How Israel is losing it among young Jews
 | By Joe Millis
March 21, 2011 | Share |
Gary Rosenblatt, the editor of the New York Jewish Week, has written here about the debate among US Jews about why young American Jews are becoming less connected to Israel. It makes for interesting reading -- and it should scare the socks off the Israel-firsters, in the US, here and in Israel.
Steven Bayme, the AJC’s national director of contemporary Jewish life, noted the effort to have younger people represented in the discussion; more than one-third of the participants were in their 20s and 30s. But several of the younger people noted that the “gray haired” participants gave the main presentations, and wondered if the younger attendees had been invited as “window dressing.”
Some of the observations that resonated with me, include:
* “Israel education has been hijacked by Israel advocacy programs”;
* “We as a community have made the Holocaust the central narrative while Israel has nowhere near that status”;
* “The problem of indifference to Israel is much more troubling than hostility among younger people, which at least shows passion”;
* “Our community has been a total failure in teaching Modern Israel, and we are paying the price”;
* “If you invite young people to the table, you have to give them a say in the decision making, too – and that’s a risk”;
* “A way to engage young people on Israel is to focus on social justice issues rather than the political conflict.”
* “The topic of this program should have been ‘How Young American Jews Are Distancing Themselves From Idiocy’ because we don’t even have the language for talking about Israel.”
COMMENTS
21 March, 2011 - 14:36 Rate this: 0 points | Joe, I know your a regular blogger on this website and I have been meaning to reply to some of posts in the past. There's nothing overly distinctive about this post that separates it from your others, i just thought now is a good time to let you know what I thought of you. I'm not a big fan of name calling in debates, but, as you claim to be a Jew and a 'supporter of Israel' I believe your actions are cowardice and merely act as ammunition to our enemies. Anti-Israel activists use people as yourself to shield them from accusations of blatant anti-Semitism. By having a token Jew as a supporter, it gives these people a platform by which to spew their anti Jewish hatred. Your replies to other peoples blogs on here have often been revolting and I think it is so wrong for you to come on to a Jewish website and try to stir up hatred for the only country in the world safe guarding the future of the Jewish people. Unfortunately collaboration with ones enemies is a feature of human nature. It happened in South Africa, it happened during the holocaust and it happens right here in 2011 on this website. I know you aren't probably all that bothered by my thoughts but I wanted to let it known that you disgust me. It's a good job that since her inception Israel has been able to breed brave Jewish heroes ranging from Ben-Gurion to Netanyahu, because if the future of the Jewish people was in your hands, then we would have no future. |
21 March, 2011 - 14:52 Rate this: 1 point | The only people I see collaborating, Snodgrass, are those who are self-deluded and tell Israel that it can continue to hold on to the occupied territories and remain "the only country in the world safe guarding the future of the Jewish people". Those people are Hamas's greatest helpers, and they probably thank Allah that these people make their lives so easy. |
21 March, 2011 - 14:54 Rate this: -1 points | Doesn't Robert Snodgrass play for Leeds Utd? Do you know the Jewish News columnist and blogger Richard Millett? he's a Leeds fan too. |
21 March, 2011 - 16:49 Rate this: 0 points | me, I think he's an interested fella. Its nice to hear alternative voices... |
21 March, 2011 - 16:53 Rate this: 0 points | Yep, those five or six who demonstrate outside Ahava on Saturday should do it, Leah. As I said, the only ones here making life easy for Hamas, its ilk and its supporters here in the UK are those who think Israel can hold on to the occupied territories and remain the homeland of the Jewish people. |
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mattpryor
21 March, 2011 - 13:41
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"Israel-firsters" - that's what rabid anti-Zionist Jew hating idiots call anyone that disagrees with or challenges their noxious poison.
I would have thought that if you are trying to gain influence to spread your own leftist form of anti-Zionism, you would want to avoid using their fascist language to discredit your opponents.