Anger over ad campaign missed the point
Jeff Goldberg is taking the credit for putting the kibosh on the Israeli ad campaign to lure Israeli expats in the United States back to Israel.
After Goldberg blogged about it Wednesday, two major Jewish groups issued condemnations, press reports about a spat in the Israel-Diaspora relationship appeared in Israeli media, and on Friday Israel's prime minister ordered the campaign canceled. "So there you have it: Another Diaspora-Israel crisis averted. The prime minister has acted swiftly and correctly. Goldblog's work here is done. Shabbat Shalom," Goldberg writes.
But why is the end of this campaign a good thing?
Yes, the Christmas ad could be construed as insensitive (I'd link to it but it has been removed from YouTube).
But the other two ads (here and here) were effective ways of tugging at the heartstrings of Israeli expats who know that they risk losing something by living outside of Israel. That doesn't mean that those who choose to live in Israel are better than those who choose to live in the Diaspora. But it does mean that living in America dilutes Israeliness, just as a French expat who lives in America will have kids who feel more American than French.
What's distracting and misleading about how Goldberg framed the conversation is that it's not about American Jews vs. Israeli Jews, but life in Israel vs. life in America. Goldberg's first blog post about the campaign was titled "Netanyahu Government Suggests Israelis Avoid Marrying American Jews." That was a gross mischaracterization of the ad suggesting that the partner of an Israeli woman can't understand the emotions of Israel's Memorial Day. That as wasn't about Jewishness, but about Israeliness (and the partner in the ad was never identified as an American Jew).
The issue isn't whether Israelis or Americans make better Jews, but whether Israel or America makes better Israelis. For that, there's no contest.
And why shouldn't the Israeli government try to lure home Israelis from overseas?
The Israeli government believes it needs more Jews for its demographic survival, and Israelis who live in America have a lot to contribute to Israel: relatively high degrees of professionalism, wealth, education, affinity for democratic values. The Israeli expats who live in America may or may not be better off going back to Israel, but there's no question Israel would be better off with them back home.
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The problem with the entirely racist concept of the advertisement is the notion that one’s identity as a Jew is somehow diluted if the person is raised in the Diaspora versus being an “Israeli-Jew”. What kind of nonsense is this. Being a Jew means following some traditions of our past and a belief that Israel is a homeland for Jews (irrespective of their ancestral background.) If the Government of Israel seeks to create more barriers to citizenship and to acceptance into their society, that is their problem, not ours. We don’t need to financially provide support to Israeli causes if the national policy veers too much away from democracy towards right wing religious fanaticism, like their neighbors. American Jews should respond by working with other Diaspora organizations to prepare for the onslaught of anti-Jewish prejudice that is going to continue to spread as a result of or as long as Israeli and Palestinian refuse to resolve their conflict. We should be protecting ourselves from the abuse and hatred that comes as a result of irresponsible policies of both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
No Mr. Heilman, I don’t think we Diaspora Jews missed the point at all.
Did You Know That Israeli Government Doesn’t Think Much of Jews in the Diaspora? http://wp.me/p1Jt6N-kd
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Steve Coplan
12/05/11 12:47 PM
“And why shouldn’t the Israeli government try to lure home Israelis from overseas?” An interesting angle that hasn’t been explored is which ministry within the government is funding this campaign. I wonder programs catering to new olim saw their funding cut to create the budget for a campaign targeting citizens who don’t need services to integrate into Israeli society?