Who Has Been a Good or Bad Caretaker?

In 1967, on the 28th of Iyar in the Hebrew calendar, Colonel (Motta) Gur, leading the 55th Paratroopers Reserve Brigade, fought their way to the Kotel. He famously proclaimed to his company commanders, “The Temple Mount is in our hands!”

Gur’s excited declaration soon became a cry of historic redemption. General Rabbi Shlomo Goren, chief chaplain of the IDF, sounded the Shofar at the Western Wall signifying its liberation. The iconic Rubinger photo of the three young paratroopers looking up at the Western Wall’s ancient stones is etched into our collective memories.

The IDF soldiers had won out dramatically over Egypt, Syria and Jordan. And the world was in awe of Israel’s fighting spirit. Today, “The Temple Mount is in our hands!” is remembered on Jerusalem Day celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish people.

To Israelis and Jews all over the world, this was a joyous and momentous occasion. Afterall, the Temple Mount is the physical and spiritual locus of where we pray every day. We were finally in possession of something precious that for so long was kept from us.

Colonel Gur’s excited observation of “…in our hands” can also be thought of as a statement of responsibility. Maybe he meant that it is now incumbent on his generation and all future generations to protect it.

Success in safeguarding the Temple Mount, Israel and Judaism should be the critical measure of all guardian’s success.

Let’s consider how both the Israelis and the American Jewish diaspora has fared in this solemn task. It might inform our future actions and influence who we chose to lead us.

Let’s first look at the Israelis.

Over the intervening nearly six decades Israel has been attacked by her neighbors and terrorized within her borders. Israelis died in the Yom Kippur War, Black September, the intifadas, and the October 7th massacre. Israel has elected prime ministers from the Left and Right. There have been military successes and intelligence failures, but Israel today is powerful and can protects her citizens.

Despite widespread international opposition including a biased United Nations that declared Zionism as “racism” and a progressively motivated Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) campaign, Israel became a mighty economic power increasing its GDP over 100 times. The population grew five times with challenging emigration absorptions of Russian and Ethiopian Jews. And Forbes ranks Israel as one of the top ten most happy countries.

Following the October 7th catastrophe, Israel’s younger generation proved to be fierce warriors fully committed to and capable of defend their tiny, encircled homeland. Surely, significant social, demographic and political issues abounded, but overall, the Israeli people and their leaders can be credited with facing and overcoming their many challenges.

Conclusion: All in all, a fair assessment is that Israeli leaders have been worthy caretakers. And Colonel Gur would be proud of his Israeli descendants.

Let’s now assess the American Jewish diaspora leaders’ performance.

American Jews obviously don’t vote for a prime minister or Knesset members, pay Israeli taxes and neither do they or their children (except for Lone Soldiers) serve in the IDF. However, after the Holocaust, American Jewry was the world’s largest remaining community. American Jews had the responsibility to advocate for a strong US-Israel relationship and safeguard Judaism through worship and philanthropy.

From President Truman, who recognized the nascent Jewish State, to present today’s supportive leader President Trump, Jewish Americans should be responsible, or at least aware of Israel’s dependency on her powerful ally. And there is a natural affinity because both nations are democracies, subscribe to Judeo-Christian principles and are geopolitically aligned as well as both castigated as evil Satans, one great and one little.

Let’s look at just a few indicators of the current condition of Jewish America. At a time of rampant and violent antisemitism, pro-Palestinian street and campus demonstrations chanting anti-Zionism curses, it’s hard to choose the most telling among all the negative headlines.

Here are just a few. Israel-hating NYC Mayor Mamdani received one third of the Jewish votes. JTA reports, “just over a third of Jews positively identify as Zionists.” Jewish Senator Chuck Schumer, the Minority Leader, did not reign in the hateful rhetoric from his fellow senators of whom 40 (five were Jewish: Sanders, Slotkin, Schiff, Wyden, Ossoff) of 47 who voted to withhold funding for besieged Israel. A NY Post article in 2025 reported 60% of Gen Z support Hamas over Israel. Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador in Washington, just referred to liberal Jewish organization J-Street as a “cancer within the Jewish community.” The New York Times, the new Der Stürmer, publishes anti-Jewish and anti-Israel lies.

An ocean of ink could be written trying to explain how the political and social trends of the past sixty years affected American Jewry. Chapters would address include how Vietnam War’s anti-war movement spawning progressiveness and intersectionality that eventually turned on Israel. Media gone radical, liberal political polarization, and Muslim funding of academia should also be a focus. The Far-Right horseshoe hatred adds to the problem.

We can now fairly ask how effective has Jewish American leadership been since 1967? Has this Jewish leadership, who sit in corner offices of the myriad A-to-Z organizations, use wisely the billions of their donated dollars? Did any of those lay leaders and professionals who waxed poetic at the “galas” get beyond their political affiliation’s talking points? Did the well compensated CEOs resist the pressures of social and political influences and acted in the best interest of their Jewish constituencies? Did they criticize President Obama’s dangerous JCPOA and Biden’s reluctance to go all out to help Israel during the Gaza War? Despite their largely Democrat constituency, have they adequately praised Present Trump for his unabashedly pro-Israel and anti-antisemitism support?

Conclusion: Jew-hatred and anti-Israel in America is exploding. Yes, over the centuries Jews have been persecuted, but the speed of the turn here in America is terrifying. Our Jewish leaders have largely failed in seeing the big picture, they have not launched bold and proud campaigns, and they have not stepped out of their comfort zones to find solutions.

Colonel Gur would have been disappointed. We should demand better from the caretakers assigned to keep our safety “in their hands.”