By Howard Teich, JNS
This is not antisemitism as we know it. This is a tactic of their war against Israel, and those of us who support the Jewish state must not flinch.
This is a new era for the Jewish people, where our light will rise from the strength of our words, the fire of our presence and the determination of our actions. Israel exists as a powerful State of the Jewish people with a strong presence on the world stage, and yet some of our leadership still refers to Israel with the meaningless words, “standing in support of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish homeland.”
I call on our community once again to be warriors for our people, for our organizational leadership too often is rudderless and weak. Leaders visit Israel and speak out in many forums, choosing apologists like far-left journalist Peter Beinart for conversations, or partnerships with New Israel Fund, Partners for Progressive Israel, J Street and T’ruah, among others, for policy. We see among some major leadership organizations a refusal to incorporate travel to Judea and Samaria on their missions, not wanting to cross the so-called Green Line into our historical land. This is no longer acceptable for our times.
Israel is facing a most difficult period. It has gone to war against its enemies on seven fronts and faced them down. The decisions for the future do not have to do with narratives of Israel’s right to exist, as some of the loudest term it. They have to do with Israel’s relations with its neighbors and now the world community, and whether and when it moves toward sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, and how and when it resolves the Gazan and Iranian issues for it to live and thrive in peace. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed that with U.S. President Donald Trump at their recent meeting in Florida.
The phrase “globalize the intifada” must be seen for what it is—a phrase of the radical Islamic jihadist to disrupt and do harm. Its tactic of the day is to destroy Israel by disheartening and dividing the Jewish community, and to raise hatred among countries and people throughout the world against Jews and Israel. This is not antisemitism as we know it. This is a tactic of their war against Israel, and those of us who support Israel must not flinch.
After Oct. 7, when our so-called allies remained silent, when antagonists marched in the streets and rioted on university campuses, when there was a truce declared in Gaza, and a few months after that, a mass shooting in Australia, too many did not see it for what it is: a new source of worldwide warfare against the Jewish people.
We must stand our ground and, in a sense, go to war against the radical Islamic jihadist terrorists who are invading our societies.
As far as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict right now, Hamas in Gaza has made no effort to meet the requirements of Stage 2 of the proposed Gaza peace agreement, which requires demilitarization. In fact, they have reinforced their positions and their troop strength during this truce. If Israel retreats and an international force moves in, the window for victory will have closed without securing future safety. With danger on other fronts as well, Israel need act quickly.
Israel must take the lead for a time, if we are to succeed, for so much of the pushback against the American and worldwide Jewish community today is in relation to Israel’s fight on its turf and with its neighbors. While the world presents plans, Jerusalem must take the initiative. Its days of just saying no have ended, and saying yes to an international plan may not serve its best interests. A bold and important move is to declare sovereignty over Judea and Samaria now, in which Judea and Samaria remain part of Israel, and the Palestinian Arabs who currently live there have limited autonomy, celebrating a future for their people.
The Jewish Diaspora admires Israel’s bravery and battle-tested forces, and needs to adopt more of their thinking. We have new leadership in many communities stepping up to replace establishment leaders who thrive on important relationships, media coverage, fundraising and self-promotion to continue their personal drives for recognition.
This contingent is attracting a new generation, capturing their yearning for a more noble Jewish experience, for they are not looking back but forward. We no longer need to be recognized by glorious monuments to our victimhood; we must celebrate what we have accomplished and what lies ahead, and who we are in both Israel and the Diaspora during this modern era. We are an extraordinary people with a living history. And we must view ourselves as a continuum of history that goes back thousands of years—with the pride that adorns the grand achievement of the rebirth of the State of Israel—recognizing some needed internal policy changes without rejecting commitment to its future.
This fight is about Israel, and it is being fought as a global series of attacks by radical Islamic jihadist terrorists on Jewry. It is a charade when we simply call it antisemitism, for it is worse than that, and we need to recognize it for what it is now: an international campaign against a home for Jews everywhere.
