JEWS MUST STAND BY ISRAEL‏

Ted Belman

The Union of Reform Judaism- the URJ- recently completed a major gathering, a Biennial, in Toronto. Rabbi Eric H. Joffie gave a speech and resolutions were passed unanimously.

Michael Diamond is a member of the largest Reform Temple in Toronto and is a strong Zionist. He constantly writes in support of Israel and visits it often. He is also a lawyer and community leader. He writes that Jews must stand by Israel and not join her enemies in criticizing Israel In the case of those who lead the reform movement, it is very clear that that viewpoint is focused on a two state solution and the elimination of whatever barriers may exist to prevent that result. Other areas of focus include equity among all citizens of Israel. The reasons for the former position are not hard to fathom- a one state solution would put in danger the Jewish majority, and perhaps eliminate it. I know that there are various views about the demographics of the region- specifically the number of Palestinians- but there is little doubt in my mind that if you add several million more Palestinians to the mix, on top of the over 1 million existing Israeli Arabs, you are not going to make the situation within a redefined Israel any easier to manage.

What is also clear is that there are only a couple of alternatives to the demographic time bomb associated with a one state solution. One of those is some form of a two state solution. Another is a solution where portions of the West Bank occupied by Arabs become part of Jordan, Gaza becomes Egypt’s problem, and Israel carries on. But since neither Jordan nor Egypt are going to accept the latter option, there is really only one option- the two state solution- which will reduce the constant pressure on Israel and in the region, pressure which is growing and threatens to envelope Israel in a number of existential ways.

But lets be careful with our throwing out the words “Two State Solution” - because there are various versions of such a solution and only some will allow Israel to be safe and secure.

And lets us also not forget the fact that a whole slew of Israel’s enemies are committed to her destruction- not to a peace solution. That much is also clear.

That’s clear enough. After commenting on the latest moves by Obama and Abbas he writes

So against that backdrop, what does Israel need from the leaders of the largest Jewish community in the Diaspora? The answer is: unequivocal support for a two state solution that is rational, that takes into account the Islamist nature of the Palestinians, and/or the danger of the creeping Islamism that has infected most of the Arab world; that appreciates that Israel has made concessions in the past, and that Israel has offered peace many times, only to be rebuffed with violence; that includes an undivided Jerusalem as its capital; and that acknowledges that the ENTIRE Arab world, including the very Palestinians who are demanding a state of their own, does not yet accept the right of the Jewish people to have its own State in Israel.

So what should the URJ be hearing from its leader in such a situation? What resolutions should hit the floor of the assembly for discussion?

The answer is NOT to present a resolution which calls on Israel to follow its own findings. What kind of arrogance is this from a group of Americans and Canadians safely sitting in North America chastising those who struggle to survive in another country about its treatment of one of its minorities? Has anyone compared the treatment and condition of the First Nations of Canada or the US with that accorded to the Israeli Arabs, or compared the condition of the Israeli Arabs with ANY OTHER GROUP of Arabs in the world?

And Israel and the Jewish people do not need to hear how the presence- already in place, nothing you can easily do about it- of 100,000 Jews in the West Bank is anti-Zionist.

He concludes with what he would have recommended.

1. There will be no resolutions which do not offer strategic support for Israel, having regard to the campaign to delegitimize Israel internationally. The Israeli Arabs will have to wait. So will our own Reform movement in Israel, which is treated with disdain by the Orthodox Rabbis who rule the roost in Israel. So will the secular Israelis who have to marry outside Israel because their marriages do not satisfy the wishes of those same Orthodox Rabbis. I have no patience for those people, for their ideology gets in the way of their morality. But that is an internal problem for Israelis, and they will ultimately solve it because they will have to in order to survive. And they do not need another group of Jews to remind them of the problems they have yet to overcome. Nor do they appreciate the largest movement in the Diaspora advertising to our enemies why Israel ought to be considered illegitimate. That simply makes no strategic sense. So we are going to be strategic here- we are going to focus on being stronger in our synagogues, on dealing with our own issues relative to intermarriage, and loss of interest in Judaism. And we are going to say and do that which helps Israel, and does not hurt her. And we are going to assume that our views relative to the presence of Jews in the West Bank, or Judea and Samaria, are understood already in Israel.

2. What there will be is a series of speeches, and resolutions, that destroy the bogus claims of our enemies as to the legitimacy of Israel, that bring into focus the reality of the Islamist expansion in this world which has Israel in its sights as an initial target, and that collectively make it clear that Israel has the right to exist as a safe and secure Jewish State. WE will make it clear that we, the Reform Jews of North America, support that right without question, regardless of whether Israeli Arabs or Reform Jews or secular Jews or Christians are treated as well as “observant” Jews in Israel, and regardless of whether there are 100,000, 200,000, or 10,000 Jews living in what may become a Palestinian State when the time is right. We will make it clear that, unless and until the Palestinians, and those who support them, acknowledge the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, that they cannot expect to have their own state. And we will make it clear and remind people that Israel has consistently offered the Palestinians a state, with only one material condition- that they accept Israel as a Jewish state, and live in peace. We will draw our line in the sand, we will be unambiguous, and we will be strategic. And we will not give in to our tendency, as liberal democrats, to tell others, particularly our own people, how to be better people and a better People. And finally, we will repeat, over and over again, that Israel is the indigenous homeland of the Jewish people, and that Jerusalem is the capital of that homeland.

But the Reform movement missed an opportunity here to stand up for Israel and for the Jewish people at a time when doing so would have been noticed and important and strategic at such a difficult time (alas, again) in our history.

Diamond is right to chastise the Reform Movement and is right in the course he recommends.

I will not quibble over the fact that he placed “only one material condition- that they accept Israel as a Jewish state, and live in peace” because elsewhere in his remarks he stressed “that Israel is the indigenous homeland of the Jewish people, and that Jerusalem is the capital of that homeland.

But I wonder what he will recommend should the Arabs continue to reject such minimalist demands. I have recommended unilateral action.


Ted Belman
Jerusalem