Most American Jewish organizations — from the American Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform national groups — were critical of last summer’s deal with Iran that continues that country’s support of terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, restores more than $150 billion in frozen assets, and does not prevent Iran from developing long-range missiles that could potentially carry nuclear warheads.
According to JTA, “More than 50 Jewish groups signed a statement saying that despite differences over the Iran nuclear deal, the community was united about the dangers Iran poses.”
However many American Jews sided with President Barack Obama on the Iran deal — “not because they don’t care about Israel,” Rabbi Daniel Gordis said in a recent interview, “but because they believed the alternative was war with Iran.”
Rabbi Gordis — noted commentator, author, scholar and teacher — will be back in Kansas City to speak at AIPAC’s annual Israel Action Forum, open to the entire community, on Wednesday evening, Dec. 2. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}It’s his third time keynoting the Forum, which this year will be held at the White Theatre on the Jewish Community Campus at 7 p.m.
“We’re so excited to host Rabbi Gordis again in Kansas City,” said Jessica Rudnick-Kaseff, co-chair of the AIPAC Israel Action Forum (along with this writer). “In addition to having such insight into the complicated Middle East landscape, he’ll share his positive views on what we as Americans can do to ensure Israel’s future.”
Even though the leadership of Jewish organizations were united on the Iran deal, “Many American Jews don’t share that view,” Rabbi Gordis added. “Jewish power makes a lot of people uncomfortable,” he explains. But like most other peoples, “Jews want a homeland, so we don’t have to live at the behest of others. We want a place where we can determine our future.”
In his 2009 book, “Saving Israel: How the Jewish People Can Win a War That May Never End,” Gordis wrote about those born not only after Israel’s founding, but after its national wars, “To a generation that never knew Jewish powerlessness, Jewish power seems a curse, an opportunity to make mistakes, a reason to be despised and reviled.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has a very hard job,” Rabbi Gordis says. In radical Islam, “The West faces a challenge no less dangerous than the Nazis.” The lack of coverage in Western media of the on-going attacks in Israel or articles which imply both sides are equally at fault is but one example of how the West does not wish to confront this challenge.
The fundamental challenge facing Israel’s leaders today is to protect Israel’s international reputation while ensuring that “when Jews are attacked they have a right to protect themselves.”
Recalling an earlier prime minister, Menachem Begin, Rabbi Gordis reminds readers that Begin came into office known “by his earlier reputation as a terrorist, but by 1980 had won the Nobel Peace Prize” for the peace accord with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
Today, “Israel needs to be seen encouraging the Palestinian Authority to come back to the table,” he adds. Prime Minister Netanyahu has stated at the United Nations, to the media and to the Obama administration, that he is willing to meet the Palestinian Authority leadership “anywhere, any time.” And Rabbi Gordis agrees that “Israeli leadership should continue making offers — whether the PA shows up or not.” That, he says, “would change the optics for the average American.”
He suggests it’s important to remind not just Jews, but Americans and the world, that Israel is the only country in the Middle East with a good track record on human rights.
“As early as 1898, women got the vote, as delegates as well as candidates for the Second Zionist Congress,” he noted, where Theodore Herzl advocated the idea of a Homeland for the Jewish people. And Israel has already elected a woman as prime minister — Golda Meir.
Israel’s record on freedom of speech can be quantified not only by the number of political parties (including the Arab list) but by the diversity of newspapers, magazines and books published each year — one of the highest per capita in the world.
In addition, “The Israel Defense Force never had a policy of ‘Don’t ask; don’t tell’ either,” Rabbi Gordis added. And Tel Aviv has been ranked one of the top 10 “gay-friendly” cities in the world by travel surveys.
Recalling Begin, the subject of his prize winning book, “Menachem Begin: The Battle for Israel’s Soul,” Rabbi Gordis notes that “Begin teaches us to have Jewish pride. Yet he did make a deal with the Arabs and pull back from territory” Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Founding dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University of Judaism and winner of the National Jewish Book Award for “Saving Israel,” Rabbi Gordis made aliyah in 1998. He currently is senior vice president and the Koret Distinguished Fellow at Shalem College in Jerusalem. His next book, a history of the State of Israel, will be published in late 2016.
AIPAC members investing $1,800 or more annually in AIPAC are invited to an hors d’oeuvres reception in the Jewish Community Center Social Hall at 5:45 p.m. prior to the main program. For information about becoming a Club member, contact Kansas Area Director Josh Hahn at 312-253-8971 or .
To register for the 7 p.m. program in the White Theatre, contact Kansas Administrative Assistant Adrienne Kaplan at 312-253-8988 or . Or visit www.aipac.org/KCIsraelActionForumReg to register online. Cost is $25 per person but is free for area high school and college students.
As for the challenge among American Jews, Rabbi Gordis insists that “the rule of the American people is reflected on Capitol Hill. AIPAC has to be even more effective at educating Congress and making the case for Israel.
“So we lost this one,” he adds about the Iran nuclear deal. That means “the next round is all the more important.”{/mprestriction}