Keep your money
Gideon Levy of Ha'aretz uses the Olmert-Talansky scandal to raise concerns about the role of Diaspora money in Israel:
Revealing the identity of the primary witness, Morris Talansky, in the lastest Ehud Olmert affair raises questions that go beyond the prime minister. Serious questions need to be asked about the relationship between American Jewry and Israel.Granted, Talansky is a mere individual, but he is not the only one. Jerusalem is full of wheeler-dealers, functionaries, lobbyists, donors and philanthropists. There are rich men and middlemen, envoys and delegations, many of them with good intentions, but some without.
They wheedle and schnorr and contribute to various causes. It's the kind of schnorring that begins with Shaare Zedek Medical Center and could end in court. The question here is why did Talansky, or any other Jewish American, invest, allegedly, in Olmert? What do they receive in exchange for this pot stirring?
His conclusion:
No thank you, we're doing all right. No thank you, some of you are causing us great damage. If you want to wield influence, do it in your own country. You have a lot of power and influence there. Perhaps too much; it's none of our business. You are American, not Israeli citizens, and no amount of money can or should change this fact. War and peace, social justice and government, education and religion in Israel are a matter for its citizens alone.
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With all due respect to Mr. Levy, religion is NOT a matter for its citizens alone. If Israel is a JEWISH state and not merely a reflection of the Diaspora, the religious activities of the State of Israel, for better or worse, should be according to Jewish law in the spirit of the “Status Quo” agreement Prime Minister Ben Gurion agreed to with the religious authorities at the beginning of Israel’s independence.
For that matter, the Diaspora will not be completely detached from what is happening in the State of Israel, regardless of Mr. Levy’s hopes.
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Esor Ben-Sorek
05/12/08 12:07 PM
We have been telling well-intentioned diaspora Jews to keep their noses out of Israeli politics and government proposals. What we Israelis vote for and decide is not the business of foreign Jews. Israel may be their spiritual homeland but it is not their country. Until they make aliyah, vote and pay taxes in Israel, they should not dictate to Israel their Anglo-Saxon democratic principles. We are without a Constitution. So is England. And we of all nations do not lack in democracy. We do not need to import it from the USA. Besides, everything good today is stamped “Made in China”.