Israeli envoy accuses political enemies of eroding relations with American Jews – The Forward

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Amichai Chikli, Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs, at the Israel-American Council National Summit on January 20, 2023. Photo by Shahar Azran

By Jacob Kornbluh January 30, 2023

Amichai Chikli, Israel’s new minister for diaspora affairs, landed in the United States as American Jews staged protests against his government, the most right-wing in the country’s history. These rallies are smaller than those in Israel, but their participants fear as much as their Israeli counterparts that the country is drifting away from democracy and pluralism and adopting a dangerously combative approach against the Palestinians.

This forces Chiklis to strengthen ties between Israel and Jews abroad, most of whom live in the exceptionally difficult United States. The alliance had deteriorated under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who led Israel for a dozen years and, thanks to the November elections, is leading it again. This time he is flanked by coalition partners whom many characterize as extremists. They have backed legislation to limit the power of the High Court and have proposed changes to the Law of Return that would narrow the pool of people to whom it would apply. Fears of a spiral of violence have intensified. Many American Jews were troubled last week by an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Jenin that left 10 people dead. And they mourned the seven people killed Friday in a terror attack on a Jerusalem synagogue.

American Jews, the vast majority of whom vote against right-wing candidates in their own country, are feeling increasingly discouraged with Israel.

Chikli, 41, who landed the ministry job because he was willing to take bold political action and challenge members of his own party, is painfully aware of the disconnect. But he said in a recent interview that he believes Jews abroad still need to be heard by Israel. We have no better ambassadors than Diaspora Jewish communities, he said. Their voice is very important and they all sincerely love Israel.

In the United States last week, Chikli sought to allay American concerns about the future of Israeli democracy.

But at the same time, he blamed the opposition and the Israeli media for what he said was a misunderstanding by American Jews of the Jewish state’s new direction. He said they were greatly influenced by the relentless attacks on the new government. And he accused Yair Lapid, the former prime minister and current opposition leader, of causing massive damage to US-Israeli relations and Israel-Diaspora relations.

Listening but not for everyone

During his brief visit to the United States, Chikli filled his schedule, meeting with leaders from the Reform, Conservative and Orthodox streams of Judaism, as well as the heads of the Jewish Federations of North America, UJA-Federation of New York, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. He met with the board of Momentum Project, an Israeli government-sponsored group that seeks to strengthen Jewish identity and ties to Israel. He also spoke at an annual conference hosted by the Israeli American Council, a group of Israeli expats, in Austin, Texas.

Amichai Chikli, Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs, at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, January 29, 2019. 29, 2023. Courtesy Amichai Chikli

He declined, however, to meet with leaders of J Street, the prominent liberal advocacy organization that calls itself the political home of pro-Israel, pro-peace and pro-democracy Americans. Chikli called the group hostile to Zionism and the State of Israel. He said his lobbying supports policies that serve Iran and the Palestinian Authority and advance anti-Semitic tendencies. Ron Dermer, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States who is now Minister of Strategic Affairs, also snubbed the group during his tenure in Washington, D.C.

Logan Bayroff, a spokesperson for J Street, called it “self-defeating and myopic” that the Israeli government refuses to meet with the group. “Israel is the national homeland of the Jewish people, not just of those who agree with Benjamin Netanyahu and Itamar Ben-Gvir,” Baayroff said, referring to Israel’s national security minister, who has come under heavy criticism for having fueled tensions with the Palestinians. He noted that J Street’s views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its emphasis on democracy are shared by much of American Jewry. “It shows how deeply disconnected this government is from much of our community,” he said.

Chikli himself is a hardliner on the conflict. He called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas one of the greatest Holocaust deniers of our generation and a distinct anti-Semite for accusing Israel of carrying out 50 holocausts against Palestinians while standing alongside the German Chancellor in Berlin last year. On Sunday, Chikli called the Palestinian Authority a neo-Nazi entity.

We may disagree on policy and criticism is welcome, but all we ask for is the trust and support of Diaspora Jews, he said.

From Camp Ramah to Cabinet

The son of an ordained Conservative rabbi and formerly of Camp Ramah, a network of Jewish summer camps affiliated with the Conservative movement, Chikli presents himself as an outspoken independent. In a 2021 interview with the Forward, Chikli said he has visited the United States several times and suggested that many American Jews are affiliated with an anti-nationalist and anti-liberal ideology that will disconnect them from their ethnic origins.

I have the ability to create an open and frank dialogue with American Jews, but without shame, Chikli said in a phone interview last week, adding that his opinions had not changed one iota since he was in the political opposition.

He rose to prominence in Israeli politics just weeks after entering the Knesset in 2021 as the only conservative rebel in the previous government. A former member of the right-wing Yamina party, Chikli accused its leader, Naftali Bennett, of allying with the left and an Arab-Israeli party for his personal gain. The Bennets government lost its majority last April after other Yamina members left the coalition.

Amichai Chikli at the Knesset on Dec. 6, 2022. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90

After joining the Likud party and after the election, Chikli asked to lead the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, the Ministry of Social Equality, and also lead the campaign against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

Netanyahu gave him everything.

On Sunday, Chikli presented a comprehensive report on anti-Semitism in the diaspora at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. He linked the rise in anti-Semitic incidents to a hostile atmosphere toward Jewish students on college campuses and told colleagues he was working on a strategy to combat it.

On the offensive

As much as Chikli framed his trip as a listening tour, he came to speak to explain his government’s thinking behind the initiatives that critics have called undemocratic.

Currently, Israeli Supreme Court justices are appointed by a committee that includes some, but not the majority, of lawmakers. A new government plan would give them a majority, a move the opposition say would politicize the judiciary. Chikli called it ridiculous to claim that the current method of placing judges is normal or even close to custom in other Western countries.

He urged American Jews to wait for committee hearings and Knesset debate on the issue before drawing conclusions. There will be changes, he said.

He also dismissed concerns about proposed changes to the Law of Return, which allow anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent to immigrate to Israel as long as they do not practice another religion. Some American Jewish groups have warned that restricting immigration by abolishing the so-called grandchildren clause would alienate the diaspora.

In response, Chikli referred to a presentation prepared by a right-wing think tank, the Kohelet Policy Forum, which predicted that a majority of immigrants eligible for Israeli citizenship in the future would not be Jews, but primarily non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet republics, Russia and Ukraine. Right now the law is being broken and it’s costing us dearly, he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior cabinet ministers at the Knesset on December 29, 2022. Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images

But he said he told Jewish leaders he would serve as a conduit to the committee reviewing the bill and that he believed that, unlike decisions on homeland security and the economy, the concerns of Jewish leaders abroad should be taken into account in the context of immigration reform. is legislated.

The Likud politician said religious issues regarding conversion, kashrut and the 2017 Kotel Agreement, which designated a protected space at the Western Wall for various streams of Jewish practice, were not addressed in his meetings with Americans. And he said he doesn’t anticipate any legislation that would change the status quo at this point.

We just had elections and the results were crystal clear, Chikli said of the new government’s positions. We have been very honest about our agenda, and it is our responsibility to follow that agenda.

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