What Can a Diaspora Jew Do for Israel?

Israel is in a difficult situation. It has made attempts to come to terms with the Palestinian Arabs in the past (even if it was sometimes given grudgingly). It was willing to accept the U.N. partition plan in 1948 before the surrounding Arab countries invaded in an attempt to destroy it. A decade of building peace in the 1990s culminated in Arafat rejecting the Clinton/Barak plan which would have created an independent Palestine because it would have meant a compromise, and followed it with an intifada with suicide bombers with a devastating effect on Israel. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in a trial first step to create an independent Palestine. The result was the election of Hamas by the Palestinian people and the rule of Hamas in the Gaza strip. Hamas is sworn to the destruction of Israel and has backed up those words by shooting rockets across the border into Israel which in turn resulted in a blockade of Gaza to prevent the stockpiling of rockets and other weapons which also resulted in a stifling effect on the Gaza economy. The result in the Israeli people has been a pessimism that there will ever be peace. Every attempt by liberal Israeli governments in the past has resulted in failure. The wall and targeted assassinations of terrorist leaders stopped the intifada. Israeli ingenuity has built a first world economy. The situation has evolved into a situation of temporary calm punctuated by intermittent wars, not a great time but better than the intifada. But can the status quo last indefinitely?

The Middle East is plagued by political fundamentalist religion which is becoming increasingly prominent in the Moslem world with the rise of fundamentalist Islam in Iran, Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and now ISIS in eastern Syria and western Iraq. The struggle between Shiites and Sunnis which has existed for centuries continues. Political religion is the belief that God is on one’s side and has given the right to this or that land or this or that shrine according to one’s own religion. This mandate from God gives one the right to do any injustice to the other group because after all it is God’s will. When ISIS commits genocide that’s OK. They are establishing a caliphate devoted to God. And on a smaller scale our Jewish community is not free of political religion as well. When I ask what purpose do the Jewish settlements on the West Bank serve, the reply I too often hear from some of my fellow Jews is something like God gave all of the Land of Israel to the Jews, and therefore the West Bank is supposed to be Jewish, and there is plenty of land in the rest of the Middle East for the Palestinian Arabs. The purpose of the modern Zionist movement that began in the 1880s under the leadership of Theodore Herzl was to create a safe haven for oppressed Jews in Europe and elsewhere, not to realize some political religious goal. That Zionist purpose is almost in Israel’s grasp if only it can find a way out of a dilemma which serves Israel’s enemies but unfortunately also some zealous Jews in Israel and the Diaspora. I do not mean to put all the blame on Jewish Orthodoxy. There are Orthodox Jews who are willing to compromise politically and there are plenty of secular hawks.

So what can an individual Jew living in the Diaspora do to help Israel reach Herzl’s dream to make Israel a safe haven where a Jew can live in his own land without denying the Palestinian Arabs the same right.

We Diaspora Jews don’t vote in Israeli elections. We don’t fight in Israel’s armed forces (at least most of us don’t). In most cases we are satisfied with living in our respective countries; otherwise we would have gone to live in Israel. Do we have a right to say anything about what Israel or the Palestinians should do? I believe we do. After all the Jews of Israel are our brothers (Kol Yisroel Achim) figuratively, and our cousins literally in most cases. We give financial support to Israel, and when Israelis feel isolated in their little embattled country they know they are at least connected to us Diaspora Jews for whatever that is worth. Those of us who live in democracies have the power to vote in our respective countries. We do not all vote with one voice and do not all agree on what is in Israel’s best interest (just as Israelis don’t always agree with each other), but when Israel is truly threatened as it has been recently by the Gaza rockets and tunnels, most of us circle the wagons until the crisis winds down (as one hopes is now happening).

We can speak our minds. We Jews for the most part are a literate people. Other people listen when we (at least some of us) speak. That does not mean parroting whatever some particular political group in Israel or the Diaspora says. It does not mean always agreeing with every decision of the Israeli government. We Jews disagree with each other all the time. But when the chips are down as they have been recently with Hamas showering rockets over the border into Israel, we need to circle the wagons. Then when the dust settles we can discuss what can be done to further peace.

We can speak with our money. We can contribute to organizations that truly act to make Israel safer and promote Israel’s value to the world. I am besieged with many letters from various Jewish organizations telling me to contribute to their particular organization to protect Israel and the Jewish people. Some espouse ideas that I do not necessarily agree with completely. Others are worthy of my support, but my budget for good deeds has its limits. So I must pick those which for me are the most worthy. Some say they help Israel by advertising the good things that Israel does and point out the fallacies of those who argue against Israel. I prefer to support the organizations that help Israel do good things rather than those who talk about those things. My favorite object for donations is Ben Gurion University of the Desert. BGU has done research into making the desert productive. That benefits Israel by allowing Israel to develop the Negev which constitutes Israel’s greatest land mass and therefore the place where Israel can grow. That research also benefits other desert countries, for example those countries in Africa plagued by drought which is eating up their arable land. BGU’s Medical School for International Health not only trains Israeli doctors and other health care workers but also students from all over the world. This draws on a particularly strong Jewish asset (our many medical doctors) and uses it for the good of all people. BGU has worked together with the Marine Science Station of Jordan to create artificial reefs in the Gulf of Aqaba which is shared by Israel and Jordan to help maintain the ecosystem in the gulf.

Another favorite object for my donations is the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). Although it is primarily concerned with helping disadvantaged Jews around the world (good enough in itself), it also helps other needy people as well.

I like the American Jewish World Service. It supports worthy causes in disadvantaged countries all over the world. It does not work in Israel as far as I know, but it makes us Jews look good as well as doing mitzvahs. It really makes us a little bit of a “light unto the world.”

I support Conservative (Masorti) and Reform Judaism in Israel. I believe non-fundamentalist and pluralistic religion can play a role in calming the Middle East, and this can start with the Jewish religion in Israel.

We can invest in Israel. During the recent Gaza War, I bought some shares of an Israeli company. Some years ago when some people who don't like Israel were urging divestment, I put a chunk of my money in an Israel bond. Shortly after that the market crashed, but my Israeli bond held its value leaving me in a better position 2 years later when the bond matured ( a mitzvah that payed off).

Finally, we must remain steadfast in our support of Israel as a haven for any Jew who wants or needs to go there (although we might not all agree on the definition of Jew). We must also realize that there are about 4 million Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, many (not all) of whom hate Jews. There are also approximately 1.7 million Arab citizens of Israel. Just as Israel is not going away, neither are the Arabs. The causes we support should be realistic and allow the Palestinians hope that some day they will be first class citizens no matter what government rules the land in which they live. Demonizing them will be a self fulfilling prophesy which will never serve the interests of Israel or the Jewish people.