The historically tight ties between American Jews and Israel have been damaged by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s close political collaboration. Because many liberal American Jews are being alienated by this bonding, which is widening the partisan split. Critics also see this convergence as weakening bipartisan support and politicising the U.S.-Israel relationship. As a result, they are also fostering intellectual disputes over religious plurality and democratic standards.
Netanyahu’s April 2019 Election Victory:
With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party winning as many seats as its most formidable opponent. But the results of Israel’s April 9 election have been seen as a triumph for the status quo. However, he is also in the greatest position to create a new administration. Although after four terms in a row, Netanyahu is personally despised. Yet he faces an indictment for corruption in his country.
Therefore, the public’s craving for consistency and familiarity will probably allow him to stay in power even if he might not complete his term. That’s why Israeli Jews think he is the only one who can keep them powerful and safe in the country.
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The founding editor of the centrist Times of Israel, David Horovitz, wrote:
“The people want to live in Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel!”
Ground Reality & American Jews’ Thoughts:
However, the current state of affairs is hardly a win for many American Jews. It causes anxiety, annoyance, estrangement, and even breakdown. The characteristics of the American Jewish experience, such as social integration and acceptance as a minority in a society founded on religious tolerance, are increasingly at odds with Israel’s growing religious nationalism. If, as anticipated, Netanyahu is successful in building a majority ruling coalition in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, the already tense relationship between the two largest Jewish communities in the world would undoubtedly worsen.
Important Facets of This Evolving Connection Consist of:
- Partisan Polarisation: Support for Israel has become a partisan issue in the United States. This is due to Netanyahu’s strong ties to Trump and the Republican Party of the US. Given the circumstances, many American Jews who lean left are alienated by their alignment.
- Ideological Divergence: Netanyahu’s policies, such as those about the Israeli-Palestinian issue, which Trump frequently supports. However, these undermine the Israeli courts and go counter to the bulk of American Jews’ generally progressive beliefs.
- Democratic Norms: American Jewish groups are alarmed by measures like Netanyahu’s move toward right-wing politics and the prohibition on U.S. congresswomen entering Israel.
- Generational Shift: Israel is being criticised more and more by younger American Jews. because they see it as a state that neither creates a “growing division” nor reflects their liberal principles.
The Distance Between The Two Populations:
This election demonstrated the growing political distance between the two populations. In contrast, right-wing and Orthodox parties received almost 57% of the vote in Israel. Only 34% of voters supported centrist and left-wing Zionist parties, which is the greatest percentage in Israeli history. There is little reason to think that this will change: young Israelis, particularly those who grew up under the prime minister’s administration, find it difficult to envision a different leader and style of governing. In contrast, only two of the 34 Jews in the current U.S. Congress are Republicans, and they are both in the House. It has been over ten years since a Republican Jew was appointed to the Senate.
Under President Trump, who has publicly attempted to paint Democrats as anti-Israel and, in fact, anti-Semitic, the issue has only become worse. He appeared to be attempting to sway the election in favour of his buddy by identifying himself so closely with Netanyahu. As a result, Trump’s stance on the Middle East is influenced by both white evangelical Christians and the few right-wing Jews in his cabinet. This has the hilarious effect of making the US president seem to choose Israeli Jews over American Jews.
The Two Huge Wins for Netanyahu:
Thus, Netanyahu has achieved two major triumphs. In the meantime, the President moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on his own without consulting the opposition. As a result, the USA has so far withdrawn from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Additionally, Trump issued a proclamation declaring on March 25 that the US would acknowledge Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. In violation of both international law and fifty years of U.S. foreign policy. Lastly, a thinly populated region that Israel annexed in 1981 after capturing it during the Six-Day War, along the Syrian border.
When Netanyahu said in the last days of the campaign that he would think about annexing portions of the West Bank. Therefore, the White House only shrugged and went against the Oslo Accords. Ostensibly, it’s destroying the prospect of a two-state solution. So, it was another sign that Trump and Netanyahu are now linked together for a purpose. This is because they are endangering decades of bipartisan support for Israel by making it challenging to back one without the other.
But for Israeli Jews, that is not an issue who overwhelmingly support Trump; in a Pew Research Centre survey conducted late last year, 82% of respondents said they trusted his leadership. American Jews, who largely vote against him and his party, 71% supported Hillary Clinton in 2016. But 79% of the Jews who supported Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections have a problem.
The Liberal American Jews and Netanyahu:
The growing cloud surrounding Netanyahu is another cause for concern for liberal American Jews. Other examples include Netanyahu’s refusal to engage in negotiations with the Palestinians to end the 52-year occupation of their territory, his denial of an agreement to establish an egalitarian prayer space at the Kotel, Jerusalem’s Western Wall, his use of anti-Arab rhetoric and intimidation tactics, his attacks on the media and Israel’s fiercely independent judiciary, and his decision to invite a racist political party into his coalition if he is re-elected.
Even established organisations that were reluctant to criticise the Israeli government out of allegiance did so because that final action infuriated American Jews so much.
Donald Trump and Orthodox Jews:
Even among Orthodox Jews, Trump is a much more popular figure. Therefore, there is discomfort about these two divisive individuals’ ever-tighter embrace. One Orthodox leader who wished to remain anonymous asked, “Why does Netanyahu have to defend every action of the President?” He specifically mentioned Netanyahu’s government’s tendency to minimise anti-Semitic violence in the US. However, it was mostly driven by white supremacists. because Trump’s administration seemed to have given them more confidence.
Tensions have already increased as a result of Netanyahu’s approval of annexation, even if it turns out to be only a last-minute political gimmick. In a joint statement last week, four Jewish House Democrats who are closely associated with the mainstream American Israel Public Affairs Committee cautioned against applying Israeli law to all Jewish communities in the West Bank.
Nine religious and advocacy leaders, including members of the Reform and Conservative movements, wrote to President Trump at the same time, pleading with him to restrain Netanyahu and stating that annexation “will create intense divisions in the United States and make unwavering support for Israel and its security far more difficult to maintain.”
Seven Decades of The Modern State of Israel:
In the seven decades since its establishment, the contemporary state of Israel has evolved into a living example of Jewish collective responsibility as well as a man-made miracle rising from the ashes of the Holocaust. As an extension of their shared American principles and Jewish identity, American Jews are expected to provide financial, political, and other forms of support to Israel. However, liberal American Jews experience anxiety and confusion about their allegiances when those principles diverge.
These days, a lot of American Jews believe that neither leader adequately represents them. Not by the leader of what they have been taught to be their homeland, nor by their president. While Netanyahu’s followers are referring to him as the King of Israel after his victory. However, it is becoming more and more clear that he is not the Jewish King.
Final Thoughts:
The U.S.-Israel relationship is becoming a politicised issue rather than a bipartisan consensus due to Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s collaboration. In the meantime, this partnership is causing a growing “values gap” that brings Israel closer to Republicans in the United States. The majority-Democrat Jewish population in the United States is likewise offended.
However, this change implies that the estrangement from Israel cannot go away. It was especially evident among younger American Jews that the diaspora-Israel relationship needed to be fundamentally reevaluated. Regardless of future election results in the USA!
References:
Time: Trump and Netanyahu Are Breaking the Bond Between American Jews and Israel
The Japan Times: Netanyahu’s Trump alignment leaves American Jewish community at risk
An incredible and almost unjustifiable disservice by the teacher or facilitator to let a sensitive young person struggle so without as much as an aside pep talk or words of encouragement.