|
Trending Topics
|
Debating Israel
(Forward) Dani Dayan - The Jewish people has many marvelous achievements to be proud of. Agreeing on important topics has never been one of them. We have always disagreed on and argued about the things we care about, but always, we have remained one people. Our disputes and arguments kept us engaged with each other. As Consul General of Israel in New York, I have heard more than once the notion that opposing views within the Jewish community, particularly with regard to Israel, are grounds for boycotting and disengagement. Israel is something the vast majority of Jewish Americans care about profoundly. So it's only natural that the policies Israel should adopt and the path it should follow would be something that Jewish Americans disagree about profoundly. That's why I feel anguish when I hear of a synagogue where Israel is declared a taboo subject, lest its discussion be "controversial," or when friends tell me I should desist from engaging with certain Jewish organizations that oppose the policy of my government, lest I legitimize their point of view. Since when have Jews seen controversy as something to be avoided? And since when have diverging views on how to best serve the wellbeing of the Jewish state been something illegitimate? Personally, I believe in earnest that every overture to peace made by Israel or by anyone else in the last 100 years has been ultimately rejected by the Palestinian leadership. And so long as not a single credible Palestinian leader is willing to rise up and openly recognize the Jewish people as also indigenous to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, I am compelled to believe that any other peace proposal Israel could reasonably make would hit the same brick wall of Palestinian intransigence. This is my opinion. I believe it is true to reality. But I certainly do not believe it is any more or less legitimate than the opinion of someone who believes there is a realistic course of action that Israel has not yet tried and that would lead to an agreement ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I would be all too keen to sit down with any Jew of that opinion, hear more about the course of action she proposes and evaluate it together with her. All around us, we see the pitch of public discourse becoming shriller, harsher and more hurtful. Let us make a new year's resolution to keep on talking to one another, keep on listening to one another, and keep on arguing around the family Rosh Hashanah table of the Jewish people. The writer is the Consul General of Israel in New York.