By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM — The East European Jewish ghetto is said to have had only one criterion for evaluating world events: Gut far di Yidn oder shlecht far di Yidn? Is it good for the Jews or is it bad for the Jews? Israel is determined to be as far away from the ghetto as is humanly possible. Its prime minister is travelling around the world – in Holland this week – telling it that his country is a bastion and protector of Western values in this unruly part of the world and elsewhere.
Nevertheless, the question which of the US presidential candidates would be better for the Jewish state is on the minds of many Israelis. Potential voters in the American elections in November – there’re said to be 300,000 US citizens here; 80 000 of them in the West Bank Jewish settlements – are urged to vote for the candidate they deem to be best for Israel.
The Republicans are well organized and they’re mobilizing voters for Trump with the assurance that he and only he is good, nay very good, for Israel. They may have particularly the Iran deal in mind, which, we recall, has been vehemently condemned by Israel’s most prominent Republican, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Trump has told Americans that the Iran deal will destroy Israel unless he gets elected. Of course, this may be just rhetoric. Trump hasn’t said that he’d scrap the deal. Perhaps he, too, believes that the deal isn’t really that bad, but being critical of it may please potential voters, not only in Israel.
Hillary Clinton is said to have had a lot to do with drafting the Iran agreement when she was US Secretary of State. She has supported it since. Which may be yet another reason why some Israelis would be very unhappy if she were elected. They don’t seem to hear when she reminds audiences in the United States that Donald Trump is inexperienced, incompetent and inconsistent and, therefore, a danger to the free world.
However, according to polls, most Israelis – the overwhelming majority of whom, of course, can’t vote in the American elections – support Clinton. Not that they think that she loves Israel – more than they think that Obama loves Israel – but being a realistic politician and diplomat she knows that the stability and security of Israel are in the interest of the United States and the rest of the free world. She may be critical of Israeli policies, perhaps particularly those relating to the settlements, but that won’t make her abandon Israel – for the sake of the United States.
Trump, on the other hand – to say it again – is all over the place. Wearing the tallit that a Black bishop gave him may be an apt illustration of the warped way in which he looks at Judaism, Jews and perhaps also Israel, his Jewish daughter and her family notwithstanding.
Irrespective of who will be the next president of the United States, Israel is looking around in search of other allies, perhaps as alternatives, to put pressure on America to deliver. Attempts to (a) reach out direct to European states bypassing the European Union, (b) the frequent encounters between Netanyahu and Putin and, (c) to establish lines of communication with Islamic states, including Arab states, may all be ways of trying to bypass the United States.
We may be out of the ghetto but its question continues to haunt us.
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Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. Now residing in Israel, he may be contacted via dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com. Comments intended for publication in the space below MUST be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the United States.)