The Am Echad organization has expressed “grave concern” over actions by Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, who apparently is continuing his campaign of hate against the government while visiting the United States.
Am Echad co-chairs Shlomo Werdiger and Dr. Irving Lebovics sent a letter on April 11 to Lapid over comments he delivered at a recent Jewish Federations meeting in New York.
In the letter, the heads of the Agudath Israel affiliate said, “We see these comments as sowing discord and delegitimizing not just the current Israeli government, but Israel itself in the eyes of the world, both Jewish and not.”
The two Jewish leaders warned that “rhetoric characterizing the government as “extremist” and “undemocratic” jeopardizes the relationship between Israel and world Jews.”
Am Echad told Lapid that “at the very least, large swaths of the Israeli population support the government’s actions and view them as the fruition of election promises. Therefore, it is disingenuous of you to accuse the government of undermining Israeli democracy and calling on American Jews to get up in arms to protect Israel from its own leadership.”
The letter concluded by emphasizing, “Israel is precious to every single one of us. We are proud of its vibrant democracy and amazing growth.
“We ask you that going forward you refrain from damaging, inflammatory rhetoric against Israel and its government during meetings in the Diaspora.”
The full text of the letter in its entirety follows this report.
Lapid arrived in New York Monday on a visit to the United States which his spokesperson said “comes against the backdrop of the crisis that has intensified in recent weeks between the US and Israel.” He characterized the visit as an attempt to try to help repair the fraying ties between the US and Israel.
The Yesh Atid party chairman and Knesset member addressed the Jewish Federations of North America at the Manhattan headquarters of the UJA-Federation of New York that same day.
Also present were a slew of North American Jewish leaders from the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organizations, Jewish Agency for Israel, Israel Policy Forum, National Council of Jewish Women, Hillel International, Orthodox Union, Reconstructing Judaism, Israel Judaism Committee, National Coalition Supporting Soviet Jewry, Zioness, Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest, and UJA-Federation of New York.
Among the organizations missing from the attendees was the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), a strong right-wing advocate for Israel.
The current tensions between Israel and the United States are due in part to the ongoing insistence of the Biden Administration that Israel commit political and actual existential suicide by caving to international demands for a Palestinian Authority state along its borders. But such tensions in the relationship are not new; they are being exacerbated, however, by the Biden Administration’s clear support for ongoing and mammoth efforts by Lapid and the likeminded leftists to overturn the results of Israeli elections held last November, and the Biden Administration’s attempts to aid and abet them.
Lapid and a host of left-wing Israeli lawmakers and other activists have organized and continue to lead massive weekly – and sometimes daily — demonstrations against the Netanyahu government and its plan to overhaul and upgrade the country’s broken judicial system.
Before the Passover holiday, some of the protests were specifically organized to entirely disrupt daily life in the Jewish State with the aim of shutting down the country and holding its voters hostage to the agitators’ whims.
But Jewish Federations of North America chairperson Julie Platt appeared unwilling to join the anti-Netanyahu campaign orchestrated by Lapid. Although she acknowledged that “differences of opinion in Israel today are deep and challenging.”
She noted that although Jewish Federation leaders have expressed their opinions when they deemed necessary, “as have other organizations represented here,” nevertheless, “we have expressed our strongest possible encouragement that every party must do its utmost to seek and find compromise.”
The full text of the letter from Am Echad to MK and opposition leader Yair Lapid follows.
Dear MK Lapid,
We are writing to you to express our grave concern over your comments at the meeting with members of the Jewish Federations in New York.
As an organization devoted to strengthening the relationship between Israel and Diaspora Jewry, we see these comments as sowing discord and delegitimizing not
just the current Israeli government, but Israel itself in the eyes of the world, both Jewish and not.
In the vibrant democracy that is Israel, political debate is not only welcome, but critical, yet it must be carried out with responsibility. In your role as the Head of the Opposition, you are both entitled and required to critique the government.
However, that does not extend to undermining the government outside the borders of Israel, calling on Diaspora Jews to counter the government, and driving a wedge between Israel and Jews around the world.
In your remarks, you accused the current government of being “the most extremist in history … causing damage to security, economy, social cohesion, and relations with Diaspora Jewry.” It would be an understatement to say that the issues facing Israel today are controversial and, at the very least, large swaths of the Israeli population support the government’s actions and view them as the fruition of election promises. Therefore, it is disingenuous of you to accuse the government of undermining Israeli democracy and calling on American Jews to get up in arms to protect Israel from its own leadership.
While we can argue about the prudence and wisdom of the current government’s policies and performance, rhetoric characterizing the government as “extremist” and “undemocratic” jeopardizes the relationship between Israel and world Jews.
More importantly, when such statements move into mainstream media, they delegitimize Israel itself, and by extension pose real danger to the safety of Diaspora communities. When you go back to Israel, we in the Diaspora will face the potential consequences of even more antisemitism, powered by your words.
Israel is precious to every single one of us. We are proud of its vibrant democracy and amazing growth. We ask you that going forward you refrain from damaging, inflammatory rhetoric against Israel and its government during meetings in the Diaspora.
