American Jews have been donating large sums of money for over a century to US universities, medical centers, and cultural institutions from museums to opera houses – some of which have allowed and even encouraged anti-Israel and antisemitic demonstrations in recent years, and especially since October 7.
Many decades ago, Jews established and supported medical centers and universities because they were excluded from enrolling there due to antisemitism. Until the 1960s, some of the most prestigious universities refused to admit Jewish students, so they enrolled and thrived elsewhere, while the discrimination gradually ended – but now it is returning.
American Jews are grateful to their country for what they have achieved in the 20th century and, since they feel that they “belong” to US society, they donate to its institutions, giving priority to them instead of to those in Israel. But Israeli leaders in academia and medical administrators now urge that these philanthropists switch their contributions to similar institutions here instead.
When Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz this week urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a joint press conference to transfer coalition funds – including NIS 12 billion for haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties to war efforts, supporting the economy, and rehabilitating destroyed kibbutzim and wrecked homes in nearby communities, the premier said that there is no need, because “there is plenty of money.”
“Netanyahu’s statement is absolutely untrue,” said Prof. Rivka Carmi, retired president of Beersheba’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) former dean of its School of Health Sciences and a respected pediatrician and geneticist told The Jerusalem Post.
“When I was BGU’s president,” Carmi recalled, “I knew of a major Jewish donor who – instead of giving to Israeli institutions, said he would give $30 million to a hospital in California. He said that California was his community. But if American Jews don’t have commitment to Israel and its existence, they will be in big trouble.”
It is known that 85% of American Jewish philanthropy is for non-Jewish causes in the US. “The older Jews usually have warm sentiment for Israel, but many fewer young Jews do. Wake up! You are doomed if there is not a flourishing Jewish state. The horrendous Hamas massacre was a wakeup call,” she declared.
The aftermath of the war will be very serious, Carmi continued. “Soldiers and civilians will have to undergo significant physical and psychological rehabilitation, and such facilities are now inadequate. There are hospitals, but to save money, the Health Ministry has withheld manpower slots for doctors, nurses and beds. There is already a shortage of specialists in internal medicine, gerontology and other fields. Israel won’t be able to solve this alone.”
Jonathon Halevy weighs in
Asked to comment on the financial situation and future needs of Israel’s hospitals, Shaare Zedek Medical Center Prof. Jonathan Halevy said his growing institution has had very loyal and generous donors in the US and elsewhere who have been supporting us for decades. “But most of the contributions go to development of facilities and not for day-to-day running expenses,” he added.
Hospitals in or near Hamas’s firing line have been seriously hurt financially by the war, especially Soroka-University Medical Center in Beersheba and Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon that had to halt ambulatory and non-emergency procedures. Medical centers in the North have had to cope with military and civilian wounded on the northern border, and they need financial assistance, too, he said.
Carmi added that “all the universities and colleges are in serious condition. Sapir College near Sderot and only a few kilometers from the Gaza Strip and Tel-Hai College in the North have emptied out.” Sapir, the largest employer in a region vital to Israel’s economy, social cohesion, and security lost 26 faculty members in the massacre and in the war in Gaza.
“All the institutions of higher learning need to offer better packages to professors and lecturers. It will take months for Israeli medical and science students and post-doctoral scholars who were studying abroad and were called into the IDF reserves to get back to classes. They will need economic help to pay their rent and psychological help to treat traumas. They lost a lot of time,” she stressed.
The Migal Scientific Research Institute in Kiryat Shmona, which has for over 40 years been recognized as a powerhouse of applied research in close cooperation with industry leaders, innovative start-ups, and technology accelerators is also in trouble.” And of course, whole communities that were wiped out and homes in the North hit by Hizbollah rockets have to be rebuilt, she went on.
As a woman, Carmi is highly disillusioned by the fact that presidents of leading US Ivy League universities – New York University, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, the University of California at Berkeley, Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – that have permitted and even encouraged anti-Israel and antisemitic demonstrations are women.
“I expected more sensitivity and truth from women. Qatar and many Muslim organizations have given billions of dollars and influenced their policies; in addition, there are the “Progressives” who have been denouncing Israel for “politically correct” and ideological reasons.”
These women, she continued, are less interested in Me-Too and in opposing or even recognizing the abuse, torture, and murder of hundreds of Israeli women on October 7 and those who were kidnapped and held in captivity by Hamas terrorists in Gaza for so many weeks, because they are Jews. Jewish and Israeli students on American campuses have been advised to remove Jewish symbols and enter buildings through the back door.
Unfortunately, Israeli governments have long failed to prepare long-term planning and vision for the future. “We have to look ahead. Suddenly we will find we’re in big trouble,” she added.
“There is no long-term vision or planning by the Israeli government. The ministries have to look ahead. Suddenly we will find that we are slumping economically.”
While Diaspora Jews are very worried about antisemitism where they live, Carmi doesn’t think there will be a huge aliyah after the war ends. “Israel is not prepared to absorb them with good jobs, apartments, and the rest. Today, almost half of Western immigrants go back to the country where they lived, where they were born. Few of the rich will make aliyah, but they will buy apartments “just in case” or to visit from time to time.”
Some Israeli universities and individual hospitals here have planned separate money-raising efforts, but they are in competition among themselves instead of launching a unified effort.
A study by the the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) and the World Zionist Organization (WZO) has just released results of their survey of American-Jewish attitudes in the seventh week of the Israel-Hamas war.
While they continue to follow the war at a high rate and there is “broad support” across Jewish groups for the need to continue the war to topple Hamas, about half of “very liberal,” younger Jews believe that Israel is “too aggressive” in the war. Among those identifying as very liberal, a substantial proportion (21%) called for an end to the war. The weight of this group in the JPPI survey is relatively large and the largest group at 31%).
The politics of American Jewry
Half of American Jews describe themselves as “liberal” or “very liberal” according to Pew Research Center data, and this is also their share in the JPPI survey.
However, there is a decrease in the sense of threat to personal security among them. Only among religious Jews who are more visible is there a high proportion who are considering aliyah in response to growing antisemitism. Many Jews there are more careful about displaying Jewish symbols.
A number of Jewish billionaires, including Henry Swieca, said in October that they would resign from the board of Columbia Business School, citing “moral cowardice” and making Jews feel “unsafe” on campus.
And Victoria’s Secret director-general Les Wexner said he would stop contributing to Harvard University. But this is only a trickle compared to the size of American Jewish philanthropy and Israel’s current and future needs – and the swelling donations from foreign and American Muslims to US universities.