After Israel’s attack on the Gaza-bound flotilla, with very few exceptions the organized American Jewish community reacted with overwhelming approval of the hijacking, kidnapping, and murder of nine flotilla activists, which also involved one American ship and one American death. Representatives of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism joined an anti-flotilla demonstration which mocked the flotilla attack and launched their own “Free Gilad” flotilla in the East River. The Union for Reform Judaism was “saddened” by the flotilla attacks but continued to defend the collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza. No surprises from the Orthodox Union: even its youth organization was given talking points for defending Israel’s Entebbe-style attack on the flotilla.
As the Forward reported:
… the American Jewish establishment heeded the call of the Israeli government to defend its actions in the face of an extremely negative public relations storm.
“Thank you for listening and understanding and for advocating and for trying to put things in the right perspective, remembering that we are the victims here and we are the ones who were compelled to take these actions to defend ourselves,” said Daniel Ayalon, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, on a conference call June 1, organized by the JFNA and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, in which more than 700 people participated. “As you know, today the war is on the screens. The war is a political war, a PR war and also a legal warfare. And for that we need you more than ever.”
Bottom line: American Jewish denominations have not criticized any of Israel’s attacks on Americans or Palestinians. And they have never questioned whether any of these attacks were legal, disproportionate, or ill-advised.
They have willingly enlisted in every one of Israel’s wars and have now entered a state of moral hibernation.
But now America’s Jewish Establishment has a little problem of its own. A conversion bill in the Knesset now threatens to give Israel’s Orthodox rabbinate exclusive control over conversions. The bill actually involves a change to Israel’s Law of Return.
Naturally, American Orthodox Jews see nothing wrong with the change sponsored by Avigdor Lieberman’s Beteinu party, but Conservative and Reform Jews are crying foul. The Jewish Federations of North America, which represents most Jewish movements in the United States, are concerned about changes in the Israeli law.
Haaretz reports that the “Reform and Conservative movements both in Israel and abroad were up in arms” too over the bill which threatens the Israeli Masorti (Conservative) and Progressive (Reform) movements. Both groups are already upset over laws which impose Orthodox practices at the Kotel (Wailing Wall). But, to keep things in perspective, there are only 24 Reform congregations and only 53 Masorti congregations in all of Israel and the movements do not have as much political clout as they do in the United States, where less than a quarter of Jews are Orthodox.
So it’s not surprising, but quite disappointing, that the American Jewish denominations have been so blind and so quiet on issues of human rights and justice in Israel and the occupied territories, while being so vocal in defense of “religious pluralism” in Israel.
But religious hegemony in Israel is just another side of Zionism. As long as this tiny nation continues to occupy another population almost its own size, continues to occupy land in two other countries — and continues to turn on its own Arab, Druze, Ethiopian, Mizrachi, civil libertarian, and anti-war citizens — is it really so surprising that it also discriminates against Masorti and Progressive Jews?
And then there’s the law itself.
The entire controversy ignores the fact that the Right of Return is, by very definition, a discriminatory law which promotes ethnic cleansing and discriminatory ethnic or racial laws. My children can immigrate to Israel while Palestinians who have lived there for a millennium have their houses razed. Under other Israeli laws, Palestinian refugees cannot return to their homes in Israel.
If justice is the issue, the “Right” of Return should simply be scrapped, rather than amended for the benefit of American Ashkenazim.
Israel is in crisis. Lobbying for religious pluralism in narrow self-interest, while ignoring systemic injustice in Israeli society, is pointless. The American Jewish community must rouse itself from its moral slumber and begin speaking out for justice — for all citizens and the millions whose land it occupies.
For an instruction book, look in the back of any Tanakh.
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