Jerusalem & Babylon / Lieberman the Diaspora czar

[IndianaGreen]

"Make Aliyah, Support Israel and Shut Up."

Last update - 14:11 20/03/2009

Jerusalem & Babylon / Lieberman the Diaspora czar

By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent

Next week, Israel will have a new Diaspora affairs minister. And it almost certainly won't be one who also has a more senior portfolio, like Yitzhak Herzog, whose day job was at the social affairs ministry and who spoke at Jewish Agency events in his spare time.

After Benjamin Netanyahu finishes selling his cabinet by fire-sale to his coalition partners, he will have to find jobs for all the minister-wannabes in his own Likud party, if he doesn't want to have a full-scale rebellion on his hands. One of the new Likud ministers will have to make do with the Diaspora, the least popular of all the ministerial briefs, and for good reason: International Jewry doesn't have a vote in Israel.

That won't be the only reason the new minister will be reluctant to assume his (or her) post. This is probably the worst possible time to oversee Israel's relationship with Jews abroad. Youth identification with Israel is at an all-time low, and anti-Semitism is rampant. Causes include Israel's misdeeds in Gaza; the global recession and Bernard Madoff's swindle, which ravaged the once proud network of Jewish mega-organizations. The main organ connecting Israel with the communities of the world, the Jewish Agency, is a shadow of its former self, searching for a new identity as its best employees desert in droves and lacking a serious candidate for the once-coveted position of chairman. There's one more cloud lurking on the horizon: The new minister won't be the government's real Diaspora czar anyway. That will be the new foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman.

Lieberman is one of the few Israeli politicians who is at all aware that Jews exist outside the country's borders. That is, he doesn't see Diaspora Jewry solely as a source of invitations to swanky events and campaign donations (though, if the interminable investigations into his business affairs are anything to go by, he is certainly aware of the financial benefits).

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072494.html

[bemildred]

1. Could we have "retention bonuses" for Olim? nt

[Grimm]

2. "Make Aliyah, Support Israel and Shut Up."

Just about sums up Lieberman's diplomacy ability in a nutshell. I'm quite happy as a Canadian Jew in a Canadian Jewish community, thank you very much. The idea that non-Israeli Jews should be nothing more than cheerleaders of Israel, much less Lieberman's version of Israel, has me more than a little rankled. His policy stokes the fires of anti-Semitism by conflating Jews and Israel and it removes the ability for Middle East discourse within the Jewish community itself.

It's sad that he is still one of the most progressive mainstream Israeli politicians when it comes to loosening the iron grip the Orthodox community has over Jewish civil status in Israel. At this point, if the coalition manages to bring in civil marriage and keep Lieberman on his leash, I'll count it as a major victory.