BALANCED VIEWS
Netanyahu’s message to U.S. Jews: You just don’t matter We all need a deep breath after the latest revelations
Thomas L. Friedman
To the casual observer, Israel has never looked more secure and prosperous. Its Arab neighbors are in disarray. Iran’s nuclear program has been mothballed for a while. The Trump team could not be friendlier and the Palestinians could not be weaker. All’s quiet on the Tel Aviv front . ...
Look again. In fact, the foundations of Israel’s longterm national security are cracking.
Under Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, Israel is overstretching itself by simultaneously erasing the line between itself and the Palestinians — essentially absorbing 2.5 million Palestinians, which could turn Israel into a de facto Jewish-Arab binational state — and drawing a line between itself and the Jewish diaspora, particularly the U.S. community that has been so vital for Israel’s security, diplomatic standing and remarkable economic growth.
In recent weeks, Netanyahu collaborated with the Orthodox parties in his right-wing ruling coalition to deal a double blow to the non-Orthodox diaspora living around the world. There are roughly 6 million Jews in Israel, 6 million in the U.S. and 4 million elsewhere. About 75 percent are non-Orthodox, mostly followers of the Reform and Conservative streams of Judaism.
First, Netanyahu bowed to the demands of the Orthodox parties and canceled a 2016 agreement to create a distinct egalitarian prayer space adjacent to the Western Wall of the ancient temple in Jerusalem where non-Orthodox men and women could pray together.
He also caved and endorsed an Orthodox party bill that handed the ultra-Orthodox what amounts to a monopoly over conversions to Judaism in Israel “by pulling government recognition for private conversions” — basically those done by non-Orthodox rabbis, The Times of Israel reported.
As an editorial in The Forward in New York put it, Netanyahu “just gave the finger to a huge chunk of American Jews and, by doing so, dangerously upset the already precarious relationship between the Israeli government and the diaspora.”
After an outcry led by the American pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, Netanyahu negotiated a six-month freeze on putting the conversion legislation in effect. But it is a time bomb.
How could this have happened? I asked Gidi Grinstein, founder of the Reut Group, a leading Israeli public policy research/ strategy institute.
“This is a moment of truth for Israel’s national security and ethos,” said Grinstein. “Does Israel view itself as the nationstate of Israelis or as the nation-state of the entire Jewish people — nearly 60 percent of whom live outside of Israel? Is the purpose of Israel to serve the continuing resilience, prosperity and existence of the Jewish people, as the founders of Zionism envisioned, or just its own well-being? That is the question at stake now.”
Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren did not mince words, telling The Jerusalem Post that the machinations of Netanyahu and the Orthodox parties constituted an “abandonment of Zionism. The (Western Wall) belongs to the Jewish people as a whole.”
Israel’s very identity is at a crossroad: Runaway Jewish nationalism threatens to meld Israel with the Palestinians in the West Bank, while runaway Orthodox politics threatens to disconnect Israel from its most committed supporters.
A double blow to Israel’s future, undermining the national security of the Jewish state, is unfolding before our eyes.
Kathleen Parker
That quaking beneath your feet is from shock waves in Washington where tipping points are merging with other tipping points to create the Mother of All Tipping Points.
Not only did Donald Trump Jr. meet with a Russian attorney who, he was told, had damaging information about Hillary Clinton, but there are emails indicating that he knew in advance that the opposition research was part of the Kremlin’s effort to help Donald Trump become president.
It that’s not collusion, it seems at least “collusiony.”
These latest revelations should be enough to make every American take a deep breath. Whether Trump Jr. is merely stupid is yet to be determined, but he wasn’t alone in that meeting. Joining him were his brother-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort, then Trump Sr.’s campaign manager, who is known to have had dealings in Russia for a number of years.
The New York Times broke the story over the weekend. Tuesday afternoon, Trump Jr. released the email thread between him and some guy — Rob Goldstone — a music publicist who knew some guy who knew Donald Trump vis-a-vis the Trump-owned Miss Universe contest. Got that?
Goldstone arranged the meeting, which took place in Trump Tower in June 2016 — just before the Republican primary season had ended. After Goldstone said that the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, had information that would incriminate Clinton, Trump Jr. replied that he’d “love it.” Who wouldn’t? You’re the namesake son of the man on track to become the Republican nominee and possibly president — and Russia wants to help him win? Hell da!
The fact that the alleged opposition research was part of Russia’s war on Clinton, as indicated in one of the emails, would have raised flags for most people — no, make that for all but these people. I’m confident that, if the nice Ace Hardware man who recently helped me select a mailbox were to receive such an email, he’d contact the FBI as soon as possible.
Which, obviously, is what Junior, Manafort and Kushner should have done.
In an interview Tuesday with NBC News, Veselnitskaya said she never had any “damaging or sensitive information about Hillary Clinton. It was never my intention to have that.” Asked where Trump Jr. could have gotten that idea, she responded, “It is quite possible that maybe they were longing for such an information. They wanted it so badly that they could only hear the thought that they wanted.”
Goldstone set up the meeting, brought Trump
Jr. into a damning email exchange, promised dirt. Wait, who is this guy again?
Well, that’s a very good question. He’s an intermediary for Veselnitskaya, who either (a) works for the Kremlin and possibly even President Vladimir Putin; or (b) is just a lawyer/lobbyist interested in U.S. policy. Wouldn’t we like to know? Also possible is that Trump knew all along about the meeting, which may be why he acts like a cocker spaniel at a Doberman rally whenever the name Putin comes up. What did Veselnitskaya really come to say? For whom?
More shock waves are doubtless coming. Meanwhile, we know for certain: When a Russian lawyer meets privately with the future president’s son, his son-in-law and his campaign manager on a thirdparty promise of Clinton-disabling intel, it’s hard to say the Trump campaign had nothing to do with Russia. For now: “collusiony.”