Why Diaspora Jews Must Respect Israel’s Reality

There is a growing and painful divide between many Jews in the Diaspora, especially in the United States and their Israeli brothers and sisters. This gap is not simply political or ideological. It is cultural. It is emotional. It is a difference in mentality. And unless we acknowledge this truth, we risk not only misunderstanding each other, but unintentionally harming the very country we claim to love.

Let me be clear: I deeply love Israel. It is not just a country to me, it is home. I lived there for two powerful years. I grew up on its rhythm, soaked in its spirit. Since 2015, I’ve returned no less than 22 times. I wasn’t just a tourist snapping pictures by the Dead Sea or shopping on Dizengoff Street. I had a relationship with an Israeli. I walked through the Golan Heights with two veterans who fought as tank commanders during the Yom Kippur War. They showed me memorials, told me about their fallen comrades, introduced me to a Druze family who lost a father in battle. These experiences planted my roots in the land. My connection is deep, emotional, unshakable.

And still; I do not interfere in Israeli politics.
Why? Because I do not live in Israel.
I do not wake up to the sound of rocket sirens at 2 a.m.
I do not have to send my child to the army, not knowing if they will return.
I do not go to funerals of friends who were killed in terror attacks.
I don’t live under the constant shadow of existential threat.

That is why Jews outside Israel can and must not interfere in Israeli politics, especially not Jews from the United States.

Yes, Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people. But it is also a sovereign state with real people who face real consequences from decisions made by its government. It’s easy to critique from afar when your children are not in uniform, when your home is not a target, when your daily life isn’t impacted by the next Iranian threat or Hezbollah buildup or Hamas tunnel.

This week, I read a featured article in the Times of Israel by an American female “rabbi.” I was honestly shocked. How could an Israeli platform publish such a harmful and tone-deaf perspective? Her view was coated with the classic pink-tinted American lens, idealistic, disconnected, moralizing without nuance. She lives in a society where people protest for issues they barely understand, where Jewish identity is often watered down, and where anti-Semitism is growing louder by the day. And yet, from her safe suburb, she dares to lecture Israelis?

This arrogance is a uniquely American phenomenon. Too many American Jews believe they “know best” for Israel. They throw around words like “apartheid,” “occupation,” and “resistance,” never pausing to ask a mother in Sderot how she feels when her child wets the bed in fear after hearing a siren. They speak in the name of “peace,” but they’ve never heard a soldier scream in agony. They have opinions about Gaza but have never once stood at the Erez crossing or met a wounded IDF soldier.

The American Jewish community, in many ways, has lost its Israeli spirit. That spirit is made of resilience, innovation, deep faith, and ancient memory. In Israel, you do not have to search for meaning, it surrounds you. In the USA, Jews often drown in identity crises, trying to fit into a society that grows increasingly hostile to them. Just look at the rise of movements like BLM, the normalization of Neturei Karta, or the leftist academics who demonize Zionism while glorifying Hamas.

Take Edan Alexander, for example, a beautiful soul, a proud Israeli who served his country. Now, he is in the United States. Is it permanent? Or is it a break? I hope it’s the latter. Because in Israel, he can live as a proud Jew. In America, he will be forced to justify his existence.

In Israel, being Jewish is natural. It is alive. It is visible on every street corner, in every holiday, in every mezuzah, soldier, olive tree, and song. The meaning is in the air you breathe.

So to the Jews in the Diaspora, especially in the United States, support Israel. Defend her. Pray for her. Visit often. Donate. Advocate. Love her. But do not pretend you understand what it’s like to walk in Israeli shoes. And please, do not interfere in decisions that only Israelis will have to live and die with.

Respect the reality. Respect the sacrifice. Respect the sovereignty.
That is what true love for Israel looks like.