Tivet 29, 5777
January 27, 2017
Severe winter storm socks Israel . . .
The radar map at 3:40 pm shows the rain currently pummeling Israel.
Rain and wind have swept across the country, with power knocked out in four of Israel’s largest cities: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ashdod, and Petah Tikva. 25 cm of snow have fallen on Mt. Hermon along the Lebanese border.
The witchhunt continues . . .
PM Netanyahu was hauled before police investigators for the third time today and interrogated for almost four hours. Which supposed scandal it was about this time is anyone’s guess.
As we have written, whether it is about cigars, submarines, take out food, or something else, the police are determined to find him guilty of something.
As regular readers of this blog know, your humble servant is not particularly fond of Bibi, but the continuing investigations must be taking a toll on his ability to conduct government affairs.
Israel enters the discussion about the proposed wall between Mexico and the United States . . .
In an interview last night, President Trump had this to say: “People want protection and a wall protects. All you have to do is ask Israel.”
Trump is certainly right about Israel. It would be difficult to find more than a few Israelis who think that the separation fence that was built to stop suicide bombers was a bad idea, or that the fence that runs along the Sinai border should not have been built, or that the Gaza fence should not have been erected, or that the fence along the Jordanian and Syrian borders should come down.
In each case the overwhelming sentiment of Israelis is that each of these fences and walls is doing its job–and that the only changes that should be made would be ones to strengthen them.
Palestinian terror in the last two days . . .
Numerous shooting attacks have occurred from the most recent one on Highway 55 near Azzun to the Gaza border where terrorists opened fire on an IDF patrol. The increased number of shooting attacks–which now averages about five per day–is ominous.
As always, there have also been numerous “rock” and Molotov attacks on civilians and security personnel. Some of the hardest hit areas have been Husan, Tekoa, Deir Jarir, Hawara, Rachel’s Tomb, Al Jib, Beit Hanina, Migdalot, Malik, Deir Nizam, A-Ram, Gush Etzion, Jenin, and Hevron. All told there have been more than 40 such attacks.
Was a horrific bus “accident” that occurred last night caused by terrorists? We may never know, but two Israelis were killed when the bus plunged down a canyon in Samaria. Buses are the daily targets of Palestinian “rock” throwers who attempt to shatter the windshields of buses causing the driver to lose control.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day . . .
Memorial services were held at various locations around the globe.
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There are more than 200,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel.
TODAY’S BLOG
No Surprise: Israel Not A Priority for American Jews
A paper written by former Consul General of the Israel in the United States Alon Pinkas has raised a few eyebrows in Israel today. But only a few.
That paper suggests that Israel is neither a unifying nor divisive force among American Jewry today, and that, in fact, Israel is not even among the top five priorities of American Jews.
To anyone who has engaged in Israeli activism in the United States in the last decade–such as your humble servant–there is nothing surprising about these findings. Israel is simply not on the radar of many American Jews. In fact, an increasingly large segment of the pro-Israel support that we activists see is from evangelical Christians, not Jews.
What is driving the indifference of American Jews?
Too many factors to mention here, except to say (and this is not an original thought) that non-orthodox American Jewry is in the process of disappearing. Assimilation is occurring on such a massive scale that it is estimated that Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist Judaism will vanish in fifty years. As others have written, without a strong foundation in Judaism, strong identification with Israel is unlikely.
What can Israel do about this?
Most Israelis realize that the answer is “not much.” Israelis are powerless to reverse the tide of assimilation in the United States and to that degree are largely powerless to affect the indifference to Israel that afflicts American Jews.
All of the wonderful news that comes out of Israel in terms of medical, scientific, and technological breakthroughs will not affect American Jews’ attitude toward the state of Israel. Oh sure, it might engender some respect for what our tiny nation has remarkably accomplished, but is that modicum of respect going to bump Israel up on the priority list?
Not likely.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.