From a young age, the current generation is encouraged with sentiments such as Abraham Lincoln’s famous statement: “You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.”
While confidence, determination, and a positive self-image are undoubtedly important factors in personal achievement, it is nevertheless untrue that a person can be anything they wish – and stating that they can does not change that. For example, no matter how intensely I may have desired it, I could never realistically have become an NBA player.
My height and athletic abilities were largely determined by genetics, and neither wishing to be taller nor insisting that I was taller could have altered those realities. Had I submitted a résumé to an NBA team, I would almost certainly have been laughed out of any interview.
Merely asserting something to be true does not make it so. Yet this basic principle increasingly seems to be overlooked in modern discourse. For decades, Senator Elizabeth Warren publicly claimed Native American ancestry, a claim that became the subject of considerable public controversy, including criticism from President Donald Trump.
In 2019, Warren issued an apology after tribal leaders objected to her repeated and unsubstantiated assertions of Native heritage.
Their criticism reflects a broader point: identity cannot be established merely through personal declaration. One cannot simply proclaim, “I am Native American,” and thereby make it so.
Eleven years ago, the president of the Spokane, Washington, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter was Rachel Anne Dolezal. What made this unusual is that Dolezal is of Northern and Central European ancestry with small amounts of Native American but without a shred of African ancestry. However, she self-identified as a black woman and thought that based on her claim, she should be viewed as a black person.
Two such issues are relevant to current events here in Israel. Judaism is no less a rule-based system than is, for example, US naturalization. A non-US citizen cannot simply declare that they are an American citizen and expect it to be accepted. Stating it does not alter the facts. Yet there are those who think that anyone entering our country based on claiming Jewishness should be automatically accepted as Jewish.
It is perfectly reasonable that the establishment, be it the Interior Ministry or the rabbinate, should verify the individual’s Jewishness. Saying that one is a Jew no more makes them a Jew than saying one is American Indian makes them American Indian. While such an evaluation should be fair, empathetic, and reasonable, its necessity should be self-understood. Merely stating that one is Jewish does not make one Jewish.
When declaration is not reality
An insidious example relates to groups like J Street, who declare that they are pro-Israel and yet seem to be perpetually criticizing Israel and never defending it in the international arena. Their mantra is that as a pro-Israel organization, they are entitled to criticize Israel. Criticizing it is one thing, but it is not pro-Israel to have the back of virulent antisemites like Ilhan Omar.
Featuring Holocaust denier Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) at a convention just because Israel is not in your image does not make one pro-Israel. Merely declaring oneself Zionist or pro-Israel, even doing so repeatedly and loudly, does not make it true; one’s actions declare one’s identity. A medically ill person declaring themselves to be cured, unfortunately, does not make that a reality.
Groups that are Israel-bashers should be confident enough in their position to declare that is who they are. In a world where one thinks that merely making a declaration will change one’s race or religion, for example, it is understandable why one might similarly think it can define their identity as pro-Israel.
It doesn’t. Just as the suffering patient needs serious help if they think that mere statements will cure them, so too does anyone who believes that declarations alone can define who they are.
Ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, should be commended for recently pointing out the obvious. J Street’s anti-Israel rhetoric has nothing to do with their visceral antipathy toward the current democratically elected prime minister or government. They have supported efforts to block all US aid to Israel, including defensive systems such as the Iron Dome.
They condemned Israel’s self-defensive actions in Gaza while Israel was under fire and facing attacks and existential threats on many fronts. That is not friendly, constructive criticism from a pro-Israel group; it is anti-Israel and does real harm to the nation.
Taking positions that risk Israeli lives and claiming to be pro-Israel is a lie as much as a white woman claiming to be black, or a European claiming to be Native American. Being pro-Israel is when reservists from across the political map show up for duty irrespective of how far left or right they vote.
J Street even equivocated about Nicholas Kristof’s recent antisemitic deplorable fiction in The New York Times, accusing Israel of all manner of systematic rape of Arabs. The organization was paid by the Obama administration to help push the disastrous Obama-Iran nuclear deal through Congress. They support arrest warrants against Israel’s democratically elected leaders.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, has said that he will not defend Israel against the blood libel that accuses it of committing genocide. J Street is working to isolate Israel by objecting to anti-BDS laws and supporting boycotts, divestment, and sanctions of Israelis in certain regions. They give platforms to BDS sympathizers and players who are openly hostile to Israel.
These are not pro-Israel positions, and claiming to be pro-Israel does not change reality. Sabotaging the country you claim to support demonstrates that you are not pro, and saying otherwise does not change that reality. One of the biggest boosts for Israel amongst the young is Birthright Israel, yet J Street is working to destroy it.
Rather, they run trips that turn moderates, such as former congressman Jamaal Bowman, into frothing Israel haters. They are certainly entitled to their opinions, and they have every right to voice them (as long as they stick to the truth).
Differences of opinion are healthy and built into the fabric of Jewish culture. But they are not pro-Israel, and stating so does not alter the reality. Calling an anti-Israel organization pro-Israel is duplicitous but does not change the facts.
Today’s age is extraordinarily complex and fast-moving. The sheer volume of information is daunting, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish fact from assertion and reality from carefully crafted narrative. A claim, no matter how confidently expressed, does not in itself transform into truth.
One does not become black, American Indian, Jewish, American, or pro-Israel merely by proclaiming it. The public acknowledgment of truth, as recently done by Ambassador Leiter, should not be treated as an act of aggression or offense. Truth is not diminished by discomfort, nor does emotional reaction alter objective reality. I am not an NBA player and J Street is not pro-Israel.
The writer is a professor at Bar-Ilan University.