American Jews say ‘no’ to Israel, ‘yes’ to Iran

When my son was in high school, one of his teachers had a classroom mantra: life is about choice. Your choices determine your future. Think about that future. Don’t make bad choices.

It’s the same with voting: how you vote determines your future. When you make bad voter choices, you don‘t get pleasant results.

Think about your future. Don’t support the wrong cause.

In America, Jews are making choices about their religion. They’re making choices about Israel. They’re making bad choices.

They turn against their G-d. They turn against G-d’s Treasured Israel.

For example, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey (“A Portrait of Jewish Americans”), 32 per cent of America’s Jews under age 31 say they have ‘no religion’. Presumably, this means they deny the existence of a Jewish G-d, deny the Divinity of the Jewish Torah and do not believe that the existence of Israel is in any way connected to or dependent upon the G-d of Israel. In fact, 28 per cent of all American Jews say they don’t believe in G-d at all (ibid)—and 34 per cent say that believing in Jesus as messiah is compatible with being Jewish (ibid).

The American Jewish demographic arc moves decidedly away from Judaism. Before 1970, only 17 per cent of Jewish marriages had a non-Jewish spouse (ibid). By 2013, nearly six of ten new Jewish marriages had a non-Jewish spouse (ibid).

For American Jews, being raised Orthodox has offered little protection against this movement away from Judaism: nearly half of respondents who said they had been raised in an Orthodox home said they were no longer Orthodox (ibid).

This movement away from Judaism may have something to do with a parallel movement away from Israel. 31 per cent of American Jews do not feel any attachment to Israel. Another 39 per cent feel only ‘somewhat’ attached (Jon Basil Utley, “American Jews Reject the Israel Lobby—and Support the Iran Deal”, The American Conservative, August 26, 2015).

Put another way, when it comes to Israel, most American Jews don’t seem to care much about Israel (ibid). This may be one reason American Jews support the Iran deal: they don’t connect to Israel. They prefer their American President’s view of Israel to the view held by the Jewish leader of Israel.

The once powerful lobby called AIPAC (American Israel Political Affairs Committee) loses its influence (ibid). It wants America to reject the Iran deal. It wants American Jews to lobby for that rejection. But it may no longer speak to the majority of American Jews who have already turned away from Israel (ibid).

This American Jewish “anti-Israelism” pushes Israel out of the American Jewish psyche (“Jewish Americans turning their backs on Israel”, Redress Information and Analysis, October 3, 2013). In a gentile America, that push means that Israel becomes an unwanted orphan.

In a gentile America, if America’s Jews refuse to support the Jewish state, who will?

The Iran agreement is dangerous (“Iranian deal means danger for Israel today, tomorrow New York or London”, IranPressNews, July 14, 2015). It threatens everyone (Rafael Barak, “The Iran deal just made the world a more dangerous place”, ipolitics, July 17, 2015).

Nevertheless, American Jews won’t speak out. They won’t denounce the jihadi Iran.

It’s not as if opposing this deal is controversial. It isn’t. Most Americans don’t support it (Charles Krauthammer, “Why Americans are turning against the Iran deal,” The National Post, August 8, 2015). Americans reject it by a 2-to-1 margin (Eliza Collins, “Poll: Americans don’t support Iran deal”, Politico, August 3, 2015).

American Jews won’t reject it. Instead, they reject Israel’s concerns. They ignore Iran’s sabre-rattling against Israel (Erick Stakelbeck, “Yes, Secretary Kerry: Iran Does Want to Destroy Israel”, erickstakelbeckblog, August 27, 2015). America’s Jews choose Iran over Israel, Obama over Netanyahu, Kerry over the Jewish state.

That’s a bad choice (“L.A. Jewish Journal Poll: U.S. Jews Support Nuclear Deal By Wide Margin”, National Jewish Democratic Council, July 23, 2015). The Obama deal will release billions in frozen assets to Iran, to use for terror (Tova Dvorin, “Obama Admits: Iran Being Given Billions for Terror Funds”, Arutz Sheva, July 24, 2015). Iran has already announced that aiding those who work to destroy Israel will remain one of its “principle” policies (Adam Kredo, “Iran Renews Support For Hamas Terrorists”, Washington Free Beacon”, August 27, 2015).

It doesn’t matter. American Jews clearly don’t care that Iran stands at the front line in the war against Israel (ibid). What matters to them is, if US President Obama asks Americans to drink an anti-Israel ‘kool-aide’, they--America’s Jews--want to be the first to drink.

They turn against Israel. They reject their ancestral homeland. They’d rather embrace an idealized trust of Iran even as that Iran calls for the destruction of Israel (Ehud Yaari, “How Iran plans to destroy Israel”, The American Interest, August 1, 2015).

Our choices determine our future. America’s Jews make bad choices. What future are they building?