Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen some prominent members and groups from the Anglo-Jewish community demonstrate a degree of hysteria directed against Israel’s judicial reforms. The demand has been that our communal groups should make loud and clear their total condemnations of the reforms. It is said that we need to speak out to show that we are there for Israel.
As can be seen however, this is an issue on which there is massive division within Israel, meaning that support for one set of Israelis against another is what is suggested. This is in my view utterly invidious and divisive, and constitutes a wholly unwarranted interference in Israeli affairs that is none of the Diaspora’s business. The National Jewish Assembly (NJA) maintains that these issues are for Israel’s residents alone and are not matters for the Diaspora.
Of course, there are many different views in the UK Jewish community on Israel’s proposed judicial reform laws, just as there are among Israelis. Even among the 13 advisory board members of the NJA, there are numerous private opinions. However, we are united in refusing to adopt the patronizing and insulting attitude to Israel demonstrated by some British Jewish groups in seeking to tell Israelis what they should do. We are also in complete agreement in wanting to see a united Israel, not torn apart by division or refusal to serve the State of Israel.
Those who live in Israel work there, pay taxes, serve in the army, and take security risks. Those in the Diaspora do not. Unless we live in Israel, our Jewishness for these purposes is irrelevant – the 20% plus Israeli Arab population have a stake in this and can vote and participate democratically in Israel, just as the Jewish population there can and does. The Diaspora cannot.
The NJA makes a point of praising Israelis for what has been, on the whole, a mature and democratic response to a contentious situation. It was especially touching to witness the video of thousands of Israelis on escalators at the Jerusalem train station, with pro-reform demonstrators shaking hands with anti-reform demonstrators. At the end of the day, all of these Israelis will unite against external threats from Jew-haters and Arab terrorists who want to kill them all, whatever their views on judicial reform might be.
How judicial reform impacts the Diaspora's view of Israel
No, it will not be Israeli society that will fragment on this issue. The Diaspora and its support for Israel, however, is a different story.
While there is a full panorama of views among Diaspora Israel supporters in their love for Israel, broadly there are two fundamental types of attitude. The first one involves absolute love for Israel regardless of the type of government it has. To those in this category, and I number myself among them, we love Israel because it is the Jewish state. We are Jews, it is in our blood and our DNA.
Israel is where our forefathers came from and was the land where they dwelled, and is at the center of the Torah and all of Tanach. We might prefer Israel to be a liberal democracy, but if it isn’t then it does not affect our love for the country and desire for its well-being one iota.
The second group is different. Their love for Israel is conditional on it being what they consider to be a liberal democracy. If it isn’t, then their support for Israel dissipates. This was evident at a Jewish community discussion event earlier this year hosted by the Jewish Leadership Council, with some 100 people present representing many different UK Jewish groups. Neither I nor the NJA were invited, but I was told that much of the audience tended to advocate the notion of a reduction, if not elimination, of Anglo Jewry’s backing for Israel if judicial reform legislation passed.
In summary, the next year or two will probably see big changes in attitudes towards the Jewish state. Not in Israel itself, but in the Diaspora. This is when Israel will discover who its true friends are.
The writer is chairman of the National Jewish Assembly, United Kingdom.