- Israel may be the Jewish state, but as American Jews, it is not our country. It belongs to us only insofar as we share a spiritual connection to it with Jews the world over. If you’re planning to make aliyah in the near future, go ahead and make Israel your flagship issue come November. On the other hand, if you’re like the vast majority of American Jews who have no intention of moving to Jerusalem, stop pretending domestic policy matters less to our communal future than Israel.
They used to say Jews were a Democratic bulwark to be taken for granted. Now we’ve become something worse, a single-issue voting bloc devoid of nuance. While we cling to feel good rhetoric and praise a hands-off approach that has produced only diplomatic stagnation and three years of bloodshed, traditional Jewish positions on a host of domestic issues have been undermined.
It’s time we reshuffle our political priorities, and move Israel down the list.
Gutsy essay by Bradford Pilcher. Here’s his new-to-me blog.