My World Zionist Congress Lesson for Our JCRCs
My Lesson from the World Zionist Congress: American Jews Are Not in Sync with Netanyahu. Our JCRCs Should Reflect That.
By Matthew Weinstein
Last month I returned from the 39th World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, where I served as one of the delegates representing the American Jewish community. The biggest message that came out of that once-in-five-year convening of the “parliament of the Jewish people,” was that diaspora Jewry is not in sync with the direction and policies of the current Israeli government.
For example, the Netanyahu government opposes the two-state solution and in September advanced a plan for a Jewish settlement in the E1 bloc of empty West Bank land located between Mt. Scopus and Maale Adumim east of Jerusalem. The WZC passed instead – as Resolution No. 1 – a call for “the Israel Government to halt the establishment of a new settlement in the E1 area of the West Bank” because “the just path for maintaining Israel as a Jewish, democratic state includes the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.” The Congress also passed four other resolutions opposing current policies while voting down resolutions supporting the Netanyahu government’s stance on West Bank annexation.
The diaspora majority at the Congress opposed the Netanyahu government’s positions with such confidence and vehemence because we have watched from afar over the last three years as literally millions of Israelis have taken to the streets to fight for Israel’s secure, democratic, Jewish future since Netanyahu’s government – the most extreme in Israel’s history – took power three years ago this month. We have also seen the polls showing that over two-thirds of American Jews view Netanyahu negatively.
Given these trends against Netanyahu in both of the world’s largest Jewish communities, one might expect that the top leadership in our American Jewish community might be looking for ways to use our community’s influence to support our Israeli brethren in their fight to defend Israel’s democracy, security, and Jewish character from the threat posed by its current government – a threat deemed “existential” by former prime ministers, IDF chiefs, and leaders of Shin Bet, Mossad, and other security agencies.
Yet instead, the leader of the largest Jewish Community Relations Council in my home state of Maryland saw fit earlier this month to attack Senator Chris Van Hollen, who has for the last three years been working closely with pro-Israel, pro-peace American Jews (and with the support of many Israelis) to use US leverage to effectively address the threat that Netanyahu and his extremist partners represent to Israel — as well as to America’s interest in a secure, democratic State of Israel living at peace with her neighbors.
Specifically, DC JCRC CEO Ronald Halber accused Van Hollen of “a lack of empathy for Jewish suffering… a lack of empathy for Israel’s strategic position.”
Yet the record belies these claims. Watch Sen. Van Hollen’s speeches, such as his Senate floor speech on July 30th of this year where he said “Israel is completely justified in its war against Hamas, which murdered over 1,200 people and seized over 250 hostages on October 7th. And we must not rest until every remaining hostage comes home. And there must be no more October 7ths.” The Senator has also met numerous times with hostage families, both in the US and in Israel.
Halber accused Van Hollen of “agitating against Israel” in the US Senate. Yet in that same speech and others, Van Hollen makes clear repeatedly that his criticism is not against Israel, it is against the Netanyahu government – a government that most Israelis and American Jews also oppose.
In fact, Ronald Halber has himself on occasion expressed opposition to the Netanyahu government and its policies. He wrote on Facebook on September 3, “Israel will never be able to integrate itself fully into the region and enjoy a true peace, until there is some type of Palestinian independence.”
So then where is the disconnect between Halber and Van Hollen?
I suspect that it can be found in Van Hollen’s willingness to use American aid as leverage to try to change self-destructive Israeli policies. In that July 30th speech, Van Hollen called for blocking offensive military transfers to Israel so as to “use our leverage to secure a durable ceasefire, return all the hostages, ensure the steady flow of humanitarian aid, and ensure adherence to international humanitarian law.” On that day, in fact, the majority of Democratic Senators voted with Van Hollen to send that important message.
The truth is that Van Hollen is one of a growing number of leaders – from both parties – who are tired of being Bibi’s freiers (the Israeli word for suckers) – who believe that we should support Israel, but not Netanyahu and his extremist allies.
By attacking Van Hollen, the DC JCRC leadership may not be “apologists” for Netanyahu, but they are certainly putting a smile on his face.
According to one supportive editorial, Ronald Halber has led the DC JCRC “for more than a quarter-century.” Perhaps that’s part of the problem.
Times have changed. Twenty-five years ago, Israel’s greatest threats were external. Some of those threats are still there – and very real – and demand our attention and American support. But more and more Israelis have come to the same conclusion as former prime minister Ehud Olmert, who wrote last year, “We are determined to respond forcefully against all our external foes, but the biggest danger facing Israel, the one truly threatening the state’s existence, undermining its stability, economy, unity and identity, is the danger from within, which most of us are not attending to. This danger is reflected in the growing impact of the Judeo-messianic sector of this country, which is growing in strength and taking hold in many parts of the country and its society, determined to undermine the foundations of our existence as they’ve existed since the state was established.”
For example, YNET reported this month, “Smotrich launches 2.7B-shekel plan to reshape communities ‘beyond the Green Line.’ In a dramatic move likely to shape a reality future governments will struggle to reverse, the finance minister is channeling unprecedented funds for new communities, roads, land registration and security… effectively, a form of de facto annexation.”
What are our JCRCs in DC and elsewhere doing about this urgent internal existential threat to Israel? Most Israelis and most American Jews see it. The World Zionist Congress decided to address it. Sen. Van Hollen and most of the Democratic US Senators are taking difficult and painful but necessary votes about it. Where are our established community leaders? What are they doing to fulfill their Jewish and Zionist obligation under the principle of “Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh BaZeh”/”All Israel Are Responsible For One Another” to address this threat to our one and only Jewish state?
