Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned speech this month to the United States Congress poses complex challenges to Israel – not only to the Biden administration, not only to Donald Trump, and not only to the West, which is exposed to violent antisemitic demonstrations organized by Hamas.
The speech poses a serious challenge to the US Jewish community. American Jewry opposes Israeli interference in US internal affairs. October 7 did not pass them by. The tragedy in the villages around Gaza and the war that followed have deepened the crisis in the community, a crisis that may affect the identity and identification of the young Jewish generation in North America.
An article published by Ehud Barak, Tamir Pardo, and company in The New York Times was not aimed at Diaspora Jews. It focused on the political identity of Israeli Jews. The authors fear that a good speech will strengthen Netanyahu, and therefore, they demand that Congress cancel the invitation.
My decision to address this issue was influenced by several completely different factors. It started when I read Avi Gil’s new book, Where is the Head? (published by Steimatzky). It is an engrossing, apparently fictional thriller that creates a surprising framework for a thought-provoking plot regarding Jewish affinity.
Gil, a former director-general of the Foreign Ministry, is a top Israeli diplomat. I was honored when, after retiring from public service, he agreed to join the founding team of the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI). To this day, he continues to contribute significantly in the field of geopolitical analysis and policy planning. Recently, he has been “sinning” in writing fiction. His third book – a fascinating read that Hebrew readers should not miss – recounts the adventures of a unique action team formed to produce a dramatic move in order to curb the loss of unity in Israel and the Diaspora.
The Study of Global Antisemitism (ISGAP) turned on a non-fictional warning light when it discovered that the Bafrayung Fund, headed by Rachel Gelman, is among the main donors to the Westchester Peace Action Committee (WESPAC), which supported anti-Israeli groups and Hamas-inspired demonstrations on campuses all over the United States. I do not know Rachel Gelman personally, but I know her parents well.
Suzy and Michael Gelman are prominent leaders and major philanthropists in the North American Jewish Federations system. They chaired the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington for three terms, are active on the board of trustees of the Jewish Agency, and were among the founders of Birthright (Taglit). I am familiar with their warm Zionist affinity as their liberal worldview. Their perceptions are typical of many North American Jews attached to Judaism and the Jewish state.
As I understand it, Suzy and Michael have established a philanthropic foundation with which their children can do whatever their hearts desire. The apple turns out to have fallen as far from the tree as a golf ball flying out of bounds.
However, the wake-up call came from a friend who has dedicated most of his life to the prosperity of the Jewish community of New York. He excitedly told me that there are Jewish leaders who are encouraging members of Congress to leave the hall during Netanyahu’s speech. They are asking them to leave and join the demonstrations against him outside the Capitol.
American Jews have long provided Israel with a safety net
“When Israel wobbles, all of Judaism trembles,” said my friend, “Many American Jews fear Trump and worry that Netanyahu will play into the Republicans’ hands. They hate Israeli meddling in American politics, even if they admit that the US administration does not hesitate to step into the Israeli political arena. The USA is a superpower. Not everything that the administration allows itself is also allowed for an Israeli politician.”
During the speech, hundreds of thousands of Hamas supporters are expected to demonstrate outside the Capitol, chanting, “Palestine from the river to the sea.” It will not be a rose garden. Leaders of major American Jewish organizations say that Jews who intend to join the demonstrations and encourage a democratic absence are a handful of identified activists of the progressive Jewish lobby, J-Street. They draw inspiration from and are helped by a handful of Israelis. The New York Times article revealed their identities.
Israel’s supporters do not believe that many Jews will join the Hamas call of “Palestine from the river to the sea.” Those who arrive will be swallowed up in the crowd. They take solace in the fact that even in 2015, during Netanyahu’s speech in Congress, about 60 Democratic delegates abandoned the plenary in protest. In their estimation, the picture will be similar in 2024. The leadership of both parties signed the invitation to Netanyahu, so a significant democratic presence is expected.
For decades, American Jews have provided Israel with a safety net. They have largely become a strategic asset. World War II gave birth to a deep frustration that stemmed from their powerlessness to help their brothers in Europe, who were led like sheep to the gas chambers. After the war, they came to their senses and organized themselves.
On the eve of the Six Day War, Levi Eshkol sought to characterize the State of Israel, which had not yet turned 20 as Shimshun der nebeckhdikehr – a poor Samson. It was a young country facing an existential threat, strong in spirit, determined to exist, and ready to fight against enemies who sought its extermination.
The Jews of the world stood by the Jewish state as one. They came to volunteer in kibbutzim and moshavim to free up the reservists from their burdens of daily life. The power of the Jewish community in the United States gained momentum after the Six Day War.
The unequivocal victory of the IDF against Egypt, Jordan, and Syria added to their national pride. Their strengthened position in American society, political and economic, added to their power and influence. The Jews, who had been excluded from leading universities, private country clubs, hotels, and resorts reserved for WASPs, became increasingly welcome. The success of the State of Israel also contributed decisively to this transformation.
Talented young Jews were absorbed in public service, politics, the media, and academia. The same Wasps who moments earlier had opposed the reception of Jews in their clubs began to take pride in brides and grooms of Jewish origin. Many of them, including American presidents, became grandparents to Jewish grandchildren.
This success worked in favor of Israel. During the Yom Kippur War, when Israel was undergoing one of its most difficult times, then-secretary of state and national security adviser Henry Kissinger had a decisive influence on the American airlift sent to Israel, which changed the battlefield’s configuration. In the early 1990s, China, countries that had broken free from the Soviet bloc, and a significant number of Third World countries established relations with Israel because they believed that the road to Washington passes through Jerusalem. This was despite the fact that the White House at the time acted against the reelection of Yitzhak Shamir, who was considered a right-wing, nationalist, and rigid Israeli leader.
This was mainly thanks to the unity of the Jewish people, thanks to the prosperity of the Jewish community in the United States and its visionary leadership, headed by the iconic Max Fisher, and thanks to a thriving Israel. Jews who occupied senior positions in the government were able to identify not only the common values, but also the tangential interests between the two countries, and strengthen their relations.
October 7 devoured the cards. Israel’s position as a regional power is eroding. The rift, the demonstrations in Israel, the shuffling on the battlefield, and the rise of antisemitism are damaging.
Netanyahu must take advantage of the opportunity in Congress to strengthen the unity of the Jewish people. To recall the apples that have fallen far from the tree back to the roots. To tiptoe smartly between Biden and Trump. To make it clear to the Americans and the free world that even though the Israeli Samson had a haircut on October 7, he is not a nebbish; that the Israeli soldiers fight bravely, and the IDF stands resolutely at the head of the Western Front, against the radical axis of evil led by Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea.
As for the critics at home: they should become a little more patient and shoulder more responsibility if the Jewish State is still dear to them.
The writer is president emeritus of the Jewish People’s Policy Institute (JPPI) and a former diplomatic correspondent and Maariv bureau chief in Washington.