Will Netanyahu rebuke the contemptuous discrimination within his Government?
MK Amsalem's ugly disdain for Diaspora Jewry
We who truly care about Israel's well-being and bond with world Jewry must not continue tolerating such contempt for (and humiliation of) Diaspora Jewry and the largest Jewish religious streams at the hands of the leaders of the parties that serve in his Government Coalition.
Uri Regev 08/11/2016 14:04
Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu · David Amsalem · Likud · Israel-Diaspora relations
The ball is in the Prime Minister's court!
We must all strongly reject the words of Knesset Interior Committee Chairman MK David Amsalem (Likud) who declared that "With all due respect to the Americans and American Jews, they cannot be influencing what goes on here. Let them get insulted if they want. There’s nothing wrong with that;" and voiced his opposition to the Western Wall agreement between the Israeli government, the Reform and Conservative movements, and Women of the Wall, declaring that it should be annulled!!!
MK Amsalem's brazenly contemptuous attitude towards US Jewry denies the unique, special bond between Diaspora Jewry and the State of Israel - one which celebrates the identity of Israel as the national home of the Jewish people. Indeed, Amsalem's words undermine the strategic interests of the State, which turns regularly to American Jewry for financial and political support - while spitting in their faces and rejecting the validity of their rich and pluralistic Jewish identity.
Netanyahu must demand that the members of his Likud Party and his Coalition Government cease laying explosive mines along the delicate bridge that connects Israel and Diaspora Jewry.
The Prime Minister himself very publicly committed to "Ensuring that all Jews - Reform, Conservative and Orthodox - feel at home in Israel" at the 2015 General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America in Washington, DC. Given this, Netanyahu must demand that the members of his Likud Party and his Coalition Government cease laying explosive mines along the delicate bridge that connects Israel and Diaspora Jewry. Else, Benjamin Netanyahu clearly stands guilty of doublespeak, and is actually supportive of the missiles being launched by his Government at the Jewish communities of the Diaspora.
We should also be strongly critical of MK Amsalem's intransigent blindness to the fact that the vast majority of Israeli Jews reject Orthodoxy and are opposed to their Government's endless surrender to the ultra-Orthodox parties' blackmail, in return for the Haredi votes. The vast majority of Jewish Israelis want the State of Israel of fully realize the Declaration of Independence's promise of religious freedom and equality for all!