Meir Kahane. (Photo by Bernard Gotfryd at Library of Congress)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cADL has long been deeply concerned with the mainstreaming of extremist and Kahane-inspired extremist ideologies in Israeli society,\u201d she said in an emailed statement. \u201cWhile we do not get involved in Israel\u2019s electoral politics, we are disturbed by reports that individuals who espouse such views have been promised by Israeli political leaders a role in a future coalition government. As an organization deeply committed to Israel\u2019s security and well-being as a Jewish and democratic state, we believe such a development would be corrosive to Israel\u2019s founding principles, and its standing among its strongest supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three of the four groups, the AJC, the JCPA, and the Presidents\u2019 Conference, claimed that it is their policy not to take a position on Israeli elections \u2014 even though that is precisely what they did over three years ago.<\/p>\n
*In 2019, Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said Netanyahu\u2019s parley with Otzma Yehudit was \u201cvery disturbing.\u201d Although he said he understood that Netanyahu had political considerations, he said \u201cpolitics can\u2019t dictate everything. You have to take into consideration all of the ramifications and all of the concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week, responding to a JTA request for comment, William Daroff, the group\u2019s CEO, said, \u201cThe Conference of Presidents has a long-standing policy of not opining on Israeli elections, other than to celebrate the vibrant democratic process underway in the only democracy in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
*In 2019, the American Jewish Committee released a statement saying: \u201cHistorically, the views of extremist parties, reflecting the extreme left or the extreme right, have been firmly rejected by mainstream parties, even if the electoral process of Israel\u2019s robust democracy has enabled their presence, however small, in the Knesset.\u201d The views of Otzma Yehudit, the AJC said, were \u201creprehensible.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an interview with JTA on Wednesday, Ted Deutch, the Democrat from Florida who left Congress recently to lead the AJC, would not be pinned down to a statement on Otzma Yehudit, except to say AJC was committed to \u201cshared democratic values\u201d with Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cNumber one, Israel\u2019s a democracy, and they\u2019re going to have elections that will take place in a few weeks, elections that AJC does not participate in,\u201d said Deutch, whose first day at the AJC was Oct. 3. \u201cBut the second thing is that AJC is committed to the democratic values that we\u2019ve spoken out on historically and our commitment hasn\u2019t waned, and we\u2019ll continue to speak out directly with the Israelis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pressed as to what the use was of potentially speaking out after the fact against Otzma Yehudit joining the government, Deutch doubled down. \u201cI\u2019m not going to speculate what the government is going to look like because it\u2019s not my role to be involved in Israeli elections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
*In 2019, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella body for public policy groups, urged Netanyahu in a private letter obtained by JTA to condemn Otzma Yehudit. A JCPA official on Thursday told JTA that the umbrella body does not speak out on \u201cinternal Israeli political issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
AIPAC, which in 2019 quoted the AJC statement and said \u201cwe agree,\u201d this year declined to comment without explanation. None of the groups would say whether they were reaching out privately to Netanyahu.<\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to reporters at a Jewish Media Summit in Jerusalem, Dec. 6, 2016. (Jewish Media Summit)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The groups did not share what\u2019s behind their reluctance to speak out, but one clue could lie in Netanyahu\u2019s belief, which he reportedly shares widely, that American Jews are of waning importance to Israel. Antagonizing him as he nears a potential return to power has a clear downside. Already, Netanyahu has made clear that he was \u201cpissed off\u201d with Menendez\u2019s rebuke, according to Axios, which broke the story.<\/p>\n
Scott Lasensky, a professor of Israel and Jewish studies at the University of Maryland, said the failure of Jewish organizations to speak out could be attributable to a number of factors, including one that plagues Israelis as well \u2014 election fatigue.<\/p>\n
This is the fifth election since 2019, he noted, and the organizations may figure that it wiser to wait and see how the election plays out before weighing in.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the fatigue and the uncertainty of what a coalition would look like, some groups are hedging and waiting for the post-election opportunity,\u201d when parties negotiate to set up a coalition, to voice any objections, he said.<\/p>\n
Another factor, Lasensky said, are the crises that have beset Americans since 2019 \u2014 the coronavirus pandemic, Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, inflation and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Jewish groups may lack the bandwidth to worry too much about Israel\u2019s coalition politics.<\/p>\n
Lasensky also said Jewish groups adhere to a \u201cnorm of deference\u201d when it comes to Israel, and break it only under extraordinary circumstances. While the prospect of Otzma Yehudit in government was extraordinary in 2019, it no longer is, as the party has been normalized among Israelis.<\/p>\n
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