[American Thinker] Rabbi Lord Jonathan Saks has stated that the ultimate basis of Jewish peoplehood throughout history has been "Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh" ‐ "All Jews are responsible for one another." We may not agree on anything, but we remain a single extended family. If you disagree with a friend, tomorrow he may no longer be your friend. But if you disagree with a family member, tomorrow he is still part of your family. Being a family is what keeps us together. We don't need to agree with each other, but we do need to care about each other. This historical connection among Jews has come to an abrupt end. It can no longer be ignored or denied. American Jews from the Democratic, progressive side of the political map not only have transformed themselves into a vanguard dedicated to publicly criticizing Israel, but act as if Israel is a flawed democracy unworthy of their support.
This monumental shake-up and self-inflicted division of the Jewish world has been building up, changing the foundation of the Jewish world we have been accustomed to for the past 150 years. Not since the period of European enlightenment leading to the establishment of the Reform movement and secular Judaism, and not even during the darkest days of the Holocaust, has the Jewish world undergone such a widespread and fundamental rethinking of what it means to be Jewish. With the establishment of the State of Israel and her metamorphosis within a relatively short period into a world leader in defense, technology, medicine, agriculture, water purification, and food production, allowing Israel to free herself from the shackles of dependence on the American Jewish community, the schism has only accelerated and is threatening the unity of the Jewish world.
We see it everywhere today; led by self-hating Jews, appearing on mainstream and social media, adopting an anti-Israel narrative that not only rejects Israel's basic national right of self-defense, but simultaneously demands that Israel forfeit her right to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people. Jewish intellectuals, liberal and progressive organizations, Reform rabbis, lay leaders, university faculty members, students, communities, and grassroots movements have all joined hands, using their Jewish identity and Jewish affiliation to represent themselves as a moral authority and amplify their rejection of the State of Israel while making alliances with BDS organizations, Islamic organizations, and anti-Israel movements throughout the world that specifically express their objective of ending the existence of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. They express solidarity with the Palestinians and their efforts to delegitimize the Jewish State. |