Assimilation is murdering Judaism, except in Israel.
Naftali Bennett told Jewish legislators from around the world this week that he is more worried about Jews in the Diaspora than those in Israel, the European Jewish Press (EJP) reported.
Speaking at the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians (ICJP), the Education Minister and chairman of the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party said that streams of Judaism must be accepted.
However, he then opened a can of worms by stating, “A Jew is a Jew is a Jew.”
The answer to “who is a Jew” vastly varies and is at the heart of disputes between Orthodox Judaism and the Reform and Conservatives streams.
EJP quoted Bennett as telling the legislators visiting Israel:
I’m not worried about Israel. I’m worried about Diaspora Jews. That’s what keeps me up at night.
Assimilation is as big a loss to the Jewish people as the expulsion of the 10 tribes.
The chairman of the .ICIP is New York Congressman Eliot Engel and includes former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler, French MP Meyer Habib, as well as legislators from Chile, Brazil, Belgium, Romania, Hungary and Ukraine.
Also addressing the conference was Michael Oren, former Ambassador to the United States and now a Knesset Member in the Kulanu party.
EJP reported that he said that labeling products from Judea and Samaria that they are made in the “occupied territories” is “anti-Semitic.”
Oren explained:
There are hundreds of territorial disputes in the world. Only Israeli products are being labeled.
Opposition leader Yitzchak Herzog repeated his refrain that “we need to separate from the Palestinians” and followed with the usual non-solutions.
Instead, he declared, “It has to be resolved – but right now, if you look at the mood of the people, it’s at its worst ever… You can’t disregard the notion of the two-state solution. If that’s over, you’ll be moving to the one-state solution whether you like it or not… the reality is impossible… you can’t govern another people.