"President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace."
Clue: President Trump is wholly committed to nothing but himself.
67
I have met, support AJC and respect what Ambassador Lauder says but, it is a simplistic viewpoint. Further, I was not surprised by the "favorable" comments offered by the NYT readers but they all overlook the overriding problem, i.e., Islam! We, in the United States have our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Muslims have the Qur'an and that is the stumbling block to any real peace. The Egypt and Jordan "Peace" treaties with Israel were not because they loved each other but rather pressure and money from the U.S., with continuing aid thrown in. Talk of a Two State solution would require control of the borders by Israel and a demilitarized Palestine. A One State, i.e., Israel, with those Palestinians who would opt for Israeli citizenship with the others moving to Jordan, if accepted, or another Muslim nation has been discussed, but again you must see what the Qur'an has to say and you will understand that the acceptance of citizenship may be a ruse, since the Muslim can lie to advance the cause of Islam, namely a World Caliphate under Sharia. Just consider Islamic history over the past 1400 years and you will understand what lies ahead. Bibi's call for a Two State Solution comes with the necessary strings attached and I firmly believe he knows that the Palestinians would not agree to those conditions. Buyer beware, if you do not learn from past history you will face the fate that other liberal do-gooders faced.
Martin
16
To paraphrase one blogger,
Had those Pseudo-Palestinians not been liberated from the yoke of the Jordanian conquest, they, in all likelihood would have been downtrodden, impoverished, uneducated, and perhaps would have found themselves decapitated as well –Al Qaeda and ISIS-style. Pals don’t have to like it, but listen sweethearts: Your lives under Israel’s “occupation” is better than it would be under any other regime in the Middle East.
In Syria, you’d be slaughtered in battle, through bombings or poison gas.
In Lebanon, you’d be drafted into Hezbollah and killed in its service or oppressed/killed in a civil war.
In Iraq, your head would be chopped off. In Yemen, you’d be shot in the street.
In Egypt, you’d be violently liquidated by the police, the Salafists or the Moslem Brotherhood. Apparently, even if you lived in Jordan (you certainly wouldn’t want to live in any other country I mentioned) you’d be dirt poor and uneducated. Perhaps you’d be living in the Cairo cemetery in Egypt, in a mud hut in Northern Jordan, or in a destroyed refugee camp outside Damascus
26
As a historian (BA, UCSD 1974) and an atheist, I feel that Israel and the Middle East have painted themselves into a corner for the simple reason that modern political policies are being based on the assumption that the Judaeo-Christian bible is true and represents historical fact. This assumption underlies most Israeli politics and always has, back to the earliest days of the Zionist movement. The truth is, unpalatable as that may seem to many people, is that the writings in the bible are literature, not history - an integral part of Western society's narrative and culture, but eminently unsuitable as a polemic for the Middle East. Furthermore, most of the cultural and theological roots of modern Judaism come from medieval Europe, especially medieval Germany (e. g. Yiddish = variant spelling of Jüdisch). Therefore, although the modern state of Israel most certainly does have a right to exist, it is because of the diligence and unremitting hard work of its people to develop it into the thriving country it is today and not because of a mythical divine mandate.
38
Israel has Netanyahu and we have Trump. Sadly, they are made for each other. If character is destiny, then neither of these men will make the Middle East a safer place.
32
Lauder is to be commended for his courage -- as head of the World Jewish Congress -- to clearly express what must b troubling Jews around the world. If Israel is to survive and continue to solicit support from Jews in the United States, its leaders should be listening to Mr. Lauder.
25
Assume a two state solution: Why must we always presume that Jews living in settlements on the “wrong” side of the line need to be uprooted? Is one state going to be Judenrein (without Jews)? It seems that every discussion of a two state solution assumes that all Jews must leave the Palestinian side. Why? Isn’t that the very definition of an apartheid state? After all, the Israeli Arabs (both Christian and Muslim) are welcome to remain in Israel...
19
Arabs in Israel are not all that welcome in fact.
Also the settlements are illegal by international law and have caused enormous uprooting of homes, property and resources from the owners, even if the occupation of West Bank for 50 of 70 years of Israel's existence might not. The Israel Arabs are living in their ancestral homes, the Jews in settlements simply are not, and Muslims and Christians are not responsible for what happened 2000 or 80 years ago.
32
So very good that Mr. Lauder has now done the math and figured out that jackboots will not solve the problem. Huzzah!
8
The fact is that in 1948 the Arab states were not aware of diplomatic double speak at the time and instead spoke their minds clearly and directly. They clearly and without any doubt expressed that their goal in 1948 was to completely reverse, by military force, the UN resolution that established Israel. They unapologetically and emphatically declared that the result of that would be the "Mongol massacre" of the Jewish population (3 years after the end of the Holocaust, they were intent on completing the job as several, such as Iraq and the local Palestinian Arabs had been axis allies). The result is much like a man who points a gun at your head, tells you he is going to kill you after all your family has just been murdered by his friends, and then complains when you take out a machete and cut his arm off. Frankly...the Arabs got lucky that Israel was only a nascent state with little power in 1948 and they deserved far worse than Israel moving its borders so that it could be a barely viable state.
When the Islamic world learns to live at peace with it's neighbors (not to mention itself) that may change. Again, it's like a violent community of madmen complaining that his neighbours are banding together to protect themselves. Almost funny if it wasn't so sad.
19
There was Jewish terrorism as well, which can be justified in any number of ways. At time of Balfour Declaration 1917 there were many more Arabs in Palestine than Jews. The fighting in 1948 was mainly in areas outside of partition. Nobody in right mind denies Israel legal existence but the Palestine diaspora from 1948 has now grown to its own several million.
9
Any notion of a democratic “Jewish State” is naive and archaic. All other religiously-oriented nations are autocratic or have failing democracies. Israelis may believe their home is the only place that Jews will always live in safety but the US has existed as such a place for far longer.
It is precisely because people separate themselves that basic humanity is belied and threatens Jews anywhere. Therefore Israel needs to move forward as a champion of democracy and constitutionally protected human rights by becoming a pluralistic society similar to its greatest supporter across the Atlantic.
13
Mr. Lauder, now you are finally speaking up? Shouldn't you own the fact that you have supported Bibi and the Likud party which is the creator of all this this mess (or at least have made the situation much worse), along with Donald Trump who is an autocrat just like Netanyahu and stuck a finger in the eye of the Palestinians when making Jerusalem the capital of Israel? Maybe now you are actually worried about your legacy since the radical religious right is rejecting all Jews but the ultra orthodox including you and your family. Your opinion piece is way too little and too late.
22
The problem started in 1948 when Zionist unilaterally declared Palestinian territory to be Israel.
All the rest are subsequent repercussions.
Look a the Mexican American War 100 years earlier (1846) where we took land from Mexico , Arizona, California, New Mexico, maybe part of Colorado and made the new border the Rio Grande.
My guess that people thought the same thing would happen. The West would help the Jews take half of Palestine and the Palestinians would just accept it like Mexico did.
I think another factor was the West felt guilty after the Holocaust and now the Palestinians are paying the price for that guilt of the West not preventing the Holocaust.
In the end, even Yasser Arafat accepted Israel's right to a peaceful existence in the Oslo Accord. What he didn't accept is the right for Israel to be a Jewish state.
And the Israelis know if they let the refugees come back, they will be that much closer to losing their majority.
As Americans we believe in separation of church and state. We condemn the Islamic governments. We stay quiet when it comes to Israel.
In the end, there is no just solution that is good for Israel, one state or two state where the refugees get to come back to their homeland, the land of their ancestors that goes back 1,000 years.
What would you do if you were a Palestinian?
19
@independent
sorry, your history is all wrong.
The UN vote established both jewish and arab states.
The Jews agreed to the vote, the arabs attacked, expressly to throw every jew into the sea.
Nasser said the same thing in May and June, 1967.
Kindly get your facts right.
31
Religion influence on the state , if given the chance to religious people govern is detrimental any advanced and modern society.
European Christinaity's history is aclear testament of this. Midle eastern Islamic history and todays conditions is the most assuring evidence.
How come Israel people think that They are immune to same ailement when it comes to their Ultra orthodox group aiming the state control.
What is the long term guarantee democracy lives in Israel?
3
It's way too late for all the hand wringing Mr. Lauder ! Conservative / Republican Likud supporters such as yourself are mostly responsible for the future prospects of the Jewish State. The die is cast ! You had better get yourself ready for the single state solution. Israel will never allow the Palestinian's their own truly independent state nor will they grant them full rights.
Get ready for more years of low level hostility between Israelis & Palestinians until an all out civil war breaks out and Israel loses any moral standing it still has in the world.
My prediction; Israel will win the conflict with the Palestinians and become just another two bit middle eastern dictatorship like Egypt, albeit, run by Jews instead of Muslims. And then the dream of a democratic Israel living with it's neighbors will be dead.
8
Iran, Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas are never once mentioned here, as if this was all about Mr. Netanyahu.
Or their massive arms buildup and continuing determination to destroy Israel.
What are the names by the way of the senior Palestinians leaders who told Mr. Lauder they are "ready to begin direct negotiations immediately"?
I hope Mr. Lauder remembered to supply them with Mr. Netanyahu's personal telephone number.
There is a good reason why Israelis continue to this day to celebrate Purim, Queen Esther and Mordecai and the downfall of Haman.
16
A secular jew is NOT a Jew at all. He is SECULAR. Judaism is a RELIGION. It's like saying you are a secular christian. It makes no sense. You believe and live it, or you don't and follow whatever your society is doing. I'm not even Jewish, but I see that as clear as day! The heart of the matter is What Is A Jew? It is NOT a race. It's a culture rooted in a religion. You adhere to it or you are not a member. These "reform Jews" are mainly NOT Jews by the centuries old definition of a Jew: trace the matrilineal line in Judaism, by birth or conversion. If your dad is Jewish but your mom is not, guess what? YOU ARE NOT A JEW! And the people who run the club get to make the rules! True, every fanatical group needs to be restrained. But this malarky of alienating diaspora Jews, who are not Jews at all, is just plain ridiculous.
9
What I find most shocking is that the orthodoxy who are subsidized by the Isrealy government, and hold so much political weight, do not believe in the state of Israel due to their beliefs that only the Messiah can bring about the true state of Israel. Very, very confusing.
4
Israel is not an apartheid state as was South Africa but Palestine is Judenrein.
The South African apartheid regime strictly regulated the lives of non-whites with a host of separation laws. Black South Africans were confined to Bantustans, defined labor areas that they were not permitted to leave. Israel, in contrast, has extensive anti-discrimination laws. Israeli Arabs work in all sectors, attend universities, and open businesses. While much of the Arab population lives in concentrated Arab municipalities in Israel, this is an informal segregation as a matter of choice. For South African blacks, segregation was a matter of force.
12
The usual argument given against the "One (democratic, non-sectarian) State Solution" is that it will mean a second holocaust. However, that is not a necessary consequence. There have been Jewish intellectuals advocating reaching out to the Palestinians to join in a secular country since the early 20th century. However they never succeeded in getting the Zionist mainstream aboard. So what should Israel and/or the US do to get on that path?
2
A Palestinian state would pose a lethal danger to a nine-miles-wide Israel. It would destabilize the region by provoking conflicts with both Israel and neighboring Arab states. It would provide a base for Iran and other radical forces. And it would perpetuate the Palestinian Authority’s brutal mistreatment of women, minorities, and political dissidents.
13
Creating another "Palestinian" state out of Jewish territory will not bring peace. Nor would it be feasible, since Hamas and the PA each will demand their own states, and thus there must be (at minimum) a three-state solution. But, if there were, each little terrorist entity would demand their own state, ad infinitum.
The oft-stated Arab goal has always been the annihilation of the Jews (as well as Christians, and Muslims of different sects) from the Middle East. Giving them more land will not change this.
The Jewish/Israeli goal has always been peaceful co-existence, but not suicide.
The ONLY viable, long-term, permanent solution to the "Palestinian" problem is for the "Palestinians" to move to Jordan, where they already have a "Palestinian" state, or to return to Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, etc. from whence they immigrated to Israel to take advantage of the economic opportunities created by the "Zionists". Unfortunately, the Jordanians, Egyptians, Syrians, Lebanese, and Turks don't want them either
13
Every Arab knows: Palestinian Arabs have been selling land to Jews for at least a century, profit immensely from the deals and then go wailing to their Arab brothers to come and free "Palestine" from the "Zionist occupation."
Over the years, the Palestinian Arabs were given many billions of euros and dollars by the nations of the world, so that the yearly per capirta income in the PA is several times greater than that of the Egyptian, Sudanese or Algerian man in the street. His life is many, many times better than that of Arabs living in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen over the past seven years.
In 1990, Arafat supported Saddam Hussein's Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. In revenge, Kuwait, once it was freed of Iraqi conquest, expelled tens of thousands of Palestinians, most of whom had been employed in its oil fields, leaving them destitute overnight. This led to an economic crisis for their families in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, who had been receiving regular stipends from their sons in Kuwait.
9
Not only right but vital. This message needs to be drummed home to those not just in but surrounding the small ultra religious cabal that appears to control Israeli politics, even if it takes withholding of money directed towards worthy projects and aims in Israel from wealthy Jewish American philanthropies.
1
You write: “The leadership of the Jewish world always honors the choices made by the Israeli voter and acts in concert with Israel’s democratically elected government. I’m also keenly aware that Israelis are on the front lines, making sacrifices and risking their own lives every day so that Jews worldwide will survive and thrive. I count myself forever in their debt.”
Why don’t you tell the widows and fatherless children of 3 more Israelis murdered in cold blood by Palestinian terrorists that “sometimes loyalty requires a friend to speak out express an inconvenient truth”?
Mr Lauder, it requires two for a two state solution and everyone knows that Abbas at 83 will not sign and commit suicide like Sadat (nor would Arafat). And forcing American style pluralism on Israel will not save Israeli lives.
Israel needs you to expose and fight her enemies in the pages of the New York Times, not to join them in attacking Israel.
13
1) The "two state" solution has already been tried and failed. Jordan was created in the early 1900's from 85% of "the Palestine Mandate" (historical Israel). That didn't bring peace. It only encouraged the Arabs to demand more.
2) Partition of the remaining 15% of Jewish territory into a "Jewish State" and an "Arab State" with shared Jerusalem has already been tried and failed. That is what the UN voted to achieve in 1948. The result was seven Arab armies invading Israel with the expressed intent of "driving the Jews into the sea, raping the women, and plundering the fruit of the Jews labor". They also drove the Arab populace out of Israel, and forced them into "refugee camps" for the next 19 years, creating today's "refugee" problem. Despite outnumbering the Jews 100 to 1, and having far superior weaponry, they lost the war, but not before illegally annexing the West Bank including all of Jerusalem (into Jordan) and Gaza (into Egypt.)
3) Despite having control of the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza, the Arabs continued to wage war against Israel, thus belying any claim that Israel's "occupation" (of its own lands), or building "settlements" (on its own land) is the obstacle to peace.
8
Does Mr Lauder understand the fact that as many Palestinians are devoted to what is historically ,geographically and culture Is their homeland Have struggled and will go on struggling for its liberation of what is colonialism cum racism no matter how long it takes.
His mild manner is deceptive and is part of the long held Lie of the morality of Zionism and historical Judaism now an an alien nation state !
,mr Lauder’s mildness and his appeal to falsified history will neither change nor soften the determining molding factors of history, geography and culture deeply embedded in millions of Arabs, Moslem and Palestinian , nboth Moslems and Christian.
I have nothing but contempt for an advocate of Peace based on the output of a colonialist conquest !A sincere advocate of Peace can only be possible if based on legitimacy and respect of inalienable basic human rights
5
Here we are. This has been broiling, boiling and wretching.
The 67 war was a different world.
People commenting describe the conflict as just a bland disagreement of philosophy. But when Christians step on other people's rights, the same commentors call them hypocrites, racists, and white supremacists.
5
That's why Jefferson talked about a WALL of separation between church and state. Not a line. Not a fence. But a wall.
A big, beautiful wall.
11
Lauder is wrong on two counts. Israel is not a democracy where it matters--in the West Bank. Palestinian rights are routinely violated without consequence. And the Trump regime is not committed to the peace process.
Otherwise, he is exactly correct. Israel, like SS Titanic in 1912, is headed toward an iceberg. Failure to change course will bring disaster.
9
Mr Lauder must live in abstractly in time time-suspended reality when he says “Israel will face a stark choice: Grant Palestinians full rights and cease being a Jewish state or rescind their rights and cease being a democracy.” That day is not tomorrow or today. That day was over 50 years ago when living, breathing, Palestinians have neither been given their rights as citizens in a “democracy” nor the opportunity to govern themselves in their own state.
14
Who gave the Catholic Church the right to declare sovereignty over a piece of land within Rome's city limits? Divine right? I thought this synod just said there is no divine right to take over a piece of land justifying it with scripture
They are a State within Rome Italy. How about demanding that the United States government vacate land granted to Indians as their sovereign land about 200 years ago; and grant Puerto Rico and other territories independence, the Russia should pull back from Polish territory it annexed after WWII; Canada shold give Quebec its independence; Russia should pull out of Cechnya; China should leave Moslem lands; India and Pakistan should give Kashmir its independence; the Brits should return the Falklands to Argentina, etc
9
Palestinians have had numerous chances including diplomacy and have chosen failure, though I agree with Lauder.
4
Reading this opinion piece reminds me that the guardians of the religion in Israel (i.e. the ultra-Orthodox) have much more in common with Iran's religious leadership than they do with the overwhelmingly secular supporters of Israel in North America and Western Europe. Not sure that there is any answer here since it is difficult for fervently religious persons, of whatever faith, to violate their understanding of God's teachings no matter how deleterious the result may be .
13
Mr. Lauder and almost all comments here are grossly misinformed regarding the demographics. The "demographic time-bomb" that was supposed to have enveloped Israel at the turn of the century turned out to be a dud. Nonetheless it is still accepted as fact and underlies almost all the claims here.
There are currently some 11 million residents between the Mediterranean and the Jordan Rover excluding Gaza (Gaza is not relevant to any discussion of a single state solution). Jews constitute 63%. Including the minority communities who volunteer for IDF service (Druze, Beduin, Christians, even Muslims) approximately 70% are Zionists. All in all a solid majority.
Moreover Jewish birth rates have been rising for decades, today surpassing birth rates in the Israel Arab sector which have seen ongoing decline over the past decades as a result of modernization and female empowerment. Even in the PA birth rates are dropping rapidly whilst out-migration continues apace. Hence, the Jewish population is growing faster than the Arab population (although PA statistics show more rapid growth as they do not factor in migration).
As a result the single state option, including full rights for all citizens including voting rights, is a viable option without endangering the Jewish, Zionist and democratic characteristics if the State.
That does not make it the preferable option but any discussion should be based on the facts and not on slogans.
6
Since 1995, more than 98 percent of the Palestinians have been living under the occupation of the Palestinian Authority, and, since 2007, 100 percent of the residents of Gaza have been living under the occupation of Hamas.
http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/i-agree-with-cornel-west/201...
6
Mr. Lauder, I have had great respect for you and your leadership for many years. But a two-state solution would be a horribly inhumane sentence to inflict on Arabs as well as Jews living in the MIddle East today. "It's the better than other choices" isn't a way to decide history, and a single state solution, wanted by MANY current PA residents and Israelis today, will not cause Israel to cease to be a Jewish state. It is a fallacy. Furthermore, if Israel is to remain a democracy, then the matters of religion and state have to be decided solely by - and for - the citizens of Israel. Not for the approval of US Jewry, or to earn your support. I support religious pluralism, and can advocate for it. Because I moved here, made the sacrifices necessary, pay taxes here and will send my children to the IDF. Supporting Israel as a democracy means using your status and merited leadership to write in the NYT that Israel's decisions should be made for and by Israelis. Not American Jewry. Period. If world Jewry wants part of the conversation, the door is open; aliyah remains an option. And the decisions facing our future should be made by those of us who chose to actively participate as citizens, period. Israel's success is ensured by continuing development of our self-reliance, not currying favor. Your leadership of Jewry on the world stage is commendable, but your choice to push Israel to American views as an outsider in a non-Jewish world forum is...... tragic.
7
Since my first comment appears to have been lost in transit, please allow me to repeat it:
Israel granting Israel citizenship to all of the eight million Jewish person living in the Diaspora would assure the long-term survival of the State of Israel (following the example of France and its remaining overseas possessions. With full voting rights and representatives in the Knesset, the proportion of Jewish citizens to Palestinian citizens would increase to 9:1. The high birth rates of orthodox Jewish families in the Diaspora would equal the high birthrates of Palestinians, a social milieu in which the Palestinian citizens would be guaranteed equal rights and equal treatment, and the tremendous armament spending would be shifted into the areas of most immediate concern. ONE STATE, ONE CAPITAL, two people destined to live together finally united in respect and prosperity.
Respectfully submitted, Adalbert Lallier
2
A breath of fresh air...
3
Americans fought for separation of church and state.
Americans are critical of an Islamic government.
Americans are critical of the second class citizenship of women in Islamic countries.
But a lot of American support an ultra-orthodox Israel.
9
The so-called "stark choice," to either "Grant Palestinians full rights and cease being a Jewish state or rescind their rights and cease being a democracy," ignores some basics. For one, from the Palestinians viewpoint, there is and has always been only a One-state solution: A state of Palestine with no Jews.
From their viewpoint, a two-state solution is only a stepping stone, a foot-in-the-door, a pretext, to one Palestinian state. When Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, leaving it with a complete infrastructure, the Palestinians demolished it, and now have a dark-ages-style unlivable infrastructure, but with tens of thousands of missiles, along with their own Charter.
For most Jews and non-Jews in the free world, Israel mainly represents the first democracy in the Middle East in history. It is, and has always been, surrounded by autocracies and despotism. Its religiosity for many in the West is secondary, and an Israel with a limited democracy is necessary.
There have never been unlimited democracies, including ancient Greece. In the U.S., people get screened to fly, need a license to drive, a SS# to work, a license to own a gun. Laws are created to keep democracy alive. Israel has a right to set limits to its own democracy and modify its laws to survive.
How long could Israel exist side-by-side with a non-democratic state whose primary purpose is to destroy it? It would be another entry point for more weapons and terrorists. Better to be a limited democracy.
5
My father spent part of his childhood in what what was then Palestine. I have relatives living there now. So I have been torn for many years by allegiance to a country I was proud of and desperation at what has been happening to its values. The only power I have is monetary and therefore decided a few years ago not to send contributions to Israel any longer. My checks to Jewish Federation state "for domestic use only". There is power in numbers and if enough people do this it might send a signal to the government in Israel that their actions have real consequences.
2
"Israel's Self-Inflicted Woulds"
Israel is a democracy. If it is inflicting wounds on itself, isn't that a case of masochism or suicidal behavior?
1
In the subsequent years, Israel has made additional unilateral concessions, such as turning over Hebron to the PA (which resulted in the immediate destruction of the Jewish holy sites in Hebron), withdrawing from Gaza and ethnically-cleaning the Jewish population from the homes, farms, and factories they had built with their own labor, and (more recently) the cessation of construction by Jews in Jewish neighborhoods in Jewish territory -- all in the interests of peace. The Arab response has been exponentially more terrorism, and more demands.
The Arabs want Israel to give in to all their demands, even though their demands keep increasing, before they will "negotiate". Obviously, unilateral concession by one party is not negotiation, and such preconditions are not offered in good faith. When Israel agreed to stop building in the West Bank in order to get the "peace process" restarted (as if there ever was a peace process), the Arabs then demanded Israel stop building in Jerusalem, even in the areas of Jerusalem that were Jewish before the so-called "occupation". If Israel were foolish enough to agree to this demand, the Arabs would demand something else
6
I tell my Israeli relatives that Zionism has become an entitlement program, buffeted by American and its allies (before Trump) taxpayers and military. Mr. Lauder will no doubt be excoriated while settlers and religious zealots get their money for building, and subsidies for religious practice. It is easy to observe that Hamas and Arab militants rarely talk about settlements, since they reject all of Israel in itself regardless of whether it is Ariel or Tel Aviv. Once the Arab fact equals the Jewish one in the region there will be a bright revival of democratic principles.
1
The problem, Mr. Lauder, started with the rise of the settler movement that joined with the ultra-Orthodox which both are backed by conservative Russians who emigrated to Israel. What’s needed is an election that will delete the rightist government of Netanyahu and put in its place a moderate statesman who could lead Israel to a two-state solution, one who will respect the Palestinian people who yearn for a state of their own much as the Jews of Palestine did since the days of Chaim Weizmann and the Balfour Declaration of 1917. That’s what’s needed, Mr. Lauder. Maybe the World Jewish Congress can help in that respect, non?
2
I fear it is way to late Ronald. The unholy alliance between the economic elitists and the religious extremists has won. Israel had the choice to facilitate the formation of a Palestinian state and become like Sweden beside it (even if behind a high wall), but instead chose to become a mini-United States - with its extreme economic inequality and other divisions - crossed with apartheid South Africa and theocratic Iran. Expect the rift between Israel and the diaspora and the rest of the wealthy free world (and anti-Semitism, unfortunately) to grow. It is most unfortunate. But perhaps it was inevitable and I accept the Palestinians have done themselves no favours in the past. The continuation of the status quo is unacceptable - but a two-state solution seems impossible now.
3
This is an extremely well written and well thought out column. I agree with every major point.
From the time I first started to think about the history of the Jewish people I have believed that the best thing that happened to my ancestors was the Roman destruction of the Second Temple and the forced exile from our homeland. That marked the end of the era of the High Priest and centralization of worship and the beginning of the era of the local synagogue and the rabbi.
I believe that is the reason Jews have historically embraced scholarship so strongly. It also forced Jews to be resilient, adaptive and pragmatic. One expulsion after another could not exterminate the spirit or lineage of the Hebrew people. The annual holiday hope of "next year in Jerusalem" was a powerful idea.. perhaps one that served the Jewish people better as a hope and a prayer than as a reality.
I, too, have been distressed as the ultra-Orthodox movement, a clear minority, has gained ever more political sway in Israel. They would not acknowledge me as a Jew. They devalue and subjugate women and girls, while receiving government handouts and avoiding military service. While not as violent (yet), they are cut from the same cloth as Islamist Jihadis.
If Israel had not been dismantled by the Roman Empire and survived into the 21st century, I fear they would be as militant and fundamentalist as any other country in that region. Except they would be killing people in the name of Yahweh instead of Allah.
3
The diasporic Jewish community must do more than just worry. Instead of saying "yes" to every Israeli demand, those who are "pro Israel" need to push back, otherwise the situation will go from bad to worse. Israel is no longer the moral David. And, Palestinians are human as well, and deserve their rights.
Israel is the only foreign country that can get away by meddling freely in our domestic politics, Russia is a novice. This must stop.
6
Every so often and much more frequently these days, prominent “moderate” “sensible” Republican conservatives pose as “the soul of Republicanism.” The same with prominent ex-members of Israeli intelligence agencies taking issue with Netyanahu’s Iran policies as if a yearly ritual of “differing viewpoints.” Now Ronald Lauder makes the grand gesture re: demise of two state settlements (again) and the influence of the orthodox in Israel etc. Thanks for the pacifying words Ron Lauder, the world appreciates it and expects nothing less. Duly noted. (Cough cough)
Dear Mr. Lauder,
You hit upon the problem, religious fanatics on both sides of the issue, where compromise is impossible. They are a minority in Israel, but a majority in Palestine. They are both zealots & are ready to die for their beliefs.
There will never be a two-State solution, as long as this fanaticism exists.
1
Netanyahu said in 2002, "If you take out Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region."
Why would anyone listen to Mr. Netanyahu?
6
If Lauder loves Israel, why doesn’t he live there and put his life at risk with a Palestinian state next door. Why doesn’t he speak the inconvenient truths about Palestinian terrorism, about the terror that preceded the so-called occupation or that a Palestinian state won’t bring peace any more than Oslo or the withdrawal from Gaza or that Abbas, the so-called moderate, doesn’t recognize Jewish rights in Jerusalem or the Temple Mount.
Why doesn’t he worry about a Palestinian state run by Hamas, committed to the destruction of Israel? Would the US tolerate a N. Korea on its doorstep showering us with rockets and tunnels?
How can he believe a Palestinian state, created on the premise and promise of NO JEWS, will live in peace with Israel? The Palestinians support a Palestinian state, that’s all.
If a Palestinian state does not live in peace, what good is better demographics? Eliminate Gaza from the calculus and Israel’s demographics are fine?
Israel is a democracy of its people. Lauder wants American Jews, particularly like-minded and young secular Jews, decide its political and religious fate. If Lauder and others don’t like the direction, then move to Israel!
The conflict began before Netanyahu and the rise of the religious and the rise of the right in Israel. They are not the problem. Palestinian terrorism and the self-righteous, who preach peace and simple solutions, but don’t risk their own lives, because deep-down they know a Palestinian state will be a terror state.
5
Of what precisely is Mr. Lauder proud? Is he proud that his country holds the longest occupation in modern history? Or, that his country tops the list of countries with human rights abuses? Or, maybe, that his country is one of the worst abusers of international law and the UN charter? Our parents and grandparents would be spinning in their graves if they knew what that country is doing in their name.
5
Two orthodox Jews, Kushner and Greenblatt, with deep ties to Israel and no diplomatic experience bringing peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority? That sounds like the beginning of a GEICO commercial. Nor is the leadership there in either Israel or the West Bank to make the concessions necessary for a two state solution. Netanyahu is not Menachem Began; Abbas is not Anwar Sadat; and Donald Trump is certainly not Jimmie Carter. The fractured Israeli political system, with its multiparty political system, gives ultra-orthodox Jew religious sway over Israel. The French Fourth Republic collapsed because of its fractured multiparty system. But Israel has no Charles de Gaulle with the stature and charisma to rescue it from its divisive and fractured politics.
2
The naïveté of the comments matches the writer's when he equates possible expansion of settlements with blatant acts of terror(euphemistically called incitement). As long as the PLO and Hamas charters calls for the annihilation of all Jews, all proposed solutions are mere absurditys. If the Palestinians ever abandon their goal of destroying Israel an equitable peace will follow.
3
Mr. Lauder errs. 1.The ultra-orthodox in Israel or abroad do not reject 7 million Jews; most were born Jewish. Regardless, all 7 million, converts or not, are welcome to visit, and live, in Israel. Israeli law accepts all foreign converts for citizenship, but the status quo in Israel proper permits only traditional/orthodox conversions, a reality that has existed long before 1948, endorsed/made law by Ben Gurion. Ditto for the separation of sexes at the holy sites, where traditional prayer format has been practiced for centuries. Only within the last 10-15 years have some non-orthodox, mostly from America, protested, yet very few non-orthodox/traditional who live in Israel, or visit from abroad, come to pray, egalitarian or otherwise, at these sites, including the Western Wall plaza. Demanding a major/permanent change for those rare visits is an oversized/unfair demand on the majority praying at all hours. 2. New housing in settlements outside the large blocs is limited, to accommodate some of the marrying children who've grown up there. The total Jewish population is growing because of births, not the entry of new families. The Palestinian/Israeli Arab population within Israel proper is also increasing. Is either a threat to peace? 3.The alienation of liberal American Jews from Israel results from cultural assimilation/intermarriage, plus lack of membership in any Jewish congregation. This is the downward trend affecting the reformed and conservative movements.
5
The alienation of US Jews from Israeli politics and policies does not result from intermarriage, but from the ways Israel has chosen to relate to the US, cozying up to evangelicals and electing corrupt PMs such as Netanyahu.
"Many non-Orthodox Jews, myself included, feel that the spread of state-enforced religiosity in Israel is turning a modern, liberal nation into a semi-theocratic one. A vast majority of Jews around the world do not accept the exclusion of women in certain religious practices, strict conversion laws or the ban of egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall."
Come on, this is hardly the "spread of state-enforced religiosity". Women were ALWAYS excluded from certain religious practices, and egalitarian prayer was so beyond the pale that it was never even contemplated. What's new is that the non-Orthodox are trying to force their recent notions of gender equivalence into a religion that never had it. They're entitled to redefine Judaism as they see fit, but it is a matter of basic respect to refrain from forcing those changes down the throats of people who wish to preserve it in its original form (not out of choice, but out of obligation, from their perspective), especially at the holiest place. Is egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall more important than getting along with your more religious brethren? The phrase "hate for no reason" comes to mind, often quoted as the reason the Temple was destroyed. And I'm not even particularly theist. Theodor Herzl never contemplated forcing his secular views on his fellow Jews.
5
Theodor Herzl never contemplated a nation where the religion informed politics and where a party like israel beitenu would have power. The so-called 'settlers' would make Herzl rue the day Israel was granted statehood.
1
Lev, had Israel not been granted statehood, the Jews would be back in Poland, where the locals would have another opportunity to "not" participate in the Holocaust. Don't be so sure what Herzl would rue. And as to Israel Beitenu having power, are you saying that voting rights should only be granted to people who disavow religion? I hope you're taking time to rue "One nation under God".
2
There are many multi-ethnic countries. Israel proper is one. What is incompatible between a two-state solution and settlements? The Jews could live in a Palestinian state just as countless Americans live in foreign countries. Or they could leave.
So they would prefer not to. I doubt Israel could stand a United Nations boycott like the one that ended apartheid in South Africa.
Let us not be general like Mr. Lauder. 50 years of apartheid that punishes the Palestinians is long enough so we should not speak of a future danger. Israel has been non-democratic for long enough.
11
Why would "granting full rights to Palestinians" make Israel "cease to be a Jewish state?"
It is possible to be a state where lots of people of X religion live. However, the religious folks don't have to run the government. See Ireland, one of the most recent countries to separate the concepts of the government for all the people from the religious institutions that should just connect with their followers and not get involved in influencing the government. It's a hard slog but it's doable and worth it.
14
Lauder’s conclusions are correct but disingenuous; it’s like hearing a Republican complaining about Trump. He helped create this situation, ignored the warnings of many smart people who loved the country but whose political affiliation branded them as traitors in his party’s eyes, and even now refuses to fully accept reality, continues to put people on all sides in boxes that ignore the full scope of their rights and desires, and who seems to be in denial that his own affiliation makes it impossible for his opinions to have any meaning. Republicans are Trump and Likud is Netanyahu and they have made it very clear that they are not open to thoughtful dialogue about policy and are quick to dismiss those who disagree as enemies. If Lauder truly believes that his right-wing bona fides will mean anything to his fellow Likudniks and Republicans he is delusional; all they want is his loyalty and money.
As an American Jew this is personal. The division among global Jewry is much worse than anyone can bear to fully admit, because the time is coming soon when we will need to come together. Antisemitism is on the rise, our safe havens are dwindling, and we will need a secure Jewish homeland that cooperates with international law. It does not help Jews for Israel to act as a racist rogue state and it does not help Israel to equate non-Likud Jews with its true enemies. If Lauder wants to make a difference he can align with those of us who have been saying these things all along.
20
Thank you for this piece, Mr. Lauder. It helps gentiles like me understand the dilemmas of people in a small state surrounded by other people dedicated to their annihilation in a deeply bellicose region.
I am mystified, however, by the notion that "President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace." What, precisely, is this commitment: Jared Kushner, the nation's Slumlord-in-Chief, assigned to head up a mission for Middle Eastern peace?
In light of the Trump administration's withdrawal of aid for Palestinian relief, and the removal of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, there can be no possible peace commitment except for some unsubstantiated prattle about resolution between Israel and the Palestinians in its occupied territory.
America has voluntarily defaulted on it role as an honest broker for the peace process. we need Norway to come back again and take over the Middle Eastern peace process.
12
The Oslo Accords brought war. It is very sad. The violent Arab leaders saw the chance of the millenium to break up Israel piece by piece[Abbas's exact words], because pursuit of "peace" to them is a sign of extreme weakness.
3
Lauder recognized the negative impact religious fanatics have on Israeli policies, as religious fanatics have shown in every society throughout. I was fortunate to live in Israel and Palestine for 8 months in 1973 when there were no Jewish settlements in the West Bank except for a couple Israeli villages on the Jordan River. You could travel freely through the West Bank, and I was constantly amazed at the generosity of the Palestinians, an experience that taught me the bias of western media. Current Israeli settlers are driven by the fantasy God granted them the land of Israel between the Mediterranean and Jordan River, and they are turning the land into a prison for Palestinians. Negotiating with fanatics is tough, anywhere.
19
You were able to drive freely in 1973 and I was able to wander freely on the Temple Mount before most Arabs were propagandized and become violent. PLO had not gained any ground among them, was even regarded as anathema. They were under benign Israel rule and not yet forced by murder groups to join up or be killed.
Their freedom and beniign nature had nothing to do with the presence or absence of Jews. Jobs opened up under Israel rule, Israeli opened universities for the young Arabs, Life was good.
Arabs are generous as a rule. All Israelis will grant them that, despite the current fear among the Jews of being run over or stabbed to death.
1
Although I was only four years old in 1948 when Israel declared it's independence, I came to gradually realize as each year and each Israeli war passed that the idea of two opposite groups like Palestinians and Jews living together was always going to be untenable.
The very idea of Zionism grew out of the pain and hatefulness directed toward Jews throughout the centuries. That same tension that prevents any permanent healing was carried over into Israel and will never likely be resolved.
Just like my America will never fully heal it's racial hatred toward blacks, Israel will not likely ever heal it's animosity between Palestinians and Jews.
Sec. Of State George Marshall begged Truman in 1948 to not endorse the creation of Israel for this same reason but Marshall was ignored.
Bad ideas rarely morph into good ideas. They simply continue to be bad ideas!
13
It's currently fashionable to criticize Israel (evidently Mr. Lauder is not branded anti-Semitic for doing so) and otherwise engage in some identity self-deprecation. But Israel has problems that extend far beyond mere wounds. It is an arguably failing State, and among the causes of that failure is its relationship (or rather influence) with the US. That is where the real wounds are.
5
There may be a chance for a lasting peace when the Israelis stop treating the Palestinians the way Europeans treated Native Americans.
17
Given that Lauder is a republican, conservative, and a very wealthy man, I'm not sure that he isn't acting just to pave the way for trump's "peace plan," whatever that may be. Given that there certainly is nothing new in what he has to say, it has been said many times before mostly by the left, and that he had not written this op-ed pre-trump, well silly, cynical me for doubting his sincerity.
6
Golda Meir once said, "we Jews are too well used to heart felt epitaphs". The Palestinians are divided in two, their leadership is corrupt, their population growth is unsustainable, their resources are limited; the two state solution is dead. Mr. Lauder, I respect your life of good works, but you and the other virtuous Jews did not manage to save millions of Jews from the flames in World War II, and your advice now is equally disastrous. I'd rather place my faith in the Israeli Defence Forces, and make a point of buying Israeli products to counter the latest oh-so-well-meaning effort to destroy Israel, the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement. You can try again for the world's approval of Jewish existence when you figure out who is going to accept the Jewish students in Europe who are being run out of public schools by Europe's new Muslim citizens.
13
It is nice that Arab leaders assure Mr. Lander that they are ready to negotiate. The problem is that we have all witnessed 25 years of Arab leadership saying one thing in English to the Western world and another thing in Arabic to their own people. Not so shortely after signing the Oslo Accords, Yassir Arafat was noted to be telling Arab audiences that his acceptance of the two-state solution was just a step in the path to a single Arab state in the region. And while Mahmoud Abbas was the lead negotiator under Arafat, he has rejected even those proposals that he co-authored, insisting that he can accept nothing but the "1967 Lines", which he dishonestly refers to as the "1967 borders" despite the obvious fact that those lines (from the 1949 Armistice) were never accepted as borders by the Arab world (despite multiple offers from Israel to do so).
If Abbas cannot make any concessions, then what is the point of negotiations? And if he is actually teaching his people not to accept even that 1967 Line, then what can any agreement mean? Unfortunately that is precisely what he has been promoting in schools, religious instruction and family television (among other media), that the entire region is a single Arab state. His constant declaration, that his arms are open for peace, have been nothing but lip service, covering over campaigns of incitement and fiscal remuneration for terrorism against Israelis.
Until Abbas is held accountable, nothing will happen.
18
The catastrophic murder of Yitzhak Rabin short circuited Israel's high risk, high gain effort to achieve a meaningful long term peace and reconciliation agreement with the PLO. Since then, Israel has opted for short term security at the expense of long term accommodation. Palestinians have known for decades that an Israeli government led by Netanyahu would never accept high risks and alienation of its political base to engage in a painful compromise peace agreement creating a viable Palestinian state.
Of course, this has strengthened the most radical elements in the Palestinian population and encouraged those who see violence as the only response to Netanyahu.
Mr. Lauder's concern about Israel's long term future is well founded. Just as Jews suffered for centuries as a despised minority and pleaded for justice as human beings created in the image of the Creator, Palestinians have ironically been thrust into similar circumstances. If the arc of history bends towards justice, then Israel has traded its short term security for long term instability and hostility. But all of this was easily predicted and Israel made its choice decades ago with the continued support of influential Jewish American organizations. So Mr. Lauder's concerns, however valid, may be a bit late.
7
Let's put in this way.
I agree almost everything what Lauder stated in his Column.
But He underemphasized one very critical issue.
Israel is a Middle Eastern Country geographically since beginning of 21st-century West influence on world diminished, Israel started to live two different lives since then. In one, it is a scientifically advanced state, Military power is equally any western power, educated, and democratic. The shadowy part is increasingly aggressive and assertive ultra-orthodox religious politics is killing its foundational soul.
In short: saying this one is a very strange but Religion and state cannot be together, no matter what one-moment Religion will take over the state affair, That is called Iran Islamic republic. What is the guarantee down the road 20-30 years, Israel is not becoming Jewish Israel State in the orthodox religious way.
Let's put this way, it is not two states or one state, it is the ultra-religious ideology and politics threatening Israel future. If Israel started its state life like their Arabic neighbours with very religiously influenced way, today's Israel would be no different than other mediocre Arab Islamic States in the middle east.
Religion and state cannot exist together.
7
"If current trends continue, Israel will face a stark choice: Grant Palestinians full rights and cease being a Jewish state or rescind their rights and cease being a democracy."
What, exactly is wrong with the first solution? Is a secular state unthinkable? Why do we support a JEWISH state in the middle east instead of a secular democracy, with full rights to all who live there?
11
Because the choice is not between a Jewish state and a secular state. Rejecting a two state solution means the choice is between a non democratic state that becomes apartheid and another Islamic state. Which is what Israel's fate would be given demographic trends.
Israel has never been a true democracy. it has more that 40 laws which discriminate against the 20% of the population that is not Jewish, starting with the main one: the right of return. Israel would not have a majority Jewish population if it had not expelled 750,000 Palestinians from their homes. They were not allowed to return to their homes. It continues this now, revoking residency. From the beginning it was a colonial enterprise. Theodor Herzl wrote in 1895, " When we occupy the land...we shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border." It continues today with Ayelet Shaked, Israel Minister of Justice , "Zionism should not continue, and I say here, will not continue to bow down to the system of individual rights interpreted in a universal way."
11
The majority of Israel people are so blinded by their racism, greed and religious fanaticism that they can’t see that they have just recreated Palestine. The two state solution is finished thanks to Trump and Netanyahu. The next US Presidential Administration, a Democrat, will ensure progress towards a single state with a real democracy, for the first time, that guarantees equal rights for all its citizens and eventually for the returning refugees.
6
Right Berlin, because that happened under the stellar leadership of Presidents Obama, Clinton and all the Dems that came before them. Recognizing this failure will give you an insight into the fundamental problem with your post.
1
Several Israeli administrations, under the auspices of the US have offered a fair two state plan, but it was rejected by the Palestinians, starting with Arafat and then onward. Their response was and has been violence. So what did you expect Israel to do??
Withdrawing from Gaza and then calling for elections there only ended in a Hamas take over and two major military conflicts. When they talk of the "occupation" they are referring to the state of Israel, not just occupied territories, and their solution is the annihilation of the Jews.
While I believe that the direction the state of Israel is taking is an erroneous one, I cannot just pin the blame on Israel without also pointing to the blind leadership of the Palestinians that have also made negotiations a fool's errand.
11
I don't understand why Mr. Lauder says that Donald Trump and his administration is committed to peace in the Middle East. Trump decided to move the US embassy to Jerusalem without getting Israel to curtail let alone end settlement building in the West Bank. He appointed as ambassador, someone who is a major support of settlements. He has cut off aid to the Palestinians because they criticized the embassy move. It seems to me that Trump is only committed to pleasing his base of Orthodox and Ultra-orthodox Jews and evangelical Christians in the United States.
11
"President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace."
No he, and they, are not.
When I read this ghastly sentence I almost turned the page (digitally).
"I’m also keenly aware that Israelis are on the front lines, making sacrifices and risking their own lives every day so that Jews worldwide will survive and thrive."
To some of us gentiles it seems the other way around. Without the financial support and political cover the Jewish American community lobbies the U.S. for aid and support for Israel would Israel be as strong and vibrant?
"If current trends continue, Israel will face a stark choice: Grant Palestinians full rights and cease being a Jewish state or rescind their rights and cease being a democracy." This reminds me of something David Frumm has said, "If republicans cannot get elected with their ideology they will not abandon the ideology, they will abandon democracy".
Which way do you, sir, want to see the world go: Back to a full embrace of democracy, international accord and diplomacy; or the direction is seems headed, which is full embrace of authoritarian strong men and fascist states?
Your adopted nation, Israel, is fully on the latter course.
8
This problem goes back decades, even back to Herzl who emphatically did not have a "humanistic vision." He knew in the 1890s that the people who lived there (Palestine) had to be removed. This goal is ongoing, a slow-motion ethnic cleansing, while the whole world watches in horror, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia not withstanding.
Talk about "crossroads" and "chang[ing] course" is not enough, because the Israeli government clearly will not change course. They smell victory. The only workable solution, in view of the Israeli government actions, is BDS.
8
I find it deeply troubling that you lament over the future of Israel in terms of population while ignoring the glaring fact that African Jews are being deported from the country or face inprisonment. As chartered by the UN Israel was formed to be a state for “The Jewish people” not an enclave for European Jews only. Isolationist and bias in housing, employment and education against Ethiopians provide a resemblance of peace to a minority of the population. There will be no peace in Israel until the nation answers the question of “who is a Jew” and what face does the Jewish State wish to wear at home and abroad.
10
"President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace. "
I stopped reading there.
Since this is plainly and trivially false I cannot have any confidence in the veracity of the rest of the article.
Both my grandmothers had families murdered in the Holocaust. I thought the state of Israel grew out of a determination that such atrocities would never happen again. I was wrong. Judging by the slow genocide of the Palestinian people by "settlers" it looks now like those who survived the Holocaust were taking notes.
13
"President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace." If Mr. Lauder believes this he is delusional. The announcement on recognizing Jerusalem is all you need to know – a typically stupid Trump fire-bomb designed to make headlines for Trump and destined to make everything worse for everyone else. And his "team?" Kushner's qualifications for being the lead on this "team" are nonexistent. We can safely expect zero accomplishment from him.
6
You forget the most incendiary component; demographics. The two fastest--growing sections of the Israeli population are young Arab Israelis and the orthodox/religious communities, the two segments moving fastest apart.
Add a cynical right-winger like Nitinyahu who indulges the far-right to cover his massive corruption and fight off legal/judicial action, to the powerful settlement movement funded massively by the US and you have to accept that the two-state soultion is a faded fraud.
Actions by the Knesset/state such as making talking about the Nakba illegal and the propensity of the right and young Israelis to refer to the Palestinians or all Muslims as 'cockroaches', the ethnic cleansing of Bedoiuns and where this all ends up is clear - the first steps to a Rwanda are dehumanizing a target population, question its right to exist and the promotion of an Endlossung...
8
Ron to little to late.
2
The simple truth is that Israel cannot claim to be both democratic and a Jewish state. Both terms cancel one another, since the 50% of Israelis who are non-Jews, i.e., Palestinians living in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, are wholly without political power, and to give them such power would ultimately be the end of Herzl's "Jewish state," given the demographics of the region.
Peter Beinart, in his wonderful book "The Crisis of Zionism" made that point, as well as Mr. Lauder does here.
The only way out is a two state solution acceptable to both parties. Otherwise, Israel will simply cease to exist as anything other than an armed camp of people who, in supreme irony, will be as fearful of survival in their own land as their forebears were under the Nazis.
To be sure, even though Israel is armed to the teeth, time is on the side of the Palestinians. That is an inescapable fact. There needs to be—and should be—a viable Palestine.
8
Israel has, for some time, been under the sway of small, ultra-orthodox right wing groups that are needed by Netanyahu to form a coalition government. This is not only bad for Israel, it's bad for all Jews everywhere. The is a direct correlation between Israel's unconscionable treatment of the Palestinians at the hands of the Netanyahu government and the rise of antisemitism. The world will not tolerate an apartheid Israel, and all Jews will be blamed.
6
Hat off and applause to My. Launder for confessing his conservative Republican beliefs that are so different from those of the majority of US Jews -- leftist radical Democrats.
I see the main social problem of Israel in its Parchment Curtain, drawn by the religious parties along the littoral of the East Mediterranean, in the shadow of which all the people have to live.
From the outside Conservative Jews resemble Conservative Islamists in that both groups want to control the thoughts and lives of believers and non believers alike, it seems to me both groups are only interested in complete control..period.
6
We have enabled the current situation in Israel every step of the way and chickens are coming home to roost. Israel spike out of one side of its mouth,piously saying it was open to two state negotiations, all the while working actively and consistently to erode the realistic viability of that option. by settling disputed lands, consolidating control of water rights among the most obvious strategies.
They have already made the choice. It is disingenuous to be decrying that so late in the game.
5
The world Jewish Congress, which Mr. lauder is the president of, has supported, politically and financially, Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands for years. It’s hypocritical of him to raise concerns about the results of those policies but at least he’s now forcefully done so.
However, when he says that the Trump team is committed to Middle East peace, his position gets blurry.
Where exactly is there an evidence of that commitment? Certainly, as far as the Israeli Palestinian conflict is concerned, Trump’s policy, if there is one , has done nothing but move the sides farther apart then ever before.
Declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel exclusively without any consideration of how it will affect the Palestinians, many of them actually live in that city, is likely going to be the final blow to any hope of a two state solution.
7
Some of the arguments here are based more on the Palestinian narrative than the truth of life in my adopted country. There is no Apartheid state except for the Jews who are unable to be in certain Arab areas. Read and delve into the writing and talks of Caroline Glick and you will understand why there is no room in this tiny country for a non-peaceful Arab state. Why has there never been pressure on Jordan or other countries to absorb the so-called 2nd and 3rd generation refugees?
9
"By submitting to the pressures exerted by a minority in Israel, the Jewish state is alienating a large segment of the Jewish people. "
Really?
First, the alienation of young "Diaspora" Jews is pretty much an American phenomenon, caused by the false narrative on college campuses of the Arabs being "indigenous" to Israel, when the truth is that the Arabs arrived from Mecca about 1,400 years after King David. Arabs are as "indigenous" to Israel, as whites are to the Black Hills.
Next, many of the Jews fighting and dying in forward combat units today, are not reform Jews, but religious Zionists from Judea and Samaria. The BDS anti-Semites know this, Israelis know this, and the Arabs know this, too. Only Mr. Lauder seems oblivious, a trait for which the WJC is famous.
Diaspora Jews know that Israel is the only safe haven for them in times of peril, which is why thousands of French Jews, fleeing Muslim anti-Jew violence, are emigrating to Israel and the US, as did Russian, Ethiopian, and Moroccan Jews before them.
BTW, Israel survives because of a "minority"; the Jewish pilots of the IAF. If not for those pilots, many of the religious, millions of Diaspora Jews would again be collecting coins for the next Jewish State.
So, don't despair. And spend more time fighting anti-Semites in the Democratic Party such as Keith "Farrakhan" Ellison and Linda "Zionists cannot be feminists" Sarsour, and anti-Semitism on college campuses. That is the best mission for the WJC.
9
Mr. Lauder,
I share your concerns, and deplore the growing coldness between Israel and the Diaspora. A problem I have is that no one on the planet seems to recognize the demographic impossibility of a two-state solution. Going west to east, there's a Palestinian population, a Jewish one, and finally another Palestinian one. For the sake of a two-state arrangement, the entire population of (southern) Israel would have to relocate: MASSIVE HOSTILE CHAOS!!
It's hard to get people to leave their homeland and so we can probably count on Palestinians living in Israel for the long haul.
The author's "fear' that Israel will fail is just a recognition of the inevitable which should be obvious to everyone: either Israel allows Palestinians equal voting rights, in which case the Palestinians will become powerful enough to make Israel no longer a Jewish state or Israel becomes more and more apartheid, becomes an international pariah, even to the US, and loses all support. Either way, Israel has a dim future.
3
Israel like America, or the Philippines, is controlled by a self-interested criminal. ""President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace," is a statement with zero evidence to support it.
7
As a Reform rabbi, who made aliyah to Israel over 30 years ago and whose son was killed by the Hezbollah while on active military service in Southern Lebanon, I fully support Ronald Lauder's views. Of course the Palestinians must clean up their act and face reality rather than harking back to the Nakbah. However, Israel is the most powerful nation in the region and ought to be taking the initiative. It is not only seven million Jews around the world who feel that Israel is turning its back on them, but also a significant proportion of Israelis, who are sick and tired of religious coercion and the power exercized by the orthodox and ultra-orthodox in all apsects of Israeli life including in the IDF.
7
Yes, Netanyahu has been on a wrong and possibly illegal course for years.
4
As a Jew and Democrat, I could not abide Netanyahu’s dislike of President Obama and his blatant disrespect of him. Bibi is aligned with the Haredim, who are determined to build settlements in areas once designated for Palestinians. Lauder is naive to ascribe in Donald Trump any policy toward Israel that supports a two state solution. Donald Trump is simply a con man who blows in the wind toward anything that enriches him or appeals to his base. He couldn’t even denounce the Neo-Nazis who invaded Charlottesville.
10
Bibi is not alligned to the religious at all, and it is not the Haredim who are expanding most towns in the Area C. It is good for the strength of the coalition, yes, but this has nothing to do with the Territories.
Obama was vicious toward Bibi from the get-go, not vice versa.
Trump may be full of flaws but he sees through con-men such as the Iranian and PA ditatorships,and he acts to reset facts to reality.
1
Israel is not at a crossroads; you just don't like the road she's taken. And, just as the world is watching Trump with disgust, it is increasingly growing numb to Israel's defense. That's around the world.
3
Dear Mr. Lauder,
I share your sentiments, & if only a Two State solution would bring peace, I would have a peaceful nights sleep.I agree that the ultra orthodox Jewish population are a threat of our existence in Israel, but so are the Orthodox Muslim population, & this is the rub, & why there is not a Two State solution.These extreme groups will never compromise on any solution for peace.
The murder of Rabin by a young orthodox Jew comes to mind. Every Muslim suicide bomber, as well as, those that flew planes into the twin towers, demonstrates the fanaticism of extreme Islam.I’m sure Mr. Lauder, you would not want them as a neighbor, then why would you want israelis to risk their lives, living next to these murdering Zealots , we have enough of our own to contend with.Only a strong Israel will will guarantee the existence of our beloved Israel.Throughout our history we have been fighting to exist. This is not only the plight of Israel, but of mankind throughout the World.
4
Very good article, except that those moderate Palestinians are no where to be seen, or a very tiny minority that has absolutely no power in an overwhelming extremist Palestinian population.
I wholeheartedly believe that the two state solution must be imposed by Israel and the USA, but avoid the mistakes made with Gaza. In that process, Israel can choose its conditions since it has no partner on the other side for that forced two state solution.
3
I have read the article and the comments todate. I have several QUESTIONS:
1-What do the "Palestinians"[most relatively recent arrivals] want? 3 horrific nationalistic murders in the past 4 days, and their leadership-portrayed here as seeking to negotiate- is screaming blood-curdling propaganda in Arabic and paying 400million dollars a year to murderers.
2-Do American Jews want to take power, or really help to build?
3-Are the "liberal" values self-sustaining and since when are those based on shared humanity and shared responsibility-with-rights incompatible with Jewish and Israel values?
4- Who elects the Israel government- the 2/3 of the population inside the so-called green line or 50,000 people over the green line, [and there mostly to create a dignified life on limited funds]?
5-Are you aware that when we talk about "peace", the thriving Arab population within the green line and those outside under their own corrupt leadership-total not 8 mill as stated, - usually sees signals of weakness, therefore fodder?
6-Are you that the tens of thousands in the past who spouted the same slogans, assimilated and disappeared?
7 That here is plenty of room for everyone, and that the thousands in Israeli firms need the Jews? Jewish presence has been a lifesaver. The Arabs of Gaza wept when the Jews pulled out in 2006; adult life and infant life expectancy plummeted.
Sent by a Jerusalemite who underatands where the writer Mr Lauder and the commenters are "coming from"?
6
I am Jewish...I would urge you to stop supporting the Luked party....and insist that everyone take a good hard look at the settlement maps. Once you do I t's as clear as day Israel has absolutely no plans giving back the West Bank...instead building more they should shrinking settlements. But really that's not the plan...Unless there is world wide pressure on Israel to do so it will simply not happen, sad to say.
7
Mr. Lauder, have you accounted for how much $upport both you personally plus your WJC and multi-other various organizations/charities/Boards/ fundraising/all Israel-related entities that have benefitted from your/institutional largess that has directly/indirectly/subsidized the settler project over the decades? It is difficult to validate what you write today based on the history of so much money to political and social projects that have supported the setter expansions.
6
Religion IS the problem in the world today. Sure there is organized crime and many bad laws, but as we see in America and the Middle East, traditional religion and its cultural identity is the problem. Integration is key until all differences are dissolved.
I am NOT an atheist or even an agnostic. Spirituality and even a belief in God can be, indeed is, better without the trappings of the ancient religions. God is alive. These ancient religions, with all their prejudices, must die away.
It's too bad, in a way, celebrations of faith, hope, and charity could be nice, but the religious ALWAYS take themselves and their religion TOO seriously. So the difference and the separation begins. God is greater than any man-made religion. And they are all man-made.
I can have no sympathy for them. Mass identity creates mobs.
1
Democracy? You're worried about Israel being a democracy? Why? Who cares about democracy. Name me one country that's a true democracy. There isn't one. There are only shades of gray when it comes to democracy, never the whole enchilada. America isn't a democracy, it's a constitutional republic. Why should Israel care?
Under the present government Israel will never make a deal with the Palestinians.
2
If Israel is the Jewish state, and if it has understood the historical lesson of the Holocaust, then one of its chief responsibilities is to oppose the reappearance of anti-Semitism worldwide. Candidate and President Trump, someone whose demagogy and rhetoric is similar to that of KKK-celebrity David Duke, has encouraged the rise of anti-Semitic acts in the US, and it is a dramatic rise (57%). If the leader of the government of Israel is best buddies with Trump, then I question whether Israel is fulfilling its moral responsibility to all worldwide Jews. In a sense, it is doing the diametric opposite.
3
I felt the sharp rise of vocalized anti-Semitism in the US since the 1970's, and especially since 9/11/01.
Trump may be ditzy, but his actions regarding recognizing who IS FOR PEACE AND WHO IS AGAINST IT in the Middle East HAVE BEEN RIGHT-ON.
Do not forget our evangelical brothers and sisters who claim to have an interest in Israel because of their beliefs in the Christian bible. Many of them have been taught false doctrine for years that somehow they should have an interest in this area because of biblical connections. A lot of them believe that their faith" lives are complete once Mama and Daddy visit over there. They are simple minded enough to elect someone like Trump on his support of Israel for which he has a scheme in mind. It is probably connected to the almighty dollar -- the only god that he supports -- Christian or jewish.
"
1
Why doesn’t Mr Lauder just call Jared?
4
FINALLY a Jewish leader speaks. It's about time!
Netanyahu and the far right extremists in Israel have been leading Israel down the path to self-destruction. Israel desperately needs an "about-face" to preserve it's future. It needs to resurrect the liberal democracy envisioned
by it's founding fathers. It needs to embrace the principles of human rights and international law to be fully accepted into the world community of nations.
3
I lived in Tel Aviv for six months in 2015, sorrounded by secular Israelis who belonged for the most part to the shrinking center-left. The mood among them ranged from quiet worry to utter bleakness. The children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors were all drawing on their ancestral ties to Europe to secure EU passports for themselves and their kids - passports from Poland or, irony or ironies, to Germany. One 60-something kibbutznik said to me, “This is not the country I fought for. We are becoming a theocracy. Where does that leave me? I don’t believe in God!”
Another man, also in his 60s, said, “Thirty years ago, if anyone had said what I’m about to tell you, I would have punched him in the face, but today the advice I would give to any young Israeli is this: Get out. Get out any way you can. There is no future for you here.”
5
Don't worry; Jared will take care of everything.
Remarkable that the President of the World Jewish Congress wrote this. It underscores how far to the right Israeli politics has shifted. The malevolent fantasy that Israel can ignore the poverty, unemployment and desperation of millions of men, women and children within its borders because they are not Jewish will continued unabated as long as the far right runs the US Congress and the Israeli Knesset. (Reminder, we recently gave Israel $38 billion. Yes, with a "B"). I'm a proud American Jew and I love Israel, put the path it's on is morally wrong, and self-destructive to boot.
4
To me, the worst part of the one state policy guided by the Orthodox, is that it’s alienating the Jewish youth of America.
As a child in America, I grew up loving Israel. We went to rally’s, spent summers on kibutz and tried to install the same love of our “homeland” to our children.Today, I find that my adult children and their friends have lost respect for Israel and its abuse of power. The settlements defy all standards of Jewish morality.
Israel can’t continue to alienate the youth of America. There was a day when a young American Jews would pick up arms to fight and defend Israel. Later, they supported Israel through financial contributions.The political policy’s ruled by the Orthodox will destroy the continued support of the next generation of American Jews
3
The Palestinian forever rejected two state solution see Fatah Constitution and Hamas Covenant. Why is the onus of solution to Holy-land conflict forever put on Israel? There was never a Two State solution as Mitchell Bard proves is his article. Israel presented 24 plans which were rejected by the Palestinians. Israel refuses to commit suicide. Lauder, talk to the PaIestinians
3
"I believe that Israel is central to every Jew’s identity:" Where does this guy get off making this outrageous claim--speaking for every Jew?
2
I find it troubling that Ronald S. Lauder used the pejorative Ultra-Orthodox to describe the Haredi communities in Israel. By doing so, he undermines the objectivity of his arguments about the religious situation in Israel. I see him being driven by anti-Haredi animus and bigotry rather than reason and therefore find his article to be filled with exaggerations, half-truths and denigrations.
More reputable news organizations such as the USA Today Network/Lohud.com have recognized how offensive the term ultra-orthodox is and do not use it. https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2018/03/16/rockland-jewi...
No so the New York Times. The paper sees no problem in the use of a word that many in the community under discussion see as the N word for Haredi.
2
The Palestinians have played into the hands of the Israeli Right by its continued rejectionist and bellicose "zero sum" 19th century bazar negotiation strategy. When the Palestinians are compelled to face and accept the truth, that they will not "return" to a land their grandparents lived in (any more than the Jews of Israel will return to the homes of their grandparents from which they were expelled or where they were slaughtered), and when Palestinian leaders emerge with the courage to put forth reasonable and fair positions, the pressure on Israel to come to the table from Jews around the world, and from Israelis who want to establish a normal national life, will be overwhelming, and solutions will be found. The Saudi plan, timid a step as it is in that direction, is a valid starting point.
2
"That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn."
When Israel treats Palestinians in accord with Hillel's admonition, there will be peace. It's not complicated.
4
"President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace."
As long as they think there's a dime to be squeezed from it, yes. If war looks more profitable for them, all bets are off.
2
How can a occupied population without even a well armed police force, confront a nuclear state, with the world’s most sophisticated weaponry, land, sea and air, and still call it a ‘negotiation’?
5
- The West Bank does not belong to any foreign power.
- The term “Palestinian Territories” has no legal or political standing. The territory was never under Palestinian rule or sovereignty; when it was under Jordanian control, Jordan expressed no intention to make it a Palestinian state.
- No agreement, contract, treaty, or binding international resolution ever defined these territories as Palestinian.
The only "occupied territories" are the 78% of mandatory Palestine occupied by the Hashemites. And those two mosques atop of the King David and King Solomon's holy Temple Mount..
2
Hello Mr. Lauder,
I too feel very strongly about Israel and am always concerned about its security and future.
However, I believe this matter should be put into objective perspective -
First, it wasn’t Israel that negated the “two state solution.״ -Rather it was the Palestinians. - At Camp David in 2000, the Israelis had offered the Palestinians a compromise that was so expansive and forthcoming that any objective observer would agree that it was a great offer. - Unfortunately, Yasir Arafat turned it down.- Since then, in negotiation after negotiation, the Palestinians had either rejected or not responded to generous offers put forward by the Israelis.-
Second, the fact that non-orthodox or unaffiliated Jews are not now sympathetic to Israelis is not the fault of Israel, but rather the character and nature of the aforementioned - mostly young, liberal-left Jews -who would rather not be Jewish. - Throughout the approximately 2000 Years of exile, the only thing that has held the Jewish people together was the Torah and the Jewish traditions - handed down from generation to generation.
Every Jew is free to live as he or she wants. - But there can be no compromise when it comes to the Laws and Statutes and traditions of the Torah.
2
Dear Mr. Lauder: You clearly identify the biggest threats to the future of Israel. However, you lost me at: "President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East Peace." I respectfully suggest you look at this President---and America's role in the disaster--- a bit more carefully.
1
As a far leftist... I can take some comfort in finding myself in complete agreement with a man on the opposite end of the political spectrum. I also love Israel, but feel about its leadership as I do about our own. Whether you love Israel or not, believe in its right to exist or not, the prognosis is stark. Either Israel survives by denying rights to its Palestinian citizenry, in which case it becomes an Apartheid state (and thus becomes a Jewish state in name only, with all the values of Judaism abandoned). Or it adheres to its Jewish values and gives equal rights to its Palestinian citizenry, who will become the majority and consume it to the point of, no doubt, changing its name from Israel to Palestine. Either way, Israel is most certainly on the path to its extinction. The only way for Israel to continue is to immediately cede territory - the West Bank and East Jerusalem - to the founding of a Palestinian state. Immediately. Israel's lack of prescience seems to delight its hardcore apologists, but it should equally delight those who seek its end.
2
Ready to cede Areas A and B, as the multiple israeli proposed peace plans have shown.
But cannot cede to people who really want Tel Aviv and Haifa, and will commit any atrocity to get them.
1
Israeli voters have repeatedly re-elected a prime minister who has with fanatical dedication done his utmost for many decades to kill any chance of a "two state solution."
How is it possible for a self-professed liberal, democrat and egalitarian such as Mr. Lauder truly "love" those voters?
Furthermore, how long can concerned and outspoken friends of the two state solution continue to downplay and deny the central role of AIPAC, and continue to deny the unending and utter failure of American Jewry to rise up and directly confront the iron grip of that extremist organization, which exploits them (not to mention hijacking the US Congress) over and over and over, with the chief goal of destroying any and all hopes of a two state solution?
3
sigh. this self-flagellation never ends. news flash--PM Olmert offered abass pretty much everything he wanted- capital in east jerusalem, 96% of the west bank, corridor to gaza...and it was dismissed with no counter-proposal. Abass continues to give millions a year to families of suicide bombers. Google all of this- it's not a secret. A majority of israelis, therefore, no longer believe in 2 state solution under present leadership, esp after the disaster of giving back gaza. It's not just the religious. It's a majority of ALL israelis, right and left, who no longer think it's possible at this time. stop blaming israel.
4
As President of "The Messianic Jewish Congress" (a few blocks from the WJC in Manhattan), I applaud the thoughtful article from Mr. Lauder. As pro-Israel as I am (I and my family are all Israelis), the stark realities Mr. Lauder put into such crisp prose are unavoidable hurdles the Israeli/Arab Co-Existence Effort must surmount. A Two-State solution seems the only present human effort offering any tangible hope of peace. However - if the Arabs now within Israel are to have any hope of a constructive future, then they must find the will to exclude their genocidal subgroups, the all-or-nothing agendas – and must accept some good-faith offer of the kind from Israel that has, up to now, been trampled by their leaders, even if the Israelis give away 95% of what is demanded in desperate hopes for the killing season to end. Israel is never going to consent to handing over Jewish national treasures/sites to Islam, or cutting the nation in half at the middle with an indefensible middle-constriction a hostile jet can traverse in two minutes, and a rocket in mere seconds. No American or other nationality would accept being within 30 seconds of tactical weapons, much less strategic ones, as the Cuban Missile Crisis amply showed; or having Washington DC and Valley Forge governed by The Kremlin.:-) One Israeli's thoughts. - RabbI Bruce L. Cohen, Congregation Beth El of Manhattan (www.bethelnyc.org) & President, Messianic Jewish Congress
1
Israel lost my support many years ago as its treatment of the Palestinians became more and more immoral. The re-establishment of a large Jewish population in a land that already had a substantial non-Jewish population had built-in inevitable issues that would have to be resolved. Image how most NYC residents would feel if local native Amercian Indian tribes tried to reclaim Manhattan.
Acting in this situation, Israel might take some responses that consider what's fair and just, other actions would be decided simply by considerations of power and military might. The Israeli political leadership post-Rabin has opted overwhelmingly for the latter and I could no longer support them. They have lost their moral compass.
Now, in a way, this is understandable since from the start, Ben Gurion, Dayan, et al understandably were going to use military might and the Mossad to show that Israel would not be pushed around and that enemies would pay enormously if they attacked Israel. Back then, the use of military might at least had some ethical bounds. Today, it seems, grabbing land and using military might are done because they can and leaders like taking such actions -- not because they are good and just actions. Acting in this manner demeans Israel and Judaism.
41
But American Indians, though they have been conquered, are allowed to vote in American elections, and can move to anywhere in America they want.
6
NDM: I recommend caution with your analogies. (1) Jews have always been in Israel, in varying numbers. (2) Until last century, there was nothing in Israel that resembled Manhattan. (3) It might amaze you to visit Israel today to see Jews and Arabs living side by side in cities like Haifa and Acco. (4) Its also noteworthy that when Jerusalem's old city was not in Jewish control, from 1948-1967, Jews were barred from approaching their holy sites.
It is deeply troubling to see the cycle that has taken hold in the West Bank: violence being met with violence; and mistrust on all sides. Ending that cycle will take money, first and foremost, and political will.
I wonder whether anyone would ever consider a hybrid--one country, with equal representation from two ethnic groups in one body of government (senate) and proportional representation in another body (house). There is no shortage of solutions or variations on that theme. But the status quo is, apparently, easier to maintain.
2
Tibetan Buddhists aren't blowing themselves up on Chinese buses, or stabbing Chinese children to death, even though the Chinese are occupying their country, oppressing their people and have driven their religious leader into exile? In other words, the Palestinian/Israeli conflict goes much deeper than occupation. Peoples all over the world have been occupied by foreign governments and oppressors, but rarely do they react like the Palestinians have. There's something about Islamic culture that lends itself to violence, sadism and sociopathy that you just don't find in other parts of the world. Not even the Mexican drug cartels are so violent. And at least they know what they are. They're not trying to gain world sympathy and form their own state, at least.
3
Typically over-simplistic. Like communism, the 2 state solution sounds good but the attempts to make it reality have led to absolute disaster. Unfortunately, there is no solution other than the status quo.
As to the theocratic issue, when the Jewish state was established in 1948 there was a small but viable Orthodox presence there, and the govt. decided to form the Rabbanut from this community to deal with all Jewish religious issues. This has not changed - but what has changed is this:
1) This community has grown exponentially. Recently it was found that Orthodox children make up a large percentage of those enrolled in Israeli kindergartens thus the demographics are pointing to a religious majority within a lifetime.
2) Secular diaspora Jews have become more secular. Intermarriage is the norm today. Ignorance is rampant. And those who do marry "in the fold" tend to have very few kids.
That said, it is presumptuous for secular Jews like Mr. Lauder, who live in the diaspora, to judge the policies and actions of a people and a country that he remains a stranger to. Even if he is the president of the World Jewish Congress.
1
I've been living here in Israel for 20 years, and I'm as liberal as they get.
But I can tell you from the depths of my Carbondale, Penna.-raised, anthracite coal country heart, these people don't give a flying fig what you publish in English in the New York Times.
Discourse here is mostly shouted and all in Hebrew.
As soon as Netanyahu and his corrupted cronies go to jail for their obvious collusion in the entitlement and fevery of Westbank lands that are being sold to the elite, we'll all be in better shape.
3
As someone who has been to Israel many times and who speaks with Israelis in the US, Israelis *do* want peace with the Palestinians. The problem is that Israel has *never* had a serious negotiating partner in the Palestinians.
Almost two decades ago Bill Clinton negotiated an agreement only the have Palestinian leader Arafat pull out.
Israel pulled out of Gaza and the Palestinians had a great opportunity to elect a government and show the world how they could govern their own territory. Instead of seizing the opportunity given them, the Palestinians elected Hamas, a terrorist organization. A Palestinian Civil War with Fatah ensued with many Palestinian deaths.
Instead of serving the people who elected them, Hamas chose to spend funds meant to help Gazans on missiles and tunnel building to attack Israel with 3 resulting wars.
The PA spends about $300 million of donor funds each year for terrorists who are in prison and the families of those terrorists killed -- money intended for poor law abiding Palestinians. The Taylor Force Act, named for a non-Jewish US soldier studying for his MBA who was killed by a terrorist on a school organized trip to Israel, will stop US tax money from being paid to Palestinians as long as they incentivize terror.
There is *absolutely nothing* Israel can do until the Palestinians stop funding terror and elect a new government that is serious about signing a peace agreement.
4
A 32 year old Father of 4 young children was stabbed to death yesterday the day before a car raming killed 2 soldiers and left another 2 in the ICU. Abbas Incites , rewards and celebrates terror. Israel has responsibility to remove the Abbas government from power in order to protect their citizens from future attacks .
2
PA leader pensions off same murderer's family and all others past present and future and financed in part by the American taxpayers.
1
Mr Lauder, your problem is: too much unconditional love for a foreign country.
4
Actually, this is Israel's tragedy: We have lost a large potion of non-Israeli Jews to the growing tide of anti-Semitism that has re-engulfed the world.
Do they support out-n-out annihilation of Israel, per Iran and the Muslim world's mantra? They do not. But we are constantly seeing the growing number of non-Israeli Jews who subscribe to the European model of modern day anti-Semitism, namely, the creeping de-legitimization and demonization of the Jewish State. For many of us who have "seen this movie before", we know it's just the beginning.
And for many of us Israelites (i.e., Jews *in* Israel), the coming storm is far greater than "just" our Islamic neighbors who have in the past 70+ years carried the mantle of calling for genocide of the Jews. It is the marriage of that Islamic model of anti-Semitism with the current European model, into essentially a bonding of very different styles of Jew hatred. It is fearful and tragic, and apocalyptic in nature.
So I believe it's no longer enough to be just genetically Jewish. Or have the name Cohen or Levy and think that that gives you free license to attack the Jewish State, because, hey, you're part of the team. If you are genetically Jewish and your heart's call is to demonize that tiny sliver of a country which the rest of the world is actively trying to destroy (whether through the Islamic or European means), then I believe you've chosen the other team, with all that that implies.
And not every Jew left Egypt.
1
Smart people have been saying for years that Israel is setting itself up for an end game in which only three choices are available. Lauder forgets the first, the Kahane solution: expel all Palestinians from the West Bank. The other two choices Lauder now recognizes: out-populated by Palestinians’ higher birth rate Israel must opt for the status quo, a modified apartheid system or institute real democracy throughout its territories and be outvoted. The two state solution offered a way out of this end game trap. Netanyahu, his arogance trumping his grip on reality, has walked into the trap. Lauder’s warning is perhaps too late.
1
What do we tell a Palestinian born in Haifa, whose family goes back generations, who fled Haifa as a child with his family in fear in 1948, who can no longer be a citizen of Haifa?
What do we say when he reminds us that Zion is the Hebrew word for Jerusalem and the Zionist movement started in 1890 with the intent to takeover some of the Arab land?
What do we say when he reminds us of the Sykes-Picot agreement and Balfour Declaration during WWI?
What do we say when he asks why only Palestine was made a British protectorate after WWI when all the rest were allowed to be countries?
What do we say when he asks why, when the British abandoned their mandate, didn’t the Jews work with the Arabs to create the country of Palestine to live and work side by side with the Arabs as they had been doing during the previous sixty years of immigration to Palestine instead of unilaterally creating Israel?
And what do we tell him when he reminds us that, while he can no longer be a citizen of Haifa, a Jew born in the US or anywhere in the world has the right to be a citizen in Haifa?
The Jews talk about their homeland. He would like to return to his homeland.
4
Nations are built and in the process some pain is experienced. Just ask the Native Americans.
1
@Frank Haydn Esq
I agree. Also, look a the Mexican American War 100 years earlier (1846) where we took land from Mexico , Arizona, California, New Mexico, maybe part of Colorado and made the new border the Rio Grande.
My guess that people thought the same thing would happen. The West would help the Jews take half of Palestine and the Palestinians would just accept it like Mexico did.
I think another factor was the West felt guilty after the Holocaust and now the Palestinians are paying the price for that guilt of the West not preventing the Holocaust.
In the end, even Yasser Arafat accepted Israel's right to a peaceful existence in the Oslo Accord. What he didn't accept is the right for Israel to be a Jewish state.
And the Israelis know if they let the refugees come back, they will be that much closer to losing their majority.
As Americans we believe in separation of church and state. We condemn the Islamic governments. We stay quiet when it comes to Israel.
In the end, there is no just solution that is good for Israel, one state or two state where the refugees get to come back to their homeland, the land of their ancestors that goes back 1,000 years.
What would you do if you were a Palestinian?
1
When Israel was just established, there were no refugees, no "occupied" territories, no land disputes, but six Arab countries started a war against the young Jewish state. The truth is that Israeli behavior doesn't change much in Arab attitude toward Jews. Arabs just don't want any "foreign" body on "their" land, which was never theirs. There never ever was any Palestine nor capital onr currency nor leader before Arafat said there was a palestine in 1964.
1
Lauder seemingly can’t acknowledge that a Jewish democracy is a contradiction in terms. The ultra-orthodox Israelis are realists; the advocates of a two-state solution are as delusional as the Unionists of Northern Ireland. Arab Israelis constitute 20% of the population, but given their birthrate by midcentury they could be a majority, as they already are in the Gallilee. Demographics is destiny. Israel’s true choice is between a democracy and apartheid.
4
"We are at a crossroads", says Ronald Lauder. Has he been asleep for the last 40 years? Israel long ago crossed that road. Ariel Sharon recognized the demographic impossibility of a Jewish majority in 2004 when he disengaged from Gaza, kicking out a handful of Jewish settlers. Menachem Begin ran past the "crossroad" when his Likud government gained power in 1977. Israel has never looked back. Where was Lauder's voice then?
1
Israel is the single most racist "democracy" on Earth. The big fear about losing the two state approach is that demographic trends prove that within a generation, European ("white") Jews will be a minority in a country where indigenous Palestinians are equally represented in government. Since demographic trends are also heading toward secularism among Jews, there will be nothing left but their racial identity to justify their dominance. Hence the rise of the ultra Orthodox, many who are Europeans lured to the Settlements with the promise of cheap housing and an Army to protect them. Their repressive religious practices relegate women to serving as baby (future voter) factories. I don't think it's going to be enough. Israel, and the rest of the world, should stop thinking it is a democracy. it is an apartheid and should be considered as such.
4
As long as Israel purses a policy of Lebensraum (living space), there will be no peace. European refugees should have been content to live in an undivided, multiethnic, and Arabic-speaking Palestine. I can imagine what would happen in the US if an immigrant group began agitating for a separate state.
4
Marc Rich in KING OF OIL confessed he felt uncomfortable with Israel annexing occupied Palestinian territories making life generally unpleasant for many Palestinians including East Jerusalem; in contravention of UN security council resolutions. "Such blinkered policies are creating an irreversible one-state reality" confirming that view. Any doubts about Israel usually given short-shrift; granted people like me have no experience of living in Israel. Surely being Jewish should not mandate total and automatic acceptance of Israel (when it seems misguided) according to American Jewry? Phrasing that sentence took me a while to avoid any offence. This is not a topic open for general discussion.
2
In response to Uri's questions:
'Why would anything have to change in the coming years? Why can’t the status quo remain for another fifty years? Where is this so called timer that is running out? No one has ever been able to give me a satisfying answer to this question.
Currently - the Palestinians out number the Israelis Jews - the Palestinian demographic is growing larger everyday - hence, the status quo cannot continue unless the Israeli Ultra Urthodox Israeli Jews continue on their path of Israel becoming a Religious Jewish Nation State with the Palestinians as 'under class' - holding 'No Right' - this is Apartheid.
Currently, Palestinians do not have a Passport - for they do not have a country.
Currently - all Palestinians are required to carry - at all times - a Refugee Indentification Card.
In response to Uri - Is this truly what you wish to continue? It will be the demise of Israel.
2
The very best outcome of a one-state solution would be to have Apartheid institutionalized in Israel.
So the very best outcome is bad for Jews, bad for Palestinians, and bad for the Middle East. And morally repugnant. And that's if everything goes as "well" as possible. Still, Mr. Netanyahu does all he can to undermine the two-state solution.
I applaud Mr. Lauder for recognizing the folly of Israel's current course, and his efforts to defend the two-state solution that can provide a bright future for all.
2
Ha! Ronald Lauder has been a Likudnik and Netanyahu supporter for decades. Now he calls for a return to a two-state solution and a reconnection with jewish moderates? That's rich.
3
"President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace."
LOL
Trump is not committed to anything other than Trump so this comment is meaningless. Trump's "team" is composed of Jared Kushner his son in law who is total amateur at everything. Meanwhile the GOP plays paddycake with Netanyahu -- a miserable, corrupt politician whose greed has been exposed repeatedly and whose love of only himself is on display constantly. Lauder neglects to mention that Netanyahu is a cancer that the state of Israel must remove if any progress toward remaining a democratic country is to be made.
1
Religious fanaticism has regularly been at the heart of the destruction of civilizations.The founders of the United States were keenly aware of that history in creating our then unique Constitution. They educated leaders who knew of the need to have no part of the repeated examples of destruction of known civilization from the Crusades, the Inquisition, the religious wars and other major and minor conflicts . . . or more recently, the falling apart of Yugoslavia into Muslim and Christian enclaves, the Armenian genocide, Nazism, or the Evangelicals gift of Trump to the US are evidence,
And, the Netananyu Israeli government's obeisance to its Orthodox fanatics will destroy both notions of the egalitarian idea and fact of Israel if there's no fundamental change.
2
Ron Lauder, billionaire republican businessman. Nice sentiments but how about working to get rid of the right wing extremism of Netanyahu- whose hatred of the Palestinians is reminiscent of the struggles the Jewish people have had to face throughout history.
4
Anyone who has read Herzl's views of Arabs in Palestine will be hard-pressed to find anything remotely humanistic in his outlook. He had a European colonialist mindset that completely disregarded the existence and rights of Palestine's native population.
4
An excellent review, if not partial, as no matter what side of the conflict you look at, there is always another (historical, political, economic, social or emotional) facet you have missed, or one that has not been objectivly or clearly analyzed ... And it's my impression ,having lived here for more than 25 years, is that we are closer to a regional peace than most politicians or news services would admit, simply because good news does not sell, and facts on the ground (such as Israel's recent economic growth, and it's regional peace efforts ) are harder to relate .
9
Mr. Lauder makes a lot of sense (although his connection to Trump is puzzling to say the least).
Here's the thing: I am a proud Canadian Jew and love my other homeland, Israel. Just as stated in this piece, that doesn't mean I have to agree with everything or everyone in either country. But ... to attribute the recent rise in antisemitism (not just in the west, but worldwide) to growing disappointment in Israel's policies is to not understand antisemitism at all.
I am saddened to see some of the comments posted here. The antisemitic rhetoric that emerges every time a sensible conversation is started, only serves to make Jews (worldwide) feel threatened and undermines what could be the beginning of a real answer for peace.
Thank you to Mr. Lauder for speaking sensibly for a lot of Jews around the world.
According to Mr.Lauder opinion, Israel will lose its Jewish identity and this will really leave Jews around the world without a Jewish state.
Keeping religion and tradition in tact is our ONLY hope.
1
Settlement would stop tomorrow if the arabs living there would make a clear pronouncement of support for an intact Jewish state alongside an arab state without the absurd requirement that the Jewish state allow millions of arabs to settle in the Jewis state. They are not serious about a two state solution if they are not willing to give up the dream of taking over Tel Aviv by demographic force. They are orchestrating their own servitude. Stop denying the reality of partition from 70 years ago and accept that the land will be divided and that there will be no taking over the Jewish state by force, demographics, or otherwise.
2
Israelis have made a two state solution impossible by building Jewish-only settlements throughout the West Bank. They also control the West Banks water and other resources. What I witnessed there was a land grab enforced by the IDF. The two state solution is a scam, a smokescreen for a land grab. Shame on Israel. Shame on Americans who support this grave injustice.
6
Mr Lauder - I lived in Israel for a few years in the early 1980s when I was in my mid 20s. Even then, in my young, naive, apolitical world, I knew , from reading and talking with other Israelis, that a demographic time bomb was building based on Likud's expansionist policies, and that Israel would be faced with an existential crisis due to demographics in the next 30 years.
that time has come. It may be irreversible. I cannot believe that supporters of the Likud policy 30 and 40 years ago couldn't see this too. You are an intelligent man who has known the intricacies of Israeli policy for your entire life. You knew of the Likud's strategy of "facts on the ground", which now preclude a 2 state solution.The settlements that you now criticize were created in the late 1970s and on. If you supported the Likud, you supported these settlements.
Simply put - I believe that you knew 35 years ago where this was heading, but your Likud ideology blinded you to recognizing the future that was obvious to more moderate Israelis and the rest of the world.
8
Sounds a lot like the Obama Kerry point for which they were pilloried. I agree with the thesis of the article. Where was Mr. Lauder then? I think Israel has passed the point of no return. Oh well.
4
What a backward and, I hesitate to say, ignorant statement. I don't believe Israel is "central to every Jew's identity." Not mine, and I think not that of most American Jews. Nor is it my second home. (If I had to pick one, it would be Italy.) And it is ignorant because as a supporter of the Israeli right-wing Likud, Mr. Lauder seems unaware that, with his support, they have killed any chance of a "two-state solution," which actually was never intended to create a real Palestinian state, just an armless, legless thing, and now even that is too much for Netanyahu & Co. If Mr. Lauder would open his eyes he would see that the choices now are between continuing to keep the Palestinians under armed occupation, giving them citizenship and equal rights, or--the preferred Likud solution--expelling them into Jordan or elsewhere. The Likud just hasn't figured out how to carry out the expulsion, but they are counting on people like Mr. Lauder to wring their hands but, as he says, to "act in concert with Israel's democratically elected government." I expect he won't disappoint them.
8
Don't be surprised if it turns out that writing articles such as this one in the media, portraying Mr. Lauder's ilks as reasonable and peace-loving, to be also part of Bibi's plan. Knowing that there are others who are disgusted with what is going on but still sheepishly make their donations and provide their political support, allows you to do the same; albeit while "wringing your hands."
4
There will never be peace in the middle east so long as Netanyahu is in power.
5
It is too bad that the Liberal dream seems to be on the wane. The concept of Israel was more than just a religious dream. When citizenship rights are stripped you lose the right not only to be freely observant but to be freely non-observant. When Israel denies citizenship rights to people who live within the occupied territories it is untenable and anti-Israeli. Might cannot make right. The two state solution offers the best possibility. Horrible to see that die.
3
How can you say you have supported Likkud since the 1980s and still back a 2-state solution? That is either a lie, total hypocricy or both.
6
A Two-State solution might one day become a reality, but it will not happen in our life time. Neither side is anywhere close to making the sacrifices required for civilized and mature side by side existence. Israel must open it's borders, drop it's ultra-extreme security measures, and remove communities that have been implemented in areas that were not appropriate. Palestinians must remove their Terrorist Goverment, redefine their Charter, and adopt a peaceful, open, and honest relationship with Israel. Both parties must evolve to embrace each other and accept that their future and fate is intertwined forever. As of today, they are not ready, not by a country mile.
Let us be honest for a moment.
For the two state solution to actually bear fruit, the following must be accepted.
a: Find the means to repatriate and resettle 350,000 settlers and growing.
b: Accept Hamas as a dialog partner. If Ian Paisley and Martin McGuiness could talk to each other to bring home the Good Friday Agreement then so can Likud and Hamas.
c: Have a Palestinian election and whoever wins give them the legitamacy to negotiate a two state solution.
I do not think any of the above would be accepted by the Israelis. Therefore, it is better that we plan for a One State Solution.
2
The modern state of Israel was built on the practice of ethnic cleansing. Though Israel's leaders would deny the accuracy of the term, ethnic cleansing still best describes what Israel's long-term goal is. Little by little Israel creates facts on the ground, weathering international condemnations and wearing down its critics through official denials and state propaganda.
Hope for a two-state solution increasingly becomes a vain hope. The Palestinians would have to capitulate to every Israeli demand, meaning that the resulting "state" of Palestine would likely not be a recognizable state at all. It's unlikely that Palestinians will ever find leaders willing to negotiate that kind of state into existence.
It's hard to say how long the current situation can last. The pressure clearly seems to be in the direction of annexing the West Bank and creating the Greater Israel the settlers have always wanted. Israel will not attempt the ethnic cleansing of an annexed West Bank. But it will become an apartheid state if it wants to remain a Jewish state.
This outcome has been assured at every significant moment since the UN's partition plan was put in place in 1947. A determined and powerful Zionist ideology has worked tirelessly to take by force all the land it felt God gave the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Had Israel consulted the moral teachings of its prophets instead of using the Book of Joshua as its roadmap, it would not be facing the loss of its own soul.
5
Why is this "stark choice" between being a Jewish and democratic state a future one? 51 years of living under Israeli rule is temporary? Israel is not a democracy.
4
If Diaspora Jews have a problem with Israeli policies and are so invested in the country's future they should move there and vote. It is difficult to dictate policy from 6,000 miles away without making the same sacrifices citizens of Israel have to.
3
Sorry, you lost me at, "President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace." Ha, good one! Yeah, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital shows how dedicated Trump is to Middle East peace. The truth is that neither Trump nor Netanyahu has any problem with Israel ceasing to be a democracy. And Trump's GOP would welcome a right-wing theocratic Israel and no doubt would fully protect it from that meddling UN Security council with their veto power. As we've seen, the GOP are experts at at subverting democracy in the US, so why would they care to protect it in Israel?
6
The fact is that many Israelis don't have a problem with Israel ceasing being a democracy, or is a democracy restricted to Jews. The only thing that would scare them is losing support from the US because of this, but being a democracy has never been a condition to get US support (think Egypt, think Saudi Arabia, etc.). As long there is a common enemy (militant Islamism), alliance survive (South Africa was a well accepted ally of the US in its fight against Communism, and apartheid ended only after the collapse of the USSR). Of course it's a risky bet for Israel, what if peace breaks out?
1
Good piece. But the current Israeli government’s racist disrespect to President obama and its foolish disregard of Democrats will and should present ongoing difficulties for Israel’s relationship with the United States. The author may be a Republican and conservative but half the USA is not. The author should be working to repair the obvious dangers in the damage done by the Israeli government in this regard. Many of us are watching closely.
3
The Palestinians along with most of the Islamic world have patience. In spite of what one hears life is pretty good in Israel/Palestine particularly compared to the rest of the region. Palestinians in the Galil protested mightily when it was suggested by the defense minister that after land swaps some of their villages may be part of a future Palestinian State . Seems obvious that the Palestinian leadership was in no hurry to agree to a Jewish State in the region along with a Palestinian one or it would have been done already. If Jews believe that the only choices are no democracy or no Jewish State, and both options are unacceptable, then Palestinians have no incentive to agree to any compromise.They never wanted a Jewish State and if they had ever won a war there would not be one. Their schools both in Israel and outside teach that the illegal Zionist entity is temporary. Most Jews and Palestinians prefer the status quo to any agreement which the other side would accept. If there was a real peace deal Jews would be allowed to remain in Palestine with autonomy or citizenship, just as up to know Palestinian Arabs are allowed to remain in Israel. If maintaining a democracy is so important for so many then one way to keep a Jewish majority is for more Jews like Mr Lauder to move to his "second" home. Another way is for Palestinians to leave. Maybe there are other options as well. Time will tell.
“President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace.”
This is where I stopped reading.
6
This article gives a high level of credence to the idea that Palestinians support the two state solution, but in a recent article in the NY Times, it was noted that a majority of Palestinians do not support it; they still want all the land from the sea to the Jordan. Sitting down at talks is not going to change that.
As far as the eroding level of support of worldwide "Jews" for Israel: many Jews loudly proclaim their "Jewishness" (particularly in these comments) because they happened to be born of a Jewish mother, but they are so far removed from living anything resembling a Jewish lifestyle, it is hard to know how seriously to take them.
Everyone has likes and dislikes across a broad spectrum of political issues (abortion, gay rights, civil rights,....) but that doesn't mean that a particular issue is all that meaningful to everyone in the same way.
Living in New Jersey, I can sound off about the rights of people in Venezuela or Viet Nam, but I don't have any real standing to do so.
For those loudly proclaiming Netanyahu is a thug, if you move to Israel you have the right to vote him out of office. If you don't move, why should anyone care what you think ?
If you want to withhold donations to Israel because you disagree with its policies, you are missing the point of the last 2000 years of history.
Jews don't help Jews because we like their policies; Jews help Jews because we are a family, and, unfortunately, everyone else hates us, regardless of policies.
Wake up.
1
"I believe that Israel is central to every Jew’s identity, and I feel it is my second home."
Why is Israel "central to every Jew's identity"? Because the Schnorrer State has said so for decades? Because the gonovim have taken over the government? Because the failure to recognize the rights of subject minorities is central to the rationale for a "heimland"? Mr Lauder's criticisms are more than valid, but why does every criticism of this State's failings have to be prefaced by lip-service to non-existent obligations of every Jew in the world.
Ohne mich.
2
Dear Ron,
You've given staunch support to Bibi and the Likud for decades. But it is primarily Bibi, who puts the fate of his party before the fate of his country, who has allowed the religious parties to tighten their theocratic grip on Israel's civil society, and who has actively encouraged the kind of creeping settlement policy that weakens the chance for a 2-state solution. So now you write your NYT op-ed piece and you're shocked! shocked! at how bad both situations have deteriorated. The problem is you, Ron, and other Jewish leaders like you, whose unflinching support of Bibi has enabled this mess.
3
"The choices that Israel makes in the coming years will determine the destiny of our one and only Jewish state..."
While the rest of the world is preaching globalism, you are preaching one, insular people and a country based on and ruled by religion. Moreover, you seek gain conformity for your personal beliefs by imposing them upon people you don't even know: "I believe that Israel is central to every Jew’s identity"
The UN Charter is probably a better guide: "To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples..."
3
So, it is better to espouse a two-state solution, even when all parties seem dedicated to having it never exist?
Putting aside the actual content of this article, Mr. Lauder's writing is exemplary for all in advocacy positions who have a goal they wish to be realized but require help from leadership or more higher-ranking stakeholders. Mr. Lauder is brilliant in touching on the implications of alienating the majority of non-ultra Orthodox Jews around the world, particularly the youth. Israel may very well dismiss its criminal treatment of Palestinians, but it cannot afford to dismiss the direct threat to its survival as described by Mr. Lauder.
1
How is it possible to walk away from one of the longest occupations of an entire defenseless people in modern history unscathed? Whole generations of Palestinian children have been raised under military rule, how can anyone expect anything but bitterness and hatred to result? Israel has even made apartheid a moot issue to many. For any true justice to take hold, all people in the region ave to be seen as equals in every way and the past belies the danger of the future.
5
Evidently, granting citizenship to Jewish persons living and earning income abroad, would require that they pay taxes (following the example of France), as well as to have their own elected representatives in Israel's parliament. It would also have the immediate effect of shifting armament expenditures onto other, badly required, areas of social concern.
Respectfully submitted, Adalbert Lallier
There was a time that I truly admired Israel, an island of relative democratic stability in an ocean of troubles, willing and able to defend itself from all comers despite its size.
But the dream of Ben Gurion, of a country that could be both Jewish in character and tradition, and yet at the same time open to other faiths under a fair government that could guarantee the rights of all, is now just a faint memory. Israel today may be more well-off than at its founding, but its soul has been corrupted to its core by a government that engages in wholesale corruption under a blanket of the most rank nationalism. It has truly become an apartheid state, one that has walled itself off into a corner, and must now settle the fate of millions of people who do not share their history, their religion, or their sense of shared destiny, but nonetheless share the same physical space as they do.
3
This should be in Haaretz, the Jerusalem Post and Yedioth Aharonot.
in the NY Times, you are preaching to the choir .
Hope it ends there. Well written and to the point.
Bibi is the enemy of peace in the Middle East. As long as he's in office, the situation will simply continue to deteriorate until another Intifada begins. If there is no two-state solution to the Palestinians plight, there will be no solution except the degration of Israel into an apartheid state. And the idea that Trump has a team dedicated to peace in the Middle East is laughable -- he's got his son-in-law (the guy without security clearances peddling his influence in exchange for investment in his family's real estate holdings), and that's pretty much it. And the idea that Trump has a clue how to achieve peace is even more hilarious. Bullying the Palestinians into coming to the table isn't going to work. And moving the US embassy to Jerusalem isn't going to help either. Dream on Mr. Lauder -- you're supporting a man who is clueless and classless.
1
Whatever AIPAC wants, AIPAC gets. U.S. politicians fear AIPAC and continue to pander to that political action committee despite its demand to perpetuate the blatant injustice perpetrated against the people who lived continuously in the region for 1,600 years in modern times. Regarding Israel, U.S. politicians listen only the the voice of American Jews and Evangelicals. Only when American Jews eventually speak up for justice, as some are now doing, will politicians follow suit. As Israel's enabler, and invader of Iraq, the U.S. suffers the wrath of the angry in terrorist attacks. The cry of the oppressed, "No justice, no peace!" needs to be heeded. AIPAC and Israel were the loudest cheerleaders for the invasion of Iraq.
3
When I was a child, I was blessed with a kind, loving grandfather. He was a judge, and occasionally, when we went to visit him, he appeared sad (to think of it, he must had been depressed). My father never asked him why he was sad, but he always knew what was going on. In the way home, he would explain: Your grandpa must have had another sad case today; some people must have used the law to rob a weak poor fellow from his/her livelihood and he could do nothing about it.
I was 10, when he had another stroke. I went to see him with my mother. While lying on bed, he asked me to approach him. He said softly: son, I give you an advice and I like you to do your best to follow it. Try hard not to get into a profession that involves inflicting pain into others.
Israel is a country that has been built by inflicting much pain into others. For it to survive, a lot of innocent people have been robbed not only from their livelihood but from their lives. The reality is vast destruction is no longer the domain of the powerful alone. Unless someone who has the trust of all sides steps in and try to heal the deep historical wounds of those involved, this is not going to end well for anyone.
5
The flaw in your thinking is that you could have a country based on race and religion that doesn’t commit human rights abuses. The one has never happened without the other. It never will.
3
The present Israeli government has destroyed the possibility of a two-state solution by continual encroachment on Palestinian lands and by prolonged denial of basic human rights to many Palestinians. Talk of a two-state solution has never been anything more than a Likud delaying tactic while the Palestinian people are isolated, segregated, and pushed out of their homeland.
Dividing the former British Mandate of Palestine into two states would solve nothing. What Palestinian would accept being confined to a small portion of his former homeland? What Jew would wish to be denied access to the entirety of his legendary homeland?
In legend and history, the God of Israel led his chosen people, the Jews, to establish a small homeland in the Middle Eastern desert. After many years, the God became displeased with the behavior of His chosen people and He dispersed them to foreign lands. In their new homes, the Jewish minorities prospered and contributed far beyond their numbers, yet retained their religious identity.
Today, half the world’s Jews live expansively in North America; the other half are cooped up in a hostile, restrictive, strife-torn, quarrelsome enclave in the Middle East. Is it not likely that modern Jews, and the entire world, are better off without an exclusive Jewish homeland? Why hang onto an anachronistic nationalistic sentiment?
The children of Abraham, the Arabs and Jews, cannot live separately in peace, so why not try living together in peace?
1
Religion is at the root of most conflicts and, sadly, this is one of them. The Jewish diaspora, largely secular, are not ‘real Jews’ according to the ultra right, yet expect they are expected to contribute, financially and otherwise, to the state of Israel.
By the by, don’t expect any help from Trump. He’s of no help to the US!
2
Israel and its supporters will wring their hands all the way to Palestinian genocide. If Hamas never stops saying it wants to push Israel into the sea, never stops digging tunnels, never stops rocket attacks, never stops using its own people as human shields, never stops socking away money in other Arab nations that could be used to better the lives of its own people, well, Israel and its Arab neighbors will continue to turn a blind eye toward the slow motion genocide of the Palestinians. There is no shame in Israel "defending itself," so it's very happy to have Hamas continue to use their own people so shamelessly.
I am so sick of people who blame Palestinian intransigence. They have been kicked out of their land (80% of them) agreed to give up 80% of what was rightfully theirs years ago and Israel insists on building on that small remaining territory as well.
4
A brave column, but the use of the future tense in regard to Israel’s status as a democracy is a copout nonetheless. The same could be said of former PM Ehud Barak’s remark in 2010: “As long as in this territory west of the Jordan River there is only one political entity called Israel, it is going to be either non-Jewish, or non-democratic. If this bloc of millions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state.”
If Lebanon or Germany had ruled millions of Jews for half a century and openly asserted that they would never have the vote, or a fully independent state either, no one would use the future tense. Everyone would say this country has not been a democracy for ANY of those 50 years. Just like Nationalist South Africa.
3
President Lauder,
The two-state solution is dead. Even if it weren't, even if there weren't a Palestinian problem, Israel would tear itself apart. What keeps it from doing so is the problem, which binds the different factions and gives them a focus for their anger. Israel is riven by anger between traditional orthodox and other Jews, ranging from modern orthodox to secular. It is riven by anger between poor Sephardic Jews and wealthy Askenazi; between its writers, poets, artists, and it businessmen and women, and military officers.
What could mitigate Israel's many political and social problems is not a two-state solution but a two-party one, as we have in the country which I love, the United States of America.
1
" Seven million of the eight million Jews living in America, Europe, South America, Africa and Australia are Modern Orthodox, Conservative, Reform or secular. Many of them have come to feel, particularly over the last few years, that the nation that they have supported politically, financially and spiritually is turning its back on them."
Bingo!
2
How do you feel about the arrest and abuse and torture of children? Myself, I think its shameful and abhorrent However, the Israeli Government rationalizes and supports this...thoughts?
2
Why is everyone so pessimistic about a two state solution? There might some day be a two state solution just as there is here in America with Native Americans. Here, Native Americans are able to control their own nations (reservations). They have complete control of certain aspects of their lives like gambling. (With outside regulation of course; we don't want to go crazy with the independence thing.)
The same thing can happen in Palestine; Israel grabs some more of the West Bank; Palestinians will be left land for their state about the size of Liechtenstein. The Palestinians will be able to totally control certain aspects of their lives, but instead of gambling it will be, perhaps, religion. (But not water. Again, we don't want to go crazy.) Then there'll be a two state solution - as long as the Palestinians behave themselves and as long as nothing that the Israelis want is found on their little couple of hundred square miles.
Gambling anyone?
1
The 'two-state' solution was always a fantasy. Why would any progressive,democratic state,especially the only Jewish nation-state in the Middle East want one more failed arab state on its border. One would have thought Lauder was not included in the ranks of the delusional. The true palestinian state has always been Jordan.Unfortunately, the Jordanians, like the Egyptians, the Saudis, the Syrians and the Lebanese have no use or love for the palis. Especially their leaders.Starting with Arafat and down to Abbas as corrupt a bunch of leaders as the world has ever seen.
1
Good to hear some sound thoughts from a Conservative. If only he would also raise his voice regarding the insanity that is the current norm in the executive branch of the US. I wouldn't count on this administration accomplishing anything in terms of a two state solution. His base doesn't want it.
All the peoples of the world want to live in peace. Warfare and violence are the common enemy of all humanity. The Jewish religion teaches us to strive for peace and social justice. The only way to obtain peace in the Holy Land is by respecting international law. The Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal.
1
Like Japan, Isreal is strategic to the US foreign policy, but unlike Japan, Isreal follows a path contradictory to our democratic values.
1
I agree with every single word of this article one million billion percent. Israel is truly in existential peril and will not admit this fact.
1
"Over the last few years, settlements in the West Bank on land that in any deal is likely to become part of a Palestinian state…"
Last few years??
How about last 50 years, since the end of the June 1967 Six Day War when Israel rightly defended itself from complete take over but afterward became drunk with expansion dreams having taken so much territory of its adversaries during the war.
Decades of world opinion, UN resolutions and US policy tried to counter the expansion. (even Ronald Reagan warned against settlement activity and its negative effects on long-term peace efforts)
But, too bad.
The right wing in Israel prevailed, settlements on Palestinian territory grew and now the two state solution is dead - at least until Israelis sober up from their 50 year bender.
Worth mentioning that the only time the Israeli government demonstrated the wisdom to trade land for peace concessions from a foe was the 1977 deal with Egypt to give up the Sinai in exchange for a peace and security pact that holds to this day - 40 years!
Oh, that was the good work and smarts of President Jimmy Carter.
Maybe get him back over there instead of Boy Jared.
4
This piece is borderline delusion, evidenced by the fact that the writer thinks Trump is "wholly committed to Middle East peace." Trump is not wholly committed to anything other than himself.
1
After Sadat had the courage to recognize Israel and visit Jerusalem, Menachem Begin - a right winger - pulled the Israeli settlements out of the Sinai. Ariel Sharon - another right winger - pulled the settlements out of Gaza and gave the Palestinians a chance to show they could live in peace with their neighbor. If a Palestinian leader emerges who unequivocally rejects the killing of Jews and says "We want to live in peace with you," we could well see a third right-wing Israeli leader remove settlements for the sake of peace.
1
I too love and fear for Israel.
But my fear is based on the knowledge that the Arabs surrounding her will never - never - allow her to survive. Israel is a beam in their eye, a reminder of their impotence, an affront to their holy book.
Israel should build homes, villages and cities throughout its land, and maintain the strong military needed to defend them. Expecting true peace from the Palestinians is a fool's dream.
1
Most of the time, you are very much on target. Perhaps someone with your influence will be able to get through to Israelis how damaging their behavior is to the moral foundation on which the security of Israel rests. So many American Jews are now resisting the authoritarian tendencies of the Trump administration. How can we acquiesce in the authoritarian tendencies in Israel?
you are so right, Mr. Lauder.
Mr. Lauder makes Israel sound like it should be some exclusive Jewish Club Med. My entire life Israel has been in conflict with the Palestinians. I have a deep admiration for the Jewish people since they have endured much, survived and thrived but apartheid is not the answer. Israelis to this American appear to be every bit as tribal as their Middle East neighbors with each faction vying for supremacy and exclusivity. Israel already has its version of trump's wall how has that worked out . I do not know what the solution is but this is 2018, a shrinking world, overpopulated and we all need to figure out a plan to occupy this rock we share. Don't look for trump's "team" for a solution, Kushner can't even pass a security background check.
2
With the imperious arrogance displayed by Israel, and the growing sophistication of weapons available worldwide, shouldn't wise people be debating whether Israel will even exist a hundred years from now? Or, in their extreme shortsightedness, do the Israelis not even care?
1
Fine, but writing this in the NYTimes is not a big deal. Tell all that to your friends Trump and Netanyahu if they will listen, or at least, to your Republican friends in the Congress. All of them are responsible for the catastrophes we are facing here.
Let the French and English redraw the map, their first attempt was an obvious failure.
"Such blinkered Israeli policies are creating an irreversible one-state reality."
You will need to replace the word "creating" with "created" to make this a true statement.
Why does the US sign on to the ethnic-exclusivist program of preserving Israel as a Jewish State, at any cost? And worse, why do we give it the conventional arms that make it the superpower of the Near East? [Don't fool yourself about Brave Little Existentially-threatened Israel].
All men are created equal? The consent of the governed? The Free World? The Civilized World?
To mimic Nixon's press secretary, in the case of Israel, these phrases are "non-operative".
Consider the following contradictions with the rest of our foreign policy.
We are outraged at the Hungarian regime's ethnocentricity that aims at maintaining the only homeland of the Magyars as a Magyar state.
We are outraged at the Polish regime's aim of keeping the country, the only homeland of the Poles, as a Polish (and Catholic) state.
We are horrified by the National Front's atavistic program of recreating France as an ethnically-determined country.
We are queasy that the EC refuses to admit NATO-pioneer Muslim Turkey, because that would end the tradition of Europe's being The Christian Continent of 1500 years of history.
We are a tad nervous that Europe is even uneasy about Muslim Bosnia's presence in its midst.
The US formula is "If X oppresses its ethnic minorities, the US is concerned about X, or even 'no friend of X' ".
It works, doesn't it, in general?
Good for the USA!
But, don't demand its application if X=Israel, unless you relish being pilloried as a bigoted anti-Semite.
A very poignant and important column by an equally powerful voice in the global Jewish community.
I have the same fears. Without a two-state solution, Israel's identity, if not its existence, are in jeopardy.
At the same time, I'm optimistic. Optimistic that Israel's neighbors will help ensure a lasting solution by being parties to it. Optimistic that cooler heads than those of Abbas and Netanyahu will prevail.
1
Contra what most commenters here seem to think, the critical issue for Israel's future is the second issue Mr. Lauder identifies, not the first. The ultra-orthodox minority in Israel relies on funding and protection from the non-orthodox majority -- while at the same time rejecting that majority's standing as Jews and deriding non-Haredi (ultra-orthodox) institutions and religious practice. Given the sway the Haredi political parties have in the Knesset and over Israeli civic life, this results in increasing alienation from Israel for the majority of Jews worldwide. If Israel alienates its strongest friend - the Jewish diaspora - there's not a lot of hope for it as a pluralistic, Western-focused democracy going forward.
2
Under Netanyahu Israel has become a fascist and apartheid state.
No wonder that in worldwide polls it ends up at the bottom together with DPRK.
United States blindly supports Israel, for political and AIPAC-triggered reasons, while propagating the lie that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East.
If they don't want to end like South Africa or worse Israeli citizens should vote a government dedicated to a two-state solution.
4
Perhaps the best proof that Israel is not an apartheid regime is the fact that the vast majority of Israeli Arabs want to retain their Israeli citizenship. Israeli Arabs both privately and publicly say they would not want to leave Israel and move to a Palestinian state should one be created. When former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert suggested in 2007 that he would hand over Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority, the Arabs in Jerusalem rose up in protest. Nabil Gheit, an Arab mayor of one of these neighborhoods, said “If there was a referendum here, no one would vote to join the Palestinian Authority. We will not accept it. There would be another intifada [uprising] to defend ourselves from the PA.”
23
The ideology of the founding fathers of the state of Israel were a failure for many reasons. 1. They were racist - think stolen Yemenite babies, mizrachim being given radiation doses 10,000 times more than what is safe, spraying of DDT on naked bodies numerous times. 2. They were secular - think of religious Jews being forced to cut their peot, take off their tzitzit and kipas in order to get a job. 3. They were communists - think monopolies on power that stand to this day in order to maintain control of the masses. Is it any wonder that eventually a Menachem Begin was going to get elected Prime Minister? And id that was not enough think about the failure of Oslo, the failure of the retreat from south Lebanon, the Disengagement, the giving away of our holiest site - the Temple Mount and the arming of our enemies in the PA controlled areas. The majority of Israeli Jews are not fools. They know evil when they see it. And the old school of Israel that Ronnie Lauder yearns to see in power once again, will never happen. Those days are gone. It's not as if Ronnie's children would ever live here. He's an assimilated Jew. He doesn't know how to put on tfillin. Jews like him should stay in the USA. Why? because our Torah clearly tells us that a country full of Lauders woulld result in the land throwing us all back into the galut. After 2000 years, we Jews in Israel have no desire to go back to the galut. Ronnie, my your own business in the USA and stay out of our lives. Please!! tt
Please, please remember Gaza.
~ get the Arabs recognize Israel's right to exist as Jewish state
~ convince them to refrain teaching kindergarden kids that Jews come from apes and pigs
~ stop indoctrinating the same kids into best Jew killing techniques
~ show how ludicrous is the Arab assertions that Jerusalem never was Jewish
Then, and only then witness true miracles happening and renew negotiations
1
You had me until you flat out lied: "President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace."
President Trump is wholly committed to HIMSELF. And his team are a bunch of incompetents and sycophants hell bent on destroying a two state solution.
THAT is what you should fear.
I am Israeli BORN--I fear for my country because of ignorants like you. (Oh, and I happen to be a Labour and lefty, in case you need a reason to distrust me.)
1
I'm a liberal Democrat who shares Mr. Lauder's desire for a two-state solution. However, I believe that there are some hard questions that need to be faced. Have the Arabs in the Holy Land, in the century since the Balfour Declaration, ever indicated a willingness to accept a Jewish state? Haven't the Palestinians, in 2000, 2001 and 2008, thrice rejected proposed two-state solutions? Isn't there a real danger that any Palestinian state on the West Bank will become another Gaza, only on a far larger and more dangerous scale? Doesn't Israel already face existential threats on its borders due to the presence of Hezbollah, Iran and the Assad regime in Syria and Lebanon?
I believe that people of goodwill on both the political left and right would like to see Jewish and Palestinian states existing next to each other in peace, harmony and mutual cooperation. I cannot be too critical of Israel, however, until I see some sign that this is want the Palestinians truly want.
Meanwhile, not a word about the party you support here at home, as Trump and his ilk make it an increasingly comfortable home for America's neo-Nazis, armed anti-Semites, and tens of millions of voters who despise diverse, tolerant democracy. You have a moral responsibility here, too.
1
Israeli land grabs, Islamic jihads, and Christian crusades are all simply instances of the religious mindset taken to its natural conclusion. Religion made this bed, Mr. Lauder. It’s too bad you’re having trouble sleeping in it.
1
Bibi's s wallet speaks!
Stick to art shows.
Hooray! At last, an insider speaking out.
For those of us Judeophiles who despair at the religious/nationalist Israeli fanatics' capture of the government, only Ronald Lauder and other credible Jews can make a difference before it's too late.
Just as we chafe at moderate Muslims' silence over ISIS terrorist outrages through a misplaced loyalty to the Umma (the worldwide community of Muslims), so do we chafe at moderate Jewish silence worldwide in the face of Israeli Jewish racism and apartheid towards the Palestinians through their misplaced loyalty to the idea of Israel.
Edmund Burke was right 200 years ago, and is still relevant: all that's necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to stay silent.
The 1945 Warsaw Ghetto is today located in East Jerusalem, Mr. Lauder, because of people like YOU, who support Israel's cruel, corrupt leader Netanyahu, who is just like Putin, Trump, Xi and Zuma...except South Africans had the guts to get rid of Zuma.
1
What the writer of this article fears, I hope it happens. One state for Arabs and Jews is the final solution and this is not new idea. Even some of the early Zionists believed in the that. Amos Oz in his last novel Judas refers to this old idea as it had been believed in by an elite of early Zionist whose mind had not been distorted by the the pain inflicted upon Jews by the Holocaust.
Polish in at the end of World War 2 never thought that their descendants will work in Germany. Arabs and Jews will return to a normal friendly relation as they had had in Spain before. Or even as they had lived in Iraq and Morocco before 1948.
Please Roland do not be afraid of the one state solution. I am really fed up of Islamic, Arab and Jewish ultra nationalistic ideas
1
"President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace." Really? - you believe the word of a serial liar who just bragged about making up facts with our neighbor, closest ally and biggest trading partner? You think he has a higher regard for Israel than Canada? He is only in on Israel at the moment because it solidifies the support of his Christian base - many of whom are looking forward to the 'End of Days'. And as far as the Ultra Orthodox - Israel lost that one a long time ago when it permitted them to form a parasitic relationship with the State. Ever since they have been biding their time - knowing they would seize control and win the battle of religious ideas by winning the battle of the loins. It can't be reversed now. Israel will in time have a Jewish Erdogan trashing all the great good done by it's formerly secular and wise Jewish Ataturk's.
2
Snooze. Nothing new written in this article. Nothing new AT ALL. Yes, all true. Does a day go by that NYT does not have an article about Israel? Is it that important in comparison to the entire world? Yemen and Syria aren't covered half as often. It borders on obsessive. Either that or they know it's click bait. Because it seems as though no one cares about the atrocities I just mentioned.
1
Ronald Lauder, you have the authority and gravitas to address these threats in Israel, and in the United States. You must renounce the Republican party, a party of Nazi sympathizers and white supremacists, and the WJC must renounce the bigotry and hostility of Likud and the Israeli government. You can call it a moral awakening, and spiritual reconciliation, or a practical recognition. What we all know is that Israel has become a death cult, and their right wing supporters in the US have no compunction about feeding the Jews to the fire in the name of right wing bigotry, greed, hate and selfishness.
3
Zionism is the biggest threat to Judaism in the world today. The 2 state solution is right where it should be: dead in the water. The ultra-orthodox extremists stand shoulder to shoulder with the strident and deluded of the fundamentalist and evangelical christians in the U.S. and the Saudi-lead religious fascist if the Middle East. Toss in the Iranian religious fanatics and the picture is complete. If you truly desire peace in the M.E. you have only one option: Pluralistic societies under the banner of equal rights.
4
And there's Netanyahu, the corrupt lapdog of the radical ultra orthodox. May he vanish soon.
2
Your complete lack of concern for Palestinian refugees except as they might impinge on Israel's future says it all.
2
You might have mentioned the growth of anti semitism in the US and the repulsive, insulting behavior Mr. Netanyahu displayed towards Barack Obama when he was our President, and Netanyahu's incitement to violence and hate.
This also turned many more liberal Jews against Israel as personified by a corrupt, venal, and rapacious prime minister and his gross family.
Too late! Israel now will become another Zimbabwe! All those Russian, Czechs and Poles in Israel better apply for US citizenship - maybe Trump will give them an 'Einstein' visa like the one Melania got.
1
May th3e Jewish people and the state of Israel thrive; and the health and safety of Jewish people worldwide. Let the anti-semites, whoever and wherever they are, wither and die in the glaring light of reason.
With all that, let the people of Israel and their leaders choose wisely, that they may prosper and continue as a light to the world.
2
I am an African American Christian with no rights in Israel's past, present or future.
There is no American state, territory nor possession named Israel. Israel is a foreign country whose claim to be Jewish and democratic is as ludicrous as were slave and Jim Crow era America and apartheid South Africa's claims to be white and democratic.
While I have no rights in Israel, I do have interests. Since the end of World War II, Israel has been the #1 recipient of American aid. Although only 2% of Americans are Jewish, about 80% of the world's 16 million Jews are equally distributed between America and Israel.
Israel is a European Zionist Jewish supremacist colonial apartheid Jim Crow state sponsor of terrorism with nuclear weapons that regularly and routinely acts and exists contrary to American values and interests. The two-state solution deceptively claims that either a Zionist Israel or an Islamist Palestine could ever be a civil secular plural egalitarian democracy where all are created equal with certain unalienable rights.
Palestine would be a neutered lobotomized chimera. While Christians are disenfranchised and divorced from their New Testament Holy Land.
The one-state solution is the only just outcome for 6.1 million Jews and 6 million Christian Muslims under Israeli dominion by occupation, blockade/siege, exile and 2nd class citizenship. There is no meaningful difference between Zionists on any religious spectrum. Jewish Americans are the Zionist dream.
3
What on earth are you talking about? Minorities living in Israel have plenty of rights as the Jews do. Just being of a different race doesn't exclude you from anything in Israel. Over the years, there are plenty of Africans living in Israel and don't see any problems living there. I can still remember seeing a film at the Other Israel Film Festival about an entire community of black people that found life for them be good in Israel, and some of them were actually American. If you were to go to one of the other Muslim nations, you would really see what discrimination is like. I won't argue that Israel has its flaws, but it's not an apartheid state by any means. Keep in mind that all groups are welcomed to come to Israel even those who aren't white or Jewish. BTW, there is such a thing known as black Jews as many from Ethiopia happen to be with some of them living in Israel right now. One other thing, Israel was known for welcoming numerous refugees from Darfur while that was hardly the case for the rest of the region. More importantly, the Palestinians have their own autonomy and don't even pay taxes to the Israeli governemnt by any means, which hardly second class citizenship.
1
The last time i looked much of the R and D from leading American technology companies is rooted in Israel. Much of the water conservation efforts in Africa is connected to Israel companies and government initiatives. The testing and refining of US military aircraft is in concert with IAF hours in the air. And, to boot, our core technology, including cell phones, came from the Israel technology sector.
The last time i looked the prospect of regional conflict between Israel and Iranian proxies is increasing. Each border is now facing aggressive adversaries and a multiple front missile strike is a certainty at the initiation of conflict.
These diametric facts, one of promise and one of demise constitute a unique reality for Israel. For us, even the prospect of a nuclear North Korea or Iran galvanizes our policy. We fear industrial and corporate cyber-espionage but not the rocketing of Silicon Valley.
The Israeli dilemma is very different than ours. A poorly struck compromise puts survival and not just political differences is jeopardy. Does anyone imagine that simply creating a Palestinian state will persuade Iran to alter its Shite arc objective.
Finally, I think there are no more that 10 million Jews in the world. The birth rates are quite low and assimilation in marriage is quite high. In biblical terms, the handwriting is on the wall. Jews are a vanishing people and i have some sympathy with those who fear is demise.
2
With Israel bonding with the cruel and racist Trump, it has simply become part of the Republican party...there is no reason for most Americans to continue to support Israel when it is on this path.
2
No, it's not Israel that's "bonding with Trump", it's Netanyahu.
Just like you and many others don't like Trump, a greater percentage of Israelis do not like Netanyahu.
1
No! For this jew Israel is not central to his identity. For this naturalized American citizen of nearly 70 years, the US is central to his identity. Israel Jewishness would be acceptable if it lived up to Jewish moral standards of the Bible, not its territorial claims.
1
I hope that the author and most of the commenters enjoy complementing and complimenting each other, while falling deeper and deeper into total misunderstanding of the situation.
What do the Palestinians do with the billions they have received?
What do American Jews think - that Israelis are duped and deluded?
Note that the NYTimes will not publish this submission. So much for freedom of expression.
I know what the Palestinians do with the billions meant for " humanitarian aid". They spend it on guns and training more terrorists to attack Israel.
1
Which nation ate you loyal to, Mr. Lauder, the USA or Israel? You cannot be loyal to two countries at the same time. If you love Israel so much, please move there.
You are preaching to the choir by writing in the NYT. If you want to change Israel´s behavior, you have to stop the flow of money to Israel...
2
I recommend to Mr. Lauder the words of Thomas Friedman, a columnist for this newspaper, who once observed that he pays no attention to anything Yaser Arafat said in English. He was interested only to what Arafat said to his own people in Arabic.
In English, the Arabs play the game of negotiations and talk of peace. In Arabic they speak only of murdering Jews. The only question for the Jews, then, is to what extent, if any, they should cooperate in their own destruction.
2
One state, two state . . . it doesn't really matter. As long as people divide themselves into tribes there will be conflict.
Having a hostile tribe just across a disputed border isn't much more attractive than having a hostile tribe within your own society. So what choice do the Israelis really have, except to muddle on the way things are?
16
Disputed border ? No, it is not disputed. It is clearly defined by international law. Israel says it is disputed so it can get a bit more of it every day.
1
Israelis have always had a choice. Unfortunately, they chose to follow the old adage, “if you want what others have, then make them your enemy”.
2
GD,
The UN may think that border is 'clearly defined by international law,' but you know a significant % of Palestinians will never accept it as legitimate.
1
Did the indigenous population get to vote on the creation of the state of Israel?
1
Indigenous?
Today's Palestinians are immigrants from many nations: "Balkans, Greeks, Syrians, Latins, Egyptians, Turks, Armenians, Italians, Persians, Kurds, Germans, Afghans, Circassians, Bosnians, Sudaneese, Samaritans, Algerians, Motawila, Tartars, Hungarians, Scots, Navarese, Bretons, English, Franks, Ruthenians, Bohemians, Bulgarians, Georgians, Syrians, Persian Nestorians, Indians, Copts, Maronites, and many others."
(DeHass, History, p. 258. John of Wurzburg list from Reinhold Rohricht edition, pp. 41, 69).
1
Mr. Lauder... Why don't you join J Street? Other than your reference to Trump, your comments are totally in line with our position. We have been saying the same thing for over ten years. Welcome to the pro-Israel, pro-peace team!
1
It’s shocking how the leader of the “World Jewish Congress,” Mr. Lauder can compare Palestinian violence and terror attacks that kill to Israel’s legal actions in the West Bank. Why should the Palestinians be trusted with a state after what happened iin Gaza, when Israel unilaterally withdrew?
1
As a moderate American Jew, it's extremely difficult to reconcile having Israel as the example of what a Jewish state has become in the world. For starters, Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people is abhorrent (no matter if Israelis and conservative American Jews want to push the false narrative about Palestine not existing in the past as your justification for not letting them exist in the present). You've been following Bibi, who's the biggest belligerent, blowhard, corrupt fraudster only after Trump. Trump and the conservative religious right (your frenemies in the White House) support the most conservative, self-destructive policies towards your "existential threats" putting our country and the rest of the world in jeopardy, while you're expelling non-Jews (e.g. Africans, Muslims) so that you don't lose your Jewish majority. And, we're starting to see the backlash around the world with the rise of the Alt-Rt and fascism, coupled with a renewed clash of civilizations between Christians/Jews vs Muslims, as a direct result of all these actions.
So, while your own wounds are self-inflicted, the puss from those open woulds is oozing out on to the rest of the world, poisoning it as well....
4
"An increasing number of Jewish millennials — particularly in the United States — are distancing themselves from Israel because its policies contradict their values. The results are unsurprising: assimilation, alienation and a severe erosion of the global Jewish community’s affinity for the Jewish homeland."
***
Consider that if so many young American Jews are feeling this way as you say, just imagine what all of us non Jewish Americans feel towards Israel because we know we will be on the hook for this aggressive settlement building activity at some point down the line.
And you folks actually wonder why there seems to be a renewal of anti-Semitism in the US ?
2
Israel is not a democracy and Mr. Donald Trump and his team are not wholly committed to peace. Why is the Times publishing this kind of material?
2
Israel was ranked 29 out of 167 on The Economist's Democracy Index.
That's better than Belgium, Greece, Cyprus & at least a dozen other European countries.
2
There is an article in the NY Times about the rise in anti-semitism in the United States. I'm worried about that.
3
Israel is pursuing policies in the occupied lands that can only be described as apartheid. As long as the US Congress serves as a lapdog to the Netanyahu and the Likud, nothing can stop the inevitable one state. The problem is, Israel believes it can accomplish an apartheid system with no repercussions. They believe this because no one in national government has the courage to criticize Israel for its violations of international law and its oppression of the Palestinians.
2
No occupier treats the occupied the same way it treats its own citizens, but no one ever calls that apartheid.
1
Just as it is not in any other nations’ interests to permit Israel to subjugate Palestinians, it was never in the interests of the fundamental principles of democratic government for European zionists to build a Europeanized culture on the bloody body of a still living indigenous population.
Virulent racism masquerading relentlessly and rhetorically as victimhood is the Israeli ploy that must be recognized and rejected.
The stark choice facing Israel's political leaders is what it has always been: (1) extermination or forced removal of the remaining Palestinians from Palestine or (2) abandonment of the rcentury-old project to establish a racist social system on top of a resisting indigenous population.
2
The Final Solution, Israel needs to disarm so its neighbors can be sure Israel does not invade and occupy as they have done in the past to Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Gaza, and Jerusalem, in short, every neighbor of Israel.
Israel was attacked on the day it declared independence and has been under attack ever since.
1
you cannot make peace with someone who wants to kill you. from the moment of the U.N.'s resolution in 1948 till TODAY it's been that way. anything the Israel's do is a "provocation". a Jew can't live in an Arab country, and you also want him not to live in the west bank. Abraham and the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb are in the west bank. a Jew can't buy a house with a view? the fact is Arabs fight amongst themselves. did it before Mohammed and still do. Israel's self-inflicted wounds are mere scratches. I am older than the modern State of Israel...... Mr. Lauder, why don't you be like me. step back and watch them go.
2
The reality is also the GOP and the Evengalical Christians are contributing to this wound for their own self interest, Money and Votes. Go figuer Kushner and Trump with the help of Natanyahu will solve this problem
Can democracy and apartheid be the twin policy of the State? We think there is inherent conflict between the two as both are becoming stronger in public outcries. If fear as the main source of binding a society, then the society will never have peace in modern days - it united human during caveman days - during hunter gatherer days - not any more. So the fate of Israel - Palestine will never be peaceful until the current psychosis is ridden from the society therein and from outside supporters.
2
Trump wants evangelical support. So whatever way evangelical winds blow, trump goes in the same direction. Can anyone understand trump having an orthodox Jewish son in law and his wink and nod to the new Nazis? It’s all political, so don’t get the idea that trump supports Israel for Israel’s sake. It’s always for his own.
I am waiting what the NYTimes will write commemorating April 9, 1948, the day the massacre of Deir Yassin happened. This event showed already what Zionism had in its basket for the future of Palestine.
If I remember correctly, a very dry comment by a reporter named Schmidt (a German name, how suiting) was published then in the NYTimes on April 10, 1948.
1
Ever since the 1940s establishment of Israel in the ancient Jewish homeland, where Jews have lived for thousands of years, the Arabs -- who themselves have conquered the area -- have done their best to "push the Jews into the sea." They have launched several wars against Israel with the avowed purpose of exterminating or expelling the Jews. Even today, after all the phony "peace talks" they demand the creation of an Arab "second state" devoid of Jews.
After 3/4 of a century of failure militarily, diplomatically, and economically (e.g., Gaza) most Arabs still demand that their enemies whom they tried to exterminate, confer independence on them, even though their idea of independence involves extermination of Jews. But whatever the Israelis may be, stupid they are not, and they simply aren't going to stand still for the creation of another terrorist entity on their border, that can't exist without support by others, including -- incredibly! -- support by Israel. Nor should they.
Finally, it is chutzpa for Americans to demand that Israel embrace a suicidal "peace" with people who openly want to cleanse the Holy Land of its Jews, when American law (Johnson v. M'Intosh (1803)) holds that when we conquered Indian land we displaced titles to formerly Indian land so that American government could freely issue patents to Indian lands to American settlers. To say nothing of how we treated Mexicans and Hawaiians.
Seems god wants a 1 state solution. The Orthodox speak with god and do what god wants, so the rest of you guys should step-off. One does wonder why god needs their help to get what he wants?
It would not surprise me that other arab countries are becoming friendlier with Israel because they know Israel will not give up the west bank and that Israel will eventually be a Moslem-Jewish country.
Apartheid is alive and well in the State of Israel, notwithstanding Ronald Lauder's eloquent plea for the Government of the only Jewish state in the world to change horses in midstream. To give up allegiance to the extremist right rabbinate and stop building Israeli settlements by the thousands in disputed territory, to see that Holocaust and Nakba created the present state of Israel. World Jewry is tired of the Solomonic conundrum of two semitic brothers fighting over their biblical (Jewish, Koranic, Christian) patrimony. No wonder the youngest generation of human beings, the Millennials, are turning their backs on Israel. Israel's existence is as fragile today as it was during and right after World War II when the Jewish National Fund collected nickels and dimes in little blue metal JNF boxes. The world is a different place today.. The indisputable fact that Binyamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump (our present president) are friends doesn't mean diddly in these parlous times. Valiant effort by Mr. Lauder, a conservative and a Republican explaining Israel's self-inflicted wounds. The World Jewish Congress is obsolescing today, but the JNF still plants trees every day in Israel. The triumph of hope over experience
The demographs are not working against Israel. Many ignorant of the latest birthrate stats. In 2017 the Jewish birthrate was higher than the arab.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/21243
The Likud Party is a far right wing party and Israel practices apartheid with 80% of the indigenous population. For the low number of Palestinians living in Israel, there are upwards of 50 discriminatory laws.
Where would a Palestinian State be, according to Israel? Especially since indigenous Palestinians driven out have no right to return to their own land? If there was any sincerity regarding negotiations, Israeli settlements and outposts would not continue to expand into the ever shrinking Palestinian territory. The declaration of Jerusalem as capital of Israel is the most asinine move by a USA president regarding the region, to date.
And regarding Israel being a "democracy"...no, it is not. Because it is self described as a Jewish State which must always have a political majority, it cannot call itself a democracy and be accurate.
1
Israel is a theocracy and an apartheid state for all intents and purposes. One can only hope that there is a "Mandela" like Palestinian in an Israeli prison right now who will eventually emerge to break the spell. It does not seem likely as all Abrahamic religions are religions of violence.
1
early in the 20th century, the leaders of Zionism planned that the new nation of israel would occupy all the lands west of the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, (Judea and Samaria). the current regime of evangelical Orthodox leaders believe these lands belong to Israel by divine right. Good luck with changing minds steeped in (brainwashed by) such idiocy.
1
I say this as a Jew, a customer and a born and bred New Yorker. It is Jewish republicans and their donations and their lobbyists and support of settlements that have created this problem.
You should have supported a strong Palestinian partner - it is a such a mess.... the population growth is an explosion waiting to happen with no good solutions
1
Anybody accused you of being anti-Semitic yet? That's the standard argument against what you say, you know.
Clinton came oh so close with an Israeli Palestine peace deal, however Arafat was unable and unwilling to say yes before he Clinton office. Remember, Clinton was weakened, distracted and embroiled for years by Whitewater, which had devolved into a tawdry sex scandal. He met Ms. Lewinsky 18 months after the actual Whitewater investigation began.
So think twice when you are told personal behavior doesn't matter. In truth, things that are considered minor transgressions can shape history for decades. Clinton was undisciplined, stupid and reckless, Lewinsky was immature, spoiled and childish. The world pays for it now.
Trump's behavior should give everyone pause.
One of the problems of Jewish organisations is they take the right to speak for 'the Jews'. Read this Lauder quote: "As president of the World Jewish Congress, I believe that Israel is central to every Jew’s identity". But Mr Lauder, I personally know many Jews for whom Israel is not even close, let alone central to their 'identity'. The concept of a hyper nationalistic Jewish ethno state is in conflict with all my values, so the gross Apartheid policies of Israel in Palestine are,in my kind of Jewish " identity" , a shame. Most Jews will never emigrate to Israel, and according to me the wounds that Israel has inflicted and continues to inflict on the Palestinians are far more important than those it inflicts on itself.
Slouching towards armageddon is sort of where it's at these days. Democracy...what's that? Anyway, it's all about Trump and Bibi and Duterte and Berlusconi off in the wings, out to take whatever is up for grabs. Maybe the evangelists are right and it will all get sorted out in the end of days and Jews will be Christians and who cares about the Palestinians.
It is good to hear the opinion of a Jewish leader voicing his discontent with what is happening in Israel today. Israel is on the wrong path. Israel is making US look bad. This can only be stopped by the sensible intelligent Jewish elites. Limited time is left to put brakes on otherwise it will get only uglier.
The brutal reality is that the existence of Israel was at the great expense of the indigenous Palestinian Arab population
What people Like Mr. Lauder support and celebrate is the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their land and the continuing subjugation and terror inflicted upon them by Israel.
Israel as such can be right fully defined as a racist and elitist nation. The settlers that wreak havoc , misery and steal Palestinian property can best be described as Jewish Klansmen
Being an American and living in New York for the past 60+ years has given me a great appreciation for the Jewish community and all that they do. I was taught by mostly Jewish teachers and professors and half of my social life comprises Jews. The Jewish contribution to America and New York City is measurable and that the Jewish community is almost always at the vanguard of human rights but what living in the United States has also taught me is that what’s going on in Israel is simply wrong
1
Israel is not a democracy according to Ariel Sharon who stated: "The terms 'democracy' or 'democratic' are totally absent from the Declaration of Independence. This is not an accident. The intention of Zionism was not to bring democracy, needless to say. It was solely motivated by the creation in Eretz-Isrel of a Jewish state belonging to all the Jewish people and to the Jewish people alone. This is why any Jew of the Diaspora has the right to immigrate to Israel and to become a citizen of Israel."- Ariel Sharon, May 28, 1993 edition of Yedioth Ahronoth.
Jonathan Ben Artzi is a nephew to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who went to prison for 18 months for refusing to serve in the IDF. Jonathan pleaded: “Sometimes it takes a good friend to tell you when enough is enough. As they did with South Africa two decades ago, concerned citizens across the US can make a difference by encouraging Washington to get the message to Israel that this cannot continue. If Americans truly are our friends, they should shake us up and take away the keys, because right now we are driving drunk, and without this wake-up call, we will soon find ourselves in the ditch of an undemocratic, doomed state.”
Having killed off the two-state solution with non-stop settlement building in the West Bank, which then requires even more land seizures for roads and "security zones," Israel is left with the choice of becoming a true democracy or remaining an apartheid state with Jews keeping their Palestinian neighbors in perpetual subjugation. Hopefully, when Netanyahu is jailed for corruption and Trump is replaced by a more sensible and respectable U.S. president without a Zionist son-in-law, a solution can be found.
1
Ironic language from Lauder who has blindly supported crooked Netanyahu and Anti Semite Trump on the Jerusalem issue and whose WJC organization is all talk in the face of rising Anti Semitism worldwide. I say this as a long time supporter of WJC.
"rescind their rights" ?? What rights are you referring to? Between the harsh and oppressive occupation regime imposed upon them by Israel and the warlord/mafia-style regime of the PA, these people have few rights which could possibly be rescinded
1
Let’s continue to make the United States a home for Jewish people.
Are all Republicans liars? It sure seems that way.
Have no worry and let your “conservative and a Republican” heart rest, Mr. Lauder: the already determined future is one (ethnically-cleansed) Fundamentalists Greater Israel from the Jordan to the Mediterranean (for now). As to its outside financial support, Israel has been granted by Obama about a hundred billion dollars (40 in his two terms, another about 40 assured for the next 10 years, and of course supplemental Congressional donations).
On top of that, anti-liberal Israel is assured that as long as there are various kind of gambling (and their profitable derivations) in the world many billions will continue to fatten its pockets – all is good in Judaism’s eastern front.
Mr. Lauder,
Did you speak out forcefully in 1995 when the hard-won Oslo Accord, a worldwide supported peace deal between Israel and Palestinians which was the absolute best opportunity for the two-state peace concept, was being trashed and demogoged by - wait for it - Benjamin Netanyahu?
For his own selfish political gain?
Whipping up the EXTREME right wing crazies who never want to move forward on anything except being crazy.
Did you condemn Netanyahu for that?
Have you condemned him since?
Oh, for all who don't follow Israeli history, many cite Netanyahu's extremism at the time with rousing a Jewish right wing gunman to assassinate Prime Minister Rabin in November 1995. That event sealed Israel's fate.
Let's start by telling the truth about Netanyahu, his malevolence, and his tortured vision for Israel.
Here, read.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Yitzhak_Rabin
The palestinians destroyed gaza once the Israeli's gave it up to them. They have not shown they can live in a civil society. One where they aren't paying citizens to kill Americans and Israelis, and teaching their children anti-semitism in schools.
2
Well, you should have thought of that before you decided to support Netanyahu. Now it's probably too late. Thank you very much :(
1
I can't help wonder, is it possible for a state to be both "democratic" and "apartheid" in nature simultaneously? It's difficult not to sense that Jews both in Israel and out of it love to gloat over the Palestinians' poverty even as Israel acts to worsen it.
There is never going to be a two state solution. The Palestinians will never give up their dream of destroying Israel and pushing every Jew into the sea.
It's time to stop kicking this dead horse already.
2
What gives American Jewish leaders the self proclaimed “rights and privileges” to endlessly tell their brethren in Israel how to run their own sovereign nation where they do the “bleeding and dying” ? No other immigrant group in America engages in such behavior. Aren’t there more worthy topics to focus attention ? Here’s one - half a million Syrians killed an counting. Sudan. Yemen. Does Mr. Lauderdale really believe Israelis pay serious attention to perpetual criticisms by American Jews telling them how to run their nation. Of course not.
Once you get rid of Bibi, Israel has a chance of regaining the world's respect. Until then, it's like expecting Trump to stop acting like a petulant third grader....a waste of time.
A one-state solution, however improbable today, is the only long term solution for peace and prosperity. A two-state solution is apartheid. Separating people for race and creed is the exact opposite of what every developed country accepts as essential in modern democracy. There is no way that in a two-state regime, the Palestinian state will be allowed to have equal rights - and no public conversation on the two-state solution is even suggesting same!
The huge irony is that as brilliant as people of Jewish faith are all around the world, in the arts, science, and business, anyone with international experience will know that the Palestinians peoples are equally talented. A one-state solution can create a state where there is democratic and internationally recognized Jewish elements to the new nation. Its increased size would give it true independent status around the world, and end the reality that without the USA, the modern Israel might cease to exist.
Israelis can try to build ever higher walls. The only eternal solution however is to make not just friends, but countrymen and women of its neighbour. That should be the goal. Nothing less.
54
How can Israelis make friends with people who are taught from the time they are children to hate Jews?
3
Yes, it is a big challenge, but just as hatred can be taught, so too can reconciliation. In Northern Ireland, such hatred was taught on both sides for years, but compromises were made by those in the middle, and the extremist positions and populations dwindled in time. Unfortunately, there will always be those who don't want to compromise, but take heart that most people, everywhere, only want peace for themselves, their families and their neighbors.
2
This has been debunked:
https://forward.com/news/israel/170451/palestinian-textbooks-dont-vilify...
Mr. Lauder, you are about thirty years too late. Over the past twenty years I have worked a good deal with the Palestinians in the West Bank, primarily with the Monetary Authority. I have watched the appalling spread of the Jewish-only settlements, looming over Palestinian villages like invasive Martian pods. I recall the moment about a decade ago when I looked out of my hotel in Ramallah, far from the belligerent settler communities of Hebron and Nablus, and saw a new settlement on a hill across the way. I called my spouse and said, sadly, ‘it’s over.’ The US government, egged on by the omnipotent pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, has abetted this expansion, both through its funds and by blocking any global condemnation. Perhaps if ‘mainstream’ Jewish groups had had the courage to complain thirty years ago, instead of trashing anyone who did, we might have found ourselves elsewhere. But if you spend time in the West Bank you know that the time for a two-state solution is gone. We should all now work towards the only remaining solution: One state, call it Israel, democratic and secular, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. We will support a state with freedom of religion, separation of state from mosque and synagogue, the kind of country all of us could believe in and a model for the Middle East. There is no longer any other moral choice.
125
Why is it OK for Israel to have Arabs, but not OK for Palestine to have Jews?
4
I agree in general, but it was the assassination of Rabin by a maniac Jewish settler that doomed everything. I truly believe that Rabin would have settled this long ago with a reasonable two-state solution. Coupled with the ascendance of the disgraceful Bibi, it would seem that we have quite a mess. I do not believe that Bibi acts in the best interest of Israel at all. Was it in the best interest of Israel to speak before our Congress before the Iraq War basically demanding that we go to war with Saddam Hussein? Wasn't the result that this would mean the ascendancy of Iran obvious? Was it in the best interest of Israel for Bibi to come here before our Congress again and demand that we avoid a nuclear agreement with Iran? Obviously not. Bibi has been wrong time and time again. He does not know what he is doing. He is beholden to the settler movement just as Trump is beholden to the Christian Right. The "culturally conservative" parallels are remarkable. Bibi has to go before any progress at all can be made. We can only hope that this time the prosecutors have him on corruption charges, and he is forced out. Bibi Netanyahu is a fundamental danger to Israel, the Palestinians and the world.
1
Good points, Ken of Sag, except that "pro-Israel lobby AIPAC" would be much more accurately characterized as "pro-fanatical-settlers-lobby." Its ingrained extremist bias has also been glaringly obvious for a long time (since 2001 and certainly detectable even before then), yet no credible challenge to AIPAC has ever been attempted in America. The US is culpable in this tragic disaster.
1
Bravo to Mr. Lauder for saying in public what many of us feel.
6
Amen. I'm a liberal, cultural Jew and a member of a Holocaust family who remembers the day President Harry Truman courageously recognized the State of Israel in 1948 and we all sang the Ha'Tikvah in my conservative synagogue. Over the years, I too, have become alarmed that a nation of Holocaust survivors has increasingly adopted some of the same practices of their former oppressors like "lebensraum" that increased illegal land grabs and settlements on the West Bank. Where I had hoped for an enlightened government that both appreciated and understood the plight of victims would treat the Palestinians as they themselves wanted to world to treat them, I saw increasing hostility and victim-blaming. Instead, with the influx of ultra-right wing immigrants, the strengthening of the Orthodox sect of Judaism and the harsh autocracy of the Likud Party, Israel has turned its back on tolerance and the two-state solution. Ironically, they've increasingly become a mirror image of the theocratic Muslim states that surround them to the point of being allies with Sunni Saudi Arabia in the ongoing Islamic civil war with Shiite Iran. With the Trump Administration abandoning any semblance of being an "honest broker" for peace by moving our embassy to Jerusalem, the chances for a two-state solution seem to have flat-lined. In the place of peace, there is an alliance that portends a more ominous regional war.
88
The first settlement on the West Bank after the Six Day War was Kfar Etzion. The land was bought by Jews in 1927. In 1929, Palestinians destroyed the settlement. In the 1930, Jews rebuilt the settlement, but again it was destroyed by Palestinians. It was rebuilt in 1943, but destroyed again in 1948. 157 Jews were murdered. 4 Jews survived. It was rebuilt by the survivors in 1967. Why is Kfar Etzion illegal?
4
"Cmon @Jack Green. No mind games; you know the answer. We're talking about, as Lauder implies post-1967 settlement activity.
ISRAEL AT 70? I wonder what the future will hold. Lauder is correct, I believe, in advocating for the two state solution. The treaty establishing two states can include changed territorial boundaries. As is typical in world affairs, high government officials and the 1% of the power elite do not reflect the beliefs of the 99%. Yes, Israel is the envy of the world for its technological advances in science, medicine and computers. The politics of Israel and its neighbors has been fraught since its birth. It shows no signs of abating. Perhaps Lauder is aware of information to which the general public has no access. In the US, the younger generation has not grown up in the shadow of the Holocaust. Hence, they feel less obligation to have formal affiliations with Judaism. I, too, wish that Israel will continue to grow and prosper, along with its neighbors, including the Palestinians. The way forward is unclear and tortuous. I'm glad that Lauder is optimistic. Because right now I think that US leadership is unstable and unpredictable. For one, I think that moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem is a publicity stunt by a beleaguered Trump that will compound Israel's problems and do nothing to further the US objective of world peace. Or at least getting along somehow or another. Bibi's style, likewise, is ideological, rigid and aggressive. I wish I could say I see light on the horizon. But not now. Soon, though. I hope.
34
Having twice rejected Israeli peace offers which would have given them East Jerusalem (the 2000 offer by the Barak government and the 2008 offer by the Olmert government), the Palestinians have forfeited all rights to any part of the city. They could have their capitol in Abu Dis, just East of Jerusalem and rename it "East Jerusalem," if so desired. Jerusalem has been Israel's capital since 1948 and has never been the capital of any other nation since the ancient Kingdom of Judea. It is the seat of the Knesset (Parliament), the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister's Office.
Israel has always been willing to accept a two state solution, but there is no reciprocation from Palestinian "rejectionists" who prefer perpetual war despite Israel's "military edge." Perhaps in time, they will change from initiating futile wars which they are incapable of winning, but until then, the status-quo will continue.
2
All Jews who claim to be Jews and have the background needed to state this should be recognized as such. The clearly needs to be something more for the Palestinians or over time, strong army or not, Israel will be at great risk and it is unlikely anyone else in the world will really come to its assistance, not even America.
3
Ron has this completely backwards, Jewish unaffiliated millennials are not turning away from Isreal because of it's religious character and or conflict with the palistianans; they are turning away because they have grown up unafillated. Young secular jews have grown up with no spiritual connection to the jewish religion hence have no recoginition of the spiritual importance of the land.Further they live in a post six day /Yom Kippur war era and don't remember ( and have no interest in learning about) the dangers of Isreal letting her guard down.The real tradadgy is the Jewish American privilege felt by the young unafillated generation- thinking they can walk away from the jewish people because of the freedom that America has offered.History had not treated this thought process kindly.
4
The real cause of the millennial lack of understanding is that many of us who are Jewish and instilled with an understanding of the importance of the state of Israel and are the parents of millennial children, have been turned off by increased expansion of settlements in the occupied territories and the outright rejection of us by the religious extremists; which as this piece so eloquently points out.
Anyone who has dealt with the extreme orthodox Jewish community knows that these issues are deeply intertwined by the Jewish religious right. Members or the religious right regularly state they are against a two state solution and want to push all the Palestinians out, just as the extremists on the Palestinian side wish to do the the same to the Israelis, increased settlements are part of that mission. As for the rejection of all those not of their level of observance, they forget the massive amount of funds raising and political support those they deem not Jewish enough have provided throughout the past 70 or so years. I personally know people who were planning to make aliyah (i.e- immigrate to Israel) who were turned off but the the insistence that they were not "really " Jewish because they were from a reform background and needed to "convert". It is these very behaviors that undermine support for Israel that has apparently been taken for granted. To say this due to disaffected youth and lack of affiliation is an over simplification of the situation.
3
I did grow up with a "spiritual connection to the Jewish religion" and that connection is exactly what makes me feel so wrong about the direction Israel has taken.
1
I have close family living in Israel. As an American Jew (Reform), I am most concerned about the growing rift within Israel — the clash between secular and the Haredim. My family have to work three jobs (and they are highly educated professionals) to remain above water. No tax breaks — those go to the Haredim, along with handsome welfare payments.
The security of the nation, militarily and economically, does not depend on innumerable Torah scholars. But they have a vice-grip on the government. They know it, and they use it to their advantage alone.
16
One day we will all treat each other the same. These labels of Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhist etc.. become murderers once they come to power. Imagine if America becomes a religious nation and start cleansing other nations that are not Christians. The people of these religious nations need to separate religion from the state including Islamic nations. There is no Jewish and democratic, just like there is no Islamic and democratic. I am afraid in America, we are betraying the founders vision and gravitating towards Christian and democratic. Religion is a personal choice and the state is a collective contract between people and state.
9
Somehow, Israel needs reach out to the young Palestiniams who are their future neighbors. I seen what happened recently in Parkland Florida, after the recent tragedy there. How the youth there said loudly and courageously enough is enough! There have been some young groups in Israel who have made friends on the West Bank. They seem to want change too, like our future leaders who are not satisfied with the status quo. I do not know how to make this happen, but feel it's possible to find a solution... and the time is NOW. Lets make peace fashionable before there are more Syria's.
4
Nothing good ever comes when extreme factions of any religion gain too much power and and influence over the respective government. This is true with (including but not limited to) extreme radical Islam, extreme radical Christians (our dear evangelical hypocrites) and just as true with extreme radical Jews, Palestinians or even Buddhists.
7
The threat to Israel's peaceful progress through the 21st century comes from Iran, its pet killers Hamas and Hezbollah, and their devotion to a violent religion. Saudi Arabia also funds and promotes a more violent form of the same violent religion. Until these two states and the proxies they pay are taken to task for being the most evil actors in the Middle East, there will be no peace.
4
As a Gentile old enough to remember the 1960s, I recall cheering on Israel in 1967 and 1973 as it held off the combined forces of the Arab World. I recall seeing signs in people's windows in Europe in 1967, saying in various languages, "We support Israel." I mourned the slaughter of the athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. I was thrilled when the Israeli military rescued the hostages at Entebbe.
However, Israel's policies under the Begin government and beyond never made sense to me, especially the settlements. The West Bank and Gaza have long been two of the most densely populated places in the world. Why would anyone insert settlers into already overcrowded territories full of hostile people?
It's almost as if the Begin government thought that things had been too quiet since the Achille Lauro incident and needed to stir things up to create a threat to maintain solidarity among Israel's increasingly diverse and fractious population.
Since then, the Israelis and Palestinians have been caught up in an insane revenge cycle, in which each side is determined to get in the last lick.
Being neither Arab nor Jewish, I can look at things objectively and see that both sides have committed unconscionable acts (suicide bombing of civilian buses by the Palestinians, depriving residents of Gaza of essential services by the Israelis, to name an example from each side).
Unfortunately, there's no one who can go in and knock heads together and tell both sides to grow up.
5
Enunciating a problem clearly is half-way toward a solution.
However, a few facts should be stated:
In the 1940's and 1950's, Arabs persecuted more than 500,000 Jews who had been living peacefully in Arab lands for centuries, Most fled to Israel.
Just as they had to abandon homes, so did Palestinians in the 1947 and in 1967.
The enormous and enormously wealthy Arab nations must provide dignity, opportunity and permanent homes for Arab Palestinians in the same way the single Jewish state absorbed those whom those Arab states expelled. However the tiny Christian Palestinian population should be offered other choices as the Arab nations sadly continue to be hostile to religious minorities within their borders.
Israel is a tolerant country especially of Druze, B'hai and other minorities; however, no country can tolerate a majority of those who are in violent opposition to its very existence.
6
President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace? Mr. Lauder how do you come to this conclusion? Do you have any tweets in evidence? Or are you merely going by the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem? If the 2-state solution is being killed, it is not just Benjamin Netanyahu that is doing it. The Trump administration, such as it is, is actively complicit in this killing.
3
Sorry, but you lost me at "President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace." I assumed the rest of the piece would be the same nonsense.
4
I applaud Mr. Lauder’s heartfelt concern for Israel. What would really be helpful now is for another column, perhaps jointly issued by the PA and Hamas, entitled “Palestinians’ Self-Inflicted Wounds.” Even better, to have them published side by side.
3
Palestinians have a government that could already be running a functional state but they choose not to. Recognizing a Palestinian state on paper won't change the fact that the Palestinian government is corrupt and incompetent. Recognizing Palestinian statehood may be worth a try but more likely then not you are going to be deeply disappointed by the outcome. Lot's of countries have beautifully constitutions on papers and abject poverty in reality. In the worst case Palestinian statehood is just an attempt to wage war on Israel by other means now with the benefit of internationally recognized statehood.
2
Ronald S. Lauder gives us an unintended clue to an underlying irritation that exists between Israelis and Palestinians. He proudly states that over the last decade he has visited jewish communities in over 40 countries and he gives us a list of ALL the geographic areas in the world where Jews live however he fails to include the countries of the fourth and fourteenth largest jewish communities
Canada and Mexico. No Ronald we do not and we do not want to live in America just as the Palestinians do not want to be Israeli citizens. If only the Palestinians could be heard and accepted as being there.
4
Once Palestinians acknowledge Israel's right to exist and accept that "refugees" will have a right to be in their own state of Palestine and not Israel, then a two state solution will emerge. This is the Palestinian intransigence being referenced – they refuse to do either of these. They'd rather commemorate 'nakba' and look backward 70 years, than look forward at the potential of having their own sovereign nation.
The good news is that the major Sunni Arab nations are increasingly recognizing the intransigence of the Palestinians. Word has it that they have told Abbas that they want him to support the comprehensive peace agreement that will be proposed by the U.S. Of course, given the history of Palestinian "leaders" to never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity for peace, Abbas would rather be remembered as one who said "NO" than a Sadat or King Hussein that said "yes". And that is why the Palestinians will continue to languish in no-man's land.
As further evidence of the abysmal Palestinian leadership, it's worth noting that when Israeli Arab citizens (i.e., Israeli Palestinians) are polled whether they'd rather become Palestinian citizens or remain Israeli citizens in the event of a 2-state solution, 95%+ would rather remain Israeli.
5
Bravo, Mr. Lauder. We need more Likud-identified voices like yours.
2
From Mr. Lauder's mouth to God's ear! Netanyahu doesn't care if Israel becomes an apartheid state. Like his Siamese twin Trump (its amazing the similarities between the two) he cares not what is best for his country but what his base wants.
As of now Israel cannot relinquish physical control of the occupied territories. What it can do is get ALL the settlers out, remain responsible for peace and quiet and leave the Palestinians to their own devices and self-government as long as there is no violence.
The occupied territories are a military, economic, social and political disaster for Israel. Politically and socially, the occupation is creating VERY serious divisions among Israelis themselves and in the world Jewish community and is costing Israel crucial international support. Socially because Israel has the largest income gap between rich and poor in the industrialized world but West Bank settlers have everything subsidized for them. Militarily, does anyone know how much time and money the IDF spends guarding settlements vs how much time and money it spends preparing for the next war with Hamas/Hezbollah/Iran? Wouldn't that time and money spent guarding settlements be better spent preparing for that next war?
4
If Israel ends the occupation of the West Bank, Palestinians will fire rockets & mortars from the West Bank just as Palestinians fired rockets & mortars from Gaza after Israel pulled out of Gaza.
1
Israeli intransigence is not the problem: the bottom line is that the Palestinian leadership has rejected several generous offers of their own state. Every time it looks like the parties might begin to edge toward a solution, Arafat or Hamas has let loose the suicide bombers, thereby wiping out the Israeli political left and center: Netanyahu is the result.
The Palestinian leadership makes $2.6B in international aid disappear every year, with no infrastructure to show for it: they have no intention of ever building a Palestinian State. That money goes into payments to terrorists and Swiss bank accounts. As long as the Palestinian leadership can keep its people miserable, impoverished, and furious, they can continue to sell them a vision of genocide, and the leaders can keep getting rich, the Arab states can continue to deflect blame for their failures, and the West gets rich selling the bullets.
9
Mr. Lauder's warning that "the spread of state-enforced religiosity in Israel is turning a modern, liberal nation into a semi-theocratic one", while true, is a bit ludicrous coming from one so tightly allied with forces attempting exactly the same here in the U.S.A.
4
This is a message that must be heard. Thank you Mr. Lauder.
1
Op-eds like this ignore so much of history and the role of the Palestinians in this conflict. "Self-inflicted" says so much. Only Israel can make peace - False. The Palestinians are neither responsible or capable - False and demeaning. "blame Netanyahu" get us nowhere. If the left wants to achieve a resolution, get the Palestinians to the negotiating table.
1
Lots of very sticky issues here. The religious issue is the thorniest.
As always, there are two sides here, with one getting the better press. What is lost in covering the story is the rights and fears of the more moderate of the Ultra-Orthodox. Never is their position explained, and what little coverage there is, always negative, condescending, preachy and insulting. Interviews are always with the most radical and uncompromising branches. This lopsided press coverage generates an aura of being backward, uncompromising and overzealous. Most Americans (and Israeli's) think of all Ultra- Orthodox as greasy, unbathed side-curls. Its simply not true, and closed-minded. Why would the more moderate NOT crawl into a shell and fortify their positions with that type of press coverage and biased impression the left?
2
i don't understand where the problem is, when you decide that a religious text must be use as cadastral map, what can you expect.
"President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace."
What team is that? The now empty chair off the Secretary of State? The about to be fired national security advisor? The hapless son-in-law with no security clearance?
WJC and Lauder have been cheerleaders for Trump and Netanyahu. It's hard to take this epiphany seriously.
3
"...the POSSIBLE demise of the two-state solution"?
Settlements have so carved up the west bank that a two state solution is practically impossible - exactly as planned. It seems like the argument against the one-state solution amounts to, how can they marginalize the large Palestinian population and still call themselves a democracy?
They'll be forced to continue the apartheid policies.
1
Excellent article, Mr. Lauder. Just two possible considerations on the subject: We seldom hear any of that "self criticism" coming from the other side of the table, the soi disant "Palestians". Israel is a democracy and therefore its people have considered all odds and chosen right wingers to rule over the country because of the conflict scenario they live in and undersand better then any one of us, the diaspora jews.
Messianic-trump, one of the most "fine" people on Earth, is "wholly committed to Middle-East peace"? More like an UN-holy commitment to sell more arms and more disruption for profit. I almost stopped reading at such a preposterous statement.
2
Not being Jewish I can't really say that I love Israel, but for most of my life I have greatly admired it and wished for its success.
But once they moved from being the oppressed to being the oppressors I have lost that admiration and I wonder how they could have gone so terribly wrong. In much the same way that the US is currently going terribly wrong, I guess.
4
Wise words from a man that really cares about the Jewish State.
Israel is on many measures in a stronger position than ever before. Its society remains democratic, vigorous and diverse. Living standards for Jews as well as Arabs are climbing faster than those of almost any of their neighbors, and far faster than European nations. Israel, once isolated by old hatreds, is increasingly close to all of the world's great powers, including China and India.
Yet that means that now is also the time to employ its strengths to fix old problems. Israel must demand that the ultra orthodox, which have made Jews everywhere more cynical about religion, contribute more to the whole of the Jewish State. And of course Israel must strive to reach a just and lasting two-state solution with the Palestinians, whose parallel national aspirations also need fulfillment.
1
If, after 70 years, the native Palestinians still do not have full rights while living on their own ancestral land and probably never will, in Israel, then the country never was and still is not a true democracy. Since it's only a democracy for Jews, what does that tell us?
1
You are incorrect. Every person of every religion within Israel has equal rights.
2
To quote Mr. Lauder: Israel will face a stark choice: Grant Palestinians full rights and cease being a Jewish state or rescind their rights and cease being a democracy. The fact is, they don't have full rights. Sorry.
Israel's wounds are indeed self-inflicted. But they date back decades before the state was founded, to the Zionist goal of establishing, on land populated by others, a state that gives preference to colonists based on their religion and ethnicity. There's no way to do that other that expulsion and repression. Israel needs to give up all laws that discriminate, extend the vote and all rights to all its inhabitants on both sides of the 1967 lines, and welcome back all refugees as demanded by UN Resolution 194. Then there will be peace and justice.
2
Israels government isn't capitulating to religious extremists, the Israeli government, like all governments, supports the constituents who provide it with the power to govern.
1
Mr. Lauder is correct about Israel's future and the problems of the ultra Orthodox there, and it is creating schisms both in Israel itself (my company has an office in Tel Aviv, and I talk to the people there regularly), and they are concerned with the Ultra Orthodox and their growing power. Among other things, the ultra orthodox have large families and in a couple of generations will be the largest group in Israel, which raises questions of Israel becoming a Jewish Iran, in tenor if not scope. More importantly, the land grabs Israel continues to make are being done almost entirely for the ultra orthodox, these are state built and provided housing. It also raises questions about who is actually going to support the ultra orthodox, many of them live off state subsidies, are still not required to serve in the military (they can volunteer though), and the question is in the future does this mean the more secular and reformed Jews are supposed to support the ultra orthodox Majority? More importantly, Jews around the world, who contribute a lot to Israel both in money sent there and in political lobbying for Israel, are getting disgusted, even people like Sam Harris are questioning Israel's turn into a true religious state ruled by the ultra Orthodox and they aren't happy, many people and groups are refusing to donate money at this point because of this issue.
1
Lauder wrote that "Israelis are on the front lines, making sacrifices and risking their own lives every day so that Jews worldwide will survive and thrive." How? They certainly aren't making life easier for Jews worldwide with the concomitant reaction to the spreading of the illegal settlements, nor to Netanyahu's bellicosity generally. Take out the thought that Israel is doing it "for us" and it was a good well reasoned article.
'President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace."
Another voice from the chorus here. Grudging acceptance of the brain & brawn of Israel in arriving at it's present regional dominance by Republicans, who were historically antagonistic to it's founding because of the prevalence of the political left, is only admiration for brute strength. To the winner goes the spoils, translates into support for "Greater Israel."
1
"The choices that Israel makes in the coming years will determine the destiny of our one and only Jewish state ...We must push for a two-state solution and find common ground among ourselves so that we can ensure the success of our beloved nation." These statements make clear that Lauder sees Jews as a people deserving of their own state, unlike most of the rest of the world, including anti-Zionist Jews. He rightfully calls for all Jews to support the two-state solution, so that Israel can continue as a democratic state which prides itself on not depriving any non-Jewish minority of civil and political rights. However, like so many diaspora Jews, he makes these demands of Israel but not of the Arab/Muslim world. Unlike Lauder, Palestinian Arab leadership will not accept that Israel is a Jewish state -- otherwise, they would not advocate for the return of over 5 million of the descendants of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war. Otherwise they would not continue to deny the connection between Jews and the land of Israel, including Jerusalem, and inculcate their people and their children with this narrative. This makes it difficult for the Israeli electorate to believe that any two-state solution will lead to anything except suicide. It is this rejectionist position of Israel on the part of the Arab/Muslim world which keeps the right wing of Israel in power. Until that changes, no Israeli leader will be eleceted who agrees to a two state solution. Its that simple.
1
Thank you, Mr. Lauder, for this courageous article! Israelis should hear more from people like you, Zionist Jews in the diaspora who care for Israel but don't like the path it is taking.
Netanyahu manages to create a picture of himself embraced by the American Jews. It is partly the source of his power. It is crucial that Israelis know that central figures in the Jewish world accept neither his leadership nor his values. The influence of Jewish voices outside Israel may have a profound impact. In spite of everything, Israelis are attentive to the Jewish world.
onourselvesandothers.com
"President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace."
Sir, the current tenant in the White House has shown from the beginning of his campaign that he is committed to only one thing; himself. Even if you are a conservative and a Republican, you really do not need to live in the world our un-esteemed leader is creating with every tweet.
1
Any government bowing to religious extremists is not good, no matter what the religion. For 1000 years the powers that be in Europe were often second in power to the Catholic Church and we know all to well how that worked out.
1
so many untruths here. Trump is not committed to a peace plan: he is treading water. A two state solution is a joke. Everyone talks about it but nothing ever gets done.
2
In 1965 just entering University in Europe I got friendly with some Palestinian students from Tel Aviv. Two years later they moved to Jordan (as they explained, too much harassment in Israel); in year 2000 I did some engineering work in Gaza and witnessed the stealing of the water and agricultural lands in Western Gaza by Israel; and now I keep reading about Israel stealing land throughout the West Bank and Trump taking pro-Israel sides.
Of course "Palestinian incitement and intransigence" is for all to see and yes "destructive" - slavery doesn't run in their blood.
3
Thankpyu Mr Lauder for bringing forward your concerns. Can you answer how the 2 state solution could extend the wealth and opportunities that Israelis often enjoy to the second state - and in the process improve security fo all?
Just something that I noticed. There are plenty of Jewish people in Canada, both orthodox and non, yet you don’t even mention it in your mention of the diaspora. You do realize Canada is a separate country?
As a realist, I see the future Israel as a two-state union: the secular in Israel proper and the Orthodox on the West Bank. There will be no place for non-Jewish religious or ethnic minorities. The war with the Palestinians has been won; they are defeated. The civil war among the Jewish Israelis can now begin.
Once I had an argument with my brother-in-law about Sharon instigating the Palestinians to precipitate the intifada. Unlike you, I’m a liberal Democrat, who believed at the time that a negotiated settlement was in the best interest of Israel, Israelis and Palestinians. My brother-in-law won the argument with this; you don’t live there, let them handle it. I had no rejoinder. Like most Jews, I have a deep love and respect for my people and the Jewish homeland but that does not make me an Israeli. Even though I am entitled to citizenship I don’t live there. Addressing your first anxiety, the two state solution; that will never happen. Things will simply stay the way they are now with Jews exerting more and more influence over the disputed territory. That is by design of the current power structure. As to the ultra-orthodox, they are tough to argue with, but more assertion by other Jewish segments can change the equation. But there is a third problem, a greater existential threat to the Jewish State, namely corrupt oligarchs garnering most of the countries wealth and placing their interests above that of Israel. And that is something only the Israeli people can solve.
1
At last someone speaks honestly about the alternatives! But if the two-state solution is dead, and expulsion of the Arabs is unacceptable, maybe it's time to speak up for a one-state solution that offers full citizenship rights to Palestinians in the occupied territories...
Yom Kippur teaches us that it is never too late to change our ways. So it is with you, so it may be with Israel. Thank you for making your change of opinion a sign of hope in these hopeless times. I hope that Israel listens to it. Yasher koach.
Netanyahu has stated unequivocally during his election campaign - in Hebrew only, as opposed to the lies he tells the West in English- that he will never allow a Palestinian state and that has been his guiding principle. To fail to admit that the vision of a two state solution is not totally dead is either dreaming or being disingenuous.
1
As to the history leading up to the establishment of Israel, I recommend two books to all readers of this sober op ed piece: Goliath; My Promised Land. Both reveal that “rebirth” of the Israeli state was built on circumstances that had long since changed from biblical description. There is an irony perhaps in that founding of our own country based as it was on ignorance of indigenous peoples was repeated when the Europeans imposed a similar solution on the people of the region.
Ronald S. Lauder, what you write about the dangers of the occupation and religious freedom in Israel is not new. Peace Now, Israel's oldest peace organization founded in 1978 by over 200 officers of the IDF (Israel's military) - supported by Americans for Peace Now - has been saying this for over 40 years. J-Street, which is an American pro-peace, pro-Israel, anti-occupation organization, has been focusing on the issues of the occupation as the end of Israel as a democratic, pluralistic, and Jewish state as well. Women of the Wall and IRAC (Israel Religious Action Center) have been working for religious pluralism in Israel. The New Israel Fund, an American organization that supports grassroots associations in Israel and the West Bank, upholds democratic institutions in Israel.
Yet, you mention none of these "liberal" organizations and stress your conservative credentials by supporting Likud and Trump. Figure out which side you are really on, and if you really support Israel's democracy, pluralism, and peace for Israel, then donate your millions to those organizations and peoples who work for those ideals. Likud and Trump don't fall into that category.
2
"President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace."
In the same way that a vulture is committed to eating fresh vegetables.
1
Mr. Lauder, an American businessman who once ran for mayor of New York, promotes the “two-state solution” to the Palestinian problem out of a desire to “ensure the success of our beloved nation” meaning Israel, not the United States.
He says that Israel has “wounds” which are self-inflicted. The Palestinians too have wounds which for the most part are inflicted by Israel. But Lauder criticizes the Israeli settlement project on specific grounds appealing to the predicament Jews find themselves in and does not mention Palestinian suffering.
The danger he seems most worried about is that when Israel inevitably annexes the West Bank in some form, it will no longer be a “Jewish state” — ie, non-Jews will have to be given the right to vote and will naturally modify Israel’s political and cultural institutions so that it becomes the state of *all* its citizens, Jewish and non-Jewish alike.
That calamity could be avoided if the Palestinians could be separated off into their own area, a “state”, so that Jews could remain a majority in Israel.
No serious analyst believes such separation is still possible, given the relentless and politically unstoppable project to settle Jews throughout the West Bank.
But why, in Israel, is “one state for all its citizens” considered such a calamity in the first place? Such a concept is more in line with our beloved nation’s ideals of justice and equal rights for all, than a system which preferences one religion or ethnic group over another.
1
"If current trends continue, Israel will face a stark choice: Grant Palestinians full rights and cease being a Jewish state or rescind their rights and cease being a democracy.
To avoid these unacceptable outcomes, the only path forward is the two-state solution."
In summary, If we extend actual rights to Palestinians, our theocratic autocracy will be replaced by an actual democracy, which would, obviously, be an unacceptable outcome. The sheer incoherence of the logic in the above quotation really beggars belief.
Modern Zionism is a disgrace. Full stop.
1
Sounds like the extreme tail wagging the secular dog - same thing that has happened here in the U.S.
1
The author postulates that Israel faces a dilemma: “Grant Palestinians full rights and cease being a Jewish state or rescind their rights and cease being a democracy.”
The framing is wrong.
Jews have no god given right to live in a Jewish state, no religion has this exclusive privilege.
But everyone who lives in Israel has the right to citizenship with all the privileges that come with it.
No country can be a democracy until it grants equal rights to every citizen.
Only then will Israel cease to be an apartheid state and becomes a true democracy.
A democratic Israel is the only solution.
The dilemma resolves with proper framing.
2
It seems to me that a column like this one would have elicited thousands of responses only a few years ago. The relative paucity now indicates to me an understanding that this issue is dead. Israeli policy seems to have long been opposed to any solution. Palestinian disorganisation is a perpetual block. Most observers have given up, with reason.
A two state solution would be a great resolution for all parties. The Palestinians need to accept their historical role in the current situation. A multi generational religious based bias against Jews and Christians has destroyed peace prospects time and time again. The Israeli right has used this sediment to their advantage. In a current world where the the EU and other countries have accepted Muslim refugees the Arab world should look back and see Jewish immigration in the same light. As long as the Palestinians still want to drive the Jews into the sea there will be no solution.
The old guard on both sides needs to update their thought process.
Israel's reckless behavior, including its annexation of Palestinian land, means that there is no chance for peace--let alone a 2-state solution. That opportunity has passed. Trump, who has absolutely NO moral compass, inflamed tensions, with his call for Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. Israel continues to violate the rights of Palestinians, 24/7. Thankfully, younger Israelis and American Jews understand that the occupation is immoral, illegal and needs to end!
1
As the father of a Millennial I can attest to the growing disaffection of young Jews for Israel. The less well the Palestinians are treated, even if they are responsible for it, the less support israel will get from the United States in the future.
It is about time that Mr. Lauder and other leaders of the American Jewish community tell Israelis that Netanyahu is going to destroy Israel.
1
When, during the Obama administration, Israel inserted herself into American politics by throwing her lot in with the Republicans in order to kill the Iraq deal she alienated her truest friends not only in America but around the world. Now this youngest, most vulnerable nation, ever surrounded on all sides by implacable enemies, goes on strutting like a peacock, imposing the harshest treatment possible on the tragically dispossessed surrounding her borders because she is so confident that with her weapons of mass destruction, her dotty fundamentalist American friends, and her far flung co-religionists who unfailingly subsidize her every initiative, she is impervious to all existential threats. May she come to her sense before it is to late; do unto others as she would wish others to do unto her.
2
Yes, religion is a huge problem all over the world, but it is not the reason the battle between Palestinians and Israeli Jews paralyzed. Israel is stronger of the two; it has the power to offer a portion of Jerusalem as a capital plus contiguous geography for a Palestinian state. That is the price/cost of two state solution. If one state is so bad, Israelis must do what needs to be done to avoid it.
"We must change course. We must push for a two-state solution..."
Nice words but where does Israel's "partner in peace" fit in? Again, and again and again and again, I read articles and editorials about this issue but almost never about the role of Palestinians. They are always treated as children or animals, beings lacking moral responsibility. The PA government incites terror and has since it was founded. Their own charter urges terror. Why not mention that? And what about Hamas? What happens when elections on the West bank put Hamas in power there? I enjoy reading Mr. Lauder's opinions but when it's something so weirdly one-sided, so ignoring the elephant in the room, I discount everything else written. Sorry, Mr. Lauder. Try again.
1
As much as I find the tone and direction of Israel distasteful, I expect it to get worse. The majority of Israeli voters come from authoritarian cultures, Middle Eastern and Russian. They have no familiarity with Western style democracy. The pictures I grew up with, Eastern European socialists dancing the hora, is gone if it was ever true.
Meanwhile the American Jewish establishment represents mega-donors, not people. It is an amalgam of Likud and the Republican Party. My two adult children, even the one who spent almost two years in Israel, are alienated from Israel.
1
Mr. Lauder makes an impassioned plea for the two-state solution, and details what he believes are the obstacles to its implementation. Unfortunately he leaves out one thing: that the Arab world has repeatedly rejected any such division of the land, starting with the recommendation of the Peel Commission in 1937, the UN partition plan of 1947, the creation of the 1949 Armistice Line, PM Levi Eshkol's offer to accept the Green Line as a border in 1965, and yet again, the outright rejection of negotiations, peace and even Israel's right to exist after the Khartoum Conference in 1967. The PA has continued in this pattern, and in fact teaches its children that the entire region is a single state. Hardly a prelude for coexistence and peace.
Mr. Lauder ignores how, even after 50 years of "land grabbing", all of Israel's West Bank construction uses less than 3% of the territory. He ignores the simple fact that Israel agreed to close certain communities, AND that the PA agreed to land-swaps for communities that would be ceded to Israel. He ignores how none of this diplomacy can come to fruition because the PA has persistently refused to commit to any proposal.
For decades Palestinian Arab children were taught not to accept Israel's right to exist. Even if Mahmoud Abbas was in control of Gaza, the fact remains that he has no mandate to make a two-state deal, even if there are some people willing to accept it.
Where is the "friend" of the PA to say this "inconvenient truth"?
1
Theft Is NOT the answer.
I have been a Zionist my entire life, have visited Israel many times and spent multiple years studying in Jerusalem. And today, I find myself more isolated from the Jewish Homeland than at any time in my life. As the article correctly states, the duo issues of illegal settlements in capitulation to the a hard right orthodox settlers, combined with the growth of the ultra-religious have let me to the conclusion that these parties, far more than the Palestinians are Israel’s greatest existential threat. Sadly, it is a situation that is only likely to get worse considering the birthrates of these segments of the population compared to secular and more politically moderate Israelis.
85
May I suggest this article be placed on the front page of every major Israeli news paper. If Israel would change course and compromise with the Palestinians, it has the opportunity to be an example to the world. To be the one prospering democratic nation in the Middle East that respects human rights and flourishes. If it did so, it could be a light to the world. Sadly, the current Israeli government is very far from that ideal.
49
Extremists on all sides are the last to change their beliefs as they think somehow that God is on their side. There is no logic or reasoning for them.
1
A very astute article Mr. Lauder. It would, however, appear that not only must Israel "clean up its' act" about the settlements and the power of the ultra orthodox right, but so too must the Palestinians give up its leadership to those dedicated to true democracy as well. A two state solution can only exist when neighbors acknowledge each others' right to exist. Israel has reached this juncture as an apparent dominant undemocratic force out of necessity to protect itself. Its' intention was never to become an apartheid state. As long as rockets and tunnels remain the sole objective in Gaza; and as terrorists make their way across the West Bank border to murder Israelis; and Palestinians continue to teach hate in their schools and textbooks, they will have caused their own demise. Theodor Herzl's original dream was to have one state where all religions were to be welcomed, not just the Jews. However, the Palestinian Arabs repudiated that idea and the rest is unfortunately history. The reality is that the Palestinians lack power and support from their Arab neighbors. Israel IS the dominant power and it is time for Palestinians to finally focus on a two state solution rather than the destruction of Israel. Unless Israel can ultimately trust the Palestinians, will they be able to again relinquish settlements as was done in Gaza, and to shake hands as neighbors.
38
I have to disagree. A careful reading of Israeli political history reveals a bigotry and racism baked into the parties that today form the government. The NYT highlighted Deborah's post; but unfortunately it only has the result of repeating untrue political myths in support of a Jewish nation that is likely to self immolate in my lifetime.
It would have been far more helpful if Mr. Lauder had come to these conclusions about 20 years ago. In the 1990s others saw the trends that were leading to this crossroad and were speaking about it. They were attacked for being anti-Zionist and were accused of being anti-Semitic.
I fear that it is too late. Israel will move down the path of virtual annexation of the West Bank and the deprivation of the rights of the Palestinian people. More and more Jews living outside of israel will distance themselves from Israel, and there will be "assimilation, alienation and a severe erosion of the global Jewish community’s affinity for the Jewish homeland".
9
Israel does not live in a vacuum but in a shark tank. The two state solution is DOA because the West Bank is a natural defense zone between Israel and the failed states on its borders. As long as the Middle East remains in turmoil, the West Bank and Golan Heights will be secured and fortified by Israel.
Secondly, Israel is no loner simply a “Jewish” state but now a multinational and multicultural modern nation. Soon, almost half the population of Israel and the West Bank will be of Arab or other non-Jewish heritage. The reality of demographics is Israel will morph into a secular state like any Western nation today. Israel of tomorrow must become more than a Jewish bunker and more of a progressive model of the power of multiculturalism in today’s world.
35
I am not Jewish. I am an American that supports Israel. That said, the path Israel is on is ill conceived and dangerous. I believe that Democracy itself in Israel, as well as all over the globe, is in retreat. Might makes right and authoritarianism is on the ascendancy. When Netanyahu took sides in the American political process on the side of Republicanism/neo-conservatism, hence Trumpism, the last straw was added. I do not support the present government of Israel e.g. the Nation's present treatment of its neighbors and the Palestinians. If anyone calls me anti-Semitic, I reject it as another method of the far right. Let's hope this is not a permanent situation. It's very sad.
13
My 83-year-old father, a lifelong secular liberal Zionist, wrote off Netanyahu when he supported the neo-Nazi-friendly Donald Trump.
If Israel continues to support Trump, and continues to let the Orthodox run the country, then American Jews will reject Israel.
Sadly there is never a drift towards moderation. But only a drift to extremism - The State of Israel is becoming a non secular state and it is impossible for Palestinian leadership to be moderate. Terrible acts will breed more terrible acts. The moderates will be squeezed out. This cannot end well.
5
I stopped reading here:
"If current trends continue, Israel will face a stark choice: Grant Palestinians full rights and cease being a Jewish state or rescind their rights and cease being a democracy."
This is utter nonsense. And those on the left have been saying it for the last 25 years. Current trends HAVE continued, and the "stark choice" has never had to be made, for the simple reason that the underlying argument is nonsensical.
Israel has not and will not annex the West Bank, and thus the Palestinians inhabitants thereof will never become Israel's problem. The Palestinians have a leadership, they have a governing structure. They are obviously content with what they have, or they would have changed it by now.
There is a wall separating Israel from the West Bank. Israel is under no obligation to let Palestinians cross over into Israel proper. Nor is Israel under any obligation to grant Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank citizenship or anything else.
The author seems to believe that the Palestinians want a state of their own. I disagree. The victimization narrative is and has always been appealing to the Palestinians. I suspect it will remain so.
Soon the world will forget about the Palestinians, and they will have only themselves to blame.
4
Sounds like you think that South Africa's "homeland" reservations for blacks were a good idea.
"Soon the world will forget about the Palestinians, and they will have only themselves to blame."
By that rational, by now the world should have forgotten the holocaust victoms. But it is not and it will not. History never forgets the savagery and inhumanity inflicted on innocent people. Hence, the maxim: "Never Again"
1
Oh you probably would of benefited from continuing to read.
Israel doesn't merely guard its border with the West Bank and Gaza. Israel guards the border between the Palestinians and Egypt. They blockade their ports. They prohibit the importation of basics like concrete. Just for bunkers they say. Maybe. Meanwhile the schools and sewers that also need it fall apart.
You say Israel won't annex the West Bank? Why then do they continue to plant and expand settlements which they connect to existing territory with guarded roads prohibited to Palestinians. Roads that dissect their territory creating yet another "border" for Israelis to guard.
Now it probably is true that Israel won't annex Gaza. Ghettos are useful to occupiers. Collective punishment is so convenient. Witness the widespread bombing of a vulnerable population in response to a rocket strike. Why hunt the perpetrator when you can punish their much more vulnerable families and neighbors? Shut off water or power to send a message. Run it in to the ground and hold it up as a reason the Palestinians don't deserve a state.
The governing bodies of the Palestinian enclaves have been corrupt and inept, there is no denying that. But to try and paint the Palestinians as suffering only from self inflicted wounds takes massive amounts of ignorance or self delusion.
Until Israeli and Palestinian disavow occupation and the use of faith or race to define citizenship the land they share will bleed.
Israel is living in the past as all religions do. American support of Israel is fundamentally not congruent with American values. I am happy to vote for a "jew", but Israel forbids any other "labeled" faith from participating in their environment. That is rude. And the world skews towards fairness.
8
This is deeply false. For example, did you know that there is an Arab on the Israeli Supreme Court? That 20% of the undergraduates at the flagship university, The Technion, are Arab. I completely agree with the article, but Pilot is incorrect in propagating the screed that Israel forbids those of any other faith from participating in the environment.
1
Based on what I've seen over the years in Israel's clear and consistent actions, I do not feel optimistic about a two-state solution.
Long ago Israel shot past the point where it could undo the settlements significantly enough to make possible a two-state solution.
For quite some time now, settlements for Israel have been an issue beyond its incumbent-level politics, having become an existential-level political matter for itself as a nation-state.
In other words, settlements have gone past Netanyahu's rule, or any other future leader's rule. Israel now is unable to exist for itself without them.
People say be careful what you pray for because you just might get it. Israel now has the settlements it struggled for and then some!
Settlements are today an existential part of Israel itself as a nation state. For significant numbers of people living there, the settlements can no longer be undone without Israel itself, as they see it, also disappearing. They will fight to the death to prevent that.
Israel has irrevocably divided itself over this issue. It already went past the possibility of ever going back on the settlements.
But I would love to be wrong about this.
oz.
48
This may well be true: "Israel ... already went past the possibility of ever going back on the settlements."
However, international law is equally insistent that the settlements are on occupied land and that land cannot be part of Israel.
Two irreconcilable positions that must be reconciled.
Current and past Israeli leadership knew that the settlements could never be legal under international law, yet went ahead with them.
Can any future arising from a deliberate flouting of international law include peace in any form?
The Palestinians have consistently rejected the two state solution, and as long as the conflict remains a "one to the exclusion of the other" proposition, Israel is equally just as entitled to be the "single state solution." The 1947 U.N. Partition provided for two states, "one Arab and one Jewish," but the Arab League rejected that compromise and in a series of "defensive wars of necessity," Israel prevailed gaining the entirety of the former British Mandate in. the 1967 "Six Day War." There were no "settlements" before 1967, thus they are not central issues to the conflict.
As one commentator has noted "the Palestinian diplomatic toolbox is empty" and nothing will change until they decide to do something productive on the diplomatic front. As to Lauder's discussion of "religious extremism," he is on point in exposing the cause of alienation of Diaspora Jews from the State of Israel. That is something which must also fundamentally change if Israel is to survive and prosper.
2
Trump & Sons are wholly committed to Middle East profiteering for themselves - they could careless about peace. Just observe his unilateral thuggish edict to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, implied support of Russia in Syria, conspiring against Qatar - a US ally - with Saudi Arabia, UAE and others, taking 100's of billions from Saudi Arabia for weapons, and sabotaging the Iran nuclear deal that is working so far.
Nothing "incites" a person more than someone trying to subjugate them, take away or demolish their home and "annexing" (aka stealing) their land.
Claimed religious rights over other's religious right, or those without a religion, are the definition of insanity - including the preposterous idea that God has a preference for one group over another.
Mr. Lauder, what makes you think that once Netanyahu & Co achieve a single Israeli state, they will not purge the Arabs and Palestinians? Just like Jews and Muslims alike have been purged in the past, and now as we see Buddhists purging the Rohingya. It seems authoritarians world wide are exploiting religion to get their way.
Praying or banging one's head on a Wall or building walls achieve nothing. Israeli supremacists and settlers et al in the front lines are actually endangering the lives of the diaspora and others who in good faith are trying to support Israel. The only way for them to reduce risks to themselves worldwide is to sincerely seek a two state peace. Stop giving a pretext to the anti-Semitics and haters.
2
Israel is not a democracy any longer, except in the way that Iran and Russia are democracies. it's a one-party state that runs roughshod over the rights of minorities.
11
I agree Paul. Much like the US, seemingly is no longer a democracy like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Russia - the latter three countries our current one-party in control government support.
1
Actually Israel's problem is too many parties requiring the formation of coalition to govern, giving undue power to small, ultra-othodox right wing fringe groups.
3
Israel's PM, Benjamin Netanyahu has reigned for almost as long as Ben Gurion had in the 40’s and 50’s. His policies are contradictory to those which BG forged the newly born state;contrary to democratic values, corruption and personal gain scandals prevail, lack of courage to say, accomplish and lead the nation forward in order to create alongside of Israel the State of Palestine with fully normalized relations. While Israel is currently enjoying a productive vibrant cycle of activities throughout its economy, the civilian population has been numbed into a stupor by accepting the dangerous status quo. Creeping and blatant extensive settlement undertakings are going on minute by minute throughout the occupied West Bank. The far reaching and encompassing policies fostering religious coercion and discrimination are damaging to Israel’s connection with the overwhelming majority of non-ultra-religious Jews. The back door deal making done by BB and his boys in order to maintain their positions of power and enrich their coiffeurs are what really matters to the so called leaders today. Israel might superficially and externally appear invincible, but internally it’s acting in a self-destructive manner while being devoured from within, losing sight and touch of the democratic, progressive, humane and benevolent core values that were and still are the hopes and prayers for our beloved homeland by the overwhelming majority of supporters of the state as well as Jews all over the globe.
4
Thank you Mr. Lauder. A statement like this, from someone in your position in the Jewish community, has been a long time coming. It would be great for prominent Jews to openly support J-Street as well.
4
Mr Lauder elaborates a point of view that the vast majority of the Jewish people believes in. I am an optimist and believe that the State of Israel will pursue the window of opportunity that exists for a 2 state solution. Imagine the potential for peace in the middle east if this happens.
3
It is the point of view of yourself and perhaps the majority of Jewish people you know. Unless you have spoken with the majority of Jewish in the world you have no idea this is true.
1
This is ludicrous:
"Over the last few years, settlements in the West Bank on land that in any deal is likely to become part of a Palestinian state, have continued to grow and expand. "
This process began in 1967 has continued unabated for over 50 years.
5
With whom is Israel supposed to negotiate a "two-state" solution. Presumably, the PA and Hamas.
Hamas not a negotiating partner, because
(a) It does not recognize Israel as a legitimate nation-state.nation-state. and
(b) It sees any current settlement only as a temporary expedient on the road to a single (Arab) state "from the river to the sea". See the revised Hamas charter.
So Israel is chided for its unwillingness to parley with a faction thqt does recognize ir and is pledged to destroy it when times ripen.
2
Israel could negotiate a fair peace any time it wants. Everything else is blaming the victim.
In this day and age, to base the raison d'être for a state on a religion is not appropriate, and the justification should not be pointing fingers at the neighboring Arab states which are more or less in the stone age in this regard. What will a "Jewish" state mean fifty years in the future? This applies to every state - India is not just for Hindus, the US is not just for Christians, and so on. Forget the two state - Israel should give Palestinians equal rights in a single state, educate everyone, work for the economic benefit of everyone, and step into the future.
5
The two threats to Israel are really one - it is the rise of the Ultra-Orthodox and their Biblical claim to all of the land being a religious state that is now driving Bibi's policies.
The fight in the mid-east is turning into one not only among Shia, Sunni, and Haredi fanatics, but by all of them against secular, tolerant governments. And it looks like that is going to continue, barring a miracle.
4
I hate to break this to Mr Lauder, but I feel that some of what he mentions are overstatements. Even if Israel does have the rise of religious groups, that still doesn't make it a theocracy. Israel still allows for freedom of religion despite all of this, which is a lot more than what the rest of the region does. Meanwhile, the reason why the two state solution seems dead is mainly because the Palestinians continue to turn it down whenever it gets offered no matter what Israeli PM is offering be it liberal or conservative. It's not they never had that opportunity, it's more that they didn't want that opportunity. Although I do hate Bibi, I can't blame the failure of the two state solution on just him especially when Abbas had a history of having peace talks with him or even with Olmert, was much more liberal. The only way the two state solution can work will have to get the Palestinians, especially Hamas, to stop with all the terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. Unfortunately, they won't stop until every last one of them is dead or they overthrow the Israeli government as a whole. As for the settlements, many of them aren't even government sponsored unlike so many others around the world. They are even placed on lands that the Palestinians didn't even build on for decades and didn't even care about it until they got there. In reality, there is no separation line what is to be cease fire line between Israel and the West Bank isn't a real boundary.
2
If Israel believes in freedom of religion, why can't people go shopping on Saturday? Why do women have to ride in the back of the bus? Why aren't non-orthodox marriages allowed? Why are Orthodox excused from military service?
What you are talking about is just the more religious areas, while that isn't the case everywhere else. However, it is choice on whether to be open or not on a Saturday. I could easily say about places in the US and even Europe that are closed on Sundays and claim that they are Christian theocracies by your logic. Nonetheless, you don't need to be a Jew to enjoy Israel. Although it would be nice if religion did stay out of marriage even though Israel does currently recognize same-sex couples who marry outside and come back afterwards despite not currently allowing for them to marry in the country itself. One other thing, the ultra-orthodox are a small minority and don't have much influence outside of places such as Jerusalem. Everywhere else, they are pretty much despised. More importantly, that group doesn't represent all of Israel, so quit trying to act as if they are all one in the same, because I'm an Israeli-born Jew, and I happen to be very liberal and open minded.
1
The author presents a false choice: the most likely path is the one presently being taken; namely insisting on a secure Israel recognized by the Palestinians who must relinquish the "right of return"as have Jews expelled or those who fled Syria, Yemen, Egypt not to mention Germany and Austria. In other word the time now is not right for a two state solution when Gaza is ruled by Hamas which rejects Israel's right to exist at all. I hope for the day when an Arab or Palestinian leader like Sadat emerges and a genuine peace is possible between two states and two peoples. Yes, some jews are anti- Israel but that reflects the polarization in our nation and some Jews are on the far left and tend to oppose Israel at every turn.
2
Nonsense. These are false obstacles - Israel could reach a settlement any time it wants. I've been hearing that the time isn't right for almost 50 years, and continued settlement building only makes it more and more difficult. In the long run the world will not tolerate an apartheid state.
Mr. Lauder is correct that orthodox theocratic extremism is a danger to Israel, but, like many others, misses the options for resolving the dangers from the Arabs who call themselves Palestinian.
The idea that a one state solution requires Israel to give those Palestinians full citizenship with full voting rights is absurd. A people who refuse to live in peace with the established government and its citizens would never be given full citizenship in the United States, or any other nation on earth. So why must Israel make such a commitment? In the Middle East many other nations put groups, such as Palestinians, in the category of legal residents.
Since a two state solution has been dead for a long time, legal residency with basic civil and property rights and local control is completely reasonable, and consistent with international practice. Making them legal residents would enable Israel to expel hostile groups like Hamas in favor of true social service programs.
The problem of the ultra orthodox is much more serious. They are extremists who can destroy the Jewish state. My own personal disgust has caused me to stop buying Israel bonds.
Israel’s choice is to survive as the liberal, inclusive Jewish State envisioned at its founding, or become the Jewish equivalent of Taliban Afghanistan, and thereby lose the support of the international Jewish community that has protected and supported it.
1
"The idea that a one state solution requires Israel to give those Palestinians full citizenship with full voting rights is absurd."
Anything less is apartheid.
The Palestinians have refused every attempt at peaceful coexistence for 70+ years. It is not apartheid to deny self acknowledged enemies of a country to become full citizens. What other country does that?
1
Nations and religions are undercut and eventually wither because of the traditional evils of fear, greed and power. The dilemma of Jewish millenials is the same one felt by many indoctrinated in Catholicism, evangelical Protestantism and other dogmatic religions: What is there to stay for?
And Israel and the US nation have a lot in common: Each has largely been hijacked politically by both powerful money interests and fearmongering, judgmental religious extremists. The motivation of money is too easily overlooked in the face of other political influences in Israel's abandonment of its only hope for long-term survival, the two-state solution. Rampant settlement development doesn't only satisfy the yearning for the ideal of Eretz Israel. It also satisfies the wallet. And, accordingly, Bibi's ricebowl. Stopping the gravy train is an uphill battle. In both countries.
2
Attempts at the two state solution and the Oslo process have led to thousands of dead Jews and Arabs since they began. The Arabs got a small Palestinian state in Gaza in 2005 and look what they have done with it. Does the region need an even larger Gaza now on the West Bank? Would that be good for the average Arab in the West Bank, let alone the Jews of Israel? The Arabs don't really want it anyway, because they have repeatedly rejected significant two-state offers without negotiating. The two state process has been proven a failure time and again. It's assumption is the willingness of Arabs to co-exist in any way with Jews in the land. There is none. Offering them a state just projects weakness and brings more conflict. You would think someone might derive a lesson from it's effects after all these years instead of repeating the same wishful thinking about the Arab's intentions.
1
Don't like Lauder, Republicans,Trump, or Netanyahu, but in this case, Lauder's completely right. Sticking heads in the sand doesn't improve the situation. A one state solution is completely unacceptable. The demographics of the area are completely against it. A Greater Israel is appealing for emotional reasons, but cannot come about. Reality is against it.
2
Sorry. But I'm too much in fear of what this country is doing to itself and the American people, to worry much about Israel.
As far as I'm concerned, they have selected their own populist firebrand in Bibi Netanyahu, their right-wing government is in cruise-control, the Palestinians are still being stripped of their land for settlements and treated like 3rd-class citizens, and Israel is still socking the U.S. for billions in financial and military aid that they clearly don't need.
And until they start to recognize that many of their problems are of their own making, nothing will change.
Which is uncannily similar to what can be said about here under the current situation.
3
Palestinians have shown themselves irresponsible in managing their own state. Gaza is one example. The de facto dictatorship of the Palestinian Authority is another. The first step is for Palestinians to reject Hamas and its fellow terrorist organizations and rout out all terrorists. The second is for Palestinians to vote on new leadership that will pursue the objective of a properly managed state. The last election, in which Hamas was dominant, showed that Palestinians were not ready. Only they can determine whether they now.
1
Excellent article. I know it, as in Israeli.While I was born in Poland, I consider myself an Israeli and not Polish (since Poles did not want me I did not want them either). I lived in Israel many years, got my education there, served 2.5 years in the army. In 1960ties I moonlighted in a health center in an Arab village and I was treated as a friend. In those years I was struck by the Israelis' tendency to "Arab jokes" and feeling of superiority. For Arab people respect and dignity were most important. Instead of reaching out to Arab people who wanted peace as much as Israelis our governments were trying to talk to the Arabs in power notwithstanding their corruption and basing their power on "freedom struggle" rather than nation building. The worst enemies of Israel have been then and now religious extremists. Let us not forget that ancient Jewish states fell because of such people and their internecine warfare. As famous Polish-Jewish poet said: "Those who speak in the name of G-d should show their credentials". Remember who murdered Rabin! Perhaps it is not too late to reach out to common Palestinian people who want same as we: peace for their children. A Switzerland-like federation of cantons, consisting to start with of Israel, Palestine and Jordan would be a good and realistic goal.
5
"If current trends continue, Israel will face a stark choice: Grant Palestinians full rights and cease being a Jewish state or rescind their rights and cease being a democracy."
What's wrong with everybody having the same rights?
Isn't that how democracy works?
Mr Lauder does a very convincing job in sketching the family-portrait of Israël as rather disharmonious. In becoming an adult, one sometimes realizes that one has more in common with grown-ups outside the bond of family than those within. What a marvellous future Israël awaits should it welcome the like minded Palestinian as the new inhabitant of a many coloured state of Israël.
The idea that religion can be determined by the masses is illogical as saying science can be determined by the masses.
Religion like science is based on a set of facts that are not understood by all.
You have to accept and understand those facts to be considerred a authority.
Albert Einstein was a Jew who knew physics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein
He understood how the physical world operates,
The same goes for Religion.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein was a Jew who knew religion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Feinstein
He understood how the religious world operates.
Just as a scientist has to believe the world is round and the moon is not made of green cheese a religious authority has to believe a Jew is not allowed to eat Pork.
Albert Einstein accepted the physical world but not the world where there is a God and knew more about physics then any other man knew in the world.
So when it came to science what he thought mattered but when it came to religion what he thought was irrelevant .
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein accepted the Torah and knew more about it than any other man in the world did but did not accept the principles that science tell us is true.
So when it came to science what he thought was irrelevant but when it came to religion what he thought mattered.
This is why the writer is wrong when he speaks about religion.
The Orthodox have the right to determine issues of religious life so the fact it alienates some Jews who do not is not relevant.
2
I imagine this question will be called naive, yet people vote their economic interests in other democracies. If the single state is established, Jews will remain the majority for some number of election cycles and have a chance to build coalitions. It seems to be a core belief of the anti-one democratic state proponents that voting by ethnicity will be the eternal and irrevocable outcome of this solution. Why?
1
Since double or even triple citizenship has become à la mode, and given the fact that about eight million Jewish persons live in the diaspora, why not grant each of them Israeli citizenship and have them partake - even though non-residents - in all legislative processes. In so doing, the one-state solution would be possible,, even in the long run (if only because the number of children born to ultra-orthodox couples living in Canada and in the United States would at least match the high birth-rates by Palestinian couples. It would also solve the question of Jerusalem: one capital in a single state, in which the ratio of its Jewish component to its Palestinian component would be - and would remain - about 9:1.
When I moved to this country and accepted naturalized citizenship, I relinquished my right to interfere with official US policy towards my former homeland. Why do Americans of Jewish descent not see this obligation? Their continued powerful advocacy, bordering on coercion, for one-sided support hurts the US both militarily and diplomatically. The US should be free to pursue its own strategy viz-a-viz Israel. It is not.
I too share the author's fears. It is heartbreaking but the peace faction lost its credibility when the Gaza strip was returned and became a nexus for rocket attacks and terrorist infiltration. Fear is what fuels Netanyahu and he is a master (like our Prez) at fueling fear of the other to keep himself in power along with his shortsighted policies.
I beg to differ with Mr. Lauder. Israel wil never give up the settlement area in any future settlement with the Palestinians.
I agree that we need a peace settlement. It's what the final agreement will look like that we disagree upon. 75% of Israeli's don't believe that a two state solution is possible at this time. Mr. Lauder should not be pushing Israel into a death trap. He should be respectful of the needs and wishes of the Israeli people.
1
Friend Ron,
The only way I can stay in power indefinitely is to cover my flank with a 6 party coalition. That includes parties that see a 2 state solution as heresy.
The clinging to power requires pandering to religious, ultra nationalist extremist. This toxic coalition brew does not allow for peace overtures.
The fragility of my coalition government is exacerbated by a ‘bitza‘ of corruption. The case 4000 in fact targets immediate family.
These facts on the ground require Me to deflect attention from these travails and shmear those who talk of peace.
Unfortunately, the self forced errors are necessary to maintain power.
Sincerely, Bibi
P.S., Sheldon Adeleson’s continued financial alms are a godsend!
1
Mr. Lauder unfortunately doesn't mention that the illegal settlements in the West Bank are supported with vast amounts of money by Republican Evangelicals, based on their very own biblical beliefs beliefs.
A very pious Southern Baptist in-law of mine told me that the United States was only founded in order to protect the state of Israel and Jerusalem centuries later in order for the Second Coming to happen.
I wish I were as confident that the current leadership in Washington DC is fully committed to the peace process. The move to recognize Jerusalem for Israel was very provocative.
Many years ago, Israeli and Maerican Jews discouraged Yiddish. It was seen as a language of defeat. This isn’t fully wrong. There’s a lot of anger brimming under the surface of a lot of Yiddish humor. However, it was an important part of our history. It reminded us that we were forced to be humble, and it allowed us some wry grace in our humility.
When I have heard Palestinians talking in English about their plight, their cadences remind me of Yiddish.
Israelis and diaspora Jews should not be forcing others into the hopelessness and anger we felt for centuries. We are supposed to learn from history, not repeat its mistakes.
Isn't it obvious by now that Israel is going to remain a democracy for its Jewish residents and continue to block off, isolate, harass, and push out Palestinians? The choice in the dichotomy that the author posits - two state solution or cease to be a democracy with universal human rights - is being decided by boots on the ground - and the answer is neither. Israel will be a democracy with human rights for Jews.
Thank you for this courageous column, we need all Jewish and pro-Israel leaders to speak out on exactly these two points.
Mr Lauder, thank you for being courageous, forthright and candid. We need leaders like you to compel honest introspection on all sides.
Being a muslim, I encourage the same level of honesty in the Islamic world to empathize with history of the Jewish nation, respect their vast contributions to mankind and fully/wholeheartedly endorse their moral right to exist as a unique nation for Jewish people.
In return Israel must reciprocate.
121
Ahmad Raza, Lauder's essay, and your response to it, remind me that there is still hope for our world. Thank you both for providing me with this glimmer.
2
Between Mr. Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, thereby alienating Palestinians, investigations of Netanyahu and vastly increased West Bank "settlement," I can't see how a two state solution will continue to be viable. In any case, Palestinians have never embraced it and are unlikely to do so in the near future, especially while Trump is in office.
The minute Israel began building on the West Bank was the death knell of any hope for peace. As long as Likud and hard right leaders are elected, Israel will continue toward a path of self-infliction. I despair what has happened to a country that I love and have lived in; it is almost unrecognizable to me these days. True, it is an island democracy in a sea of hostility, but to continue to use this as an argument for harsh policies and hawkish leadership has worn thin. Israel needs new leadership to guide itself through these treacherous waters, because the old model is not working for them, their neighbors, or for the world for that matter.
15
Apartheid Israel is not a democracy . To say it is a democracy is absurd .
Israel is another example (a very major one) of a growing and worldwide exuberance on the Left, which encompasses and surrounds communities more tied to exclusion and separation. Simply put, there are more poor, more historically excluded people every day and they aren't going away. In addition, the numbers of those in prosperous state who have sympathy for the poor and the disadvantaged is growing. To resist this wave only seems backward to the young and others of us who don't see exclusion and deprivation as a viable response to the new realities we all face.
4
Mr. Lauder - Bravo for your courage and forthrightness in speaking out!
Your views will resonate with many Jews, throughout the world, but, at the same time, will fall on deaf ears to just as many. As you doubtless are aware, the issues of which you speak are enormously complex and fraught. The forces arrayed against Israel are powerful, and becoming more so with each succeeding year. Anti-Semitism is exploding around the world, much of it linked to the "new left" in Europe, the United States, and certainly in my home country, South Africa. Black neo-fascism at major South African universities has now fully embraced anti-Zionism ( BDS), and, I fear, will inevitably morph into frank anti-Semitism. Our generation of Jews, yours and mine, has known nothing but relative peace during our lifetimes, but my fear is that that situation is changing.
60
You conflate anti-Zionism with BDS.
BDS is restricted to the occupied territories in the West Bank. The West Bank is not part of Israel. Support for BDS cannot logically be considered anti-Zionist.
Support for Palestinians, including return of the occupied territories, can only be construed as anti-Zionist if Israel includes those occupied lands. Essentially, it is a demand that Israel be allowed to keep lands taken in war. This cannot happen, no matter how much you may wish it.
Mr. Lauder writes that "President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace." It is hard to argue against this, but one needs to question the wisdom of Trump's recent recognition of Jerusalem as the legitimate capital of Israel and the decision to move the U.S. embassy there. All that was accomplished by this move was to create a provocation to the Palestinians without the U.S.and Israel putting forth any concessions to them that could work toward a two-state solution. Also, Mr. Lauder rightly criticizes the intransigence of Israel's religious right. Equally important as barrier to a two- state solution is Hamas, which has a stranglehold over Gaza and steadfastly refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
2
"The first threat is the possible demise of the two-state solution. I am conservative and a Republican, and I have supported the Likud party since the 1980s."
Then you helped kill it.
28
I can't understand this love for the two state solution. One state gets the milk and honey, the other gets the Desert. The separate states will be in constant conflict. One state will have a functioning government and a high standard of living, while the other will be a permanent welfare state without a functioning government, much like today. Far better is for Israel to offer a Federal government with two states. Israel will have the majority in a Parliament for a period of confidence building. During that time, integration of the population will be the goal and the benefits of the union will become apparent as Medical Care, Education, experience with governance and improving standard of living, freedom of movement and worship become the norm. Israel will need that time to adjust to the reality of a Palestinian majority in exchange for an integrated population which will have the brain power to become the most advanced society in the Middle East. Maybe, just maybe by the turn of the next century, the citizens therein will not think of themselves as Israeli or Palestinian, but as citizens of the new Nation whatever its called.
20
Great idea. Please show several examples of Arab nations where the Muslim majority allows freedom of religion, a free press and free speech, an honest judicial system, honest and fair elections, etc. etc. How can you be so foolishly naive? Palestinian and other Arab nations' schoolbooks still refer to Jews in hateful terms, school maps fail to acknowledge the existence of Israel, and radio and television still portray Jews in the most negative ways. Get real.
1
e.g., the end of the Jewish state.
1
There are none. But that doesn't mean it can't happen given the right circumstances. All those you mention would have to change to complete the deal. You need to get real and consider the alternative. No one is more pro-Israel than I am.
As a moderate Democrat deeply concerned about the future of Israel, I find myself in complete agreement with your views. There is one further indictment of the current Israel government you did not address. Up until very recent times, US political support for Israel has been overwhelmingly bipartisan & that united support has been glue that has maintained the US-Israel alliance. Bibi has squandered that critical bipartisan support & turned support for Israel into a partisan issue. Long term that is an unmitigated disaster for Israel.
Our agreement is a reflection of the bipartisanship that our generation shared. That is now a thing of the past. Hopefully, that bipartisanship can be restored but I fear for the future.
20
While I share Mr. Lauder's pride in the success of the State of Israel and his desire for a two-state solution, I do not share his political bent.
The idea that "President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace." is far-fetched! As a totally transactional and narcissistic individual Mr. Trump would settle for any deal that would make him appear a "winner" or enrich himself financially. Our President, being totally devoid of historical knowledge and unfettered by even a shred of principle, is not the person I would choose to negotiate. He simply can’t be trusted.
Acknowledging a demographic dilemma does not automatically bring forth a practical solution, nor does the establishment of a Palestinian state automatically create a neighbor with peaceful intent. The Palestinian leadership has rejected reasonable plans many times in the past. Having declined half a loaf for the desire of the whole, generations of Palestinians that have paid a terrible price.
While the desire for peace is admirable and one I share, the present situation in Lebanon and Syria (including the involvement of Iranian and Russian fighters near their border) precludes meaningful negotiations at this time. To suggest that now is the time, and this Administration is a capable or honest broker, is simply not credible.
34
Religion is a matter of the mind,not of a piece of land,how historical important that land may be!Mind gives religious identity,not land or state.
10
If only the Old Testament had said that.
1
Poignant words indeed by Ron Lauder. But as a secular Israeli born is Israel I would change the order of the two threats - to me the most dangerous is the "state-enforced religiosity", which in Hebrew we simply call "Religiosation" ( in Hebrew "Hadata", from Dat=Religion). Though the religious parties in Israel are after all a minority, yet they are still those without whom no coalition government can obtain majority at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. And as long as these religious parties exert this clout, there will never ever be peace with the Palestinians, hence the reverse order of the threats.
41
Your support of the Likud party was a stand against the two-state solution. You should not be surprised by the consequences.
I am a lifelong Zionist and a proud Democrat and I stand with the dozens of Israeli generals who have condemned the settlements as an impediment to peace and a threat to Israel's security. Mr. Lauder's positions are the reason young American Jews feel little connection to Israel -- under Netanyahu its policies are almost impossible to defend. It's good to know he's concerned about Israel's survival as a democracy -- I didn't know concern for democracy was something that mattered to Republicans these days.
80
The settlements are not an impediment to peace. On the contrary, they make a viable Palestinian state possible. Once a border is agreed to, the settlements on the Palestinian side of the border become part of Palestine and the settlers become Palestinians. Because the settlers are wealthier than the Palestinians, their presence helps the Palestinian economy.
1
The settlements are the direct result of Palestinian intransigence! If a negotiated peace had been accepted at any time since 1947, there would have been an established border precluding any settlement activity.
I don't support most Likud actions, nor that I approve of Netanyahu as a leader however, the ethos of the Middle East is a hard one. The settlements have been the price paid by the Palestinians for the intransigence of their leaders.
3
er, so-called Israeli settlers on Palestinian land are armed fanatics, viscerally anti-Arab, and killers of Palestinians in vigilante raids. They seem to be the shock troops of Bibi's ultra-orthodox coalitions and ultra-Zionist policy. So, like, you see these 'settlers' becoming Palestinian, do you?
“If current trends continue, Israel will face a stark choice: Grant Palestinians full rights and cease being a Jewish state or rescind their rights and cease being a democracy.”
I don’t understand people who write this. The situation of Israelis and Palestinians has been going on for fifty years, and in the past fifty years no one (unbiased) has said that Israel isn’t a democracy. Why would anything have to change in the coming years? Why can’t the status quo remain for another fifty years? Where is this so called timer that is running out? No one has ever been able to give me a satisfying answer to this question.
11
@Uri
Mitzpe Yericho, Israel
If Lauder is biased he's biased in favor of the state of Israel. Given the dilemma that he poses let alone the massive corruption and drift to theocracy that's seems to have enveloped the Israeli state your complacency seems open to question at the very least.
19
I agree with Uri's sentiment. It is a serious conceptual error for Ron Lauder to present this as a coin with two faces: Either a Palestinian state or cessation of a democratic Israel. A better metaphor uses a d20, a dice with 20 sides used in role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons, technically, an Icosahedron [-- of perhaps ironic significance, the shape is prevalent in nature among the adenoviruses, which commonly causes respiratory illness]. The message to Mr Lauder is that there may be 20 alternative avenues to the solution. What is the big hurry to create a state that at present would quickly become as malevolent as Gaza, but be a lot closer to the Israeli population centers? Mr Lauder, you are part of the problem, I fear. Many thanks for your faithful service in the past, but time to pass on the torch to allow next generation thinking in the diaspora. In that role as a change agent you might be the catalyst to great things for Jews and Israel.
1
@KA
Miami Beach
Your 20 sided dice is just a means of kicking the can down the road because you don't want a two state solution. Why not just admit it?
"What is the big hurry to create a state that at present would quickly become as malevolent as Gaza, but be a lot closer to the Israeli population centers?"
1
I am not Jewish, so maybe I don't have a dog in this fight (other than my tax dollars). But if Israel is to be a democracy, it needs to be held to the standards of a democracy. That doesn't mean being perfect. But it does mean at least trying to be better than it currently is. Permanently keeping millions of neighbors or residents in a second class status is not trying to get better. Want a two-state solution? Fine--but you don't get to run your neighbors' borders or internal policies. Don't want a two-state solution? That's fine too, but you have to give full citizenship to all the residents. There is no third way for a democracy.
108
What if your neighbors in Gaza are ruled by the Islamist Hamas committed to Israel's destruction? And the corrupt Fatah which rules the West Bank is not much better? What if you (like me) devoutly wish to live in peace with your neighbors (and, unlike Mr. Lauder, I have never supported or voted for the Likud party) but have heard the sound of suicide bombers from my apartment balcony and taken a self-defense course to protect myself(in my case, civilian senior citizen living within the Green line) from young Palestinians randomly stabbing people? I do fear that Israel will not remain a democracy, but what alternative is there?
3
You don't have to be Jewish -- As an American taxpayer which helps to send billions in aid to Israel, you have a dog in this fight.
1
Bill Clinton: “I Killed Myself to Give the Palestinians a State,” but They Rejected It
1
As for the Palestinians and the two-state solution, I would suggest that Mr.Lauder and everybody else read Micah Goodman, Milkud 67, translated as Catch 67 for a new way of thinking about the problem.
The book offers both Israeli right and left a new means of addressing the issues and coming to an agreement among themselves.
It has aroused much conversation in the Israeli press, with responses by Enid Barak and others.
Two problems though: much of this is in Hebrew. The second probllem is that the Palestinians still have an all or nothing approach. The Israelis can make peace among themselves, but the partner still has to want a deal more than "justice" (in their terms).
As for all the rest, it is unfortunately a matter of politics.
Mr. Lauder and friends visit.
What is necessary is for Mr.Lauder and friends to live and vote in Israel and change the political fabric from within.
Does Mr.Lauder think that op-eds in the NYT will accomplish that as a friend?
I may start the day with the NYT but most Israelis do not, nor do they read the NYT.
Your advice Mr. Lauder serves no purpose here in terms of a solution to a problem.
8
I don't think that concern for another country's welfare should necessarily require one to abandon his or her country-of-birth- especially given the lousy prospects for long-term democracy in a country that is demographically and politically trending toward a theocracy.
BTW, I say this as a supporter of Israel's right to exist and prosper. How sad that certain elements in its society wish to turn it backwards in time, to a socially pre-modern culture.
1
"Your advice Mr. Lauder serves no purpose here in terms of a solution to a problem".
Wrong.
Mr. Lauder says what virtually everyone knows and that is Israel has created an apartheid state that is the opposite of freedom and democracy.
The Palestinians are confined, in large part, to the outdoor isolated prison known as Gaza and Israel cannot seem to understand that the deprived prison population does not love them.
A two-state solution has been the talk for decades, but billions are being made by the continued illegal expansion of settlements in the West Bank, taking it off limits for a possible two-state solution.
As Mr. Lauder says, the wounds Israel suffers by creating and maintaining this apartheid condition are self-inflicted.
1
First, there is no such animal as a "two-state" solution. Rather, there must be a "three-state" solution, which includes Jordan. Some 70% of Jordan's population (some 9.5 million persons) consists of Palestinians, who have long been subject to discrimination by the country's Hashemite rulers.
A prosperous, independent, democratic Palestinian state along the lines proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Olmert in 2008? I'm an Israeli and remain in favor. However, this solution was rejected by Abbas, who is now in the 13th year of his four-year term of office as president of the Palestinian National Authority. As Abbas told Jackson Diehl in 2009: "'I will wait for Hamas to accept international commitments. I will wait for Israel to freeze settlements,' he said. 'Until then, in the West Bank we have a good reality . . . the people are living a normal life.'"
"We must change course," writes Mr. Lauder. But that change must come from Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan. Netanyahu could well be unseated as prime minister when elections are next held in Israel, creating fertile ground for such change. However, there must also be concomitant change from the leadership of the Palestinian Authority as well as from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Mr. Lauder, let's have coffee when you are next in Israel, unless you prefer to spend your visit in the company of politicians.
13
One State, Two State, Stalemate solutions - none of those options truly exist as the author described. Just as the United States struggles to evolve as its population changes from white majority to a demographic shift to minority, so, too, Israel cannot win against the majority in the region.
The worst solution is to continue to fight, exclude and oppress those who are different. That only leads to hate.
The only solution is to demonstrate confidence in ideals and understanding of common humanity. The rising majority will emulate the attitudes, good or bad, of the ruling class when it is their turn.
Israel has a choice of how they travel into their future. Those who will not be around to experience the future are the ones who are infecting the imaginations of the young with the fear of change. Yet, history has shown that change is all we can be sure of. Jews have influenced and even dominated the belief systems of the Middle East and Europe for thousands of years touching all of us.
The history of ideas has been dominated by great Jewish minds despite their small population. Israel can survive by rejecting their values or flourish by living up to them.
7
MKKW writes: "The history of ideas has been dominated by great Jewish minds...."
Judaism is just another religion, one that like all others is losing adherents in our modern scientific age. The history of ideas for those of us in the West stems from mainly Classical Greece and Rome, and complemented by ideas of the Renaissance in Europe, and later by the sages of the Enlightenment. Except for religion, few Jews participated in this intellectual revolution. Jewish minds became celebrated in intellectual circles only when they began participating in the intellectual foment in the West, as they considered Western ideas. In philosophy, to reshape a famous quotation, all Jewish thought, secular or sacred, is but a footnote to Plato.
1
Strife began with Cain and Abel. It is the main theme throughout the Tanakh, or "Old (or First, or Original) Testament. The inability of the inhabitants of the so-called Holy Land to live in harmony with each other is clearly documented (for those who believe it is real history). Much of the basis for extremism was religious.
In addition, "separation" lies at the basis of all religions, e.g., God separated ... . This basic idea is found in all relations, not only between peoples since Abraham got out his clippers, but within families, e.g., between genders and birth primacy, as well as between parents and children.
At present, despite its claim to be a "Jewish State," the various cults are at odds, just as they were 3,000 years ago. In the West Bank, the surface antagonisms seem to be secular rather than purely religious, in part because minority religions and sects have been eliminated or suppressed. "Separation," the two-state solution, is the only one that has any chance of success in the current context.
The key issue is where the lines should be drawn. It is quaint that Europe, which has seen national boundaries redrawn substantially after two 20th century wars, is so adamant about the 1967 prewar boundaries between Israel and what had been Jordanian territory. Should Poland be moved east into Russia and Germany east into Poland? The Palestinians were on the losing side and must accept it. Europe did, and thrived. There is a message here.
7
What exactly must they accept? Would you deny them sufficient territory to make their state viable? If the settlements continue to spread, soon there will be no territory left on which to build a Palestinian state.
20
they started a war and lost. Now you want them to get that land back to start another war?
1
Settlements can be part of Palestine.
1
Yes, it is clearly time for the two state solution. There is simply no other workable choice. Anyone who loves Israel and wants to see it succeed, should support the only hope for the future for both Israelis and Palestinians.
30
That and ceasing to build settlements outside their territory. I am not against the idea of Israel but believe it must go by the accepted rules of civilized democracies. We, in the US would not build settlements in Canada or Mexico. Neither should Israel expand their territory with land grabs. Both Israel and Palestinians must start with small,goodwill measures if they want to continue to exist. Otherwise they will die out in a slow agonizing way. Right now the religious demands of Israel bring into question their committment to democracy.
1
Once again, the 2-state solution's boat has sailed. Rapid annexation of Palestinian land for settlement expansion, makes this impossible. American Jews cling to that notion, but settlement expansion has made that impossible. Time to face reality--the fantasy of a 2-state solution is just that. As American Jews, it is time for us to face reality.
I’m glad that Mr Lauder wrote this because people like Ari Fleischer and Ron Dermer always accuse the Democrats of turning their backs on Israel while the GOP is the only truly loyal party. The plight of Israel and its support is truly a bipartisan issue and principle. We all have concerns about the occupied territories and Israel’s sustainability vs democratic rule
But the more Bibi inserts his nose into Trumps you know where, the more he alienates many of Israel’s natural supporters and politicizes support.
38
Mr. Lauder neglected to mention Netanyahu's intervention in U.S. elections as a source of disenchantment on the part of the American Jewish community. Mr. Lauder may be a Republican, but the majority of American Jews are not and deeply resent Netanyahu's implicit endorsement of Mitt Romney and Donald Trump. Netanyahu is very wrong if he thinks the support of Christian evangelicals will adequately replace his loss of support among American Jews.
106
For over 30 years the many American evangelicals who believe in "Christian Zionism," the loathsome idea that the gathering of the Jews in Israel is a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Jesus (at which point all Jews will go to hell) have been a menace to a peaceful solution. Their strong financial and political support for settlements is a huge part of the problem. It is deeply disturbing that any Jew, whatever her political affiliation, would partner with these evangelicals who adhere to a theology that requires our destruction as a means to their salvation. WWJD indeed.
"President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace."
Are you kidding me? President Trump is committed to his donors and anything to anger liberals. To pretend otherwise is a willful and naive position taken out of self-interest.
The two-state solution has been dead for years and it is shocking that we need to write these endless op-eds about a theoretical "two-state" solution. Israel chooses to treat the Palestinians as people or as less than. It is been very clear the choice they have made over the last century.
70
Thank you, Kevin! Absolutely---the two-state solution is dead and pretending that it is still an option is irresponsible.
1
It's the Palestinians who oppressed Jews for centuries. It's the Palestinians who shouted "The Jews are our dogs!" as they murdered innocent Jews in the 1920's. It's the Palestinians who shout "The Jews are the descendants of apes and pigs." It's the Palestinians who shout "From the River to the Sea!" i.e. no Israel.
2
President Trump is wholly committed to taking every piece of Palestinian human rights and land.
1
The original self-inflicted wound was the founders' decision to create a governing body, the Knesset, that elects its members on a proportionate country-wide basis, thereby giving small minority parties with extreme religious and expansionist positions outsized powers to control the policies of governing coalitions.
24
They can keep proportionate representation, just raise the electoral threshold to 5% or 10%.
6
As a jew, i am forever appalled at the mideast situation. Jews, unfortunately have been the subject of much discrimination throughout history. In large measure, this was used to establish the state. And yet we now find ourselves in a position where we are the abuser.
70
Jews are not the abusers. Jews are just trying to defend themselves.
1
Why do you say "we" when you live in NYC?? If you and liberals like Mr. Lauder had made aliyah to Israel, believe me, the situation would be different. If only 25% of American liberal Jews had made aliyah to Israel, their numbers would equal those of the Russian immigrants and they would have at least as much influence on Israeli foreign policy.
1
As a diaspora Jew and a former supportive Zionist, Israel has worked really hard for decades to lose my support. The constant assault by the Israeli right on the ideals that garnered my support, eventually left me with exasperation, disgust, and shame. I never thought there would be a point where leaders like Lauder would voice such a loud and clear dissent, but Netanyahu and his allies clearly pushed way too far for way too long. It is probable that Lauder has sounded the alarm too late, but if Israeli voters get this message and act on it, there is always a chance for the rights of all to flourish.
228
There's plenty to be proud of.
While Israel is not the only country that brings in guest workers, it’s the only country that trains them in the most advanced agriculture so when they go home they can improve agriculture in their home countries.
Israeli rescue team applauded in the streets of Mexico
Dozens of individuals, some waving Mexican flags, spontaneously cheer delegation which is aiding in search for survivors following earthquake
By TOI STAFF and AGENCIESSeptember 23, 2017, 1:34 am
3
What does '.. there is always a chance for the rights of all to flourish' mean?
What 'rights' are you talking about?
Who do you mean by 'all'?
What do you mean by 'flourish'?
What rights for what persons should the 98% of Americans who are not Jewish concern themselves with and why?
/
1
as an atheist I think the underlying problem is once again religion - why not one democratic state as a goal? That is rejected by both Jewish and Muslim zealots who say God gave them the land, they want a "Jewish state" or an "Islamic state" or the equivalent. Religious leaders on both sides are hostile to compromise and both are hostile or worse to those who advocate compromise. Sad!
25
I don't think atheism or belief in God, per se, are the issue. Israel was founded as a Jewish state, but not a religious state, with the concept of a Jewish state encompassing what could otherwise be known as culture, nationality, history, race, ethnicity. Israel has been (and should be) a homeland and a refuge for Jewish people from all over the world, regardless of their belief in God or adherence to Jewish religious practice. The mere existence of a Jewish state is not by itself the problem; abrogation of the two-state solution is.
1
its also a state with multiple contradictions.. Lots of Eastern Jews still feel slighted for discrimination from the past. The large influx of 'Russian Jews' also helped to tip the political balance more towards the right. i believe it's greatest domestic challenge now is how it can maintain a semblance of fairness and some form of objective consideration when dealing with the Palestinian.
6
your argument is greatly diminished by stating that trump is wholly committed to the peace process...the only thing trump is wholly committed to is his fragil ego...
47
The two state solution was proposed 18 years ago. If you proposed to someone 18 years ago and they turned you down do you think they could come back and say, "hey...let's try this again"? Of course not, life moves on.
18 years ago there were no smart phones, no September 11th, and no ISIS. Israelis have elected Likud governments for 18 years because they rejected the whole process and have no faith in the process.
As much as I admire Mr. Lauder, just saying over and over again-two state solution-isn't acknowledging reality. It doesn't acknowledge that an agreement with a leader with no popular support or an electoral mandate is stupid. His statistics are worn and not true. There are many proposals which allow for both a Democratic and Jewish nation without committing national suicide. He and anyone interested should Google them.
Life moves on. Israelis have demonstrated strength, commitment, and pursuing national interests while ignoring hypocritical international criticism provides the best course for their own national security. The two state solution is as dead as the UN Partition of 1948.
It's time we all acknowledged reality.
9
Yes, it is time to give the Palestinians equal rights and the vote.
To quote Israeli anti-occupation activist Jeff Halper: "First of all the facts on the ground – the settlements, the wall, the highways and the fragmentation of the territory – are all just so massive and so permanent and are constantly being expanded that there’s no more place for a coherent, functional, viable, sovereign Palestinian state. And second of all, there’s no political will in the international community to force Israel out of the Occupied Territories. Israel’s certainly not going to leave voluntarily, so there have to be massive international pressures on Israel to get out and that’s completely missing. So, if you take those things into account there’s no way in which a two-state solution is viable, and we simply need to stop talking about it."
16
This article raises interesting points, but by including the line "President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace," makes it very hard to take it seriously. Nothing they've done has demonstrated dedication to acting as an impartial arbiter of peace. Indeed the few consequential actions made by this administration in that part of the world we're intended to sate the evangelicals and have only inflame Palestinian resentment.
34
You don't consider putting the Son-in-law in chief ::eyeroll:: in charge of this to be "taking it seriously".
You are a harsh critic!
I agree with the message of this piece, but "President Trump and his team" made me laugh out loud.
44
Two questions for Mr. Lauder: 1. What would prevent an independent Palestinian state from falling into the hands of Hamas, as happened in Gaza? 2. Why should its continued partial control of the West Bank prevent Israel from being a democratic state within its own borders?
It is clear that the present situation is in many ways bad. But this does not prove that the available alternatives are not worse.
7
With respect, if one adopts "we can never trust the future" approach then peace will never arrive. The more one helps build up a new state the better the chances that the extremists will fail. Meanwhile remember that Israel is still the strongest nation "militarily" in the Mid-East. However, for how long as Trump or no Trump Iran and others continue to pose a real threat. Take the Palestinians out of the equation by truly attempting peace removes the Iranians.
6
Mr. Levy,
What is to prevent Israel from becoming an ally and indeed a protector of a neighboring Palestine nation in a two state solution, with shared prosperous economies that would effectively make Hamas the enemy of both states and easier to defeat?
What is to prevent Netanyahu from purging Arabs and Palestinians from the West Bank too, in a single state solution? If Myanmar and the - ironically - bullying Buddhist extremists can get away with purging Muslims with impunity, why can't Netanyahu do the same. What is the difference between burning down homes and demolishing them?
1
One thing that annoys me about die-hard, unquestioning supporters of Israel is that they act as if Hamas just sprang out of nowhere because Palestinians are naturally nasty people.
Extremism on one side ("Israel should control and settle people in all the land that the Biblical kingdoms of Israel and Judah ever controlled") is likely to beget extremism on the other.
Consider that your analysis of the end of the two state solution is accurate. Perhaps, just perhaps, this is what many in Israel in power are supporting and working towards. Consider carefully, Israel is not in the European neighborhood, it is in the Middle Eastern neighborhood. A neighborhood with kings and autocrats, where policy and law is determined by decree and not by popular opinion. Who in that neighborhood could credibly complain of the Knesset limiting the rights of Palestinians when many of Israels neighbors are openly hostile and anti-semetic? A two state solution would be a wonderful outcome, but given the realities on the ground, Israel is headed for your latter choice, one which limits Palestinian rights in favor of Israels survival. Of course, a two state solution could be possible if Hamas could agree to a demilitarized state, lay down its arms and destroy its terror tunnels, Democratic fair elections could be held in Gaza and West Bank. Abbas and Hamas could become the closest of friends, giving Israel a real partner in peace and rebuild social and community resources in Gaza. Which outcome do you HONESTLY believe is more likely?
6
Ethnic and religious identity should be something to be admired, not feared. The practice of exclusion leads to isolation. Israel should not count on Trump to pursue a peaceful resolution in the middle east. His deals benefit him or his family, not the people who elected him. Trump is playing with the fires of war in Asia, he is willing to send American young people to their deaths in war. He has even less regard for the lives of young people abroad.
15
There are ultra-orthodox Jews, Muslims, and Christians who are stirred up by ultra-nationalist war hawks to aid their constant competition for world supremacy.
Many of us hope for a 21st century spirit of ecumenism--respect for the other. Is that too unrealistic? Are we not all more alike than different? Are we going to continue to succumb to propaganda pitting us against ourselves.
The vast resources spent on war fighting capability enrich the arms merchants and their suppliers, not the ordinary people of the world. We live in constant fear of the "enemy," who lives in constant fear of us.
After the cold war we looked for a "peace dividend" which never materialized. We should be working to bring about a 21st century spirit of freindship and cooperation, rather than the ceaseless competition draining our resources.
29
These are not new sentiments. Thomas Friedman has been writing essentially the same opinion piece for decades now.
I also think we should not delude ourselves into thinking that a perfect solution is simply out there, waiting to be negotiated. The best diplomatic minds have grappled with this for well over a century.
Both Israeli and Palestinian politicians want all of the land and lose credibility with their base when anything less is floated, so progress is extraordinarily difficult if not impossible.
All that being said, my suggestion would be this: there are a surprisingly large number of Palestinian diaspora populations throughout the world (Chile has approximately half a million for instance). I would encourage the United States, working with the OAS, to encourage Palestinian emigration to the Americas, with offers of financial assistance included. With a reduced demographic in the West Bank and Gaza, perhaps a way might be opened for a viable and demilitarized Palestinian state.
I have met many recent Israeli immigrants to the United States. They are all young and well-educated and quite happy to be living here, away from the insanity of their homeland. So perhaps if we make it easier for all sides to leave their current circumstances, perhaps a more natural path to peace may be found.
8
A modern incarnation of The American Colonization Society? Ship the slaves back to Africa to eliminate the "cause of our conflict" in antebellum politics?
No free blacks in the North to trouble the 'community'. No slaves in the South to eliminate any possibility of uprisings against The Big House.
The idea that a people would willingly acquiesce to be removed from the country of their birth and be 'transported' to a new continent wholly foreign in language and culture to supply the political solution to an intractable problem was delusional then, and now.
Mr. Lauder is similarly delusional when he states that the occupant of 1600 is "wholly committed" to peace. The evidence for his commitment to this is, of course, the members of his team to achieve this goal.
Interesting idea to encourage Palestinians out of Palestinian lands. Ironically the Palestinian diaspora would earn money to send back to their cultural-religious home land to fight the fight with the Jews who are being supported in the same way from the Jewish diaspora.
Would the US send money for military support to the Palestinians too to even the playing field?
1
By what degree of logic should a Palestinian state be demilitarized ? Shall Israel be demilitarized too ? Or only Israel has a right to defend itself and no other country? Who or what is a Jew ? Anyone who converts to the religion, or someone who can trace his race and bloodline to the ancient ancestral kingdom of UR ? I think the European settlers owe the world an explanation to these questions and how can a European be a semite and the people from UR, Yemen, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, etc. are not semite.
The extremist position of BN prevails, and that alienates many to the point of hopelessness .
I suppose the rightist coalition prevails because everything else
fails.
King Salman is refreshing , though his influence, I suppose, while remarkable, is seemingly limited.
Ambassador Lauder, good for you to be trying.
Theodore Herzl 's dream ought to be everybody's including
the left and the right who must unite for a rational future.
9
To talk of Israel as a "Jewish state" is somewhat simplistic. The last time i was there, a few years ago, I was struck by the sharp divisions, ideological and cultural, within Israeli society. They exist not only between Jews and Palestinians, but between the younger, more nationalistic generations who consider themselves Israeli first, in contrast to the more "Jewish" children of the Holocaust who still have a more "European" view of the world; between the relatively secular Israelis in the coastal towns whose intellectual and cultural interests differ sharply from those of the more conservative, inland Jews, especially the militant West Bank settlers. Israel is a multi-ethnic state, drawing newcomers from places as far-flung as North Africa and inner Asia. Israel isn't an easy place to hold together, but it will make great strides toward peace and security if it begins to celebrate, not reject, its diversity.
93
@ Charles Michener Palm Beach, FL
You have, in my opinion, struck the nail on the head in your assessment of the ideological and social tensions in the Israeli society. First, Israel wants to be non-Jews free, following literally the precepts of Herzlian "Der Judenstaat". Second, some or many of the Ashkenazi Jews continue to refer to the Sephardic Jews, usually behind their back, as "Blacks". The younger and by now upper middle-aged nationalistic generations refer to the survivors of the Holocaust as "Soap", alluding to the product made by the Nazis of the victims. Overall, not a picture of a harmonious society.
I agree with Mr. Lauder’s sentiments. Perhaps he would not be quite so concerned about Israel’s right wing extremists if his good friend Donald Trump were not president. I’m sure Mr. Lauder is very satisfied with Trump’s massive tax cuts that will create even more wealth for him and his family. But the price- among so many others- is that Bebe’s best buddy is now in charge of US policy towards Israel.
Sloughing this off with a reference to Trump’s being committed to peace in the Middle East is his way of ignoring the reality of Trump as Bebe’s American Cheerleader in Chief.
Mr. Lauder, perhaps, is comforted by Trump’s choice of that intellectual giant and paragon of diplomacy, Jared Kushner, to bring peace to the Middle East. With Jared’s track record of innovation, tireless effort and fairness to both sides in the seemingly endless dispute, I wouldn’t be surprised if the conflict is over before Mr. Lauder can find his moral compass.
46
The world knows that by putting Jared in charge of peace talks is the variable in the equation for failure. Trump knows this and knows he himself doesn't want peace. Everyone gets rich and the US taxpayers pay the bills.
No one understands Israel's need for a two-state solution more than the Palestinians. Without a two-state solution, there may be one Arab majority state. Birth rates in the West Bank and Gaza are among the highest in the World for this reason. Why would the Palestinians ever agree to a two-state solution? Patience may get them one Arab State. Israel is in a tough spot.
10
Entirely backwards. In this conflict the group that holds all the power - military power, economic power and political power - is Israel. Palestinians are desperately poor, lack basic human necessities, and most live behind giant concrete walls, essentially imprisioned in their communities. Unemployment in Gaza is the highest in the world. They can't even advocate for themselves with Israel as powerful Arab states for the last 60 years have dictated their agenda and used them as pawns in to forward their own political agendas. I'm contrast, Israelis enjoys some of the highest standards of living and education in the world.
4
The Palestinians have a middle class and wealthy people. Some do lack basic human necessities, due in part to their corrupt governments (Fatah and Hamas) siphoning off aid from European and Arab countries.
1
I suppose I am cynical, but when I imagine the Palestinian state that the current governments would create I see a gerrymandered state devoid of water or any natural resources that would be of value to the living. Rather like some of the less fortunate Native American reservations.
98
Lauder writes that, if current trends continue, Israel will be either: 1. forced to grant Palestinians full rights and give up the dream of a pure religious-ethno state (horrors!), or rescind Palestinian rights. Have we all missed something? Palestinians do not have rights. One only need to follow mainstream news to see that reality.
Now, 100 years after the Balfour Declaration, we can see the disastrous result of moving a persecuted European minority en masse to a patch of land that was already settled with another people for thousands of years, and we must deal with the situation as it is. At some point, the world must simply demand equal rights for everyone on that land, without regard to religion -- the very thing that Israel has been fighting against all along. How much more suffering the conquered indigenous people will have to endure before we get there is the open question. It's a true tragedy for the Palestinians, people who had nothing to do with crimes committed in Europe and yet were chosen to pay the price.
119
"At some point, the world must simply demand equal rights for everyone on that land, without regard to religion -- the very thing that Israel has been fighting against all along"
I agree totally, but then let me turn the picture on its end, and ask you if let's say we granted full rights to Palestinians in a single state, where Palestinians were the majority, do you think the obverse would hold? Do you think the Palestinians would create a pluralistic state where the rights of minorities (Christians, Atheists, Jews, Shia Muslims,gays) are supported, or do you think you would see an Islamist state where the minorities are treated with contempt by the majority, where religious and political oppression are the norm? You are talking Palestinians who have as a goal expelling anyone but "Palestinians" from Palestine, and who they sees as Palestinian is inflected with religious belief and the like, not unlike the Orthodox Jews Mr. Lauder mentions. It is great to dream of a single homeland for Palestinians that guarantees the rights of all but there is no reason to believe that would be the fact, the middle east as a whole proves that. The two state solution is the only realistic solution, expelling the Jews, Christians and others to create a single Islamist state, as is likely would happen, is not supporting human rights, it is creating another oppressive middle east state.
Actually most of the Israelis came not from Europe but from Arab and Moslem countries in the Middle East. Although European Jews may have initially lead to the founding of the state, it was populated by Jewish refugees from Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Morroco, etc fleeing persecution and/or expulsion. Then came the persecuted Soviet and African Jews. Jews are refugees too and need a home.
2
This is a convenient narrative based on smattering but incomplete recitation of the facts.
1. The British and French carved up the remains/spoils of the Ottoman Empire as a way to secure vast, long term supplies of oil with no regard or consideration of Arabs or Jews who lived there. Their over-riding consideration was regimes who would grant favorable concessions for low cost oil. They made sure any attempts at self determination were quickly and brutally eliminated. This is why much of the Middle East is the mess that it is today.
2. The Palestinians are Arabs and not the other way around. Thinking of Palestinians as a unique group would be as silly as thinking all residents of Connecticut were somehow not Americans. They have been plagued by corrupt leadership both internal and external for generations.
3. I find myself repeating the quote from Golda Meir "As long as the Arabs hate the Jews more than they love there own children there will never be peace"
If a cost-effective way to produce high-energy hydrocarbons (e.g. the 'artificial leaf') is ever produced, Israel will rapidly sink in status to that of any other restless and violent state in the world. There are many.
The remarkable achievements of Israel, good and bad, stand above those of other states largely because of money. Piles and piles of money sent from the U.S. to finance a giant, unsinkable aircraft carrier adjacent to the one resource we cannot live without for more than a few weeks. Should the day come when we have an alternative, all that religious and historical tradition will count for very little.
32
This comment led me to an article just published on the artificial leaf. Thanks, I had not heard of this work. We need articles exploring this in the Science section.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610177/the-race-to-invent-the-artific...
The U.S. has given aid to many countries, but only Israel became the "startup nation." Israel's innovations in science, technology & medicine have benefited people everywhere.
1
Many of the remarkable achievements of Israel happened before 1967, when Israel received little aid from America. The aid came because of Israel's military success against the odds in the Six day war.
1
Israel proper (I’m excluding the West Bank for this comment) is a fairly tolerant, free and open society. I have been there dozens of times and have family there. All religions, denominations, nationalities, as well as people of all sexual orientations are free to express and live in accordance with their beliefs.
There are very few exceptions and they are geographically very limited.
Yes, men and woman can only pray separately at the 2 acre plaza in front of the Western Wall. Is it such an affront to secular Jews that they should be required to observe that relatively simple ritual that Jews have observed for 2000 years at its holiest site? There are thousands of synagogues in Israel where men and woman can pray together.
And there are certain very religious neighborhoods in very localized areas that are closed to cars (except emergency vehicles) on the sabbath. Is it such an affront to all Jews that they can’t drive one day a week over an area spanning a few blocks that they would never be interested in visiting any other day if the week?
And yes, the Orthodox control the rituals required to convert to Judaism. But to what end does it matter? All denominations enjoy the same rights, and even non-Jews enjoy the same rights and privileges in Israel proper. (Arabs even serve in the Israeli parliament and Supreme Court!)
Again, is it such an affront to diaspora secular Jews that the relatively easy conversion ritual be the same one used for 2000 years?
9
You should read about how religion has been creeping in to the chemistry and math textbooks used in secular Israeli schools, how the orthodox have refused commercial licenses to businesses that operate on Saturday in entirely secular areas, how little girls have been harassed for wearing shirts that did not cover their elbows. They are taking over.
1
How did you manage to avert your eyes in tiny Israel for so many visits? Over 2 MILLION Palestinians have lived for DECADES in refugee camps that were supposed to be temporary months-long shelters. The King David Hotel, the lovely Baha'i gardens of Haifa, the waterside restaurants of Jaffa, and the spa at Ein Gedi are another universe from the lives of Palestinian children. Perhaps you need a different tour guide.
Given that Mr Lauder sees the Israeli settlements of the West Bank as a problem, he needs to rethink his support for Likud. Their party platform states:
"The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel. The Likud will continue to strengthen and develop these communities and will prevent their uprooting."
68
Jews lived for centuries in Hebron & Gaza. In 1929, Hebron & Gaza were ethnically cleansed of their Jews. In 1948, the West Bank & East Jerusalem were ethnically cleansed of their Jews. Why is it a problem if Jews rebuild their homes in Hebron, Gaza, the West Bank & East Jerusalem?
2
Thank you for this timely article Dr. Lauder, accidentally or otherwise, it coincides nicely with todays Times article on the increase in anti semitisism. My take away from your post is that we should begin policing our own ranks and I agree completely, Israel and the many accomplishments of the Jewish people that created so much good will has been squandered by not only the treatment of Palestinians but the truly despicable behavior of notable Jewish American Bankers during the financial crisis as well as the voracious behavior of many financiers; to be painted with the same brush as these folks is not fair to the rest of the Jewish people nor should it be tolerated. In biblical days if someone misbehaved they were banished from the tribe at minimum, perhaps we should consider this today before things get worse for everyone.
11
But antisemitism today pales to where it was in the fifties. Does that mean that the opposite of your thesis is true?
Well written, but any analysis of the current situation that first professes support for Likud and their far right extremists brethren here, the Republicans, is something of a empty vessel. Indeed, it's a bit amazing that the debate has shifted so far to the right that one can claim to take peace seriously and, at the same time, praise Likud and Trump. Actually, this article is entirely self contradicting - it condemns all the practices of Likud (settlements, flirting with annexation, etc) then insinuates the people pushing these policies are blameless.
61
While I don't disagree with this editorial, missing is a deeper analysis of how the Palestinians themselves contribute to the problem. Israel unconditionally withdrew all settlements from the Gaza strip. Had the Palestinians seized the opportunity to create a peaceful autonomous state with trade and diplomatic relations with Israel, there would have been real hope for a two state solution. Instead, they launched over 7000 rockets into southern Israeli towns. Like Bush after 9/11, Netanyahu used fear mongering to get reelected. Fear pushes people to the right. Israelis are impacted by events and emotions just like any other people. After relentless terrorism from the Palestinians no matter what they do, can we blame them for losing faith in a two state or other peaceful resolution? Until the Palestinians want their own state more than they want the destruction of Israel, I see no possibility for peace, which is tragic for moderates on both sides, and will continue to push Israel into a type of state we don't want it to be.
29
Thank you, JEC for telling it like it is. Yes, its tragic but we need to live in the real world and manage the conflict to limit human suffering while not indulging in fantasies.
1
Pragmatically, yes there is no possibility that the Palestinians can accomplish the destruction of Israel. Emotionally, it is true also that when the theft of the family farm is a matter of recent, verifiable history, it is predictable and also morally justifiable, that the grandsons and daughters of the victims of that theft have a right to reject accommodation. Unlike some tragedies, this one was once avoidable. Like many tragedies, it has been made much worse by a prevailing attitude of denial, and a wholly inadequate effort to redress the grievance, a criminal theft of land.
The main point is to get the two sides talking to each other as soon as possible. When that happens they will slowly work out an arrangement that is workable on both sides, as has happened over the past many centuries in the lands of the mideast, despite the wars. There is every reason to be optimistic, as long as both sides are realistic and recognize the present realities and limitations.
5
Talking has been used as a smokescreen hiding actions that are meant to prevent working out an arrangement. Those actions have gone a long way, to real success. Too late now to "talk." That has been abused to ruin.
2
talk what?? what,s their to talk about?/ slaves cant ''talk to their masters! /Syracuse was a proof!
In 1947, the scholars at Al-Azhar University (The highest authority in Sunni Islam.) declared holy war to return Palestine to Islamic rule. Therefore, as long as most Palestinians are devout Muslims (89% of Palestinian Muslims want sharia law.) and as long as the Jewish State controls even one square inch of land, peace is impossible.
1
Very wise words from Mr Lauder. Demography is destiny. The Israelis are not going to be able to keep 6 million or so Palestinians in subjection indefinitely. The founders of Israel and it most prominent supporters like Weitzman and Berlin would be appalled at what is happening there today.
72
Every time Israel offers to end the occupation, the Palestinians say “No!”
Even Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia (certainly not a Zionist) said that Arafat’s refusal to accept the January 2001 offer was a crime. Thousands of people would die because of Arafat’s decision & not one of those deaths could be justified.
As Clinton later wrote in his memoir:
It was historic: an Israeli government had said that to get peace, there would be a Palestinian state in roughly 97 percent of the West Bank, counting the [land] swap, and all of Gaza, where Israel also had settlements. The ball was in Arafat’s court.
But Arafat would not, or could not, bring an end to the conflict. “I still didn’t believe Arafat would make such a colossal mistake,” Clinton wrote. “The deal was so good I couldn’t believe anyone would be foolish enough to let it go.” But the moment slipped away. “Arafat never said no; he just couldn’t bring himself to say yes.”
3
@Jack Green
Long Island
Arafat died 14 years ago. The Palestinians think their land has been stolen. The Israelis are continuing to build illegal settlements to move the goal posts before a settlement. How about telling me something I don't know. None of it alters the demographic realities Lauder describes or the increasing alienation of the diaspora.
This is a very important message expressing a crucial disconnect between Israel's present policies and the long term interests of its people. I hope the message gets through. It is crucial for everyone.
41
The biggest barrier to peace in the Middle East is the assumption that the nations involved (including Israel) want peace. As we see every day across the world, there is nothing so unifying as a threat from outside. If there were peace in the Middle East, the nations (including Israel) would have to confront their internal problems and divisions in a way they are now ignore in the name of unity.
The problem of non-Jewish Israeli citizens, for example, is not going to go away. How will Israel avoid a Palestinian majority within a few years? It cannot do so and remain a democracy. The two state solution, while it may carve the West Bank out of the population, will not reduce the power of those Palestinians who reside within Israel's original borders.
How will the ultra Orthodox party avoid losing its stranglehold on private Israeli law? Having following Israeli history and politics for many years, I feel reasonably certain that the adherents of that party, who have now been empowered to impose something close to a theocracy, would rather sacrifice anything to avoid losing their power.
As a Jew myself, I reject the idea that supporting Israel requires blind adherence to its politics and policies. Threats of being labeled as anti-Semitic should not stop reasoned disagreement with Israel's government policies. If we allow this propaganda to silence us, we are giving in to demagoguery. And we are not doing Israel any favors, either.
165
Despite the establishment of Israel as an understandable reaction to the horrors of the Holocost, no state should expect to be permanently defined by religious or ethnic identity. Such an identity inevitably conflicts with principles of human rights and democracy.
Therefore, in the very long run, a one state solution should be the goal. If it is true that Israel cannot govern the whole region and be both Jewish and democratic, it must choose to be democratic.
The challenges to such a resolution are enormous as neither side is anywhere near embracing a vision where tribal allegiance is immaterial.
97
What gives you the right to declare that no state can define itself by religion or ethnicity? Every sovereign nation can define itself as it likes. If you don’t like a nation’s definition don’t visit. And if you think the fear of world-wide anti-Semitism passed after the Holocaust just read the national and international news reporting of just the opposite. Certainly all people should be treated with dignity, respect and equality according to the law but that doesn’t mean a nation must relinquish its identity. IMHO it is ONLY the strength, military and technological of the Jewish State that keeps diaspora Jews (no matter how they themselves identify) somewhat safe.
2
But once that identity is let go, it's never coming back, and the planet is a harsh and unforgiving place. Why would Israelis take that risk? So that 100 years after the next Holocaust they can get an apology from the UN?
2
Hmm. Doesn't a one state solution create an instant civil war?
3
This is a powerful article that faces down some stark realities - and kudos for that - but it also highlights the usual impossibilities. Israel will still be in a persistent state of quantum superposition when my children grow old, just as it was when I was a child. Why have two states or one state when you can have the eternal promise of both, always just out of reach?
We should speak frankly about our own role in this imbroglio, but rarely do. America's an ally of Israel. We only ever take steps to benefit Israel. When we've taken steps that benefit Palestine, it's been in pursuit of the two-state solution, because that benefits Israel, for the reasons Mr Lauder so eloquently states here. But where is that subtlety now?
All we have now is Israel, and its interests, and its dilemma.
Sadly, I feel the only solution to the current conundrum is to embrace it, permanently.
6
Not even close to being true.
If Israel is favored it is when they are in the right right.
Israel has a right to be as a Jewish state.
When the Palestinians believe they can take that state away they are wrong.
So when the Palestinians attacked Israel in the wars that were fought we were right to take steps that benefited that side when they defended themselves.
When Hamas shot rockets into Israel Obama had the obligation to support Israel.
When the USA takes steps to help Israel it is because Israel has helped the USA.
They deserve to be helped.
The Arab world have not done that.
They therefore do not deserve not to be helped.
I can not see why you do not acknowledge this.
2
No mention of Bibi's plight,
The evilly corrupt knight,
Bribe-taking hawk,
Great double talk,
Like Trump beloved of the Right.
214
yes!
Full agreement. The ultra orthodox are no more beneficial, in the long run, for Israel then they are for Iran. The reality of ultra orthodoxy whether it be economic, ideologic or religious is that it relies solely on an inward view eschewing or punishing all others. That rejection of any conflicting thought when applied on a large scale brings with it descrimination, pigeonholing and too often chaos and death.
183
Not relevant.
1
Perhaps as a conservative and a Republican you could do the honorable thing by sponsoring legislation granting all Palestinians US citizenship with a financial package to facilitate their relocation to the United States. Or to other countries should they prefer. For 70 years the Palestinian people have been asked to surrender their interests and identity to the latest versión of the Crusader invader state. The United States has been a major promoter of the Crusader state so it is only appropriate that we bear part of the burden of cleaning up the mess we have made. Failing a willingness to do so we should press for Israeli relocation to a portion of the territory the United Nations erroneously permitted the invaders to occupy in 1948. That is, a Palestinian state would be created by returning much of the occupied territory. I never cease to marvel at references to Palestinian "intransigence" as if somehow the Palestinians are without the right to struggle to reclaim their land. I would hope that if some foreign power seized much of the United States and oppressed Americans Mr. Lauder would join the struggle to oust them from our homeland. References to intransigence are intended to delegitimize the Palestinians, to blame them for the occupation. Presumably Mr. Lauder would similiarly condemn French intransigence for resisting German occupation. The issue is straightforward, i.e., restore Palestinian rights and possessions as a step toward 70 years of righting a wrong.
232
Once Palestinians acknowledge Israel's right to exist and accept that "refugees" will have a right to be in their own state of Palestine and not Israel, then a two state solution will emerge. This is the Palestinian intransigence being referenced – they refuse to do either of these.
24
And where does this "right to exist" come from? Is there a generally accepted principle in international law regarding a right to exist? Is there a treaty signed between the United Nations and Palestinians protecting such a right, and currently Palestinians are trying to reverse this? No, the United Nations carefully avoided creating a state called Palestine so no such agreement could be signed. If in 1948 anyone looked 3 generations down the road they assumed magic would resolve all of this. And if someone ran you out of the state of Connecticut to give your home to Russians would you thrill to be resettled in Oklahoma? No, the problem is not Palestinian intransigence but the facile assumption that Palestinians should roll over to accommodate Israeli entitlement, an entitlement forced on the Palestinians by outside powers. And had outside powers decided that Connecticut would be the perfect Israeli homeland, and the Israelis then proceeded to gobble up much of New England, presumably you would see this as quite acceptable, that New Englanders should look forward to recreating their society on the plains of eastern New Mexico or the Mississippi delta. The issue is not intransigence on the part of the original population but the overwhleming sense of arrogance and privilege on the part of the modern Crusaders, right up to the seizure of Jerusaleum.
93
One problem here is that there is no one Palestinian voice; there are only proxies for bigger forces in play. Until the Iran-Saudi-Israel mega-conflict gets resolved or at least contained, justice for Palestinians will be very complicated and perhaps unattainable. A master solution for the major and connected Middle East tensions including Syria is essential. With the current USA leadership, that appears sadly to be unlikely.
7
This is just strange. Here is a man who supported policies that helped create the current stalemate, although I doubt he'll admit that, and now its "oops." You mean he didn't realize that the "current trends" that NOW allow for him to say the gig is up weren't clear twenty, thirty years ago. Then there is the throw away line about "Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace." It takes a man not fully engaged in reality to attribute any conscious claims to Mr. Trump's policies (and there is no "team"), never mind those having as their object the complicated Mideast peace process. That remark simply completes the farce of Mr. Lauder's political life,
419
Agreed, if by "the past few years" he means, mainstream israeli policy since after the 1967 war!! And everyone making this exact argument for much of that time. Better late than never, i guess..
1
Maybe, hopefully, he has finally recognized what is obvious to you and me. Ariel Sharon was pro-settlement and pro occupation for a long time. Just before he suffered a stroke, he changed. He said "You see things differently when you sit over here then when you sit over there" and did refer to the occupation as an occupation.
This article made me think of the classic airport announcement reminding not to leave our luggage unattended...Obvious and necessary. The problem is that many people are not ready to listen. For a viable two state solution both sides must have a common understanding of the nature of state. Tribalism and Messianism are some of the forces that will delay the project. In the meantime Israelis must find common ground, remain patient, vigilant and open to opportunities.
14
" In the meantime Israelis must find common ground, remain patient, vigilant and open to opportunities."
Right. It's only been 50 years since Israel took over the West Bank. What's the rush?
1
Yes, but ask two Sabras in Haifa their opinion on a key issue such as the settlements and you’ll get at LEAST four different opinions, each loudly, emotionally-and self-righteously expressed.
Mr. Lauder paints the picture accurately. Frankly, I’m not sure that Israel won’t choose to cease to be a democracy, or to invent a different kind of one that serves its needs. It’s tried to do right for decades, with a lot of help from us and some from others, but can’t seem to catch a break. Whenever they and Palestinians come within visible distance of a solution, some key player is struck down by a devastating stroke or gets assassinated. Or some Hamas berserker with three guys and a grudge blows the whole thing up with a missile barrage.
If you suspect the power of fate, reviewing the Israeli-Palestinian mess should make a believer of you. It’s the world’s best evidence that humans make well-intentioned plans, only to hear God laugh.
This all may prove to be brinkmanship to define the terms of a two-state solution that favors Israel’s perceived interests; or it could strip Palestinians of all political rights within one state; or it could decide more or less permanent lines that define “Israel” and defend them, pushing all Palestinians not currently Israeli citizens out into the desert, into permanent refugee camps.
If Israelis succeed, it will prove to be brinkmanship; and if they fail it will prove to be a one-state solution and a very different kind of “democracy”.
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Just read the Times' recent article on how the lower classes in Israel fanatically support Bibi, and shrug at his corruption charges. There's a reason they sound EXACTLY like Trump's backers here, just as Trump and Bibi are simply twins separated at birth. Amazing how a mother could produce a Scottish son and an Israeli one, I know.
1
"Yes, but ask two Sabras in Haifa their opinion on a key issue such as the settlements and you’ll get at LEAST four different opinions, each loudly, emotionally-and self-righteously expressed."
Color me unsurprised that RL is an anti-semite in addition to all his other deplorable qualities.
1
Israel's government has lopsided influence from the settler movement, Netanyahu being their current champion and Ariel Sharon remembered for making "facts on the ground."
During his last campaign, Bibi acknowledged that settlements were a political strategy and, in a rare moment of candor, declared that an independent Palestinian state would never be realized under his watch. Those two elements go hand in hand. The less land Palestinians have, the less there is for their own nation to emerge. And the settlements themselves lead to increased humiliations and obstacles for Palestinians' daily lives.
The ultimate Likud goal is to make life so untenable for the Palestinians that they are worn down and give up. Israel wants to be seen as forward-looking and democratic. But no progressive, laudable country treats a people so poorly.
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"The ultimate Likud goal is to make life so untenable for the Palestinians that they are worn down and give up."
Yes. "Just go away" is a hoped for option.
It is not realistic. This is not because the Palestinians are long suffering nobility. It is more like the frog in a pot getting slowly hotter. There is no decision point. It just slowly gets worse.
A few may drift away, but as a whole people they are not just one day going to up stakes and leave. That isn't how things work, for frogs or for people.
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The solution to this problem is similar to the solution in northern Ireland. The peiece between opposing and waring factions in Ireland was finally established after the American Irish community that had financially supported the country for ever, decded to withold any type of support until the parties came to an agreements. The same approach should be adopted by the world Jewish community in general and the American Jewish commubity in particular to have any effect on a the solution. As long as the jewish commuties outside Israel keep on criticizing without restricting the financial help, the impasse will continue. Money talks for ever.
1
Well said, but the Palestinians don't have the luxury of just "giving up". No country in the world (including Israel) will accept 6 million Palestinian refugees. The Palestinians have absolutely nowhere to go except the Next World.
The only choice, repeat, only choice available to Palestinians is to stay exactly where they are and continue suffering until (a) the Israeli state is able to justify their total genocide, or (b) the Israeli state destroys itself through these contradictions.
In the absence of an improvement in Israeli politics, there are unfortunately no other options. At all.
5
Mr. Lauder,
As a conservative and a Republican, not to mention a person of considerable wealth, you are certainly no stranger to the sense of entitlement that pervade both the Likud and your Republican party here at home. Surely you can identify with the self-righteous outrage of Israelis who who believe that it is their right to settle the land they sacrificed so much for, and resent the idea of having to reward those who opposed them for so long and wanted them gone. It is after all, not that different from your peers resenting having to pay taxes in order to support your fellow Americans. The reality of the majority of American workers not having adequate money to retire on, let alone pay for medical expenses is just as real as the reality of the approximately 6 million Palestinians not having adequate representation, and yet somehow, you and your political friends have declared that you should not be forced by the gov't to do anything about it, and instead have given yourselves large tax breaks. These are your countrymen, not former enemy combatants. But you want Israelis to feel generous and concern themselves with the fate of people who they perceive as their political enemies and who sided with history's losers.
Our President's commitment to peace is likely as deep and authentic as his commitment to giving all Americans affordable healthcare. In Israel, as in America, opportunity and a say in politics will exist only for those who can afford it.
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Why is it so difficult to remain focussed upon an important issue, the religous and democratic situation in Israel without making a self-consumed pivot to an entirely unrelated (albeit important) topic (redistribution of wealth in the US) for the purpose of making a political attack? Next, some other myopically focussed writer will be attempting to explain how the situation in Israel is exactly analogous to climate change, or to reduction in size of US national parks or Brexit. This illustrates exactly why it is impossible to have meaningful and productive discussions in the US when you are dealing with people who have the attention span of 5-year olds. They are so eager to talk about the thing that they want to about that they are incapable of listening to, thoughtfully considering, and articulately responding to the actual issue then being discussed.
The issues that you want to pivot to are certainly worthy of serious discussion and debate. But they are in no meaningful way related to or closely similar to the current topic, despite your attempt to make them relevant.
5
I agree that a two-state solution is the only possible goal if Israel is to remain both Jewish and democratic. But this will not happen under right-wing Likud governments that pander to the ultra-Orthodox parties in order to gain a majority to rule. The West Bank settlements are a stain on the Israeli national soul, undermining its long-gone claim to the moral high ground. I love Israel—at least the idea of Israel—but completely understand the disaffection of Diaspora Jewish youth who are separated by many decades from the thrilling founding of the state.
Not to mention the pernicious entry of religion into USA politics where Trump's white christian world is starting to allow for all sorts of racist behavior
Peter Beinart's "The Crisis of Zionism" perfectly captures says it all. In chapter 9 of this eloquently written book, Beinart writes, " Despite the emergence of J Street and other liberal Jewish groups that seek to end the occupation. American Jewish politics remains dominated by an establishment that defines support for Israel more as support for the policies of the Israel government than as support for the principles in Israel's declaration of independence." It's a shame that religious groups, even in America, for years have blindly supported extremists like Benjamin Netanyahu.
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" It's a shame that religious groups, even in America, for years have blindly supported extremists like Benjamin Netanyahu."
And it needs mentioning that here in America, a large proportion of American Jews are willing to be reasonable about the issue. The biggest problem is with the Christian evangelicals who totally support the Israeli hardliners.
15
Not all Israeli governments. Just Likud governments, unfortunately
But Beinart was absolutely wrong, not on the peace process but about Jews. American Jews started leaving Judaism long before they left Israel. He has no empirical proof that disputes that causality.
1
This Jewish American is terribly disturbed by the goings on in Israel. It appears to me that the Jewish state founded in Western ideals of equality and egalitarianism is rapidly turning into an apartheid state. It may have already made that transition.
I fear that the two state solution is dead and cannot be revived. I don't see how Israel can become one democratic state unless the Palestinians are given full rights as citizens. The ultra-orthodox will never let that happen. The claim some make to ancient Judea and Samaria has no merit in the modern world. That time has passed.
We are at an impasse. The neighboring Arab states have discovered that they can make more money and increase their security by allying with Israel. The Palestinians cannot provide those benefits. So they get tossed aside.
There were several times in the past that a two state solution could have happened, but those chances were blown. There comes a point when the chances run out and you are left with with the status quo.
I think that is where we are now. Trump has made a mostly intractable situation, totally intractable. I think the end game is to steadily erode Palestinian holdings, a bit at a time, until they all leave. This isn't how you heal the world. That's what we are supposed to do.
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The Palestinians never wanted to be Israeli citizens especially since they despise a Jewish state altogether. Their whole goal is to make sure that a Jewish state such as Israel never exists. However, Israel isn't and has never even been an apartheid state despite how many claim it to be. They give numerous rights to minorities, which is a lot more than what the rest of the region does with their minorities. There are even a lot of Arabs that can have the same jobs the Jews have as well as even running for political office and voting, which never existed in South Africa when it had apartheid. As a matter of fact, I can still remember reading about a retired South African politician who visited Israel and saw there was nothing that made it similar to what he saw back in his country. Nevertheless, the Palestinians are given their own autonomy in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which was never something they got when Egypt and Jordan had them, and aren't even subject to Israeli laws let alone pay taxes to the Knesset. In other words, if anyone is really oppressing the Palestinians here, it's their own autonomy, not Israel yet so many continue to ride such a myth.
5
Rest assured, the Palestenians are not leaving - at least not quietly. And where would they leave to? Bavaria? (which should have been the Jewish homeland considering most were killed by Germany). London? (which granted to the Jews someone else's land, instead of giving them a piece of the UK). Poland? Russia? ( major sources of the euro-jewish occupiers )
3
Lauder is so right. As long as Benjamin Netanyahu is in office, however, nobody will listen. Forget the scandals. Bibi has just been there for too long. His maneuvers to stay in office encourage the manipulations that go on within his own party. let alone in the other parties in his coalition, all more extreme than the Likud, which is to say extreme to the point of endangering democracy. And all of these manipulations work toward enhancing opposition to any diplomatic opening with the Palestinians and paving the path toward theocracy. To be sure, the question remains: which Palestinians. Fears about the Hamas taking over a Palestinian state are not fantasy. Nonetheless, a new leadership in Israel may--may, I add, not will--create the opportunity for something new, something more conducive to finding a solution. That is the first step. Then maybe the needs of creating bonds with the diaspora can be confronted. I yearn for them no less than Lauder. But first comes cleaning out our own house, including breaking the grip of the Israeli rabbinate. The rest will follow on its own.
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I agree with Joel Sanders (above): the two state solution has long been dead, and a single, democratic state would be a better solution. That, of course, means Israel ceasing to be a Jewish state. While I support Jews in large numbers continuing to live between the Jordan and the sea, I no longer support a Jewish state there--for all the reasons Mr. Lauder so well describes about the religious extremists' distortions of Israeli politics. Similarly, I do not support a Sunni Islamic state in Syria/Iraq, nor a Shiite Islamic state in Iran, nor a Hindu state in India, nor a Catholic Christian state in Ireland, nor a Protestant Christian state in the U.S. Separation of religion and state is a fundamental American value. The tragedy of Israel's slow, steady abandonment of her democracy in order to keep a Jewish state on all that land should show us how precious that value is.
44
You are aware that in Israel, PMs do come and go as they have had numerous people serve as them. They usually get four years unless they happen to die or resign. As much as I hate Bibi, he isn't serving for life. The only reason he keeps getting reelected, is mainly because he knows how to convince everyone how important he is. However, Abbas, who currently heads the PA, does declare himself a president for life even though his term is supposed to be for four years, and elections in the Palestinian territories are hardly held. Let's not forget that he didn't even want to have peace talks with Olmert even though he was much more liberal and more accepting to him. Perhaps, it's the Palestinians who need a reform when it comes to politics here. Then again, I feel the real reason to why they don't hold elections on a regular basis is mainly because groups such as Hamas and Fatah fear that they will be one day voted out by opposing groups that might even support the two state solution and want the Gaza Strip and West Bank to be more democratic rather than authoritarian. At least Israel does have elections on a regular basis as the rest of the Knesset changes a lot as well over the years whereas the parliament for the PA is pretty much the same for decades being that many of them serving it make it as if they are there for life, which shows which one is really being authoritarian here.
6
Tal, the problem with the hope that BN is not there for life is how cheaply he can be bought as demonstrated by his corruption scandals. With the added support from our own authoritarian in trump, BN can go on and on.
Israel is as much responsible for Palestinian dysfunction as are the Palestinians themselves - how can a democracy work in such an environment. We are learning this lesson ourselves in our own country with foreign disruption of our society and democracy to elect and maintain a truly despicable man with messianic edicts like taking away ALL of Jerusalem "off the table" of peace.
1