Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of Great Britain, made headlines last week when he expressed his shame over the behavior of Israel in dealing with the current Palestinian violence. Although he did not explicitly blame Israel for the outbreak of the conflict, the conclusions he has drawn are just as condemning.
“There are things that happen on a daily basis which make me uncomfortable as a Jew,” he said. He also claimed that Israel has been forced into “postures that are incompatible in the long-run with our deepest ideals.”
To his credit, Rabbi Sacks says that Israel was forced into these postures, but that does not really affect the issue in the minds of many readers. The impression they will get ? the impression Rabbi Sacks has projected – is that Israel has done something distasteful or wrong.
Rabbi Sacks is a man with a sharp mind and an ability to appreciate wisdom whatever its source. It has been a pleasure to see the intelligence and thought he devotes to his public statements, and I for one was thrilled when he was chosen as chief rabbi. But as I read his words last week I was ashamed – not of any Israeli action, but of his own, and of the British society that makes such actions necessary.
There is nothing shameful about fighting a just war against an unjust, cruel and uncompromising enemy. There was nothing shameful about Great Britain’s stance against Germany in World War II, which involved inflicting far more civilian casualties than Israel has ever done, and which did not in any way harm British moral and religious character.
By the same token, Israel has no reason to be ashamed for displaying the courage to defend herself and her citizens from the vicious attacks of Palestinian murderers. Every fair person knows that Israel has exhausted every possible diplomatic and political avenue in order to avoid this conflict. It has become increasingly obvious to a wide plurality of people in many nations that there is no sacrifice that Israel can make which will satisfy the demands of an aggressive, uncompromising and in many ways blind movement of Palestinians and their sympathizers.
Like Great Britain in WWII, Israel has been given no choice at all but to defend herself or take the consequences. She has performed heroically, with great restraint, with no sign of hatred or vengeance such as we find among Palestinian leaders, despite provocations that would tax Hillel. She has displayed greater restraint than any nation ever has done under the like circumstances, bar none. She has behaved, Rabbi Sacks, like a light unto nations. The last thing she deserves is to be castigated by her friends.
The sad story here is not about Israel, it is about British society. That anti-Semitism has erupted again in that noble Island is already well-known. This anti-Semitism is closely connected with false charges against Israel. Blood libels concerning Jenin were refuted by the facts, but the impression remains. Only exceptional individuals can be expected to ignore the campaign of insinuation and provocation aimed at destroying Israeli morale and ultimately pushing her into a corner.
It is shameful but true that Jews have been prominent in this campaign. The infamous but unsuccessful attempt by British university professors to boycott liberal Israeli academic institutions was organized in part by Jews. Jewish members of Parliament have taken a leading role in condemning Israel. If we contrast this behavior with the behavior of American Jews, we see the contrast between the passive, guilty, embarrassed Jew of times past, and the vibrant, proud, uncompromising modern Jew who does not apologize for other people’s crimes.
One has to ask why it is that British Jews, so unlike their American cousins, feel compelled to criticize Israel. Some might say that American Jews are too pushy, too loud-mouthed, too self-assertive. But it is also true that they are much more fully accepted and respected in American society. Part of the story at least has to be that Jews in America feel they can say what they think, without worrying about the attitudes of their neighbors.
I think that Rabbi Sacks expressed himself very exactly when he said that there are things that happen on a daily basis which make him uncomfortable as a Jew, and it is most shameful for his hosts in Great Britain that they make him feel that way.
British society is polite, but in many ways it is unthinking and cruel. The British public has been too willing to accept one-sided accounts of events in the Middle East. Muslims now vastly outnumber Jews in Great Britain, and that must have a profound effect on general attitudes. A Jew who defends Israel today takes the risk that he will have to wear the label that Britain fixes on the Jews and on Israel. Rabbi Sacks’s reputation, his whole life’s work, would be in danger in Britain if he had not found something to criticize in Israeli behavior.
Despite all the difficulties involved in living in Israel today, it is this more than anything else that makes me thankful to be here and not there. The physical danger is surely greater here. We face threats of violence from individual terrorists and terrorist nations on a daily basis. But we are free to express ourselves openly and honestly without worrying about offending neighbors who do not have our best interests at heart.
Now more than ever we can see the truth of the Zionist premise, and the necessity of having a state, even a small one, for the Jews.