as the following recent intellectuals, writers and artists (ages 22-40) who statement of Palestinian goals for the peace talks: feel deeply engaged with Israel often complain "!e PLO's representative in Lebanon, Ambassador that their critical concerns about Israeli policies 142 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE are silenced or marginalized by established Jewish Africa. !e goal of many implementers of this organizations. Indeed, some complain that although campaign is ostensibly to pressure Israel into more their vision of a democratic and just Jewish state is humane policies toward Palestinian populations. loyal to Zionist ideals, there is no room for them It is here that the confusion between supporters within the current Zionist establishment. of Israel who work to change Israeli policies and !ese twists and turns, interminglings and Israel de-legitimators often occurs, since Israel conflations of Israel's friends and enemies make it de-legitimators - especially in the United States - di#cult to determine, as the old joke goes, "Who's often present themselves as only opposing Israeli on first." !us, this essay declares as axiomatic occupation of the West Bank and incursions that the pained critiques leveled by supporters of into Gaza, not opposing the existence of Israel a Jewish State of Israel at specific Israeli policies itself. However, in many college environments which undermine their vision of that Jewish state Attempts to the campaign spreads must be distinguished from corrosive attacks de-legitimize into a broader form of on Israel which assume that Zionism is racism Israel on college Israel-phobia aimed at and that Israel has failed to earn its right to campuses are de-legitimizing the very exist. Since 1967, especially, Israel has been in a part of an concept of a Jewish state. problematic position insofar as it has ruled over international approximately two million Palestinians or more Although de-legitimization campaign to in the West Bank and Gaza. Without negating or on campuses is currently frame Israel as ignoring egregious provocations perpetrated by an acute phenomenon, a pariah state Israel's enemies, it is critical to acknowledge that the intellectual roots of on the model of many Palestinians have been without political this movement emerged South Africa and even civil rights insofar as no political or decades earlier, and legal permanent settlement has been achieved. had multiple sources, 6 !is situation has been the source for a great including Marxist discourse, Arab agitation against deal of criticism leveled at Israel from all of Israel, and the impact of Arab scholars working in these quarters. Nevertheless, this criticism, as the West, such as Edward Said the late Palestinian- indicated must be distinguished from denying American literary theorist and one of the founding Israel's right to exist and the right of the Jewish figures in postcolonial theory. Anti-Zionist tropes people to a nation state. were also produced by post-Zionists and other leftists among Israeli scholars (discussed below), Emergence of academic Israel hatred although those ideas took some time to penetrate Attempts to de-legitimize Israel on college the American consciousness. Another important campuses are part of an international campaign to stream contributing to anti-Israelism was Marxism frame Israel as a pariah state on the model of South in general, and most particularly trends generated THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 143 by the French intellectual left who, bereft at the absolved of their post-Shoah guilt and inhibition. realization that communism was not the salvation Who knows?," Wolin notes satirically, "Perhaps of the downtrodden, fixed on the "global struggle they were right all along to hate the Jews."7 of political Islam" as its new cause, beginning in the !e current international e"ort can be said to 1980s, as Pascal Bruckner explains in an important have become apparent during the First Durban new book: Conference in 2001, when the NGO Forum against ...the Palestinians, or rather the mythical idea that Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and people have formed of them, conjoin two elements Intolerance published a concluding statement that promote [hatred of the West]: they are poor calling for "a policy of complete and total isolation compared with a handful of colonizers, some of of Israel as an apartheid state" with "the imposition whom came from Europe, of mandatory and comprehensive sanctions and “the refocusing and they are mostly embargoes, the full cessation of all links... between on the Muslims, that is, members all states and Israel."8 Palestinian of a religion that part of the !"#$%&'()*+,-.-$/(0".%12,#*1/%13" struggle Left thinks is the spearhead enabled the of the disinherited. !at is Episodes ranging from random individual intellectual Left how this endless conflict comments to organized protests sometimes make to slide back became, between 1980 students feel that support for Israel is morally comfortably and 2000, and at a time suspect. In many locations, university o#cials into established when revolutionary have been caught between the demands of habits of anti- horizons were shrinking, American rights of free assembly and free speech, Semitism” the incontestable cause on one hand, and the potential for events in which of a certain orphaned an anti-Israel miasma pervades the environment, progressivism. on the other hand. Binghamton University, !is refocusing on the Palestinian struggle Columbia University, University of Chicago, combined "anti-imperialism, anti-Euro-centrism, University of Kentucky, University of Arkansas at liberation theology, and the !ird World Fayetteville, Tulane University, DePaul University, liberationism," comments political scientist University of Arizona, Hampshire College, Richard Wolin. Moreover, it enabled the University of California at Berkeley, University of intellectual left to slide back comfortably into California at San Diego, University of Michigan established habits of anti-Semitism, "to hate Jews at Dearborn, Emory University, Georgetown in good conscience. When Jews were weak and University, New York University, Swarthmore stateless, they (sometimes) won compassion. College, Temple University, University of Illinois, With Israelis now perceived as strong-as the Chicago, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, aggressors, even as the new Nazis-Europeans are University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, 144 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Defamation League (ADL) is this description of the University of Rochester, University of Southern way subsequent university events escalated the California at Los Angeles, University of Texas, and anti-Israel propaganda: University of Wisconsin at Madison are among "Within days, Olmert's critics in the Bay Area the many campuses at which anti-Israel episodes were touting the Chicago e"orts in promotional 9 have been reported in 2009 alone. materials for a similar e"ort they were organizing in A specific example illustrates the dynamic: At response to an upcoming Olmert speech hosted by the University of Chicago in January, 2009, an the World A"airs Council in San Francisco. During event entitled "Crisis in Gaza: !e U.S. Israel, the San Francisco event, 22 individuals were forcibly and Palestine" featured notorious anti-Israel removed and arrested after disrupting Olmert with polemicists, including former DePaul Prof. accusations of war crimes Norman Finkelstein and Prof. John Mearsheimer, and genocide. Nearby, co-author of the book !e Israel Lobby, which over 200 demonstrators 200 misstates and misquotes to "prove" that Zionists gathered at Union Square, demonstrators pressure America into maintaining policies that charging, "Olmert, Olmert, in San Francisco: go against its own best interests. !e event was you can't hide, we charge "Olmert, sponsored by the Muslim Students Association, you with genocide."...[at] Olmert, you the university's Center for Middle Eastern Tulane University in New can’t hide, we Studies (CMES), and the student chapter of Orleans, students wearing charge you with Amnesty International. During the lecture, those fake-bloodied clothes genocide…” who disliked Finkelstein and Mearsheimer's staged a sit-in outside the message did not disrupt the proceedings. Nor auditorium."11 were there disruptive demonstrations outside !e quiescence of the pro-Israel students, the lecture. In contrast, when Israeli Prime contrasted with the vigorous and disruptive Minister Ehud Olmert tried to speak at the advocacy of the anti-Israel students and outside University of Chicago in a lecture sponsored visitors is noteworthy and oft repeated. by its Harris School of Public Policy in the same year, about two dozen students and activists Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions disrupted his lecture with "profanities and calls Movement for his execution." Another 150 demonstrators Among other kinds of political pressure, activities gathered outside the hall with signs about that attempt to isolate Israel and Israelis within Israel's "genocide" in Gaza.10 the academic world hold a special place. Political Among the many dozens of anti-Israel and scientist Manfred Gerstenfeld documents the antisemitic activities on American college strategies and broad attacks on Israel and Israelis campuses documented in 2009 by the Anti- within academic and intellectual spheres of THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 145 endeavor, providing international examples. His the United States as long as it targets Israel list includes: proper."13 t Preventing Israeli academics from obtaining However, the BDS movement is losing this restraint grants; and on college campuses it indulges in overt anti- t Convincing academics not to visit Israel and Israel rhetoric. Campus advocates often target encouraging academic institutions to sever not only Israel's policies in Gaza and the occupied relations with Israeli academic institutions and territories but the very existence of Israel. In academics; Hampshire College, for example, the student who heads !e Student Alliance for Israel (the campus' t Blocking the publication of articles by Israeli only group of this sort) said, "We're called Nazis." academics; When she hung an Israel flag and Hillel posters t Refusing to review the work of Israeli scholars; from her dorm window, "campus o#cials told her they could not guarantee her safety."14 Journalist t Refusing to support students who want to Sue Fishko" reports that BDS campaigns on college study in Israel; campuses are now far more "organized" and t Blocking the tenure and promotion of "vitriolic" than in the past years, when "handfuls academics who have ties with Israel; expelling of anti-Israel students pass[ed] out photocopied Jewish organizations from the campus; flyers." !is past year, instead, campuses were visited t Supporting secret or concealed academic by "a high-tech traveling exhibit of Israel's separation boycotts. Divestment from entities that are barrier, complete with an embedded plasma TV presented as benefitting the settlements is a showing anti-Israel images."15 12 particularly American phenomenon. De-legitimizors and advocates of BDS make !e Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions extensive use of poetry, drama and other arts, such (BDS) movement has had an impact on as the play, "My name is Rachel Corrie." !eatre, college campuses, not so much in actually film, and the visual arts are used on campuses to accomplishing divestment as in making the de- stir powerful emotions on behalf of the Palestinian legitimization of Israel normative and pervasive. cause, because they have the great advantage One self-description defines the BDS movement that they can be extremely e"ective without the as aiming at "pressuring Israel to withdraw from necessity of arguing a factual case. land claimed by the Palestinians." O#cially, On occasion, attacks against Israel overflow and American BDS groups tend to limit themselves to include attacks against Jews. On the campus of the anti-settlements rather than anti-Israel targets, University of California at Irvine, Kenneth L. Marcus, because, as Hussein Ibish of the American Task former head of the US Department of Education's Force for Palestine puts it, the "movement has O#ce for Civil Rights said, "Jewish students were no chance of becoming mainstream inside 146 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE physically and verbally harassed…" and students Reinharz, "over his handling of Jimmy Carter's were confronted with violently hateful speech: visit to talk about Carter's book, Palestine: Peace !ey were called "dirty Jews" and "f..king Jews," told Not Apartheid, as well as the sudden dismantling to "go back to Russia" and "burn in hell"....[students in 2006 of a Palestinian [student] art exhibit from 17 urged] one another to "slaughter the Jews." One the university library," when it was revealed that Jewish was told, "Jewish students are the plague of Palestinian public relations professionals rather mankind" and "Jews should be finished o" in the than young students had created and promoted the ovens." exhibit. !is same small faculty group encouraged the 2010 petition O$cial responses and results to anti-Israel against Michael Oren one Jewish advocacy speaking at the Brandeis student was Commencement (which told: “Jews While Jewish students on campus report that they garnered a mere 125 should be feel personally intimidated as Jews and as supporters student signatures) and finished o" in of Israel by episodes such as those described above, subsequently boycotted the ovens” campus e"orts to de-legitimize Israel often do Oren's rapturously not achieve o#cial successes. In only one school, received commencement Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, address. did a BDS resolution pass in a non-binding 16 student body vote. University presidents and De-legitimization, Jews and the Holocaust administrators have spoken out against anti-Israel rhetoric and/or BDS e"orts at Harvard University Broadly speaking, by "de-legitimization" we mean (Summers, 2002), Columbia University (Bollinger, the mounting assertion, made both explicitly and 2002), Rutgers (McCormick, 2003), University of implicitly, in elite and popular circles in Western Pennsylvania (Rodin, 2002), Georgetown University countries, that the State of Israel is somehow not (De Gioa, 2006), University of Michigan (Deitch, like other states, in two distinct but related ways: 2006), and Brandeis University (Reinharz, 2007). its policies and conduct are uniquely unjustifiable However, in several instances their outspokenness and unjust, and it is itself, qua Jewish state, had practical negative consequences for their illegitimate. standing in their own universities. Many have Sometimes these accusations against Israel on speculated that one group of agitators pushing for American college campuses are supplied by the exit of Lawrence Summers from the presidency American academics. !ose of Arab origin, like at Harvard formed when he helped to squelch the late Columbia literature Professor Edward Said, the BDS e"ort there. Similarly, a small coterie of certainly have had wide influence. Today, however, Brandeis University anti-Israel faculty complained some of the most virulent spokespersons are of to !e Boston Globe about President Jehuda Jewish descent. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 147 Perhaps the most notorious is MIT Professor Historian Norman Finkelstein, until 2007 an Emeritus of Linguistics Noam Chomsky. Much assistant professor at DePaul University, aroused of Chomsky's commentary on Israel defies intense attention among European academics with paraphrase, and is best conveyed through his book !e Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the representative verbatim quotes: Exploitation of Jewish Su"ering (2000). !e radical "At one time Israel relied on cheap and easily left was delighted with his accusation that Jewish exploited Palestinian labor, but they have long ago leaders acquired power and money by exploiting been replaced by the miserable of the earth from the Holocaust for their own purposes. Asia, Europe and elsewhere ...I wrote decades ago Finkelstein's attack on the morality of Holocaust that those who call themselves "supporters of Israel" memory is particularly dangerous when linked are in reality supporters of to the enterprise of creating a moral equivalency its moral degeneration between the Israeli military and the Nazis, in the “the world and probably ultimate hands of academics like Sara Roy, a senior research was blind to destruction." scholar at the Harvard University Center for the selfishness Middle Eastern Studies. Roy, Gerstenfeld explains, of the Zionist Chomsky asserts that Hamas' "positions are more "exploits being a child of Holocaust survivors," state because of to promote this equivalency, claiming within Holocaust guilt” forthcoming than those of the U.S. and Israel," and the context of a Holocaust memorial lecture he advocates "selective that "Israeli soldiers openly admit to shooting 19 boycotts, carefully formulated" so that they do not Palestinian children for sport." reinforce "the harshest and most brutal policies De-legitimizing Jewish peoplehood and the toward the Palestinians." Zionist enterprise Finally, it must be noted that Chomsky's scorn for It is "now easier to express criticism towards Israel the United States surpasses that for Israel, because even when talking on U.S. campuses," Frank Barat America, in his eyes, has "a far worse record of notes approvingly in his interview with Ilan Pappé, 18 violence and terror than Israel." Israeli Professor of History at the University of One cluster of Israel de-legitimization is linked to Exeter in the U.K., and with Noam Chomsky.20 !e the accusation that Jews have exploited the de-legitimization of the State of Israel in its present Holocaust for their own purposes, which include configuration is ideologically and practically linked the creation of a Jewish racist state, Professor of to the growing de-legitimization of Zionism and History Norton Mezvinsky, at Central Connecticut the very concept of Jewish peoplehood in academic State University, for example, has suggested settings in America, Europe, and Israel beginning repeatedly that the world was blind to the selfishness in the late 1960s, roughly after the 1967 "Six Day of "the Zionist State" because of Holocaust guilt. War." As Ilan Troen notes, "One can delineate 148 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE in the academic literature when the regnant customs, and do not live contiguous to one another, paradigm shifted from pro-Israel… to critical or cannot constitute a nation-race. Tel Aviv University anti-Israel."21 In the late 1960s and 1970s, veteran historian Shlomo Sand, for example, argues in !e Zionist historian Benny Morris, and expecially Invention of the Jewish People, that the original "New Historian" Israeli scholars including Tom Jews of the Second Temple were never e"ectively Segev, Simha Flapan, Avi Shlaim, and his protégé, exiled, and that current populations of Jews in Ilan Pappé, promulgated a revised narrative of the Israel and around the world are descended from emergence of the Jewish state: rather than a tiny eclectic, multi-ethnic groups who retroactively band of brave Jewish pioneers fighting a David- imagined and reimagined and-Goliath-like battle against massive, united themselves into an ersatz Arab armies, Israel had from the beginning a peoplehood in response !e “new disproportionate level of military power, while to external stimuli.23 history” not the Arabs were destined to be defeated because Political scientist Oren only reversed they were divided by competitive in-fighting. In Yiftachel, in Land and the origins of their revisionist retelling, the Arab population Identity Politics in Israel/ the Jewish state, of Palestine did not voluntary flee from the Palestine,24 says Israelis but also posited newly declared Jewish state in 1948, but, instead, have deliberately used a “post-Zionist” putatively were largely forced out, a process which constructions of Jewish attitude toward Pappé labels "ethnic cleansing."22 ethnicity as a power tool Jewishness Pappé, a former Haifa University professor, has been of colonial oppression in called "the most hated Israeli in Israel," arguably their "creeping apartheid" over four decades. !ese surpassing Chomsky in his radical attitudes toward charges remove from the Jews the dignity of being the Israel-Palestine conundrum, supporting an authentic, historical people, and go far beyond economic and academic boycotts against Israel, Benedict Anderson's dictum that all "nations" are and ultimately a one-state solution. A superstar socially constructed, and "imagined." on the academic lecture circuit, Pappé speaks In its more extreme form, post-Zionism seems to frequently on American college campuses, and is tacitly agree with the concept that classical Zionism celebrated in many liberal-left political academic equals racism; that is, any formulation of Israel as circles. a "Jewish state" - rather than as one state among !e "new history" not only reversed the origins of many that happens to have many Jewish citizens as the Jewish state, but also posited a "post-Zionist" well as non-Jewish citizens-is not a legitimate mode attitude toward Jewishness. Broadly speaking, of statehood in contemporary times, and Zionism post-Zionism declares that Jewishness is not a true is an illegitimate basis for statehood. nationality, since Jews who have visibly di"erent A related trend in Israel de-legitimization is the ethnic origins, practice a bricolage of di"erent declaration that Zionism and Israel as a Jewish state THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 149 are failed enterprises, and that Israel's only hope is role in providing materials27 employed by Israel de- to be reconstituted as a secular, bi-national state, as legitimators in international settings. recommended by British Jewish historian Tony Judt. Michael Galchinsky's sympathetic study of Israeli As Steven Bayme notes, Judt argued that Israel’s human rights e"orts is particularly useful in very existence is anachronistic and mistaken, “since tracing the organizational and individual players; Israel was born as a nation-state in an era of post- Israeli human rights activism has been rising over 25 nationalism.” Charging that Israel has become a the past few decades, even as Diaspora Jewish "belligerently intolerant, faith-driven ethno-state," activism has been muted, Galchinsky asserts. Judt argued in 2003 that Human rights organizations such as HaMoked Israel should abandon its British-Jewish (Center for the Defense of the Individual), B'Tselem Jewishness and become a (Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in historian Tony secular state comprised of Judt: “Israel the Occupied Territories), PHR (Physicians for Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Human Rights-Israel), PCATI (Public Committee has become a and all of Jerusalem, with belligerently against Torture in Israel), RHR (Rabbis for Human Jews and Arabs living where Rights), ACRI (Association for Civil Rights in Israel), intolerant, 26 they wished throughout. and other Israeli domestic NGOs have utilized faith-driven Judt's ideas, frequently ethno-state” international law as "a crucial tool in their struggle articulated in !e New York for social justice," with the aim of directing "the tools Review of Books as well as in of international human rights and humanitarian volumes he authored, have had great cache in many law toward Israeli policies and practices." In an academic circles. e"ort "to advance Israeli democracy at home," Other Israeli sources-deliberate and they "engaged in public campaigns to expose" unwitting-for de-legitimizing Israel Israeli practices that allegedly violate human rights standards.28 Among their "numerous strategies As anyone who has spent time in Israel can to puncture the public's denial, apathy, lack of testify, Israel is a country in which the free empathy, and indi"erence in the face of high threat exchange of ideas-and opinions-often reaches perception," NGOs have created materials that cacophonous levels. Ironically, one of the most are easily transported and adapted for non-Israeli common accusations of Israel's de-legitimators audiences, including "sophisticated media appeals" inside and outside the country is that the Zionist such as B'Tselem's music video, "Eyes Wide Open," establishment in Israel and the Diaspora silences which received 36,000 hits its first year. 29 While in and squelches dissent. Just the opposite is true: the Israeli domestic context these activities are part because Israel does not impede the expression of of the democratic exchange of ideas and have their unconventional ideas, leftist Israeli academics and place, once taken out of that context they serve as human rights activists have played a significant "ammunition" in the de-legitimization battle. 150 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE De-legitimization of Israel Despite the scarcity of quantitative data30, the and its Implications for Jewish overall evidence is that significant numbers of Engagement in Europe young European Jews avoid identifying as Jews and appearing sympathetic to Israel on campuses. On !e de-legitimization of Israel now emerging in many campuses, holding rallies for Israel, solidarity North America has been present in Europe in what is events for the residents of Sderot and other Israeli arguably a more virulent form for the last thirty years. localities under fire, or demonstrating support for Four major interconnected developments In Europe Israeli military operations are either unthinkable that may have implications on local Jewries are: or, when they do occur, may jeopardize organizers’ t !e demographic increase of Muslim safety. !is situation is also populations in Europe; common in the workplace. Israel and Judaism are Significant t !e emergence of a dialectical cultural controversial and young numbers of movement with aspects of both post- Jews who work in large young European nationalism and nationalism; companies prefer not to Jews avoid t !e deteriorating image of Israel; address Israel and Jewish identifying as Jews and t !e resurgence of anti-Semitism. issues in professional environments. !is is appearing Taken together. these trends point to an increased arguably a major di"erence sympathetic polarization of European Jewry: a minority of more between Europe and to Israel on identified Jews have become socially and culturally the United States. Very campuses more connected to other Jews while a much few students dare to larger majority have become increasingly reluctant present the Israeli perspective at pro-Palestinian to a#liate with organizational Jewish life and for demonstrations, and few challenge exhibitions and whom Jewish identity and identification have petitions meant to advance the Palestinian cause. progressively diminished. As European Muslims are tenfold more numerous !e European de-legitimization campaign, which than European Jews, public opinion is highly critical has a voice on North American campuses, has of Israel and supportive of Palestinian and Islamist its historical roots in various European countries, activists, who are more self-confident, passionate but especially in the UK. Europe is the incubator and energetic than their Jewish counterparts. Public of academic and economic boycott initiatives, discourse is lost to Arab and anti-Israeli voices. intellectual anti-Zionism, Holocaust denial or With the recent development of new nationalistic revisionism, and "philosophical" anti-Judaism. All and anti-Islamic movements in Europe, public over Europe, Israel and Judaism are positioned as opinion seems to be in the middle of a shift. For controversial issues, and some universities have the moment, strong criticism of Islamic activism become bastions of anti-Israeli activism. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 151 works together with strong criticism of Jewish expected of them, and in order to suggest a ethno-religious activism, and public discourse significant ideological platform of compromise remain very critical of ethno-religious expressions that motivates Jewish activism without clashing of Israeli policy. with the pro-peace and pro-Palestinian ethos on Jewish "activism" on European campuses is many campuses, Jewish student leaders coined the mainly limited to providing kosher food and other slogan, “I am Zionist and pro-Palestinian.” !is is cultural services rather than political organizing worth mentioning because in a context in which th and engagement. !is doesn’t mean that Jewish Zionism is conflated with the 20 century sins students are altogether indi"erent to Jewish of colonialism, racism, Nazism, ethno-religious identity, but only a minority meets o"-campus in imperialism, ethnic cleansing, and anti-peace communal Jewish spaces, militarist activism, Jewish students increasingly while the bulk, averse reject the intellectual construct that support Palestinian to what it perceives as of a Jewish sovereign state necessitates denying and Islamist "self-segregation" with its the similar right of the Palestinians to national activists are tribal-like connotations, sovereignty. Israeli political positions are routinely more self- excuses itself from examined at the prestigious School of Oriental confident, 31 organized Jewish society. and African studies (SOAS) attached to the passionate and Today, Israeli film University of London. Even if the Israeli positions energetic than festivals, Jewish book presented there generate controversy and attract their Jewish fairs and Jewish music opposing views, at least it doesn’t categorically counterparts festivals are disappearing exclude the Israeli perspective. Lectures by Israeli from campuses. All politicians and other public figures, who do not over Western Europe, high school principals, profess far-left and post-Zionist agendas, are in order to avoid controversy, do not include extremely rare on European campuses. Hebrew language courses in their curricula and !e pro-Arab European bias discourage Jewish expression in their schools. On several campuses, university administrators, !e European bias against Israel is widely acquiescing to community sentiment, program acknowledged. Former AIPAC o#cial Steven fewer courses on Israel, Hebrew and Yiddish J. Rosen, who has a deep understanding of language, and Jewish history and culture. In both US and European politics, summarized order to advance an a#rmative identity that it convincingly in a recent issue of the Middle 32 does not frontally hurt the consensual dominant East Quarterly : "!ere are many suppositions dogma, the Jewish student activists have often why Europeans tilt against Israel and toward the to be tightrope walkers. In France, to avoid the Arabs. For one thing, the Middle East is a place unequivocal condemnation of Israel that is tacitly where Europeans can flaunt their foreign policy 152 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE independence from the United States without !e role of the dormant anti-Semitism responsibility for causing catastrophic results !is anti-Zionist discourse didn’t emerge in a because they assume that the United States will vacuum but in a climate of dormant anti-Semitism protect Israel from any dire consequences such and rejection of Jewish and Israeli exceptionalism. may produce. For another, Europe depends more Despite its bi-millenary presence in Europe, Judaism heavily on trade with the Arab world and on has always been perceived, by philo-Semites and Arab oil exports than does the United States. For by anti-Semites alike, as a heterogeneous cultural example, the Arab Gulf states are a $300 billion ferment that both fosters creativity (when its import market for world products, compared dosage is moderate) and is destructive (when its to Israel’s $50 billion imports. Europe may also presence is too high) in regard to the “authentic” have a desire to appease the “strong horse” in the Christian core of the region (e.g., Israel has but one vote in the U.N.; European culture. Aware the Arabs have twenty-five votes, the Muslim of this ambivalence, local !ere may be nations, fifty votes). !en there is the guilt Jews, mutatis mutandis – an element of among many Europeans over their discredited certainly in a more discrete satisfaction at imperial past, leading them to falsely view Israelis manner in Switzerland and being free to as oppressing !ird World peoples. !en, again, Hungary and in a more censure Jews in it may be the growing influence of Europe’s own assertive manner in France Israel, relieving Muslim populations (e.g., Arabs in France, Turks and Britain – are careful to European in Germany, Asians in Britain) and their need to avoid a “too high” political guilt over keep such segments of their domestic populations profile. Tied up by a kind responsibility as quiescent as possible. Some analysts suggest of unwritten conditional for the that there may also be an element of satisfaction citizenship contract and Holocaust at being free to censure Jews in Israel, relieving fearing to be accused of European guilt over responsibility for the clannishness or ethnocentric "tribalism," European Holocaust. Finally, it may be that the Europeans Jews – unlike various other groups – have not simply do not understand that Israel is a dared initiating a political lobby to advance their democracy at war, living in a mortally dangerous interests. neighborhood, which must act in self-defense in ways that may seem excessive to onlookers in a Rising interest in Jewish culture benign environment such as twenty-first-century While anti-Jewish slurs and violence are still not western Europe (even though the Western uncommon for easily recognizable Jews all over democracies and the United States have used eastern and western Europe, there is little risk of harsher means than Israel in wars far removed state anti-Semitism, and this rejection doesn't from their own territory)." normatively appear in economic, cultural and THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 153 political spheres. Outside of the campuses in which Historical development strong anti-Israel activism deters public expressions Systematic intellectual opposition to Israel has not of Jewish identity, in the European public sphere, always been so palpable as it is today. During the alongside the largely negative reporting on Israel first three decades following the birth of the State in European media, there is also a positive attitude of Israel, because of sympathy with the struggle of toward Jewish culture. When it is not associated the Jewish political renaissance, the moral image with the controversial State of Israel, Jewish of Israel as a pioneering and progressive state, the descent provides to intellectuals and politicians experience of European countries in decolonization an ethical and symbolic legitimacy to express wars, a di"erent world balance of power, a smaller themselves about existential and morally sensitive Muslim presence in Europe, the lower discursive dilemmas. Apparently, prominence of human rights ideology and a Jews and Jewish culture lower awareness of Palestinian su"ering, European !e right fascinate. But sometimes intellectual opinion was more positive with of Israel to it seems that the European respect to Israel. Today, the right of Israel to exist exist is still media and reading public as the state of the Jewish people is still accepted, accepted, but are more comfortable but this position is becoming less and less easy to this position is with the threatened or maintain. !e tipping point was the Israeli victory becoming less vanished culture of long- of 1967 and the following occupation of Palestinian and less easy to dead Jews than with the territories. !is situation shift led to two simple maintain thriving, living Jewish but non-evidence based syllogisms: first, if Israel communities. Klezmer returns to the 1967 borders peace will be achieved music has been en vogue for more than a decade. in the region, and second, Israel, perceived as no Jewish and Israeli literature tops best sellers lists. longer a victim but rather as a colonialist and racist Jewish topics fill the pages of nearly every European oppressor, has lost its legitimacy as a democratic periodical. Institutions and Jewish museums are entity. !ese two interpretations, which do not newly opened or freshly renovated everywhere. take into account the religious, civilizational and European audiences appear to be intrigued by historical contexts of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Israeli daily life in the shadow of conflict. !is are steering current European perceptions of the fascination extends from literature to other art conflict. Largely because of post-Shoah European forms, with at least one or two Israeli films playing guilt, this paradigm shift was confined to the fringe on screens in European capitals every week. of public media for several decades until it became However, whether a largely cultural and historic main stream dogma. Since the 1980s, academic interest by Europeans is enough to enhance Jewish anti-Israel attitudes have ripened in three successive security and to guarantee European Jewry’s long- stages that have progressively made supporters of term future remains to be seen. Israel more and more uncomfortable. 154 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE First Lebanon war (1981) some of its particularism in order to build an “alliance In Europe, nurtured by two long-established anti- of civilization” and avoid a threatening “clash of Zionist discourses – the Marxist denial of the right civilizations," a demand which is particularly applied of the Jewish people to a sovereign state, and the to Israel. In this context, Israel's intransigence appears assimilationist ideology that argues that Jews as the obstacle to the peace process and sometimes should dismiss all kinds of collective identity – the even as the obstacle to achieving peaceful Euro- new intellectual left radical criticism of Israel was Mediterranean economic prosperity. first articulated in French and British academies in In this period western European politicians the wake of the Six-Day War and largely adopted progressively understood that migrant workers, by European mass media during the First Lebanon more and more, would not return to their countries War, which was perceived by good-faith European of origin and authorized intellectuals as an unacceptable imperialist the immigration of operation. millions of spouses and Media children, many of them depictions of st First Intifada (1987) of Muslim tradition. the 1 Intifada – stone-throwing !e post-Shoah period characterized by European !is demographic shift, Palestinians guilt and special treatment of Jews prevailed in associated with the youngsters the public imagination up until the first Intifada traditional pro-Arab taking on IDF (1987-93). Media depictions of the uprising, a loop foreign policy of the EU soldiers – recast of photographs and video clips of stone-throwing countries, incrementally the Palestinians Palestinian youngsters taking on IDF tanks recast impacted European as David versus the Palestinians as David versus the Israeli Goliath. attitudes toward Jews the Israeli Israel came to be perceived by some public and Israel. Playing to their Goliath intellectuals as an anachronistic and colonialist communities, political ethno-religious state in a time of post-nationalism. parties held anti-Israel In an optimistic, post-Cold War political climate, positions and aligned behind resentful and anti- the European pacifist consensual aspiration could Jewish Muslim rhetoric. less and less support what they perceive as an increasingly bellicose and irredentist Israel. After Second Intifada (2000 - 2005) centuries of bloody ethno-religious and nationalistic Starting with the Second Intifada and the 2001 conflicts, the basic ethos of the European Union is Durban UN Conference against Racism, and that strong ethno-religious and national identities escalating since then, an anti-Israel ideology has should be avoided. Moreover, with peaceful imposed itself as dogma. !e two-state paradigm is coexistence the ultimate goal, according to this described as a pro-Zionist retrograde position and philosophy, each state should be ready to exchange many post-national, avant-garde intellectuals lobby THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 155 for the end of the “outdated Zionist enterprise” as !is "left-liberal" variety of de-legitimization is they did against South Africa in the 1970s. generally of the "soft" sort of de-legitimization We may ask ourselves how this anti-Israeli bias which has the following characteristics: will develop in the coming years. Will the boycott, t Is not connected (at least not obviously or divestment and sanctions de-legitimization necessarily) to anti-Semitism/Judaeophobia movement continue toward a crescendo of critical t Does not (at least not obviously or necessarily) mass as it did in South Africa? As democracy is argue for the violent physical destruction of the foundational principle Israel of the modern European Barring idea, barring catastrophic t Is willing to distinguish between Israel's catastrophic conditions, anti-Jewish government and policies and its people conditions, discrimination or state t Is willing at least to consider some distinction anti-Jewish sanctioned anti-Semitism between pre- and post-1967 Israel33 discrimination are today inconceivable or state in western Europe. sanctioned Some historical background is necessary. !e However, should popular anti-Semitism question of Israel's legitimacy is a new chapter in resentment against Israel are today the long history of Western civilization's various and Jews intensify, the inconceivable in attempts to understand and contend with political and symbolic western Europe Jewish collective identity.34 !e teaching of the status of European Jewish early Christian church and in particular those of communities will su"er. the Apostle Paul35 e"ectively configured Jewish De-legitimization of Israel distinctiveness as that which stands perversely on Campuses: Left-Liberal athwart the universal moral teachings of the Critiques and the Liberal Gospel and the universal Christian community. Orientation of Diaspora Jews !e rise of Western modernity did not improve matters. On the contrary, the advent of the secular As we have seen previously, de-legitimization Enlightenment in religion and the nation-state attacks very often deliberately blur the distinction in politics rendered Jewish collective identity between de-legitimization and legitimate criticism problematic in new – and ultimately deadly – ways. of Israel. !ey also reflect emergent currents of In particular, many Enlightenment thinkers were liberal thought – indeed what makes de-legitimization profoundly suspicious of the concept of Jewishness so cutting and challenging a phenomenon is precisely as a peoplehood. Some attempted to legislate its seeming congruence not only with liberal ideas, Jewish peoplehood out of existence, demanding but with the liberal ideas which frame the world- the Jewishness consist exclusively of a private views of so many Jews themselves. 156 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE religious devotion or "confession" that impinged As a result, that which makes de-legitimization so in no way on public life. !e Enlightenment vexing in the present context is: problematized traditional religious belief while a. its circulation in elites who prima facie are proclaiming a new, universal, religion of reason. !e detached from traditional anti-Semitism, nation-state reconfigured group identities within share the fundamental premises of Western new, and newly-hardened, geographic and cultural liberal democracies and the legitimacy of boundaries. Both developments made the historical Western influence and power, but see Israel as Jewish amalgam of religion and peoplehood an at the very least, a deeply corrosive factor in awkward fit in the new dispensation. the liberal West's own internal coherence and !e strains were well on display in perhaps progress. !us while the West is seen to be the seminal event of European modernity, the moving towards greater universality French Revolution. As Arthur Hertzberg wrote “A new liberal – politically in in his classic study, !e French Enlightenment intelligentsia institutions such as and the Jews, "(t)he mainstream of the thinking has emerged for the European Union, of the Enlightenment…was absolutist. It whom Jewish socio-culturally in its imagined itself as a positive force for the collective growing pluralism and making of a new world, and everyone had to be existence was multi-ethnicity – the remade in order to be part of the new heaven. an a"ront valorization, real or !e particular disaster of the Jew was that the precisely to the imagined, of Israel qua men of the Enlightenment were not entirely new ethos of Jewish nation-state certain that he could enter the heaven even liberation” after he was remade." 36 !at partisans of the goes in precisely the old aristocratic and ecclesiastical orders were opposite direction. uneasy with Jewish emancipation is no surprise. b. its being articulated in the cadences of !e striking development, Hertzberg notes, was liberal universalism which resonate deeply the emergence of a new liberal intelligentsia for – and with good reason – with so much of whom Jewish collective existence was an a"ront contemporary Western Jewry. Liberalism precisely to the new ethos of liberation. 37 facilitated Jewish success in North America, and it was a quintessentially liberal institution, !is disjunction between Jewish collective the United Nations, which voted the State existence and the drive for universal ethics is the of Israel into being. 39 !e waning of much seedbed for those elements of contemporary traditional religious belief has made liberalism de-legitimization which do not arise directly – its assertion of religious freedom, and its from traditional anti-Semitism, or indeed are not resonance with the ethical teachings of Judaism 38 overtly anti-Semitic at all. – the regnant ethos of Western Jewry. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 157 !e identification of Western Jews with political of Jewish particularism and train that disavowal and social liberalism is one of the distinguishing onto the Jewish state. !ese thinkers' rejection of facts of modern Jewish life. Jews embraced Jewish sovereignty is not stated in traditionalist liberalism as best they could, above all because it terms, but rather in liberal terms and /or moralistic a"orded them a "neutral space," the possibility of understandings of the Christian message (which civic equality and economic possibility. Of course, often include internal condemnation of Christian the congruence of Jewish religion and liberal values anti-Semitism). 41 was hardly obvious, even if today it is in many circles !us, to take a premier example, Rosemary Ruether, axiomatic to the point of cliché. !at congruence who has written with great sensitivity and courage was the work of generations of thinkers, initiated about the Church's history of anti-Semitism by Mendelssohn and strongly opposes Israeli statehood, indeed sees it with time taken up with Some Jewish as the very opposite of the Jewish moral message in special fervor on the other theologians the world.42 !eological critique of Israel's existence side of the Atlantic.40 argue for the has also manifested itself at the organizational and Key to this reworking theological denominational level, most notably in recent calls was the foregrounding illegitimacy by the Presbyterian Church USA. 43 Some Jewish of elements of universal of Zionism as theologians, such as Marc H. Ellis, also argue for the ethics which do indeed a violation of theological illegitimacy of Zionism as a violation of exist in Jewish tradition, Jewish teachings deeply-held Jewish teachings on ethics and social but were understood and on ethics and justice. contextualized rather social justice di"erently over the course Other stances may be characterized as theologico- of much of Jewish history. philosophical, by which we mean to indicate currents of thought, some explicitly theological- Be that as it may, Western Jewry has nearly staked its confessional, others which bear the lineaments very existence on the idea of universal ethical ideals, of theology's aspiration to totality and use its precisely in order to loosen the tight connections categories while explicitly distancing themselves between nationality, religion and citizenship which from institutional "religion," and yet others which impeded Jewish emancipation and integration. are strictly philosophical , e.g. the neo-Paulinism, !e conjoining of those three elements in Jewish expressed vividly by contemporary thinkers such as statehood thus implicitly challenges a key Jewish Alain Badiou, former chair of philosophy at perhaps strategy for negotiating the radical changes of the most prestigious intellectual institution in France, modernity. the Ecole Normale Supérieure. For Badiou, Jewish Some liberal de-legitimization stances in our time collective existence – especially when wedded to the are explicitly theological, or to be more precise power of statehood – is itself the great stumbling emerge explicitly from the classic Pauline disavowal block to universal ethics. Indeed, Badiou challenges 158 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE the ascription "Jew" with its morally privileged aura of !e best and most prominent illustration here is victimhood to the community which refers to itself the work of the recently-deceased Tony Judt (who as Jews, let alone to their illegitimate state.44 Jean- was discussed briefly earlier). Himself Jewish – Claude Milner (himself the son of a Jewish father) indeed in his youth he was sympathetic to Zionism writes explicitly of the Jew, and certainly his state, as and volunteered on a kibbutz – Judt o"ered that which stands in the way of the European vision the most intelligent and crisply-argued versions of universal union. In ostensible critique of Milner, of de-legitimization the celebrated philosopher Slavo Zizek writes that around. Judt's critique “!e Jew, and Jewish statehood is the realization of, astoundingly, in some ways resembles certainly his the Nazi program, in that it finally extinguishes that of the neo-Pauline state, stand in Judaism, whose justification for existence lies only in its critique described above, the way of the ethereality.45 Zizek well illustrates that the ostensible but without its quasi- European vision playfulness and irony of post-modern thought can theological totalizing, of universal and regularly divest it of moral seriousness and of baroque rhetoric and union” the making of critical distinctions. unmistakable hostility !ese European thinkers are of course laboring to Judaism. In a much- under, at times obsessed with, the Holocaust, discussed 2003 essay, he argued that: whose horror they do not deny. To the contrary, !e problem with Israel, in short, is not—as is the Holocaust is central for them as an apotheosis sometimes suggested—that it is a European of evil, and of the purest victimhood, whose moral “enclave” in the Arab world; but rather that it arrived force is inverse to its political powerlessness. !us too late. It has imported a characteristically late- the Jewish assertion of statehood comes to be nineteenth-century separatist project into a world seen as an inversion of morality, precisely because that has moved on, a world of individual rights, Jews are meant to be the signifiers of perfect open frontiers, and international law. !e very idea victimhood. of a “Jewish state”—a state in which Jews and the Of course, these very continental thinkers, Jewish religion have exclusive privileges from which influential as they are speak in heady and regularly non-Jewish citizens are forever excluded—is rooted abstruse abstractions, well removed from the more in another time and place. Israel, in short, is an 46 pragmatic and plain sense cadences of Anglo- anachronism. American liberalism. But there too one finds the view that Jewish statehood is at odds with the Israel's anachronism does not make it simply determined reasonableness of liberalism, and that ungainly or out of step – rather it puts it athwart Jews, of all people, should have recognized by now the deepest currents of our time, socio-cultural the dangers of attachment to the nation-state. and, more critically, moral: THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 159 "In a world where nations and peoples involved with Jewish culture than was Judt, such as increasingly intermingle and intermarry at will; Daniel Boyarin, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner where cultural and national impediments to who will be discussed below. In the academy communication have all but collapsed; where we are seeing renewed interest in the works of more and more of us have multiple elective identities and would feel falsely constrained if significant Jewish thinkers who were critical of we had to answer to just one of them; in such statist Zionism, which they saw as running counter a world Israel is truly an anachronism. And not to the liberal values which have best served Jews as just an anachronism but a dysfunctional one. In a collective and which define the contours of the today’s “clash of cultures” between open, pluralist moral communities, Jewish and otherwise, with democracies and belligerently intolerant, faith- which Jews can and should identify.49 driven ethno-states, Israel actually risks falling into the wrong camp".47 It cannot be emphasized strongly enough that the fact that Jewish and Israeli thinkers are discussed Judt himself advocated a bi-national state, a here is not to meant to tar any of them with stance which was once pejorative brushes of "anti-Semitism," self-hatred," the program of a small "In today’s 'clash or even, in some cases, of being anti-Zionist. It is but significant group of of cultures' however to convey that they partake of the larger Zionist figures and which, between trends under discussion, and do so precisely out in theory at least, does pluralist of their own understandings of Jewish life, history not entail the destruction democracies and experience. and intolerant of Israeli Jewry, though in ethno-states, practice it well might.48 Left-liberal de-legitimization discourse takes Israel actually His essay stimulated a several other forms: post-modernist/post- risks falling into whirlwind of controversy, colonial; International law/NGOs; and cultural and the wrong camp" in no small part because expressive politics. he pithily articulated the Post-modernism and post-colonialism anti-Zionist case in the humane liberal tones and terms of the worldview Post-modernism casts a skeptical eye on all of most American Jews themselves. He also stated, assertions of power and hierarchy and of strong in American cadences, a very European discomfort claims of identity, and thus, as the Marxists used to with Jewish statehood, an enterprise which seems say, it is no accident that among the fiercest critics to fly in the face of what many European elites of Israel in the academia are the standard bearers regard as the high moral–political achievement of of post-modernism such as Judith Butler. Butler forging the European Union. of course is not herself anti-Semitic, unapologetic about her Jewishness and its place in her world; Liberal discomfort with Jewish statehood is finding and her substantive political positions are within expression among writers and artists far more the bounds of reasonable discourse itself. She is a 160 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE staunch advocate of BDS, and argues for a post- is home to its citizens, native and immigrant, and national state. !ese in and of themselves are exists for its own sake and not as the satellite of not violent positions. But they do deny Israel's some other entity. Within its borders all citizens fundamental legitimacy as a nation-state. have equal rights (Judea and Samaria do in some Not all post-modernists need be anti-Zionists, of ways present a colonial situation, which is itself a course. Yet post-modernism's assault on all fixities strong argument for the resolution of their status, of identity and thoroughgoing suspicion of all state and that of their Palestinian inhabitants, as soon as 54 hierarchies easily lend themselves to anti-Zionist practicable). view.50 Yet there is no denying a strong current of !e flourishing in recent years of post-colonial international – and Israeli – opinion that Israel is studies as a thriving academic field has breathed indeed a colonialist entity. new life into the argument voiced by the !ird !us, for instance, political geographer Oren Yiftachel Post- World during the Cold War that Israel is a colonial modernism’s entity and thus, ipso facto, illegitimate. 51 Indeed, has argued that Israel is an "ethnocracy," in which assault on the author, Edward Said, of the founding text of all fixities of post-colonialism, Orientalism, clearly identified one, indigenous group of people is systematically identity and Zionism as both an outgrowth and as part of thoroughgoing European colonialism.52 deprived of rights and resources to serve the suspicion of all Post-colonial perspectives are well on display in needs of one ethnic state hierarchies the popular (by academic standards) works of group. Baruch Kimmerling easily lend Daniel Boyarin, a distinguished Talmudist whose depicted Israel as the last themselves to critique of Zionism synthesizes traditional Jewish state structured along the anti-Zionist view 53 anti-Zionism with post-colonial discourse. !us European colonial model he argues that Zionism's assertion of Jewish power of an imported European populace subjugating both undermines what he sees as the principled indigenous people. 55 passivity of Rabbinic Judaism and implicates Jews and Judaism in illegitimate hierarchies of power. International law To be sure, as far as Zionists are concerned, Israel is Liberal de-legitimization is also crucial to the not a colonial state: the State of Israel itself did arise discourse emanating from the world of international from within the colonial matrix and Zionist leaders law and international bodies, in the form of UN made adroit use of the colonial system which bodies obsessively given over to criticizing Israel, was for all intents and purposes the international or the endless stream of critical reports emanating system itself before WWI, and a large part of it from human rights groups of di"erent kinds – not until WWII. But Israel is not a colonialist entity. It to mention the new "lawfare," e"orts by lawyers THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 161 and jurists to mount extra-territorial prosecutions Jewish themes in their work and are fundamentally of Israeli political leaders through the exercise of supportive of Israel's right to exist. !us, Steven expanded doctrines of universal jurisdiction. 56 Spielberg's Munich has his Mossad protagonist !e distinctive feature of this category is that it eventually choosing Diaspora existence in Jewish captures groups operating Brooklyn over the relentless life of violence that 59 within the seemingly his Israeli identity forces on him. !e screenplay “Israel is an neutral, apolitical, was written by a major American playwright, Tony ‘ethnocracy’, highly abstract and Kushner, who has powerfully explored Jewish in which one rationalized frameworks experience in his other works, and who is part of indigenous of international law the artistic trend seeking to recapture the energies group of people – which rings its own of modern Yiddishism as a form of Jewish identity is systematically changes on globalization's that will bypass both Israel and the synagogue. deprived of ostensible e"acing of !e meaning of liberal de-legitimization rights and national sovereignties. !e resources to story of the global human !e significance of all the above forms of de- serve the needs rights bears within it legitimization is that they proceed in whole or in part of one ethnic deep currents which seek in terms which resonate deeply with contemporary group” somehow to bypass the Jewry, and which do indeed reflect values emerging messy business of politics out of modern Jewish historical experience – a – and this illusion makes critical moral stance towards untrammeled state those institutions malleable tools in the hands of power, sensitivity to the rights of minorities, a various political actors.57 deep discomfort with essentializing definitions of belonging. Indeed, liberal de-legitimization may Cultural & expressive politics be said to arise precisely from several elements of A final category of liberal de-legitimization is the modern Jewish life and thought which the Zionist voicing of sentiments by actors and artists who revolution sought to overcome – the valorization seem motivated more by cultural expression than of statelessness and powerlessness as a guarantor of by an articulated political ideology or agenda. !is virtue, and of Jewish disembodiment and geographic would include artists such as Elvis Costello and dispersion as crucial elements of Jewish spirituality. Annie Lennox, who have boycotted Israel and, in Putting the Campus in Context: the case of Lenox, issued inflammatory statements De-legitimization, Globalization (which she has since modified).58 and Global Civil Society One can find some of the currents discussed here registered in the works of some major artists who One of the factors that enhance the potential for are themselves Jewish, have seriously explored a connection between contemporary left-liberal 162 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE discourse and critique and the de-legitimization of But in the contemporary era, political, legal Israel is the link between much of contemporary and civil society actors and activists orient the liberalism and certain globalizing discourses. discourse and practice of human rights towards We have seen such links between liberalism, a global human rights order. Rights and rights- globalization and the de-legitimization of Israel bearing individuals are, as it were, abstracted from writing of Tony Judt and in the de-legitimizing their political membership and made the objects appeal to international law. of discourse, action and policy in a universalistic and absolute frame. Around this "organizing "Globalization" in this context refers to an logic" an entire institutional and organizational orientation towards global agendas and systems. machinery has sprung up: international human !ese can be pursued through explicitly global rights courts and tribunals (the European Court institutions and processes such as the World Trade of Human Rights, the Organization (WTO), global financial markets, and ICC), NGOs and networks the war crimes tribunals. In addition to this, and of human rights NGOs, In the perhaps even more prevalent, are national and universal jurisdiction contemporary sub-national organizations and agencies which are and the application of era, activists oriented towards global agendas and systems such international human rights orient the as environmental and human rights organizations. law in national courts and discourse and !ese interact with each other in transnational settings. !us while the practice of and supranational networks but not necessarily notion of human rights is human rights through the formal inter-state system. While the not new, the past 30 years towards a scale of action and of practice in these examples have witnessed an entirely global human is national or even local, the "organizing logic" new discourse and set of rights order governing them is global; they are oriented towards practices regarding it. a global system or agenda. 60 !is prevalent orientation towards global agendas A primary example of such an orientation, as was has brought with it changes in the world order: intimated, is the contemporary arena of human the first of these is that the new international rights. !e conceptualization and practice of order is no longer composed solely of states. On human rights has shifted in the contemporary various levels and scales many non-state actors are globalized era. In the modern period characterized active on the world scene. As we have indicated, by the democratic and industrial revolutions, that these include transnational and supranational is, from around 1775 to around 1980 political organizations such as the EU and the WTO but thinkers and actors conceived of human rights as they also include agencies that are much smaller ordering the relationship between citizens and and less powerful than states such as NGOs and states. relatively autonomous media organizations (e.g. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 163 International CNN or Al Jazeera) and even terrorist rights of national minorities..." Paul Wapner sees groups. As a result nation states no longer dictate these activist networks "as a slice of associational the rules of the international playground nor life which exists above the individual and below control its agenda. the state, but also across national boundaries."62 To a certain extent this process has been Transnational activism creates a new globalized accompanied by a certain decline in the idea of the "civil society" which contains citizen practices that nation-state and the rise of the idea of the post- go beyond the nation. Accompanying the growth national order. !is was seen first and foremost in of a global civil society is a global sense of solidarity Europe after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty. and identification in connection with the various European publicists, politicians and thinkers activist causes. advanced the idea that !is new globalized configuration of ideas, the nation-state was discourses and practices has important Transnational passé and that it would implications for the de-legitimization of Israel. !e activism be replaced by "Europe." rights (individual and group) of the Palestinians creates a new !e introduction of a both in the PA and the Palestinian Arab citizens globalized “civil common currency, the of Israel are now the concern of a global human society” which Euro, strengthened this rights regime and a world order universalistically contains citizen notion. 61) concerned with human rights. !ey are no longer practices that Secondly, new ideas of simply the object of the discourse and practice go beyond citizenship have emerged. of the Israeli state and of groups working within the nation Citizenship has become an Israeli national frame, or even the concern of de-nationalized. Today, states and entities in the Middle East and of those theorists, activists and politicians speak about trans who have strategic interests in the area. Instead, national and post national citizenship. "European" Israel and Israeli policies are the "business" of citizenship, or citizenship in the European Union is a observers around the world. Global "audiences" leading example of postnational citizenship. Equally see themselves as legitimate stakeholders, and are important is "transnational citizenship." One leading receptive to hearing about the issue of Palestinian form of transnational citizenship is connected to rights. !is is first and foremost the new "global transnational activism. !is latter concept refers to civil society." !is consists first of global human "new transnational forms of political organization and minority rights activists and organizations and emerging in a context of rapid globalization secondly, of the new global machinery – such as and proliferation of cross border activities of all the international human rights courts - which is sorts of "actors," notably immigrants, NGOs, first concerned with enforcing the global human rights nation people, human rights, the environment, regime. arms control, women's rights, labor rights and 164 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Conclusion: Classical and Globalized Liberalism a tiny group at the opposite end of the spectrum. Liberalism today is somewhat di"erent than Among the majority, support for Israel ranges from "classical" modern liberalism. Classical modern activist to passive support. A substantial minority liberalism was concerned with the relations of is probably more apathetic than for or against the citizen to the state. Israel as a democratic anything Jewish, including Israel. Furthermore, nation-state with a basic human rights regime Israel attachment is a"ected by intermarriage, life was considered well ensconced within the old cycle trajectories, travel to Israel, denomination, liberal paradigm. !e new "global" liberalism is gender, and the Jewishness of one's social concerned with human rights, women's rights networks. Nevertheless, despite this broad and environmental protection as part of a global spectrum, there are characteristics that typify agenda and order. In the new global liberal the younger generation, and distinguish them conception the global agendas of women's rights, global from older generations of human rights and environmental protection tend “audiences” American Jews. to trump the concerns of mere nation-states. see themselves Furthermore, states that are too particularistic Discomfort with an as legitimate tend to intrinsically arouse suspicion. !us, understanding of stakeholders, the eniornment of contemporary "globalized" Jewishness as bounded and are liberalism tends to be inherently less comfortable by ethnic peoplehood receptive to for Israel. New configurations of Jewish identity has been thoroughly hearing about among young Jews are somewhat congruent with internalized by many the issue these orientations. younger American Jews, of Palestinian who frequently embrace rights Part II - Jewish identity, Attachment the cultural "nucleus," to Israel and De-legitimization the particulars of Jewish Among Young Jews culture, but reject “us and them” constructions of ethnicity. Research interviews showed that, Young US Jews' feelings toward Israel and in a marked change from the past, Jews in their Jewish peoplehood twenties report a strong attachment to Jewish Younger Jewish adults are no more monolithic ethnicity, but define Jewish music, food, books, than their elders, in regard to their relationship to comedy and cultural performance, family styles Israel and other matters. Most studies indicate that and religious rituals as the primary expressions the population of young Jews represents the entire of their ethnicity. !ey are confused when they continuum, with passionate and knowledgeable read assertions about ethnic boundaries, because supporters of Israel at one end of the spectrum, those concepts do not match the reality of their and virulent de-legitimators of Israel's existence in relationship to their Jewish ethnicity. Similarly, THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 165 many are quite attached to Israeli music, food, and Israel attachment among younger Jews other cultural expressions, but rebel against the Social scientists have long noticed life-cycle idea that Israel is vulnerable, or that they should fluctuations in Jewish engagement, usually rising defend Israel from existential threats. Often, they from less engaged and more ambivalent during do not consider themselves conventional Zionists, the young adult years, to more engaged and less although they continue to be interested in, to visit, ambivalent as marriage and parenthood transform and to care about events in and around Israel. Jewish lives, and Israel engagement may well be One example of these attitudes is articulated by part of this familiar syndrome.64 Young Jews today Rabbi Sarah Chandler, a ROI leadership program in the United States and some other Diaspora veteran who explains, "My Israel activism is not communities tend to postpone life decisions, such primarily coming from as career choice, life partner, and parenthood. Young Jews a place of Zionism, it is Organized Jewish leadership including Israel today in the coming from a place of advocacy in prior generations came from men US and other caring about modern, and women who were firmly embarked on a life Diaspora liberal Jews' ability to direction, with spouses, children and life's work. stay connected to Jewish communities As these and other studies make clear, although life." Chandler urges the tend to there are pronounced di"erences by age, in every integration of moral and postpone life segment of the American Jewish community the Judaic values into daily decisions such majority of younger Jews describe themselves as behavior—“quotidian as career choice, "attached to Israel" if (1) they have two Jewish Judaism”— to give a wide life partner and parents, and (2) they have traveled to Israel at spectrum of young Jewish parenthood least once. !e di"erence between the Israel Americans the cultural attachments of in-married adults and of the literacy to imbue their children of in-married parents versus intermarried social justice interest with Judaic knowledge. As adults and the children of intermarried parents sociologist Shaul Kelner points out in his analysis has often been blurred in highly publicized articles Tours !at Bind, Israel visits such as Birthright Israel announcing "far lower levels of attachment to are valued by their engineers and implementers Israel among younger Jews." !us, Cohen and not only (or perhaps even primarily) "for fostering Kelman's data show that "among the intermarried, loyalties to the homeland," but rather "for those with low attachment to Israel are more expanding the 'cultural toolkits' that diaspora than double the number with high attachment. ethnics have at their disposal."63 However, despite Among the in-married and non-married, the the intentions of its professionals, Birthright Israel number with high attachment to Israel surpasses and other trips have a measurable positive e"ect on the number with low attachment."65 Analyzing a Israel attachment as well as Jewish identification. summer 2010 survey administered by Knowledge 166 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Networks, Brandeis CMJS researchers found: at the other end of the spectrum of feelings about "Younger respondents were no less likely than Israel, 16 % of Conservative Jews responded they older respondents to regard caring about Israel as feel “Fairly distant” or “Very distant” from Israel, as important to their Jewish identities." When they did 30 % of Reform Jews but only 5 % of Orthodox held all other variables constant, "caring about Jews. !us, Orthodox Jews today are much more Israel" was positively a"ected by travel to Israel and likely than non-Orthodox Jews to feel that what by "religious observance" and negatively a"ected goes on in Israel has immediate salience to their by "parental intermarriage," but age was not lives—one could say they “take it personally.” 66 statistically significant. Gender, as well, within the American Jewish Travel to Israel is also an important factor. community, outside of the Orthodox community, According to Cohen and Kelman: girls and women are dramatically more engaged 69 Among those who have never been to Israel, the and attached to things Jewish than boys and men. number with a high level of attachment is less than (NJPS 2000-01). half the number with a low level of attachment (19 !ese results show that percent vs. 42 percent). Among those with only in areas of non-religious, one trip, the relationship is reversed: those with ethnic, peoplehood—or Orthodox Jews high levels of attachment are double the number tribal identification, there are more likely of those with a low degree of attachment to Israel are large denominational than non- (34 percent vs. 17 percent). !ose who have been gaps as well as among Orthodox Jews to Israel two or more times are even more firmly measures of religious to feel that attached to Israel, with 52 percent scoring high and observance. Practitioners what goes on under 10 percent at the low end of attachment. of more traditional wings in Israel has Finally, among those who have lived in Israel. of Judaism not only make immediate 68 percent score high on attachment, and just 6 a greater e"ort to live near salience to percent score low.67 other Jews, and to provide their lives Denomination is also connected to American their children with Jewish Jewish identification.68 !is is especially true education and Jewish friends, but also feel more with regard to connections to Israel. In the 2007 connected to Israel and are more likely to visit American Jewish Committee Public Opinion Poll Israel. !ese connections to Israel, along with Jewish (Synovate, Inc.), when Jews were asked “How close social networks—how many Jewish friends one and do you feel to Israel?”—6 out of 10 Orthodox one's children have, for example, are an important respondents answered that they feel “Very close” measure of Jewish identification. How many Jewish to Israel, as did 4 out of 10 Conservative Jews and 2 friends one has correlates closely with how much out of 10 Reform Jews, (64 %/ 39 % /22 %). Looking one identifies as a member of the Jewish people. To put it very simply, for younger American Jews, THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 167 statistical attachment to Israel matches whether substantial time in Israel, who relate to Jewish or not they have visited Israel and how many culture, and who are critical of Israeli policies. Jewish friends they have currently. Feeling part While she is “very grateful for Jerusalem being the of the Jewish people at home and feeling part of place where I studied Torah - it’s really moving and the Jewish people overseas are closely connected. incredible,” she feels “sad and worried” when she Many observers have noted, as well, that apathy thinks about Israel’s behavior and positions in the toward Israel, perhaps a natural component of world. “I feel ashamed about what’s being done in assimilation, may be far more widespread among the name of Jews,” she says, “when you see people weakly identified young American Jews than doing things in the name of Judaism that you don’t defined anti-Israel sentiment. Not surprisingly, really believe in, it’s very hard as a Jew.” Like many weak Jewish connections in general also correlate younger American Jews, Rabins is the child of "baby to few or no Jewish friends and no visits to Israel. boomers" and is a "second-generation leftist-liberal" in regard to attitudes toward Israel. Although she !e Jewish fight for social justice and the has moved far closer to Jewish connections than quarrel with Israeli policies her parents in terms of text study, rituals, worship, In decades past, spiritual and cultural expression, her political trips to Israel almost attitudes are a direct transmission from her baby- Apathy towards automatically seemed boomer parents. As Rabins says, “politically, the Israel may to produce positive and dominant kind of progressive, leftist American be far more frequently unambivalent position on Palestine and Israel and stu" is what widespread attachments to Israel. we grew up with. !at was the assumption, as among weakly Among today's young opposed to the generation before my parents, identified young people, repeated trips growing up with a kind of allegiance to Israel being American Jews to Israel, however, are the assumption.” than defined related to attachments Many young American Jews have very anti-Israel but also to knowledge sentiment high standards for moral national behavior. !ey of and critical attitudes expect the countries they feel attached to-like the toward a broad range United States and Israel-to live up to those moral of Israeli policies. For example, one young rabbi standards. !us, their critical attitudes toward described at length problems in Israeli life, such Israel are often matched by critical attitudes as "tra#cking sex workers, foreign workers who toward the United States. !eir criticism of Israel are oppressed, Bedouins that don't have water." reflects not so much a lack of interest in Israel as a In another example, musician Alicia Jo Rabins redefinition of their relationship and involvement expressed ambivalent feelings toward Israel that with Israel. Young American Jewish leaders and are characteristic of younger Jews who have spent cultural figures ubiquitously declare themselves to 168 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE be dedicated to global and local social justice in liberal values which we have indicated above. vigorous e"orts that transcend ethnic, geographic For many young American Jewish leaders, social and socioeconomic boundaries. For many, the justice concerns become especially poignant in most worthwhile Jewish characteristic is the pursuit critical examinations of Israel’s policies. !is is of social justice. Young leaders such as Rabbi Dara especially true for a constellation of individuals and Frimmer depicts fighting for justice as the only institutions that one leader called “the New Israel non-negotiable, quintessential, core Jewish activity. Fund, J-Street, Pro-Peace, Pro-Israel, Pro-Palestinian, Here is how she characterizes the attitudes of her Progressive, Post-Zionist age cohort (without subscribing to these beliefs elite.” Some accuse Zionist Rabbi Dara herself): “Don’t keep kosher, that’s fine, don’t keep organizations and Jewish Shabbat, that’s fine, marry a non-Jew—whatever. Frimmer: communal institutions of “Don’t keep But understand that it will take away your Jewish being self-serving and self- identity if you don’t fight for justice." kosher, marry a aggrandizing, committed non-Jew, that’s Young people with backgrounds in all wings to the status quo which fine – but it of Judaism as well as those from secular or serves them well but does will take away una#liated families often speak about social not necessarily serve the your Jewish justice in language virtually identical to classical needs of the American identity if you Reform Jewish conceptions of the universalistic Jewish community or don’t fight for mission of Judaism to be an ohr lagoyim (a light international goals of social justice” unto the nations). Several talked about previous justice. Jewish work on behalf of social justice, such as Jewish and rabbinic activism on behalf of the Civil Complicated feelings and connections to Rights movement “Jews were on the right (ethical) Jews, Israel and Zionism side of history then. Jews were on the right side of Young Jews want to be able to move fluidly between history in the gay rights movement. We should the Jewish and non-Jewish world, and reject the try more often to be on the right side of history.” "particularism of, like - six million died, we need to Interestingly, these beliefs are articulated not only protect ourselves; we need to get to Israel; we have by those working in social justice enterprises, but to stick by our own." Many explain that generally by artists, intellectuals, and various types of Jewish the world to them "doesn't seem that threatening," communal professionals. !e passion for social so they don't understand why Jews are "so closed- justice crosses denominational lines and includes o"." Rabbi Sharon Brous, whose Ikarim project has those that identify as Orthodox, Conservative, been acclaimed and influential, says her peers "are Reform, Reconstructionist, "Post-Denominational," very resentful of a Jewish life and a Jewish experience or secular Jews. !is concern for justice informs the that is insular, that's only worried about Israel or identification on the part of many young Jews with that's only worried about the Jewish community or THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 169 Jews in need." Young adults are looking for "some !e tendency of connecting to Israel through more broad articulation of what it means to be cultural materials, rather than through political a Jew and a human being in the world," explains solidarity, is characteristic of some elite "post- Brous, so that young Jews understand what it denominational" worship environments means to engage "not only the Jewish community, whose congregations have educationally and and not only the Jews in Israel, but far beyond the occupationally high status, are comparatively well Jewish community as well." educated Jewishly, and have almost universally Young leaders reject dichotomous us/them thinking traveled to Israel multiple times. "I see a lot of and Jewish tribal allegiances, and many young Jews engagement with Israeli music, culture, film, and spoke about "not wanting to be restricted to the things like that," says Washington Square founder tribe, and seeing the tribe Yehuda Kurtzer, himself a Sabbath-observant as opposed to identifying product of a home with strong diplomatic interests, “Encounter”, with other groups, and highly identified with Israel. However, deciding founded by serving other groups, the group's o#cial attitude toward Israel became Rabbi Melissa or being in community a painfully complicated and controversial issue, Weintraub, with other groups." !is splitting the group into two highly polarized, is dedicated push-back against Jewish oppositional factions. As a result, "Yom Ha'atzmaut to exposing particularism and tribalism is not really on our liturgical calendar," Kurtzer Jewish Diaspora also translates to a more explains: leaders to the nuanced and complicated "Engagement with Israel is one of these issues realities of relationship with Israel. An that's very thorny for this generation of Jews....we Palestinian life outgrowth of this new and have, increasingly, ambivalence about the holiday visceral relationship is their Yom Ha'atzmaut and what it says about the State dedicating themselves to new organizations which of Israel theologically and what the costs are of promote measured and critical engagement with the that theology. !e language of reishit tzmikhat Jewish state. Rabbi Melissa Weintraub, for example, geulateinu (the beginning of the flowering founded Encounter, an educational organization of our redemption) has produced a political dedicated to exposing Jewish Diaspora leaders to culture in Israel that we're very uncomfortable the realities of Palestinian life. She explained that with - the culture of messianism, the culture of the mission of her work is "to cultivate an awareness ultra-nationalist Zionism. It's a#liated with that in the Jewish community of Palestinian narratives language, and with that kind of mythic structure, and realities in order to foster more complex and so it's hard to say those prayers because of the constructive engagement with the situation as a political identification that it brings with it..." whole." Weintraub envisions building "a community Disillusionment with Zionism and with Israel founded on listening, learning and loving." as the “homeland” of American Jews is often 170 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE accompanied by a symbiotic fascination with the de-legitimization of Israel, is also explored in and attachment to Diaspora Jewishness. Young Michael Chabon's acclaimed novel, !e Yiddish American Jewish leaders and cultural creators Policemen's Union. Chabon asks whether nationalistic and brokers are clearly fascinated with the Jewish historical Jewish understandings are fundamentally Diaspora experience. !is fascination expresses unworkable and dangerous. To Chabon and others itself in a revival of interest in Yiddish language, like him, there is no promised land that will save literature, and culture—as opposed to Hebrew. the Jews, and religion will not save the Jews. Indeed, having Jewish space and governmental power Cultural expressions delineate critical/ separate from the non-Jewish world serves to attachment phenomenon transform religious power Cultural expressions provide very useful illustrations into a stinking morass of the ideological disillusionment of some young of Jewish corruption. Young American Jews with the moral flaws of the Jewish State. For Genuine Jewish values can de-emphasis example, a graphic essay/ cartoon by novelist only triumph if individuals on Jewish Eli Valley in a recent issue of the influential New are willing to confront peoplehood York periodical, !e Forward, portrays a Jewish the evil of fellow Jews and provides fertile "Sociologist for Hire," named "Bucky Shvitz" (May 26, take a chance on personal ground for the 2010). In Valley's graphic essay, Shvitz discovers that integrity, their dearest held de-legitimization young American Jews are losing their Jewish identity truths, and those they of Israel because they are so disillusioned with racism, sexism, love. corruption, and other moral and sociopolitical Michael Chabon serves as co-chair of Americans problems in Israel. However, Shvitz is warned by the for Peace Now, along with his wife, novelist Ayelet established Jewish community that if he wishes to Waldman. !e two have articulated rejections of earn money he must bury these findings, and falsely conventional “pro-Israeli” policy, such as those proclaim instead that Jewish identity is linked to Israel in the November 2008 Peace Now Newsletter attachments. Among the many lively blog responses declaring: "As Jews and Jewish novelists, we to Valley's piece, one expounded: "Mr. Valley has devote our lives to envisioning and imagining succeeded at just the thing that many American the world as we have inherited it and as we wish Jewish organizations want us to think is impossible: it might be. But all of that history and all those being Jews whose identity is not solely based on imaginings are endangered, now, by those who are Israel. After all there is so much more to being Jewish committed to ensuring future bloodshed, violence than just Israel. !ere are other languages, cultures, and fear." Some readers felt that the couple’s 70 food ways, and political points of view...." political and moral critiques of Israel permeated Young American de-emphasis on Jewish !e Yiddish Policeman’s Union—and thus reached peoplehood, which provides fertile ground for and influenced a di"erent, and perhaps broader, THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 171 audience than those who read Jewish newspapers young Americans who see the world through post- and Jewish organizational literature. nationalist, global eyes. Many are sensitive to moral weaknesses and political mistakes associated with Summary of the new mode of the American government, and express sadness "Critical Attachment" that their country is so involved in military For many younger American Jews the concept of campaigns. ethnic peoplehood, the world divided into "us" Not only are they post-nationalist in regard to and "them," is not salient. Younger Jewish leaders America, some are also post-tribal in their Jewish are interested in Judaism as a way of providing lives, and post-Zionist. !ey are anxious for Judaism meaningfulness in life, of giving them access to to be a force for good in the world as well. Many of friendship circles and them agonize about the perils of Israeli military and As a group, a sense of community, political power. Some are far more worried about younger Jews and in Jewish cultural Israeli militarism than about Jewish survivability. who exhibit expressions such as music, Among most of the young Jewish leaders we the new literature and film. !ey interviewed, ideals of tolerance and inclusivity modalities of respond to Jewish culture were compelling and seem to have become the Jewish identity and Jewish activities, but new dogma. Where their parents or grandparents and critical not to the idea that there is may have sought out Jewish environments that attachment a di"erence between Jews built social capital by enabling them to “bond” to Israel can and non-Jews. !ey are with likeminded individuals, to borrow Putnam’s be described thus responsive to Jewish useful distinction, today’s young American Jewish as post- educational activities, but leaders privilege “bridging” forms of social capital tribal, post- unresponsive to activities instead.!" !ey dislike intensely name-calling such nationalist, to "protect" Jews since as "self-hating Jew," which they view as an attempt post-Zionist they don't feel vulnerable to manipulate and silence critical thinking. or di"erent. Mention of the Holocaust is not a “magic bullet” As a group, younger Jews who exhibit the for them—quite the contrary-especially when it new modalities of Jewish identity and critical appears to them that the Shoah is being exploited attachment to Israel can be described as Post- for political reasons. tribal, post-nationalist, post-Zionist: Younger Jews sit comfortably in their American Jewish !e Distancing Hypothesis controversy and skins, partially because Jewish cultural references Peter Beinart's article have become part of the American context. Some Very recently (and in some connection with Peter are critical of both Jewish tribalism and American Beinart‘s article mentioned above) a controversy nationalism. Many associate primarily with other has emerged among social scientists investigating 172 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE American Jews regarding the “distancing brings with it Israel attachment, later and later in hypothesis”. Some sociologists claim that there is their lives. a long-term trend among young American Jews As regards the Beinart thesis, that it is Israel’s of distancing from Israel. !e proponents of this policies towards the Palestinians and the lack claim argue that, over time, young American Jews of movement towards a peace agreement with have become less attached to Israel; that Israel is them and the establishment of a Palestinian state, less central to them and their sense of being Jewish that brings in its wake young Jews’ alienation and that there is less support for Israel than there from Israel, researchers from both camps agree 72 once was. Other social scientists dispute this that what distancing does occur is not primarily claim and argue that young American Jews have precipitated by politics. Nevertheless, two things always shown less support than older Jews and that must be noted in this this is largely tied to life cycle. Young Jews start to regard: !e first is that become involved in the Jewish community and in irregardless of whether Many young support and attachment to Israel after they settle there is a quantitative Jews – unlike 73 down into marriage, career and children. Despite change in the attachment their elders – the fact that this question has been the focus of to Israel on the part of feel attached 74 a recent issue of Contemporary Jewry with over young American Jews, the to Israel but two dozen contributors, it is perceived by many discourse regarding Israel critical of Israeli as being unresolved. A careful analysis of the data, and Zionism has changed policies at the however, reveals that advocates of both schools are among young people. same time working from the same data, merely emphasizing As we have illustrated di"erent segments of the population. !e data throughout this paper, it is more and more show that many young Jews - unlike many of their acceptable to be critical (even severely critical) elders - feel attached to Israel but critical of Israeli of Israel and to imagine Jewish life, being and policies at the same time, and they bitterly resent expression in such a way that Israel and Zionism what they perceive as attempts to silence them or are deemed as detrimental or irrelevant to it. For ignore their concerns. limited segments of the younger Jewish population, What we can say with some certainty is that the it may be increasingly acceptable to view Israel and structural factors a"ecting distancing seem to be Zionism as being a negative or irrelevant factor in on the rise. As we have seen, both intermarried regard to what is important and valuable in Jewish partners and the children of intermarriage are on life; for an important segment, including most of the whole less attached to Israel and intermarriage the young leadership, Israel remains a central but is on the rise as a long term trend. Similarly, as time not the only central pillar of their Jewish lives. goes on, young American Jews are settling down Fewer young Jews are willing to identify Israel as into marriage, career and children, which for many occupying the most core place in their Jewish THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 173 landscape. !ese attitudes find ample expression Israel," asserting that "the Jewish lobby" means that in journalism, art, literature and blogging. "the Jews have a lot more power and influence," While Beinart has been severely criticized as was discussed by Evelyn Gordon in Commentary 75 providing no basis for his claim and on the contrary, magazine's blog quoting Luntz's own words : his claim seems to have been refuted by social "And guess what? Did the Jewish kids at the scientific research, his article seems to have struck best schools in America, did they stand up for a nerve. Beinart touched upon the fact that at least themselves; Did they challenge the assertions? !ey in the realm of discourse there is much more severe didn't say sh*t. And in that group was the leader criticism, Diasporism and post-Zionism than many of the Israeli caucus at Harvard. It took him 49 Jewish leaders and commentators are comfortable minutes of this before he responded to anything. with. [Later] it all dawned on them: If they won’t say it to their classmates, whom they know, who will they Passive, and ambivalent young Jews stand up for Israel to? … And they’re all looking at !e tendency of most each other with horrible embarrassment and guilt Beinart touched young American Jews to be like you wouldn’t believe." either passively supportive upon the fact !e New Zionists that at least of Israel, non-involved or in the realm ambivalent results in the Any picture of the relationship of younger of discourse fact that in the majority of American Jews to Israel would be misleading and there is much cases those who attempt incomplete without including a group who might more criticism, to de-legitimize Israel are be termed "the new Zionists." As individuals, these Disaporism and far more energetic than talented, dynamic young people are committed to post-Zionism the majority of young Israel and to Israel's defense with a deep passion. than Jewish American Jews who care !e new Zionists include artists like acclaimed leaders are about Israel, but are not young novelist Dara Horn, who dramatizes many comfortable passionate activists. One di"erent kinds of Jews in her prolific novels. Horn, with example of Jewish passivity who comes from a middle-of-the-road Conservative in the face of Israel bashing background and still considers herself part of that is reported by Republican demographic, incorporates historical settings and political consultant and public opinion pollster events into novels that educate readers about the Frank Lunz, in a gathering of 35 MIT and Harvard particularism, marginality and vulnerability of the students, 20 non-Jews and 15 Jews, to discuss the Jewish experience. She believes the insouciance of Palestinian-Israeli conflict during the summer of young American Jews results from a mirage about 2010. !e incident, in which Jewish students sat their incorporation into non-specific middle class silent while non-Jews referred to "the war crimes of white America, but that Jews are always on the 174 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE edge, whether they perceive it or not. Horn sees Implications of De-legitimization for awareness of this vulnerability, and an alertness Jewish identification and engagement in to the importance of cherishing Jewish traditions Europe and Jewish lives, as the only - and only a partial - !e Jews of Europe are sometimes held protection against being blindsided by fate. accountable for controversial Israeli actions77, and !e new Zionists include young Orthodox leaders if this intensifies, many Jews will avoid the issue of like recent Brandeis graduate Avi Bass, who for Israel in public discourse, hold neutral or critical his senior honors thesis completed a study of attitudes toward Israel and eventually decrease factors encouraging emigration to Israel. Bass had their Jewish profile in general. With relatively high the original idea to create an organization called social, professional and economic individual status, "Impact Aliyah," and worked with two friends to most European Jews will, in all likelihood, remain make it a reality. He has now emigrated and works in Europe. Should Israel be to make aliyah transitions easier for new North branded as a pariah-state, American olim. And one could include idealists most Jews will probably “Israel is the like Rabbi Seth Farber, a teacher and activist on lower their Jewish profile target, but behalf of innovative ideas of open Orthodoxy, who while a minority may feel Jewish students embodies what he calls the "love-hate" relationship more committed. We who stand up of some contemporary Zionists. He says, "I love the have already observed for Israel also idea of Israel, having lived here for 14 years, but I'm the emergence of such become the very frustrated by the di#cult religious culture and polarization, and this target” ethos of this country"." process seems to be !e new Zionists have an organizational dimension accelerating. as well. Organizations like !e David Project, the All sociological and cultural factors that erode Hillel Institute, and StandWithUs, an international identification of American young Jews with Israel, organization based in Los Angeles, all work to train as described in the previous section about US university students to reframe discussions about campuses, also exist in Europe. As in America, the Middle East and to articulate facts about Israel- today’s young European Jews are more independent and to defend themselves for defending Israel. As minded than their parents with respect to identity Roz Rothstein, co-founder of StandWithUs, puts and communal belonging. Both communal- it, "Israel is the target, but Jewish students who behavioral patterns and support to Israel cannot stand up for Israel also become the target."76 It is anymore be taken for granted. perhaps no wonder that only the most committed !e centrality of Israel to their lives is one of the students are willing to repeatedly allow themselves major di"erences between European young Jews to be targeted in this way. and their American counterparts. Israel’s political THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 175 actions a"ect European Jews wherever they live Aviv is a huge open air JCC, and in the absence and, as the most vibrant cultural and Jewish life of space for a vibrant secular cultural life in center, it is positioned as the very focal point of Europe, spending holidays and even university their identity. Even those who decide to turn away shorter breaks in Israel has become their way to from their Jewishness have to position themselves, give expression to the Jewish dimension of their eventually in a negative manner, toward Israel. hyphenated identity while living a Jewish-free life Wherever they live in Europe, and even if they have during the year on campus. Travelling to Israel has lived there for thousand years, they cannot avoid become both a social strategy and a religious one. being identified as associated with Israel successes Some, uncomfortable with what they perceive as and failures. !e Young Jews of Russia and Ukraine an artificial, synagogue-oriented and duty-oriented have friends and family in Jewish life in their local communities, find more Israel and all their Jewish suitable opportunities for Jewish engagement !e centrality identity is nurtured by in Israel. Should Israel adopt an open-sky policy, of Israel to their Israel emissaries and leading to a sharp decrease in the price of air travel, lives is one materials. In the UK, this phenomenon may accelerate. of the major almost all a#liated Jews Strong connectivity and ethnic identity do not di"erences have visited Israel, most between immunize against assimilation. In an age of have family there and 20% individualism, multiple identities and refusal European have lived there at some young Jews and of totalizing identity, endogamy has lost its point. 97% claim Israel is mandatory normative requirement, and out- their American central to their daily life. counterparts marriage and disa"ection from communal life are In France, where 70% have very common. In this on-line age, even while as first-degree family in Israel, many as 50-70% of British and French Jews have 70% have visited the country in the last ten years, personally experienced Israel, the State of Israel has and identification with Israel and commitment to lost its imaginary aura of a holy and infallible entity. its survival is very strong. Sociologists mention While those more disa"ected distance themselves that the main controversial issue in intermarriage from Israel because of political disagreement, even couples appears to be around Israel, and the non- some of the most engaged, core community Jews Jewish partners describe their partners' attitude have also become more critical of Israeli political to Israel and the need to defend its survival as and social behaviors because of their emotional visceral. closeness. Even those who accept Israel as the core Europe’s geographical proximity to Israel is an state of the Jewish people have a less forgiving additional factor accounting for di"erences attitude; they are less and less able to turn a blind between young American Jews and their European eye to what they perceive as Israel’s unjust, unfair, counterparts. For many young Europeans, Tel- or immoral behaviors. Many are more critical of 176 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Israeli internal and foreign policies because the In the eyes of committed Jews, the relationship Internet, not to mention the 24/7 news media, has with Israel is complex: while Israel is indeed the made them more familiar with them. As global de- most vibrant community and a primordial pole legitimization of Israel and Judaism become more of reference for some, for others it has lost its and more interwoven, the conventional di"erence ethical authority and identifying with Israeli between rear and frontlines of battle loses its foreign policy becomes increasingly di#cult. It relevance, and Diaspora Jewish students become is especially true for European ultra-Orthodox conscripted battlefront soldiers and so feel a right Jews. On one side, they perceive their Jewishness to criticize. Despite this, the critical issue is more as fully defined without a need to refer to the a matter of young Jewish adult personal priorities Israeli political entity, but, on the other side, they than simply a matter of distancing from Jewishness cannot avoid being identified by the non-Jews as and support of Israel: In Europe, the majority of tightly connected to Israel. young Jews – who, as mentioned earlier, have experienced daily life in Israel – fundamentally Trends Among Jewish Youth and Global care about Israel and are disgusted by anti- Changes in Values and Attitudes israeli media bias, anti-Zionist lies, moral double !ese trends among young standards and distorted facts about Israel. Most Jews seem to reflect general For some of them "do not want to be too involved" and do trends regarding cultural European Jews, not come to college to confront others around change and values in the Israel has lost "controversial issues". Moreover, those who attempt contemporary world. its ethical to de-legitimize Israel are far more energetic than !ey are probably related authority and the majority of Western young Jews who care to the unprecedented identifying with about Israel but are not passionate activists. We economic and physical Israeli policies may expect that in case their voice is not heard and security that has been the becomes we do not provide them with moral justification, a lot of the developed world increasingly large number of them will emotionally disengage since World War II and by di$cult and become more apathetic. the rise of the Information 78 In a context that prizes personal choice among Age since around 1980 . multiple hyphenated identities, more than a matter One such change has been the emergence of what of birth, Jewishness increasingly becomes a matter Inglehart and his collaborators have termed "post- of choice. Identification with Israel, support of materialism". In a series of publications, Inglehart Israeli foreign policy, endogamy, marrying Jewishly, has documented a broad value shift characteristic participating in communal events, are no longer of "post-industrial" society i.e. societies whose self-evident and mandatory in defining oneself as economies are largely dominated by services a serious Jew. and information technology.79 Inglehart has THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 177 summarized this shift as one from "survival" to mobilization).80 In accordance with the "survival" "self-expression". Among other characteristics, pattern of cultural orientations, clear definitions in the "survival" pattern of cultural values there of group boundaries and clear definitions of out- is a great emphasis upon attaining physical and groups and enemies is also very important. economic security, low levels of interpersonal In contrast to this, today's young Jews have been trust, intolerance of outgroups and foreigners and brought up after the 1970's, at a time when not stress upon group boundaries ("us and them"). only America but especially the American Jewish In contrast, individuals and groups in the "self- community has enjoyed unprecedented security, expression" pattern emphasize self-expression and prosperity and integration into American life. quality of life as opposed to mere survival. !ey also Similarly, they grew up at a time when Israel's report much higher levels of interpersonal trust existence was not only assured, but when Israel and tolerance towards outgroups and foreigners. had expanded into new, controversial territories. Most contemporary !ese young Jews are not only not oriented towards Jewish leaders exhibit a survival, as we have seen, they tend to view survival Young cultural orientation of and its associated orientations such as strong group American Jews, "survival". Having grown boundaries in negative light. !e emphasis upon in contrast up during or right after Israel's survival does not serve for them as a basis to most the Holocaust, leaders of for mobilization; on the contrary, it marks Israel contemporary major Jewish organizations as a "problem" which they would rather stay away leaders, who are in their sixties from. As has been pointed out, they see "peace" tend to view and seventies have and not survival as a most important value. In survival and experienced the struggle accordance with the self-expression pattern, they its associated for the establishment and endorse tolerance, diversity and pluralism as well orientations consolidation of the State as "peace". !eir attachment to Jewish and Israeli such as of Israel as their formative culture (food, music, literature) is also part of their strong group experiences. !ese Jewish orientation towards self expression. boundaries in struggles for basic survival negative light Another, related cultural change that has occurred and security probably is that modernity has become more "liquid" (To resonate with more general borrow a term of Zygmunt Bauman's).81 In the historical experiences of a similar nature – World period before the last quarter of the twentieth War II, the Cold War and the Depression. !us, for century, everyday institutions and expectations the generation of Jewish leaders, survival is very were more "solid". Middle class people in Europe important. It also has served them, as it has served and America, for example, expected to get married, generations of Jewish leaders, as an instrument for to bear and rear children. Today, many more Jewish mobilization (including of course, financial people "start from scratch" in deciding what they 178 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE as individuals want for their own lives82 !ey must De-Legitimization and the Crisis of Jewish decide what a relationship is and what it includes, Particularity do they want a relationship, with a person of Another factor which has influenced the which sex etc.83 In other words, individuals must relationship of young American Jews to Israel is decide about a plethora of things that not so long that the de-legitimization of Israel raises again the ago were decided for them - and that people like historic issue of the legitimacy and place of Jewish them accepted as the fixed order of the world. In particularity. De-legitimization raises once again a similar vein Robert Wuthnow comments that central problematics in the relationship of Judaism young American adults have “opportunities to and Christianity and in the place of the Jew in the make choices that are unprecedented,” and they are modern world. especially likely to engage in seeking and tinkering behaviors. His description uncannily reflects many !e problem of Jewish particularity, and its of the spiritual narratives of our informants: corollaries, Jewish "carnality" and "materiality", has confronted the Jew in his relations with Christianity "Many have been reared by parents who in the pre-Modern period; encouraged them to think for themselves and to it has confronted him in make such choices….Seeking is also conditioned his attempts to enter the “Young by living in a society that often does not supply American a single best answer to our questions or needs. modern nation-state and !is is why seeking results in tinkering. It modern society. It also adults have becomes not only possible but also necessary to confronts him now in opportunities cobble together one’s faith from the options at regard to the state of Israel. to make #$ hand". Just as Jewish particularity choices that are unprecedented” Young American Jews similarly exhibit radical was a problem in regard individualism when it comes to Israel. !ey do not to the attempts of the assume that mere belonging to the Jewish people individual Jew to become a modern citizen in necessarily dictates the attitude that they will Europe and to become integrated into modern 85 take towards the State of Israel in general or any European society , so its Jewish particularity has of the specific controversies that the State of Israel become a problem for the State of Israel in its is embroiled in. Just as they decide individually attempt to fit into the contemporary, universal central things about their lives (sexual orientation, globalized world order. marriage, religious lifestyle etc.), young Jews want !e crisis of the Jew in the European nation- to make up their own minds about Israel, the state and in European modernity in general was Palestinians, the Peace process etc. !ey want experienced both by the European states and the to be presented with balanced information and gentile population (especially the intelligentsia) and balanced pictures and to decide for themselves. by the Jews. As in the past, the contemporary crisis THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 179 of Jewish particularity seems to have reawakened truth of God. Moreover, Jews do not have to say perennial Jewish debates concerning the legitimacy, anything to give o"ense. !eir very particular, meaning and justification for Jewish particularity "carnal" being is an o"ense, because it embodies as it expresses itself in the Jewish national state their low, carnal understanding of the truth. 86 of Israel and in Jewish minority existence in the !ese themes continued into the Enlightenment. Diaspora. Even though the Enlightenment, especially in its !e policy challenge facing the Jewish people French (or more broadly, Catholic) version, was today is how to prevent the renewal of this very anti-Church, it was not at all pro-Jewish. debate from turning into a source of internal Voltaire himself, though he called to "erase" or weakness and subversion of Jewish well being uproot the infamy of Christianity, strongly held and how to turn into a source of Jewish creativity anti-Semitic stereotypes concerning Jews and and thriving. Judaism.87 In German speaking lands (as well as !e crisis of Jewish in Britain and Scandinavia, Protestant countries), particularity in the West there was much more of a tendency to identify In the eyes of is tied in the deepest sense Enlightenment with Christianity, or at least with a Christianity, specifically to the nature reasonable, enlightened Christianity. Judaism is an of Judaism and its relation All this impinged upon the standing of the Jews inferior version to Christianity in the eyes and the attitude towards them. Enlightenment of the same of Christians. theologians viewed Judaism as "particularist, religion, due to provincial, local and preliminary", while Christianity its “carnality” In the eyes of Christianity, 88 Judaism is not simply is "abstract, general and universal." In fact, Jewish another religion which one particularity under Enlightenment conditions can tolerate or not. Judaism is an inferior version is even more o"ensive than under traditional of the same religion. Its inferiority lies precisely conditions. Enlightenment criticism of Christianity in its "carnality", that is the fact that it expresses removed most of the particular and ceremonial its truths through performing bodily, material features of Christianity (Latin, Eucharist etc.) that mitzvoth (i.e. laying tefillin) and especially through could serve as a barrier to Jewish identification the fact that it is carried by a particular ethnic with the Christian religion. All that remained was descent group and does not include (in principle) pure ethical rationalism. all of humanity. !is attitude is manifest in all the Such a negative attitude towards Judaism and layers of the Christian Bible. Jewish particularism Jews transcended theological discourse per and "stubbornness" is especially o"ensive. It is not se and became a feature of general European merely that Judaism is "wrong", rather it o"ers an Enlightenment discourse and culture. While the inferior, lower, even caricatured version of the Jew may have enjoyed formal Emancipation in 180 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Europe, he could never fully become a member of "was on the right side of history". As long as the Jews European society. !at is "Jews as Jews" could never of Israel were seen as the remnant of a persecuted be admitted "to the ranks of humanity."89 and decimated people trying to carve out a place In a celebrated essay, "!e Jew as Pariah: A in the world in the face of corrupt Arab sheikhs Hidden Tradition" and in other writings, Hannah and oil companies, Israeli-Jewish particularity was Arendt outlines the Jew's responses to his post- tolerated and occasionally encouraged. !e fact Emancipatory non-acceptance – the Parvenu and that Israeli elites were socialist and that Israel was the "Conscious Pariah". For Arendt, Pariah status is associated with the egalitarian kibbutz also helped. thrust upon the Jew. !e Jew has no choice. What During the nineteen fifties and sixties, "progressive" matters is how he meets this fate, whether with intellectuals supported Israel in its fight against parvenu ignominy or builds upon his outcast status annihilation. a critical vision of emancipation. Arendt holds that In the past forty years this claim has become the Jewish Pariah vision is a genuine contribution increasingly di#cult to sustain. Israel has become to the general spiritual life of the Western world, a regional super-power and since 1967, whether and implicitly a justification of Jewish pariah status willingly or not, subjugates a population of (from the point of view of the Jew. !e gentile around 3 million Palestinians. !e discourse has no ethical right to impose it). !us, from of de-legitimization capitalizes upon this. !e Mendelssohn through Heine, Kafka and Hannah discourse of de-legitimization centers around the Arendt, from the historic Reform movement to two concepts of Israeli-Jewish particularity and contemporary Reconstructionist rabbis, the Jews Israeli oppression of Palestinians. At its height, the have crystallized a "solution" to the crisis of Jewish discourse of de-legitimization claims that Jewish- particularity. Jewish particularity can be permitted Israeli particularity itself (in its essence, without if it promotes, through criticism and action, having to do anything) is oppressive and immoral. increased social justice for the downtrodden, the So, we are back on familiar ground, the world is oppressed and the outcast. Jewish particularity is trying to construct a universal global order based uniquely suited for this role because of the Jews' upon human rights, only Jewish Israel presents an own position as Pariah and outcast. !is solution obstacle to that world order. And Jewish Israel has to Jewish particularity is an important contributing no excuses for its particularistic existence. It clearly factor to the support that Jews in the modern era does not advance universal social justice, quite the have traditionally lent to liberal and leftist causes. opposite – it is an oppressive immoral force. !e State of Israel seems to have revived this It should be stressed that the substructure of problematic. !e State of Israel again represents a de-legitimization is the substructure of Jewish- crisis of Jewish particularity. Israel's particular Jewish Gentile relations. In the era of Enlightenment, character could be tolerated as long as Israel was only Jewish particularity presented a challenge seen as advancing the cause of social justice and to ethical universalism. French, Polish, Italian, THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 181 German particularity does not because the French, existence everywhere. If the state of Israel does not Germans etc. are all Christians and hence belong to advance the cause of justice but, on the contrary, a universal civilization. Only Jewish particularity is is an oppressive and unjust regime, then perhaps considered a threat to ethical universalism because Jewish particularity everywhere is illegitimate. it represents an inferior particularist-carnal One prominent response to this is to return and understanding of the message (kerygma) of God. to stress the approach elaborated by Hannah Similarly, only Jewish-Israeli particularity represents Arendt – that true Jewish existence does not a threat to globalized ethical universalism because adhere in a Jewish nation-state with its orientation the Jews represent an inferior particularist-carnal towards power but rather in minority-Diaspora ethical order. !us the violations of other national existence which champions the oppressed and states of human rights the downtrodden. Or, at the very least, young Jews and justice are not treated At its height, the are interested in reopening the question of the with the same severity preferred form of Jewish existence – is it necessarily discourse of that Israel's violations de-legitimization a nation-state with its power orientations and are. At bottom, the other ethical dilemmas or can Jewish existence and claims states, being Gentile, that Jewish civilization be best realized in the Diaspora? !is are deemed to belong explains "the new Diasporaism" and the popularity particularity in principle to the new itself, in of the writing of such authors as Michael Chabon universalist, globalized and Ayelet Waldman. its essence, order. !eir violations is oppressive are local violations. !ey In sum, it is not altogether clear whether there is a and immoral are not deemed to be "distancing from Israel" on the part of young Jews. a religious-civilizational What does seem to have happened is change in threat to that order. Israel's actions are considered the discourse. Young Jews are starting to open up much di"erently – they are considereded a direct debates and questions which have not been heard religious-civilizational challenge and hence treated since the 1930's, and which challenge the centrality accordingly. of Jewish nationalism to Jewish existence. Certainly, Diasporaism has existed in America since the !us, de-legitimization revives a classic Jewish- 1960's. !e concept that America is Babylon - as Gentile problematic and even though it is directed opposed to Jerusalem - a center of great cultural to Israel, its reverberations reach and a"ect Jews creativity and fertility surpassing in certain ways everywhere. !ere is a natural slippage from the the Land of Israel – had been advanced by Gerson de-legitimization of Israel to the de-legitimization Cohen and Richard Cohen over 40 years ago. of Jews, Judaism and their particularistic existence. Yet, the old Diasporaism never questioned or !us de-legitimization has to be understood not challenged the basic Zionist premises – that the only as a threat to Israel but to particular Jewish state of Israel is a vital center for the Jewish people. 182 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE !e new Diasporaism that is now emerging does precisely that. In some of its articulations - but to be sure not all - it can suggest, sometimes ever so haltingly and faintly, that the State of Israel is bad for the Jewish people and betrays Judaism. !is, to us, seems to be a fascinating new development and the challenge for us is to turn this debate into a resource instead of a threat. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 183 Endnotes of Guilt: An Essay on Western Masochism (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2010), in !e New Republic 1 See, for example, Steven M. Cohen and Ari Y. Kelman, 21, N. 4 (August 12, 2010), 31-36, p. 34. Beyond Distancing: Young Adult American Jews and !eir 8 Building a Political Firewall Against Israel's Alienation from Israel (with the assistance of Lauren Delegitimation: Conceptual Framework (!e Reut Blitzer at Florence G. Heller-JCCA Research Center; New Institute: Submitted to the 10th Herzliya Conference, York: !e Jewish Identity Project of Reboot, Andrea and March 2010. Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, 2007). 9 Anti-Defamation League, "Anti-Israel Activity on 2 Anti-Defamation League, "Anti-Israel Activity on Campus," op. cit. Campus: 2009 in Review," Feb. 2010, (http://www.adl. org/main_Anti_Israel/campus_2009_anti_israel.htm?). 10 Anti-Defamation League, "Anti-Israel Activity on Campus," op. cit. 3 Peter Beinart, "!e Failure of the American Jewish Establishment," in the New York Review of Books (May, 11 Anti-Defamation League, "Anti-Israel Activity on 2010). Campus," op. cit. 4 As we discuss in greater detail later in the paper, 12 Manfred Gerstenfeld, !e Academic Boycott Against responses to the charge of distancing include !eodore Israel (Jerusalem: !e Jerusalem Center for Public Sasson, Benjamin Phillips, Charles Kadushin, and A"airs), p. 27. Leonard Saxe, Still Connected: American Jewish Attitudes 13 Farah Stockman, "Support builds for boycotts about Israel (Waltham, MA.: Brandeis University's Cohen against Israel, activists say," Boston Globe, August 22, Center for Modern Jewish Studies, 2010; and an entire 2010, A22. issue of Contemporary Jewry 30, No. 2-3 (October 2010) 14 Gerstenfeld, "Academic Boycott Against Israel," devoted to the Beinart article and the debate between op.cit., p. 18. the research teams of Cohen and Saxe, including articles by more than two dozen social scientists and 15 Sue Fishko", "Hillel students and professionals gear observers. up to face anti-Israel campus activism," JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, August 16, 2010 (hhp://www.jta. 5 !e Ministry of Strategic A"airs has established a org/news/article.) special desk devoted to it (headed by Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser) as has the Ministry of Foreign A"airs. 16 Fishko", "Hillel Students." !e Reut Institute has issues an number of reports 17 Ami Eden, "Brandeis president in the eye of the on the subject and the JPPI has recently initiated a storm," JTA, February 18, 2009. (http://blogs.jta.org/ major comprehensive project, headed by Brig. Gen. telegraph/article/2009/02/18/1003082/boston- Michael Herzog on the de-legitimization of Israel and globe-brandeis-president-in-the-eye-of-the-storm) its ramifications. 18 Frank Barat, "On the Future of Israel and Palestine: 6 I am grateful to Ilan Troen, !eodore Sasson, Steven Interview with Ilan Pappé and Noam Chomsky," in Bayme, and Steven M. Cohen for their input into this Counterpunch , June 6, 2008 (http://www.chomsky. and other sections of this essay, and for their thorough info/interviews/20080606.htm). review and critiques. 19 Sara Roy, "Second Annual Holocaust 7 Richard Wolin, reviewing Pascal Bruckner, !e Tyranny Remembrance Lecture, Baylor University, April 8, 184 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 2002; cited by Gerstenfeld, Jews Against Israel, op. cit., Committee, 2010), pp. 257-263, p. 258/ p. 8. A few years later Roy stated:"Israel’s occupation 26 Tony Judt, "Israel, the Alternative," in !e New York of the Palestinians is not the moral equivalent of the Review of Books 60, no. 16 (October 23, 2003). Nazi genocide of the Jews. It does not have to be. !e fact that it is not in no way tempers the brutality 27 Galchinsky. of the repression, which has become frighteningly 28 Galchinsky, pp. 138-152. normal. Occupation is about the domination and dispossession of one people by another. It is 29 Galchinsky, p. 159. about the destruction of their property and the 30 Besides the 1995 and 2010 JPR Israel survey on destruction of their soul. At its core, occupation British Jews and the 1995 and 2002 FSJU Survey on aims to deny Palestinians their humanity by denying French Jews, longitudinal systematic measurements of them the right to determine their existence, to live Jewish attachment to Judaism and Israel have not been normal lives in their own homes. And just as there pursued in Europe. See Erick H. Cohen (2007) and JPR is no moral equivalence or symmetry between the Israel Survey (2010)….. Holocaust and the occupation, so there is no moral 31 SOAS, School of Oriental and African Studies, equivalence or symmetry between the occupier and University of London. See the Gavin Gross article the occupied, no matter how much we as Jews regard “anti-Israeli Activity at the SOAS, How Jewish Students ourselves as victims".[14] "!e Impossible Union of Started to Fight Back”. www.jcpa.org/JCPA/ Arab and Jew: Reflections on Dissent, Remembrance and Redemption". Edward Said Memorial Lecture. 32 Middle East Quarterly, fall 2010, "!e Arab University of Adelaide. http://www.adelaide.edu. Lobby: !e European Component" by Steven au/esml/transcripts/2008/ESML-BY-Sara-ROY- J. Rosen, p. 22. Available online at http:// 2008.pdf. Retrieved 2009-10-17. www. meforum. org/ meq/ pdfs/ 2774. pdf 20 Barat, op.cit. 33 !ere is, to be sure, 'hard' de-legitimation on the 21 Ilan Troen, private communication, September 19, Left in the farther reaches of the anti-globalization 2010. movement, ISM, etc. yet those seem to draw on, or 22 Ilan Pappé, !e Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (London push to extremes, the 'soft' versions. and New York: Oneworld Press,2006). 34 For an accessible survey from antiquity to the 23 Shlomo Sand, !e Invention of the Jewish People present, see Adam Garfinkle, Jewcentricity (Hoboken: (London: Verso, 2009). John Wiley & Sons, 2009). !e whimsical title and 24 Oren Yiftachel, who wrote Land and Identity Politics cheeky writing-style notwithstanding, Garfinkle is a in Israel/Palestine (Philadelphia: PennPress, 2006). serious and accomplished policy intellectual. 25 Steven Bayme, “!e Intellectual Assault on Israel 35 See for example Galatians 3:28: "!ere is neither Jew and Pro-Israel Advocacy: How the American Jewish nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither Community Should React,” in Manfred Gerstenfeld male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" and Steven Bayme, eds., American Jewry’s Comfort 36 Arthur Hertzberg, !e French Enlightenment and Level, Present and Future (Jerusalem and New York: the Jews (New York: Columbia University Press, 1968), Jerusalem Center for Public A"airs and American Jewish p. 312. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 185 37 It is worth noting that the American Revolution the Making of an American Public Identity (Berkeley: yielded a di"erent republican model, characterized University of California Press, 2006). by an ethos of liberal individualism and multiple civil 41 Of course the Catholic Church has plotted a and associational networks, mediating group and complex and delicate course in its relations with the individual relationships to the state. !e late Seymour State of Israel. Since the signing of the Fundamental Martin Lipset, suggested that this was due in no small Agreement between the Holy See and Israel in 1993, part to the absence of an established church; having relations have been on a more or less steady footing and emerged from a multiplicity of Protestant sects, the outright theological demurral from Israel's existence American nation-state was au fond characterized by is seldom heard in the o#cial Catholic hierarchy, internal confessional diversity, or in other words, the though sensitive issues remain. See Toni Johnson, homogeneity and hegemony of the earlier Church was "Vatican-Israel Relations," Council on Foreign Relations not simply transposed onto the new universal state. Background Paper (May 12, 2009): http://www.cfr.org/ See Seymour Martin Lipset, American Exceptionalism: publication/19344/vaticanisrael_relations.html A Double-Edged Sword (New York: W.W. Norton, 1997). 42 Ruether's 1974 Faith and Fratricide was a truly path- 38 It is instructive in this regard to note the recent massive breaking work in Christian self-reckoning in the wake of study of a wide range of current forms of anti-Semitism, the Holocaust. For her stinging critique of Zionism, see by the distinguished historian Robert S. Wistrich, A her !e Wrath of Jonah !e Crisis of Religious-Nationalism Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (co-authored with Global Jihad, (New York: Random House, 2010), whose Herman Ruether) (Minneapolis; Fortress Pres, 2002). text alone runs to nearly 1000 pages. !e picture he paints is dark and alarming. He also sees elements of 43 See Dexter Van Zile, "!e Presbyterian Church's Jewish self-hatred, everywhere. Yet, his study is thinly- Attack on Israel," Jerusalem Center for Public A"airs, conceptualized and seems to use the rubric of anti- June 1, 2010, http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ Semitism for everything. He does note, at p. 782, that: ShowPage.asp?DBID=1&TMID=111&LNGID=1&FID "Anti-Semitism, than as now, is an important barometer =381&PID=0&IID=3876 of the cultural crisis in Europe and the Middle East, 44 See Badiou's (in)famous 2005 essay, "!e Uses of including problems of globalization, modernization, the Word 'Jew'," available in translation at http://www. ethnic nationalism, religious fundamentalism, and racist lacan.com/badword.htm prejudice in general." Yet this very observation indicates that labeling any and all phenomena "anti-Semitism" 45 See Slavo Zizek, "Christians, Jews and Other can obscure as much, or even more, than it clarifies. Criminals," available at http://www.lacan.com/milner. htm. For a searing critique of Zizek's own lapidary anti- 39 It should be clear that the word "liberal" is being Semitism, see Adam Kirsch, "!e Deadly Jester," !e used her in terms of its "classic" meaning as an ethos New Republic, December 2, 2008, available at http:// that promotes individual freedom and equality under www.tnr.com/article/books/the-deadly-jester, and, the law. Idem., "Zizek Strikes Again," !e New Republic, July 26, 40 For a particularly fascinating study of how Jewish 2010, available at http://www.tnr.com/article/books- thinkers reworked traditional Jewish life into the key and-arts/76531/slavoj-zizek-philosophy-gandhi of 20th century American liberalism, see Lila Corwin Berman, Speaking of Jews: Rabbis, Intellectuals and 186 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 46 Tony Judt, "Israel; !e Alternative," New York Review of his thoroughgoing opposition to what he sees as of Books, October 23, 2003, available at http://www. an equally thoroughgoing US imperialism, with which nybooks.com/articles/archives/2003/oct/23/israel- Israeli policies willingly dovetail. Chomsky himself does the-alternative/ recognize Israel's right to exist; it is the unremitting, withering and all-encompassing tone of his criticisms 47 Ibid. which make him part of our discussion. 48 !is point was the heart of one of the most powerful 55 An extremely critical but comprehensive and critiques of Judt's position, by the celebrated liberal thoughtful survey of critiques of Israel and Zionism intellectual Leon Wieseltier, "Israel, Palestine and the from within Israel's intellectual elite is the recent study Return of the Binational Fantasy: What is Not to be by Assaf Sagiv,"!e Sad State of Israeli Radicalism," Azure Done," !e New Republic, October 27, 2003, available at Spring 2010, pp. 58-95, available online at http://www. http://www.mafhoum.com/press6/165P51.htm azure.co.il/download/magazine/az40%20Sagiv.pdf 49 See generally, Yehudah Mirsky, "!e 56 See the lengthy report of Anne Herzberg, NGO Cosmopolitans," Jewish Ideas Daily, November 26, 'Lawfare': Exploitation of Courts in the Arab-Israeli 2010, available at http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/ Conflict (Jerusalem: NGO-Monitor, 2008). content/module/2010/11/26/main-feature/1/the- cosmopolitans 57 See Yehudah Mirsky, Human Rights, Democracy and the Inescapability of Politics, or, Human Dignity !ick 50 In Israeli academia post-modernism and post-Zionism and !in, Israel Law Review, (2005:1-2) pp. 358-377 are closely linked. Post-modernism contributes to post- Zionism by "deconstructing" "hegemonic narratives" and 58 See Martin Bright, "Annie Lennox: I was Wrong about placing all narratives on an equal footing. Israel," !e Jewish Chronicle, March 4, 2010, available at http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/29080/annie- 51 At the same time, post-Colonial studies has lennox-i-was-wrong-about-israel . Lennox still, though, positive contributions to make to Jewish historical self- refuses to visit Israel, see http://www.ynetnews.com/ understanding, see Aamir R. Mufti, Enlightenment in the articles/0,7340,L-3967318,00.html Colony (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007). 59 For a thoughtful critique of Spielberg's film from a 52 Edward Said, !e Question of Palestine,(London: left perspective, see Morris Dickstein, "!e Politics of Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980. the !riller," Dissent Spring 2006, available online at 53 See his Unheroic Conduct (Berkeley: University of http://dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=432 California Press, 1997). It should be noted that Boyarin 60 Saskia Sassen, Territory, Authority, Rights: From is a classically-trained and distinguished, if often Medieval to Global Assemblages, (Princeton and Oxford: provocative, Talmudist and taught for some years at Princeton U. Press 2006). Ben-Gurion University. 61 It should be noted that in the wake of the financial 54 !e cruder forms of anti-Colonialism simply see Israel crisis of 2008 and especially the sovereign debt crisis in as an extension of the discredited Colonial order and its Europe of 2010, politicians and European populations contemporary incarnations in American imperialism started to favor once again, nationalist orientations. and globalized capitalism. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez !is has been reflected both in terms of policy and in is explicit on this linkage; the celebrated intellectual terms of national pride and awareness. Nevertheless Noam Chomsky frames his critiques of Israel in terms this new nationalism itself may contain more civic, THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 187 inclusive elements than the traditional European ethnic- 76 Fishko", "Hillel Students and professions, op. cit.. nationalism. See "German Identity Long Dormant Re- 77 2010 JPR Israel survey asserts Itself", http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/ world/europe/11germany.html?_r=1 78 Manuel Castells, !e Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture (!ree Volumes) (Oxford: Blackwell, 62 Paul Wapner, Environment Activism and World Civic 1996). Politics. (Albany NY: SUNY 1996) 79 Ronald Inglehart, Culture Shift in Advanced 63 Shaul Kelner, Tours !at Bind: Diaspora, Pilgrimage, Industrial Society (Princeton: Princeton U. Press, and Israeli Birthright Tourism (New York and London: 1990), Modernization and Post-Modernization: New York University Press, 2010), 16. Cultural, Economic and Political Change in 43 Societies 64 Steven M. Cohen and Ari Y. Kelman, with Lauren (Princeton: Princeton U. Press 1997). Inglehart based Blitzer, Beyond Distancing: Young American Jews and his conclusions on three waves of cross-societal survey their Alienation from Israel (!e Jewish Identity Project research involving (as regards this issue) 22 variables. of Reboot, 2007), p. 19. !e survey research was extensive, involving up to 123 countries. 65 Cohen and Kelman, 14. 80 Many older Jews still remember the mobilizing slogan 66 Sasson, Phillips, Kadushin, and Saxe, Still Connected, ! - "(!ey are beating [persecuting] op. cit. ģħĭĝĬģĤĝ ĪĞĤĤģĝěħĴĩ Jews – Give Money!!) 67 Cohen and Kellman, 17. 81 Zygmunt Bauman, Liquid Times: Living in an Age of 68 Sylvia Barack Fishman and Daniel Parmer, Matrilineal Uncertainty (Cambridge: Polity, 2006)y Ascent/ Patrilineal Descent: !e Gender Imbalance in 82 Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernscheim, American Jewish Life (2008: Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism and its Social and Political Consequences.(London: Sage, 2002). Brandeis University). 83 Kevin Smith dir., a film (1997). 69 Fishman and Parmer. Chasing Amy, 84 Wuthnow, , (Princeton: 70 http://www.forward.com/articles/128329/ After the Baby Boomers Princeton U. Press, 2007)114. 71 Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone(New York: Simon 85 Hannah Arendt, !e Jew as Pariah, New York: Grove:, and Shuster, 2000) 1974), Idem. !e Origins of Totalitarianism (rev.ed. New York: 72 Cohen and Kelman Schoken 2004), , !eodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, !e 73 Sasson, Kadushin, Saxe Dialectic of the Enlightenment, Aamir Mufti, Enlightenment in the Colony: !e Jewish Question and the Crisis of Post-Colonial 74 Contemporary Jewry, Vol. 30, No. 2-3, October 2010. Culture. (Princeton: Princeton U. Press, 2007). 75 Evelyn Gordon, "Frank Lutz on Why American 86 See Daniel Boyarin, Carnal Israel: Reading Sex in Jewish Students Won't Defend Israel," Commentary the Talmud, Los Angeles and Berkely: University of magazine online (Contentions), http://www. California Press, 1992. Boyarin describes how Talmudic commentarymagaline.com/blogs/indes.php/evelyn- Judaism inscribed itself as "carnal" and defined itself gordon/330061. over and against Christianity. 188 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 87 Arthur Herzberg, !e French Enlightenment and the Jews, Jacob Katz, From Prejudice to Destruction,( . Cambridge, Ma. Harvard U. Press, 1980) 88 Anders Gerdmar, Roots of !eological Anti-Semitism,( Leiden: Brill, 2009). P.44. 89 Hannah Arendt, "!e Jew as Pariah: A Hidden Tradition", in !e Jew as Pariah p. 68. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 189 PART 4 Developments to Watch 10 Developments to Watch Religious Issues and States. In Israel, on the other hand, the religious Israel-Diaspora Relations establishment is part of the institutions of the state. !is gap between the American approach d and the !e past year has been characterized by intensive Israeli one is, in and of itself, productive of tensions preoccupation with the issue of "distancing", which and a feeling of alienation of Jewish Americans will continue to accompany those involved in the from Israel. However this gap is exacerbated when Israel-Diaspora relationship in the upcoming years. Israel, in the eyes of young Jewish Americans, Many of those adhering to the "distancing" theory is a country whose religious life is ruled by the believe that political gaps make a real contribution "Orthodox" establishment, which suppresses the to the feeling of young American Jews that Israel other religious streams , namely the Reform and cannot constitute for them a "core state". However, Conservative – at a time in which the majority of the "political" explanation is not the only one young Jewish Americans identify more with the possible. Parallel to it and to a large extent Conservative and Reform denominations. complementing and strengthening it is the "religious" As mentioned above none of this is new, but in the explanation, meaning the feeling of young Jews past year a renewed tension between Israel and that the way in which the relations between religion American Jewry concerning the "religious" issue and state in Israel are managed, contradict their became noticeable, and this may have contributed fundamental values and make it di#cult for them to "distancing" tendencies, if there are any, and in to identify with Israel. !e gaps between Israeli and any case it did not benefit the relations between American Jews in this matter are hardly new, and the two communities. On this background one can throughout the years have surfaced and at times mention many examples of incidences that have brought about "crises" in Israel-Diaspora relations. received varying degrees of exposure in American In brief, one may say that the majority of American Jewish communities such as: the segregation of Jews are faithful to the idea of separation of men and women in buses in Jerusalem; the rabbis' "church and state" as it is practiced in the United letter opposing rental of apartments to Arabs; a THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 193 ruling against a woman being a member of the local Americans to Israel, which expose them personally Council of a religious community in Samaria; various to the manner in which religious issues are handled antagonistic statements made by important rabbis in Israel. against the progressive denominations, sometimes Two prominent issues were at the center of the in scathing terms, and so on and so forth. relationship this year between Israel and American !e renewal of tensions between Israel and the Jewry concerning the issue of the state-religion Diaspora in recent years has several reasons: relationship. !e first was an attempt to change the Israeli conversion law ("the Rotem Bill"), and the In Israel: second is the ongoing clash related to the desire of t !e rise in the demographic strength of the a group called "the Women of the Wall" to conduct ultra-Orthodox and their attempts to translate religious ceremonies for women at the Western Wall. this power into religious legislation. !ese two issues received much attention from the central American Jewish establishment, from the t Religious radicalization of rabbinical factors, communities, rabbis, and activists from all over the both ultra-Orthodox and national-religious. United States. Nearly in all cases the attention was of t A relative calm in security tensions alongside a negative nature, including severe criticism of Israel. a relative stagnation in the political process !e Rotem Bill touched upon an essential issue which contributed to the reappearance of that causes a crisis in Israel-Diaspora relations each essentially civil matters on the agenda. time it is raised. We refer to the attempt made by t A certain strengthening of the progressive MK David Rotem from the Yisrael Beiteinu party to movements in Israel and their attempts to solve an internal Israeli problem of the treatment gather even more strength – which brought of converted Jews, especially from among about a counter-reaction on the part of the Commonwealth of Independent States (the former Orthodox establishment. Soviet Union) immigrants, due to the refusal of rabbis in various places to accept their conversions. In the Diaspora: MK Rotem tried to change the law so that the A change in the attitude towards Israel and system would become more accommodating broadening acceptance of a more "critical" towards those going through conversion. As part discourse. of the package deal (that included other elements) A growing trend of philanthropists directing concocted by Rotem and the ultra-Orthodox their money towards specific targets, including MKs the law was worded in such a manner that strengthening progressive elements in Israel the authority and responsibility for all matters of (political as well as religious). conversion were placed in the hands of the Chief Rabbinate. It was this item in the law that raised A rise in the number of visits of young Jewish the most objections, due to its opponents' fear that 194 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE it had the potential to dramatically alter the status !e two crises have received the attention of quo. Furthermore, every attempt to change the American Jewry, although not equally. !e conversion laws also means a change in the Israeli immediate crisis – the Rotem Law – was met approach to the larger question of "who is a Jew" with a sharp reaction on the part of the leaders of and therefore is also perceived as having a direct American Jewry, primarily because there was a clear impact on Diaspora Jewry (Although in this case it deadline in this case. !e threat of an uncontrollable was unclear whether there would be any practical crisis actually caused a suspension of the legislation implications for the Jewish Diaspora). and perhaps even its cancellation. !e Women of the Wall's crisis is yet to be resolved, and it continues !e Women of the Wall's struggle also concerns a Jewish symbol "shared" by Israel and the Jewish to erode Israel's image among certain audiences of Diaspora – the Kotel (Wailing Wall) plaza. !is American Jews. struggle has been going on for many years and it !e ongoing process of is founded in the demand of a group of women bolstering the rabbinical- American Jews to conduct a women's prayer service in the Kotel Orthodox establishment in feel that Israel plaza, while wrapped in talittot (prayer shawls) Israel in the face of growing is “radicalizing” and reading from the Torah. !is demand and criticism in the Diaspora in terms of the ban imposed by the authorities on their will necessarily lead to the religion and desired form of prayer have already reached the erosion of Israel's image is on the path High Court of Justice several times, and finally a as the country of "all the “leading to compromise was reached. In the past year a new Jews", to the erosion of fundamen- height was reached in the continuing struggle its image as a liberal and talism” as the police detained for questioning several of pluralist country, and to a the group's leaders after they had participated growing feeling of alienation on the part of those in a prayer that was ostensibly contrary to the that do not identify with Judaism in its Orthodox verdict of the Court. !e detention was met with form (meaning – most of the Jewish people). sharp reactions in many Jewish communities !erefore both Israel and the leadership of the in the United States. It is worth mentioning in Jewish Diaspora have a clear interest in defusing the this context that in the past few years the rules tensions and reach compromises that will neutralize governing behavior at the Kotel have been seen their potential damage. In outlining such solutions it to become even stricter, for instance, in the would be appropriate to consider several issues: establishment of separate entrances for men t On issues clearly concerning the "Jewishness" and women, and this too has contributed to the of Israel and its Jewish symbols, formal and growing feeling among American Jews that Israel informal consultations should be considered is "radicalizing" in terms of religion and is on the before taking steps that may change the status path "leading to fundamentalism". quo. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 195 t In the specific context of the Kotel plaza it would be proper for Israel to reconsider the existing arrangement and attempt to strive for a new situation that would enable Jews from the Diaspora to conduct prayers and ceremonies according to their custom. t !e relations between the religious denominations in the United States are much better than in Israel. In this matter Israel must try and learn from the American community and try to improve the relations wherever possible. t Even before discussing legislative action to improve the status of the progressive denominations – moves that are politically complicated – a feeling that the leaders of the country respect and appreciate the progressive denominations will contribute greatly to an improved atmosphere. t It is recommended that the leadership of the Jewish Diaspora channel the feeling of frustration among progressive Jewish young adults in a way that will lead them to action and not to indi"erence. t In our estimation, if compromises and arrangements in the spirit proposed here will not be promoted, it can be assumed that the erosion of Israel's status among American Jewry on religious issues will continue and even worsen. 196 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE !e Jewish Free School Case in both a Briton and a Jew by birth, and belongs to London and the Hebrew Charter a Masorti synagogue he regularly attends with his Schools in the US son. Attorneys representing M argued that JFS had determined his ineligibility for admissions on the basis of ethnicity, in violation of Britain’s 1976 Race While both the global economic crisis and Jewish Relations Act, because it had based its decision on identity in the Diaspora (in connection with his mother’s ethnic origins. de-legitimization of Israel on North American campuses) are examined in other parts of this Although M lost the first year’s annual assessment, two developments legal round in a lower “the which resonate with these themes in Jewish court, which found JFS’s requirement education at the primary and secondary levels are admission policy to be that if a pupil worth noting and watching. One concerns JFS— “entirely legitimate,” he is to qualify for formerly Jews’ Free School, established in 1732-- prevailed on appeal, a admission his the oldest and most venerable Jewish school in ruling sustained by the mother must be the United Kingdom, and the other, the Hebrew Supreme Court justices. Jewish is a test Language Academy (HLA), a charter school in !e Court of Appeal in of ethnicity… Brooklyn which opened in September 2009. Both its verdict stated: “the such a practice navigate the borderlands between religious and requirement that if a is even more state authorities, and between particularistic pupil is to qualify for unacceptable and pluralistic inclinations within Judaism. Both admission his mother in the case schools are free of charge, a fact that, in these must be Jewish, whether of a school trying economic times, has profound financial by descent or conversion, funded by the ramifications for some Jewish families. is a test of ethnicity which contravenes the Race taxpayer” In December 2009, JFS lost a legal challenge to its Relations Act… Such a admissions policy in a narrowly split decision (5-4) practice is even more rendered by Britain’s Supreme Court. !e suit was unacceptable in the case of a comprehensive brought against JFS on behalf of “M,” 12 years old school funded by the taxpayer.” at the time, who was declined a place among the school’s approximately 1,700 students based on !e Appeal Court’s ruling called for JFS to adopt the refusal of the O#ce of the Chief Rabbi (OCR), an admissions standard based on “outward Dr. Jonathan Sacks, to recognize the non-Orthodox manifestations of religious practise,” a test that conversion of his Italian, Roman Catholic-born would include, among other factors, synagogue mother, and by extension M’s own status as a Jew. attendance. JFS was instructed to implement such a M’s father, who is divorced from his mother, is calculus for the 2010-11 school year and complied with the order. Supreme Court jurist Lord Brown, THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 197 who is Jewish, remarked in his dissenting opinion the first Hebrew language high school in September that such a test amounted to a “non-Jewish 2011 – the Hebrew Language Academy in Brooklyn, definition of who is Jewish.” and the Hatikvah International Academy in East For some, including Rabbi Sacks, the decision is an Brunswick, New Jersey. A new charter, Shalom intrusion and indicates at least a modicum of state Academy, serving the communities of Englewood directed and enforced, intra-Judaic policy,court and Teaneck is set to open next fall. Several more, ordered pluralism in this case. For others, like the throughout the country, are in the process of chief executive of Britain’s Liberal Judaism, Rabbi applying for charter status. In addition Jewish day Danny Rich, the ruling was welcome because it schools are also planning to transform themselves addresses the objection into charter schools. of non-Orthodox streams Broadly speaking, charter schools are self-selecting !e basic model to “standard-setting – students and families choose to enroll for a for Hebrew by just one section of specific reason -- niche schools, hybrids of public charter schools the community to the and private education that introduce, according to includes a detriment of the rest.” their advocates, an element of school choice and segregation innovation into state-funded primary and secondary of Jewish and One cannot help but hear education systems. 40 states plus the District of Israeli culture, the harmonies this case Columbia currently have statutory provisions to which is strikes with the broader accommodate charters within their public school allowed, from ongoing “conversion systems. !at isn’t to say that the process of applying religious and crisis,” inside Israel and between Israeli rabbinic for charter status is an easy one, and, more often biblical studies than not, state school licensing authorities reject which are not authorities and Diaspora rabbis, which has at charter applications the first time around. its heart the daunting !e basic model for Hebrew charter schools identificational questions of who is a Jew and who includes dual-language instruction integrated has the authority to make such determinations. into all subjects, and a careful segregation of ttt Jewish and Israeli culture, which is allowed, from religious and biblical studies, which are not. In the United States, where there is a constitutionally Supplemental, privately funded Jewish religious erected separation barrier between church and state, education programs are readily available to Jewish Hebrew language charter schools, and a full-fledged, students either on or o" site after school hours. well-funded movement championing them, began to sprout up in 2007. At this writing, four charter It is interesting to note that in much of the elementary schools are in operation: two Ben Gamla media coverage of Hebrew charters comparisons Schools in southern Florida – Ben Gamla will open are drawn with the Kahlil Gibran International 198 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE Academy of Brooklyn, founded in 2007 as the first !e di#culty of balancing on the tightrope between English-Arabic charter school to o"er a curriculum religion and state is just one issue in a complex set of Arabic language and culture. Just as some of problematics animating the Hebrew charter critics of the Kahlil Gibran International Academy school discourse. Diane Ravitch, a professor at have expressed the concern that, in violation of the New York University School of Education and the church-state divide, Islamic religious study senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, in a New could find its way into the school’s curriculum, York Daily News op-ed from early in 2009, takes the some critics of Hebrew charter schools, including view that Hebrew charter schools are anathema the ACLU, make a similar claim: that it will not to the American liberal be possible to keep Jewish religious study from multi-cultural enterprise: intruding on the secular school day. “It is the job of family, Contemporary Israeli society Although the first Hebrew language charter school the community and religious institutions to is the result 0f to open was Hollywood, Florida’s Ben Gamla 120 years of Charter School in 2007, the establishment of the teach children about their heritage. !e job of public secularization Hebrew Language Academy (HLA) in the Midwood and neighborhood of Brooklyn in 2009 was the first in schools is to teach children a common civic culture modernization New York and is the flagship school of a Hebrew of the Hebrew language charter movement supported by the and a shared commitment to democracy…In a city language, so formidable clout and capital of Taglit (Birthright) there’s a whole philanthropist, Michael Steinhardt. HLA, which with hundreds of di"erent ethnic and cultural culture in which currently serves approximately 150 racially Hebrew does diverse students (55% are white), will increase its groups, we should not be encouraging the creation not necessarily capacity yearly until it reaches its goal of the full mean religion spectrum of grades from kindergarten through of schools that are specific 12th grade. Formerly an o#cial in the New York to a single non-American City Department of Education’s charter school, culture. !at way lies separation, segregation Aaron Listhaus was recently hired as the executive and the fraying bonds that hold us together as director of the Hebrew Charter School Center Americans.” and in a March 2011 interview in Tablet Magazine One of the thorniest areas in the Hebrew charter said, “Our goal is to really uncouple Hebrew from school discourse concerns the impact Hebrew Judaism. Contemporary Israeli society is the result charters may have on already financially strapped of 120 years of secularization and modernization of Jewish day schools. !e anxiety Hebrew charters the Hebrew language. So, there is a whole culture cause in the day school community has added out there in which Hebrew does not necessarily fresh energy to the call for school vouchers among mean religion.” some Jewish educators. At the same time, with THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 199 day school tuition at around $20,000 per child per year, and the country still in the grip of a persistent financial crisis, others say that charter schools have the potential to save and revitalize Jewish education in the US. And, as mentioned above, it is a safe bet that more and more day schools will seek to convert to charters. Rabbi Paul Plotkin, spiritual leader of the Conservative Temple Beth Am in Margate, Florida, recently wrote that Hebrew charters might o"er the Conservative movement the opportunity of a badly needed infusion of revenue and cultural relevance: "As wonderful as our Solomon Schechter schools have been, they still only attract a small percentage of Conservative students. While cost is not the only reason, it certainly has been a major contributing factor. But a “near” Jewish day school education might be available for a few thousand dollars a year [the estimated price of afterschool Jewish study programs]. And the delivery of this education could reinvigorate older Conservative synagogues, creating a significant new revenue stream and putting many new children on campus. !e plan also could provide employment opportunities for Conservative rabbis, teachers, and youth workers, as well as the resources to pay them". 200 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE New Findings Concerning the form a remarkably tight subcluster…and trace the Genome1 Structure of the Jewish origin of most Jewish Diaspora communities to the People Levant”, wrote Nature. !e second article speaks of the “distinct genetics” Scientists have carried out more frequent and and “shared Middle Eastern ancestry” of most Jews. extensive genetic research on Jews than on most Ashkenazi, Moroccan, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Syrian, other religious or ethnic groups in the world. !e Iraqi, Iranian and other Jews comprising more main reason for this is medical, as some Jews are in than 90% of the Jewish people today “represent a much greater risk of developing certain genetic or genome similarities that are typically seen between genetically influenced diseases than the majorities distant cousins”, wrote a scientific reviewer of these in the countries where they are living. !is research findings.6 !ese communities have more genetic has also elucidated questions of Jewish history. links with each other than with the population of As early as the 1990s, two publications in the their respective host countries. highly respected scientific journal Nature disclosed Even when genetic proximity “most Jewish genetic confirmation that the Biblical story of the between Jews and non-Jews samples form Jewish priests (kohanim) descending form one is discovered, for example a remarkably male ancestor (Aaron) was essentially correct. between Ashkenazi Jews and tight It was possible to measure that this person lived South Europeans, which is due subcluster… between 3,250 and 2,100 years ago. A majority of to the conversions to Judaism and trace the currently living kohanim share a common genetic in the late Roman Empire, origin of most signature which can be found only in 10-15% of common ancestry outweighs Jewish Diaspora other male Jews.2 !is research result was followed more recent admixture. More communities to by a number of publications on historically importantly, both studies “are the Levant” interesting, country-specific or other specialized concordant in revealing close issues of Jewish genetics.3 Finally in 2010 Nature4 relationship between most and the American Journal of Human Genetics5 contemporary Jews and non-Jewish populations published the two so far most comprehensive from the Levant”7, including Druze, Cypriots, Syrians genetics studies on the origin and migrations of the and Palestinians. !e studies found almost no Jewish people. Two di"erent teams consisting of 32 admixture from the regions where the Khazar tribes, well-known academic researchers from 8 countries said to have converted to Judaism in the 8th century investigated Jewish Diasporas and compared once lived. Others have postulated that modern their genome structures to those of non-Jewish Jews are not linked to the ancient Jews of Israel, but groups. Although the two research teams choose are o"spring of converts, in Europe particularly of di"erent samples of Jews and non-Jews, their those famous Khazars. !e new scientific findings main results were identical. “Most Jewish samples unmask these assertions as baseless. THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 201 Members of the public, intellectuals and a few similarities between many Jews, explainable by a religious and political figures reacted emotionally, common Near Eastern origin raises the question some with hostility, others with enthusiasm. in a new way. Can awareness among Jews that Many misunderstood or misused them for their they are “distant cousins”, this time based not own political and ideological ends. As research in on religious tradition but on science, create genetics and genomics continues, new concerns or reinforce their group solidarity? In general, and also misunderstandings are likely to emerge. awareness of common genetic origins or traits !ese call for a moral compass and a better public may encourage, but can never guarantee common understanding of science in general and of the thought or action and does not always generate pertinent scientific facts in this case. “altruism” and group solidarity, to use again the !e two studies found terminology of evolutionary psychology. important traces of ancient For the Jews, the answer will be mixed and Genes do not Jewish history – of common ambiguous. Some of them will be indi"erent determine geographic origin, past because they regard genes and genomes as whether a migrations and conversions irrelevant to the problems that the Jewish people person is a Jew into Judaism – in the and Israel have to face today. Also, they may see it – determinant current genome structure as an issue of only historic interest. In fact, if the is family, of the Jewish people. !ey numbers of conversions to Judaism increase, then upbringing, make no other claims. the current genetic markers of common ancestry history or !ey do not claim that will be more and more diluted. Other Jews will choice there is a “Jewish gene”, a continue to reject the findings because they do frequent and dangerous not understand them or for more substantial misunderstanding, or that Jews are genetically reasons. !ey fear that anti-Semites and racists di"erent from everybody else. Jews may be would argue, as in the past, that genetics and unique, but not through their genetic structure, genome analysis will make it possible to identify which has much in common with that of and discriminate against Jews, or they might see a others, particularly of people in the Near East. danger that some Jews will propose genetics as a Genes do not determine whether a person is a tool to di"erentiate between Jews. Jew, determinant is family (in Orthodox Jewish But for a third group, scientific proof of shared tradition the mother), upbringing, history or ancestry might encourage more group solidarity choice. and common action as a reaction to growing !e key question is whether there is a scientific external hostility. Non-Jews and in a few cases, explanation for Jewish sense of group, for also Jews who dispute the historic reality and the “magic consensus” that Oswald Spengler origin of the Jewish people often also question attributed to the Jews. !e discovery of genetic the legitimacy of the State of Israel. !e new 202 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE genetic discoveries could provide a convincing and value systems, and may have some interesting argument to support the historic narrative of views to put forward, for example with regard to the Jewish people. Ignorance about the Jews and personal versus group responsibility. their history among a larger global public and the elites can have political impacts which must not be underestimated. !e social sciences have long been reticent to consider genetic explanations of social behavior, and historians have not regarded genetics as one of their research tools. Sociology looks back to a !e new genetic long and bitter “nature versus nurture” debate discoveries and generally has desired to see genetics strictly could provide limited to medical research and therapeutic a convincing applications. But this view is undergoing a change. argument !e American Journal of Sociology published a to support supplement on genetics and social structure the historic which asks sociologists and historians to think narrative of the about the accumulating genetic discoveries as Jewish people a new “archive” to dig in and think about.8 A commentator greeted this supplement as timely: “If sociologists ignore genes, will other academics – and the wider world – ignore sociology?”9 Historiography and the social sciences must be open to new findings from evolutionary science, genetics, epigenetics and genome research. It is also important to contemplate the enormous philosophical and ethical problems that will arise from some of these discoveries and their possible implications for religion, criminal law, health care, warfare and other issues. In this regard one must reflect upon the advances of behavioral geneticists who are researching the genetic (or epigenetic) roots of certain types of behavior, which inevitably will raise ethical and legal questions.10 Judaism can respond to these questions, like other religions THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 203 Endnotes 1. !e genome is the entirety of an organism’s Middle Eastern Ancestry”, !e American Journal of hereditary information. In most organisms, Human Genetics, 86, 850-859, 11 June 2010. including mammals, it is encoded in DNA. !e 6. Tina Hesman Saey, “Genome maps trace Jewish genome includes both the genes and the non- origins-Roots of far-flung populations reach back coding sequences of the DNA (non-coding for to the Levant”, Science News, July 3, 2010, p.13. proteins). !e human genome consists of approx. 23 000 protein-coding genes and many non-coding 7. Nature, op.cit., p.4. ones. In 2003 the United States-based Human 8. “Exploring Genetics and Social Structure”, Genome Project published a complete map of American Journal of Sociology AJS, Vol. 114 the human genome. Its aim is to understand the Number S1 (2008), Introduction pp. vii ". genetic make-up of the human species. !is has become an indispensable tool of medical research. 9. Christopher Shea, “!e Nature-Nurture Debate, Redux: Genetic research finally makes its way 2. Michael F. Hammer, Karl Skorecki, Sara Selig et.al., into the thinking of sociologists”, !e Chronicle of “Y-Chromosomes of Jewish Priests”, Nature, Vol. Higher Education – !e Chronicle Review, Issue of 385, 2.January1997; Mark G.!omas, Karl Skorecki, 9.1. 2009. Haim Ben-Ami et al., “Origins of Old Testament 10. !ere is a growing literature on this question. priests”, Nature, Vol. 394, 9.July 1998 See e.g. Genetic Testing – Policy Issues for the 3. Among others Doron M. Behar, Ene Metspalu New Millenium, OECD, Paris, 2000; David Glick et al., “Counting the Founders: !e Matrilineal and Hermona Soreq, “Ethics, Public Policy and Genetic Ancestry of the Jewish Diaspora”, PLoS Behavioral Genetics”, in IMAJ, Vol.5, Febr. 2003, pp. ONE, April 2008, Vol. 3, Issue 4, e2062; Susan M. 83-86. Adams, Elena Bosch et al., “!e Genetic Legacy of Religious Diversity and Intolerance: Paternal Lineages of Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula”, !e American Journal of Human Genetics, 4.12. 2008, Vol. 83, Issue 6, pp.725". A summary of these scientific findings in Diana Muir Appelbaum and Paul S. Appelbaum, “Genetics and the Jewish Identity”, !e Jerusalem Post, Internet Edition, 11. Febr. 2008. 4. Doron M.Behar, Bayazit Yunusbayev et al., “!e genome-wide structure of the Jewish people”, Nature, Letters doi:10.1038/nature09103, 1-5, online 9 June 2010. 5. Gil Atzmon, Li Hao et al., “Abraham’s Children in the Genome Era: Major Jewish Diaspora Populations Comprise Distinct Genetic Clusters with Shared 204 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE JPPI Main Publications Uncharted Waters, a chapter from the forthcoming book, 21st Century Global Forces, !eir Impact on the Jewish People, Israel and the US; a special edition prepared for the 2011 Israeli Presidential Conference; Sturat E. Eizenstat, with a foreword by Martin Gilbert. Jewish Demographic Policies, Population Trends and Options in Israel and in the Diaspora, Sergio DellaPergola, 2011. Mega-Trends and their Impact on the Jewish People, Prepared for JPPI's 2010 Conference on the Future of the Jewish People, Stuart Eizenstat, 2010. Toward 2030: Strategies for the Jewish Future, Background Documents for the 2010 Conference on the Future of the Jewish People, JPPI Sta", 2010. 2030: Alternative Futures for the Jewish People, Avi Gil and Einat Wilf, 2010. Annual Assessment 2009, Executive Report No. 6, with special in-depth chapters: !e Economic Crisis and its Impact on the Jewish People, Changes of Administration in the U.S. and Israel and Global Geo- Strategic Trends and their Possible Implications for the Jewish People, JPPPI Sta" and Contributors, 2009. !e Triangular Relationship of Jerusalem, Washington and North American Jewry, Background Documents for the 2009 Glen Cove Conference, JPPPI Sta", 2009. Muslim Anti-Semitism: !e Challenge and Possible Responses, Prof. Emmanuel Sivan, 2009. Annual Assessment 2008, Executive Report No. 5, with a special section on Women in Jewish Society, JPPPI Sta" and Contributors, 2008. Background Policy Documents for the Inaugural President's Conference: Facing Tomorrow, JPPPI Sta" and Contributors, 2008. Annual Assessment 2007, Executive Report No. 4, Societal Aspects, JPPPI Sta" and Contributors, 2007. A Strategic Plan for the Strengthening of Jerusalem, JPPPI Sta", 2007. Background Policy Documents for the 2007 Conference on the Future of the Jewish People, JPPPI Sta", 2007. Annual Assessment 2006, Executive Report No. 3, Major Shifts – !reats and Opportunities, JPPPI Sta" and Contributors, 2006. A Road Map for the Jewish People for 2025, Published in the context of the Alternative Futures for the Jewish People 2025 project, Prepared for the 2006 Herzliya Conference, JPPPI Sta", 2006. Institut de Planification d'une Politique pour le Peuple Juif, Rapport Annuel du JPPPI 2005/2006, Le Peuple Juif en 2005/2006, Entre Renaissance et Déclin, Special edition in French, JPPPI Sta" and Contributors, 2006. Annual Assessment 2005, Executive Report No.2, Facing a Rapidly Changing World, JPPPI Sta" and Contributors, 2005. !e Jewish People Between !riving And Decline, JPPPI Sta" and Contributors, 2005. To succeed, large resources, judicious coping with critical decisions and careful crafting of long-term grand-policies are needed. !e full volume contains analyses of the major communities around the world and in-depth assessments of significant topics. Global Jewish People Forum, Position Paper, JPPPI Sta", 2005. !e position paper examines President Moshe Katsav's initiative to establish a "Second House" and makes a number of recommendations. Soft Power – A National Asset, Prepared for the 2005 Herzliya Conference, Sharon Pardo, 2005. Today's global changes in the international arena require more consideration of soft assets possessed by the Jewish People. Annual Assessment 2004, Executive Report No. 1, Between !riving and Decline, JPPPI Sta" and Contributors, 2004. China and the Jewish People: Old Civilizations in a New Era, Strategy Paper, Shalom Salomon Wald, 2004. !is is the first strategic document in the series: Improving the Standing of the Jewish People in Emerging Superpowers Without a Biblical Tradition. Confronting Antisemitism – A Strategic Perspective, Strategy Paper; Yehezkel Dror, 2004. !e increasing ability of fewer to easily kill more and more makes new antisemitism into a lethal danger that requires comprehensive, multi-dimensional and long-term counter-strategies. Jewish Demography: Facts, Outlook, Challenges, Alert Paper No. 2, Sergio DellaPergola, 2003. !ere may be fewer Jews in the world than commonly thought, and if the current demographic trends continue unchanged, there might be even fewer in the future. New Anti-Jewishness, Alert Paper No. 1, Irwin Cotler, 2002. !e new Anti-Jewishness consists of discrimination against, or denial of, the right of the Jewish people to live, as an equal member of the family of nations.