After October 7, Israel must undergo a profound soul-searching. Most Israelis assume this refers first and foremost to our internal affairs: the surprise attack, the failed preparedness, the shattered “conceptzia.” Clearly, other domestic issues, such as the malfunctioning of government ministries or the judicial overhaul that hijacked public attention, also deserve examination.
However, I have not seen anywhere that Israel is preparing to examine its relationship with the Jews of the Diaspora. For some reason, this issue has been pushed to the margins. It is not being addressed.
Most Jewish city
I was reminded of this phenomenon when, a few weeks ago, Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York, maybe the most important city in the world. From our perspective as Jews and Israelis, it is also the most Jewish city in the world, with over a million Jews and tens of thousands of Israelis.
Mamdani, an openly Muslim politician and an enemy of Israel, who devoted parts of his campaign to propaganda against the Jewish state, easily defeated his opponents. He would not have been elected had Jewish and Israeli voters not cast their ballots for him.
The shock and bewilderment in Israel over his election reveal how deeply Israeli society, including its leadership, misreads and misunderstands what is happening in the United States – the largest, most influential, and wealthiest Jewish community in the history of the Jewish people.
It is clear that without hundreds of thousands of members of that community voting for Mamdani, including Israeli emigrants, he would not have been elected. This raises a serious and weighty question: why and how did he receive such broad Jewish support?
One can, of course, justify it by saying that this is a mayoral race, not a national political figure on the American political scene. In New York, people vote first and foremost on the issues that affect their daily lives in their own city: cost of living, public transportation, housing, and education.
But the fact that Mamdani continued his attacks on Israel during the campaign, and even afterward, is shocking. During his visit to the White House, standing beside President Donald Trump, he declared that Israel is committing genocide. The president did not even respond.
I see Mamdani’s election as an expression of the growing estrangement of the American Jewish community – and quite possibly other Jewish communities as well – from the State of Israel and from its policies in recent years, including the “Iron Swords” Israel-Hamas war, which the terrorist group started on October 7, 2023.
Changing relations
It is true that at the beginning of the war, the American Jewish community responded with its familiar, almost automatic instinct and channelled hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel. That is how it was in previous wars, and so it was taken for granted by Israel and the Israelis.
The huge rally that took place in Washington at the end of 2023 still fell into that same category of “what has been is what will be.” But things have changed since then, and we must acknowledge that.
Even before the war, the Jewish community – and especially its younger members – was already becoming alienated from Israel. High percentages of them had adopted terminology such as “colonialism,” “genocide,” and “ethnic cleansing” regarding Israel.
This was the cumulative result of Israel’s failure: the fact that for more than 50 years, it has controlled the lives of another people without advancing any political solution to this situation.
The war has reinforced these trends and deepened the distancing from Israel. On the one hand, public support declined; on the other, the community was exposed to a rising wave of antisemitism.
And quite reasonably, they asked: Why are we paying the price for Israel’s “adventures”? What is our part in these entanglements? Who even asks us, and who cares about us?
Survival instinct
Moving forward, when Israel examines its relationship with the Diaspora, it must understand the Jewish people’s survival instinct. That instinct is also at the foundation of the Zionist movement and the State of Israel.
The establishment of an independent Jewish state for the third time in our history did not eliminate it. Deep inside, Jews still know that tomorrow could be worse, that their Jewishness could be a liability, and therefore they will always seek options – another place, another time.
The leaders of Zionism assumed that establishing a national home for the Jewish people in Israel would put an end to the deep fears of the Jewish people for their communities. They were wrong. Those fears have resurfaced over the past two years on a scale we did not anticipate.
Israel has not succeeded in guaranteeing absolute security for its citizens, and its policies and actions have affected the lives of Jews in the Diaspora. On the fertile ground of age-old antisemitism in the digital age, new manifestations emerged, defined as “anti-Israelism,” which spurred a wave of terror against Jews around the world.
Not only was the security of Israel shaken, but also the security of Jewish communities worldwide.
Strategic approach
Antisemitism will continue, in one form or another – we know that. But our task, as Israelis, is to initiate a new strategic approach of the Jewish people as a whole, and of the State of Israel in particular, to the grim consequences of this chapter.
We are commanded to deepen and strengthen the ties between the two largest Jewish communities in the world – exactly the opposite of what has happened – and is still happening.
This is a process of healing and repair that will take time. If it does not take place, it will drive a wedge between Israel and the Diaspora and will threaten the future of the Jewish people, plain and simple.
Both in Israel and in the Diaspora, we must invest, first and foremost, in education.
In Israel, we must instill the concept of “Jewish peoplehood” (amiyut), especially among young people who have grown up here and do not understand its meaning.
In the Diaspora, we must teach the young people – again through Jewish and Zionist education – what the State of Israel is, how vital it is to them as Jews, and why it deserves their support.
Beyond that, we must urgently convene Jewish leaders from around the world together with Israeli leaders for a major conference and discussions, which will redefine the relationship between the two in the post-war era.
Jewish leaders, in Israel and in the Diaspora, must make time and space in their agendas to meet, to define anew what must be done, and where. It is the only way to secure the future of the Jewish people.
This is a mission of the highest order. I do not know what more needs to happen to convince, first and foremost, the government of Israel to allocate resources and invest thought in the changes taking place in Jewish communities around the world.
I only know that if this is not done, Israel may lose its backing and support, its reservoir of human capital, and the endorsement of the values and policies it pursues.■
Dr. Nachman Shai is the Dean of Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. In the past, he served as Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs and as IDF Spokesperson. He is the chair of the Association of Military–Society Researchers.