Listen now | One of the byproducts of this period in Israeli life is that Israeli Americans and their children are engaged in Jewish life as never before. We chat with Offir Gutelzon, a founder of UnXeptable.
May be useful to interview someone about the indictment to explain why the bibi indictment are political motivated and given trial judge told prosecutors they don’t have evidence of bribery and maybe they should plea bargain may help the peace process between the two tribes !
I am tired hearing that because bibi was indicted he is guilty and should be removed from office within it a trial
There is a lot of evidence that the right believes the bibi indictment is political motivated
A peace treaty internal between tribes starts with resolving f the bibi issue which requires concessions -ie exonerate bibi and in return he leaves suffice at next election
I'm surprised you didn't challenge Offir given that he chose to leave Israel and live in the US, and he made no mention of any intention to move back. And he said that it would be his children's choice whether they serve in the IDF. That's fine but once a parent doesn't have to worry about their children serving, their place in Israeli society is very very different. I'm a dual citizen, but I live in the US. I trust those who live, vote and yes protest in Israel to get this right.
Please save us Israelis from all the arrogant people who wish to "save" Israel (and I don't care if they are fighter pilots, elite unit soldiers, law professors, "public intellectuals" or high-tech wizards from Herzliyah or (now) Silicon Valley USA) !
Does this statement give you any pause to reflect?
“ even my older son again, never been involved in Jewish life. We're not going to synagogue, we're not going to others… but now he's part of a Jewish club in his high school and now he's starting it with another friend, an organization called Youth Americans for Israeli Democracy. ”.
No Jewish involvement…just organizing Jews and non-Jewish youth to look at a potentially non-democratic Israel.
This in a country so politically polarized with anti-semitism on the rise and assimilation and intermarriage growing exponentially! Really?!
I think you are internalizing this from an American Jewish perspective where Jews ( even in NYC ) are a minority. In Israel secular Jews are still part of a Jewish majority. There is little doubt your child, if he stays in Israel, will marry a Jew. There is also no tradition for a Jew to attend synagogue on the High Holy Days but obstain on all other occasions. In many of Israel's largest cities Yom Kipur is a time to roller skate in the streets because there are no cars.
My in-laws, born in Iraq, emmigrated to Israel in 1952 and to the US in the 1980s never attended synagogue on the High Holy Days. They had Sabbath dinners every Friday night, they bought the same foods they consumed in Israel ( a benefit from living in NYC ) and continued to live in NYC as if they were still living in Northern Tel Aviv. My Kibbutz parents never celebrated religious holidays. The Sabbath was the day off but it was when he would read Marx in German or de Beauvoir in French.
There is a disconnect with Israelis coming to the US. They are secular, often did not keep kosher in Israel and do not in the US but have no experience with being a minority in a Christian culture. I do not see the response of the Israelis in UnXeptable as being different than my family's in Israel. They still love "their" country. That country is secular and democratic. Despite the demographic realities Mizrahi and Haredi Jews present, as another scholar pointed out in another presentation, democarcy requires the consent of the majority AND minority. It also requires that the rules of governence not being changed AND the possibility, however, unlikely in reality, for minority vicotry at the polls.
I understand your perspective. I am an American born Jew. My ex-wife was born in Israel. She experienced some of the prejudice other eposodes explored. One of her cousins, also born in Israel, had the experience of his daughter's identity card not defining her as a Jew because her mother was an American Jew and political Judaism defines that as heresy--or at least suspect--this when Halachic marriage does not require a Rabbi at all.
May be useful to interview someone about the indictment to explain why the bibi indictment are political motivated and given trial judge told prosecutors they don’t have evidence of bribery and maybe they should plea bargain may help the peace process between the two tribes !
I am tired hearing that because bibi was indicted he is guilty and should be removed from office within it a trial
There is a lot of evidence that the right believes the bibi indictment is political motivated
A peace treaty internal between tribes starts with resolving f the bibi issue which requires concessions -ie exonerate bibi and in return he leaves suffice at next election
Sort out a constitution
Resolve public service for Haredi and Arabs etc
You say that the US survived its crisis, but really, it's not over yet...
I'm surprised you didn't challenge Offir given that he chose to leave Israel and live in the US, and he made no mention of any intention to move back. And he said that it would be his children's choice whether they serve in the IDF. That's fine but once a parent doesn't have to worry about their children serving, their place in Israeli society is very very different. I'm a dual citizen, but I live in the US. I trust those who live, vote and yes protest in Israel to get this right.
I've gone to several of the protests Offir has organized; thanks for the fantastic work!
Please save us Israelis from all the arrogant people who wish to "save" Israel (and I don't care if they are fighter pilots, elite unit soldiers, law professors, "public intellectuals" or high-tech wizards from Herzliyah or (now) Silicon Valley USA) !
Does this statement give you any pause to reflect?
“ even my older son again, never been involved in Jewish life. We're not going to synagogue, we're not going to others… but now he's part of a Jewish club in his high school and now he's starting it with another friend, an organization called Youth Americans for Israeli Democracy. ”.
No Jewish involvement…just organizing Jews and non-Jewish youth to look at a potentially non-democratic Israel.
This in a country so politically polarized with anti-semitism on the rise and assimilation and intermarriage growing exponentially! Really?!
I think you are internalizing this from an American Jewish perspective where Jews ( even in NYC ) are a minority. In Israel secular Jews are still part of a Jewish majority. There is little doubt your child, if he stays in Israel, will marry a Jew. There is also no tradition for a Jew to attend synagogue on the High Holy Days but obstain on all other occasions. In many of Israel's largest cities Yom Kipur is a time to roller skate in the streets because there are no cars.
My in-laws, born in Iraq, emmigrated to Israel in 1952 and to the US in the 1980s never attended synagogue on the High Holy Days. They had Sabbath dinners every Friday night, they bought the same foods they consumed in Israel ( a benefit from living in NYC ) and continued to live in NYC as if they were still living in Northern Tel Aviv. My Kibbutz parents never celebrated religious holidays. The Sabbath was the day off but it was when he would read Marx in German or de Beauvoir in French.
There is a disconnect with Israelis coming to the US. They are secular, often did not keep kosher in Israel and do not in the US but have no experience with being a minority in a Christian culture. I do not see the response of the Israelis in UnXeptable as being different than my family's in Israel. They still love "their" country. That country is secular and democratic. Despite the demographic realities Mizrahi and Haredi Jews present, as another scholar pointed out in another presentation, democarcy requires the consent of the majority AND minority. It also requires that the rules of governence not being changed AND the possibility, however, unlikely in reality, for minority vicotry at the polls.
I understand your perspective. I am an American born Jew. My ex-wife was born in Israel. She experienced some of the prejudice other eposodes explored. One of her cousins, also born in Israel, had the experience of his daughter's identity card not defining her as a Jew because her mother was an American Jew and political Judaism defines that as heresy--or at least suspect--this when Halachic marriage does not require a Rabbi at all.