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America Should Not Condition Foreign Aid to Israel

(Times of Israel) Spike Anderson - In July, I joined 1,000 Jewish community leaders for a briefing hosted by the Union for Reform Judaism following the Knesset's passage of the "reasonableness" bill. Among the presenters was Rabbi Gilad Kariv, a current Knesset member from the Labor Party and the first Reform rabbi to serve in the Knesset. When he was asked, "Should America condition foreign aid to Israel?" his message was clear. "Leave the foreign aid aside. We are not allowed to forget the existential threats....We need to understand that there are a few red lines that we cannot cross. Conditioning foreign aid is one of those bright red lines." This is a critical distinction for pro-Israel Americans to internalize. The security challenges facing Israel are dire, and conditioning the aid that protects Israelis from those threats will only put them in greater danger. Those who wake up each day plotting Israel's destruction want to exploit every perceived weakness in its security to attack and harm Israelis. They are growing in military might and they are right on Israel's doorstep. Cynically targeting the lifesaving aid that protects Israelis from terrorism is not a pro-Israel response. It's a poison pill. The writer is the senior rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Atlanta, Georgia.
2023-08-07 00:00:00
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