I would like to share a reminder regarding Israel's significant global contributions. Israel is responsible for over 45% of the world's top modern achievements and continues to share these triumphs globally.
These advancements span across science, technology, medicine, and military innovations. Notably, the United States remains a primary beneficiary of this ongoing progress.
Better to be disposable because of not suiting the President's purpose than to be disposable because of being on the receiving end of political prejudice (contact Democrat Senate candidates in Maine and Michigan regarding Nazi tattoos and why hurt Hezbollahs can hurt).
"Make yourself useful" has always been the most important principle in international relations. And in everyday work too.
Well written, Josh. We must say however that America is still a close ally of Israel and The Jewish People when this comes to alignment on Iran’s Enriched Uranium and the Centrifuges and the Ballistic Missiles, because these things Existentially threaten Europe and America as well. Other than these three facts, and the danger of Iran’s Terrorist proxies entering Europe and The US, your article is valid.
I agree. No matter what the upcoming deal or war with Iran is coming, the codependency by Israel/Diaspora has to end. I always thought that should be the strategy for Jews everywhere. It may not be easier but it will force us to be more resilient. I fear that we will continue to “kick the can…” again and continue to keep creating the Jewish anxiety for the future.
That is half true. Even younger Republicans have turned against Israel. That reflects the reckless reporting on Gaza, where, along with West Bank residents, 70% still think October 7 was fine and dandy.
Then true. Ass for Democrats, look at Van Hollen’s op ed in the Times today. And Jews continue to vote en masse for Democrats, forgetting that Roosevelt died almost 80 years ago.
I've been thinking this for decades. I stopped giving to ADL a decade ago when they became obsessed with blacks, Trans, gays...everyone but Jews. Thanks guys. And yes, Jews want to assimilate. What did we get? Hostility just when we needed aid. The NAAACP was founded largely with Jewish money and the first chairman was Jewish. Jews died for blacks. Jews led black legal efforts. Jews wrote most of Thurgood Marshall's briefs (he wasn't that smart). Ever see thousands of blacks at an Israel day parade? Nope. But you saw thousands of Jews at black parades and marshes.
We were everyone's useful idiot. Time to say F/U. Quit giving to black charities. Quit supporting "social justice" because it ain't for us. Tell the 900 Jewish journalists that it would be nice if more than a handful stood up for us. Find a black op-ed writer who isn't obsessively pro-black. Find a Jewish op-ed writer who speak out for everyone but Jews.
And quit voting for Jewish politicians. They never stand up for us. They are the ultimate ass kissers and assimilationssts.
I don't understand how Blacks forgot in such a short period of time that Jews even protested and marched with MLK, and were instrumental in helping them achieve their equal and just civil rights in the US .
I must disagree with you about us "being everyone's useful idiot". It is never wrong or foolish and always a mitzvah for us to help others when needed. Our helping black people gain increased rights is a good thing even to this day.
I thought it was all nice too. Then I read polls starting 15 years ago showing the largest identifiable group of anti-semites in the US was blacks, followed by hispanics. Jews preach tiikun olam -- but if trying to repair the world for 3000 years fails...take the hint! I do think Jews are fools, the phrase "smarted dumb people in the world" is always in my mind. Jews are the most productive and successful people in world history, and for that we get....hated. PR problem anyone?
I think that pouring large resources into helping others, only for them to never be there for us, is foolish. And its worse when they are hostile. Some thank you. Try wearing a yarmulke in Brooklyn.
While I understand your sentiment -- and shared it, having worked on black causes for years, I have regrets. If its dumb to love someone who is hostile to you in your personal life, why does it become smart in your public life?
I hear you. We must pour resources into helping ourselves, agreed. And I understand your anger. It isn't right or fair that we are dealing with the hatred again.
I fidn it astonishing that blacks, trans, gays etc. are "Free Free Palestine." These are the people Jews fought for? That's my point. I think Jews have been fools. Even before the recent lifting of the mask, I always thought Jews defended the other groups because they were too afraid to speak up for themselves, so they sought to establish principles for others that might benefit them. Didn't work out too well.
I wanted to add, on this subject: people forget that Jews from around 1875-1965 lived an equivalent of Jim Crow: barred from neighborhoods, many fields of employment, professions, universities, public office. Ever wonder why there are so many Jewish hospitals? Why so many American Jewish Nobel/Fields winners before about 1960 went to CCNY? All because of intense prejudice very very similar to Jim Crow. But did blacks protest it? Never. Never.
first and foremost we must accept the biggest problem that because only in Judaism can those based on bloodlines can call themselves Jews even when the believe in no religion itor a man made "judaism" it does not matter says the Pew and Gallop polls> they are the vast majority of "jews" in Diaspora
A realistic and harsh reflection, but necessary and hopeful at the same time. Accepting reality sometimes opens doors you didn't know existed or didn't remember existed. Thank you, Joshua.
Better get moving fast on it. With Jews like Brad Landers, a dhimmi supporter of Mandami and anti Zionist becoming NYC's only Jewish congressman later this year, we aren't going to be able to rely on the "Jewish leaders" here in the US.
We never could count on Jewish "leaders." Nothing new. I never vote for Jews in office other than Lieberman when he was around, and would vote for Shapiro if I lived in PA.
It's a long time coming. Israel needs to stand on its own to the greatest extent possible. But I still harbor the fear in the back of my mind that she cannot survive if the United States actually turns on her.
Tangential thought: what are the two things that bring on risk of attack if worn in public? Jewish symbols and MAGA hats. And the first is far more dangerous than the second.
I read a very interesting article the other day which pointed to the vast difference between Ashkenazi Jews and Mizrahi. It is very telling before and after Oct. 7, how Ashkenazi Jews have always counted on being "accepted" if we followed very strict rules of conduct with the non-Jews. Polite, soft-spoken, don't make waves, donate to non-Jewish causes, stand up for every minority, but definitely not your own people, and try to be as assimilated as possible so you could "pass". On the other hand, Mizrahi never dreamed of being accepted in Arab society as Jews were always Dhimmi, a Muslim term of second or third class status, with many restrictions and special taxes. What they did was depend on each other, on the extended family, and the Jewish community, for support and acceptance and aid. Thus after October. 7, the Ashkenazi were hit with the equivalent of a nuclear bomb, especially in countries where there was the highest hope of total acceptance and equal status, that is, the US, and to a lesser extent, Britain, Canada, and Australia. The Jews in European countries had experiences varying depending on the degree of open Jew hatred there was in society already. The Mizrahi, never believing they would be accepted, have had much less trauma from this world wide wave of Jew hatred that has been unleashed.
HAHAHA as always the inconvenient TRUTH is ignored.. The diaspora Jew especially in the US has greatly diminished or even eliminated Jewish/Israeli political clout by voting for the OBAMAcrats the anti Israel anti Jewish party. creating a JAMES BAKERESQUE 'FUCK THE JEWS THEY DON'T VOTE FOR US ANYWAY" condition. Plus their loud consistent rhetoric criticizing Israel. this is the only result possible courtesy of the Diaspora Jew!
So true! I have a very different view than many of my family and friends ( except my own children whom grew up with my perspective) as I lived in Israel in my 20s, where I was in civil guard for 6 years patrolling around Israel and the West Bank at night 3-4 times/week. A few mornings each week I inspected Pal women for knives, tiny mines or hand grenades, who came on buses from the West Bank to Israel proper for work. Completely different thinking about who are Israelis and what they have to endure and are up against from än even more vile enemy than what existed in the region 40 years ago
I hope for American Jews to find a way to respond to the attacks on their lives. A dilemma for me is when Jews favor a Jew only worldview. That has a long history of creating resentment. I saw the same behavior with Mormons and that behavior creates resentment.
Joshua, I honestly think this is a very strong and important article, and much of what you say is absolutely true. No people can ultimately outsource their survival to others. Alliances matter, friendships matter, diplomacy matters — but every country ultimately acts according to its own interests, pressures, demographics, economics, and political realities. That is simply reality.
At the same time, I would slightly distinguish between Israel’s position and the diaspora’s position because I actually think Israel today is far stronger and far less dependent than many people realize. During the Iran conflict, yes, many Western countries behaved cautiously and stayed largely on the sidelines. Publicly they hesitated, delayed, calculated, and worried about their own internal politics and demographics. But privately many of them understood perfectly well that Iran represented a major threat and were quite content letting Israel and the United States carry much of the burden.
That may be cowardice, but it also reflects self-interest and political fear more than outright abandonment.
And despite all the tensions, Israel is not isolated in the simplistic sense people often describe. The Abraham Accords changed the region significantly. India has become an enormously important partner and friend to Israel in ways many people still underestimate. New diplomatic openings continue developing quietly as well. Israel is building relationships because strength attracts relationships.
The place where I think the crisis is truly deepest is the diaspora itself. Diaspora Jews are fragmented, psychologically shaken, politically reactive, organizationally weak, and often deeply dependent on external approval structures. That is where the real overhaul is needed.
And honestly, one of the greatest frustrations for many Jews is watching enormous Jewish organizations collect vast sums of money while still lacking accessibility, accountability, strategic clarity, coordination, or the ability to seriously prepare diaspora communities for the realities now emerging around them.
So I think your larger point about Jewish self-reliance is absolutely correct. I would simply say that Israel and the diaspora are now entering this new era from very different positions of strength.
Very timely analysis. I reason that since 250 years ago, a mere drop in the ocean of time and civilizations, the US didn't yet exist and the People Israel had already lived and survived for millennia, thrown into the proverbial sea of troubles, there may be a coming macro timeline we might not be able to easily foresee .Empires came and went, and they might still do. We tend to see things not very far from our own very limited timelines. Thousands of years ahead, my intuition tells me, the People Israel and The State of Israel will still exist. We still don't really know either what mostly has preserved the Jews or what has caused so much hatred from its "daughter" religions. Let's hope that whatever "Élan Vital" dwells in Israel lives also in the USA, and that it may resist the uncivilized pressures that seek to overcome it.
After the Holocaust , what did we the Jews learn? Or as some of our detractors put it....we the Jews didn't learn the lesson of the Holocaust. The Europeans for example were not required to learn anything. American Jews love assimilation. We look askance at the Hasidisim, their frocks, their sheitels, their trail of young kids, the boys with long payes. Everything we want to escape. Gigi hadid is wearing her key necklace...symbolic of the "Palestinian resistance" and their "memory" The Jews of course have no memory as we have no civilization....and we require no separate country as we can find our meaning in Diaspora.....and anyway Israel was founded by dispossessing the indigenous Arabs in their quaint dress...that costume is OKAY and tend to their sheep ....it' slike out of the Bible! Jewish "settlers" build ...with Arab workmen....suburban tracts that defile the natural beauty of the land while Palestinian architecture is organic to the landscape. Everthing about Zionism, about Judaism is artificial and contrived except our devotion to other rights causes....BLM, free free Palestine.....this is a time for Jews to do more than realize that in the future ....as now....the Dem party is anti Israel and anti Zionist and will do the least possible for American Jews' safety. And the Republicans are vulnerable to isolationism and antisemitism too. Maybe this doesn't precisely answer your thesis....with which I agree. but this is what is on my mind.
I would like to share a reminder regarding Israel's significant global contributions. Israel is responsible for over 45% of the world's top modern achievements and continues to share these triumphs globally.
These advancements span across science, technology, medicine, and military innovations. Notably, the United States remains a primary beneficiary of this ongoing progress.
Is this one of your many contributions?
Netanyahu may finally be realizing that to Trump everyone is disposable if they no longer suit his purpose.
Better to be disposable because of not suiting the President's purpose than to be disposable because of being on the receiving end of political prejudice (contact Democrat Senate candidates in Maine and Michigan regarding Nazi tattoos and why hurt Hezbollahs can hurt).
"Make yourself useful" has always been the most important principle in international relations. And in everyday work too.
yep a case were better late than never does not apply
Well written, Josh. We must say however that America is still a close ally of Israel and The Jewish People when this comes to alignment on Iran’s Enriched Uranium and the Centrifuges and the Ballistic Missiles, because these things Existentially threaten Europe and America as well. Other than these three facts, and the danger of Iran’s Terrorist proxies entering Europe and The US, your article is valid.
I agree. No matter what the upcoming deal or war with Iran is coming, the codependency by Israel/Diaspora has to end. I always thought that should be the strategy for Jews everywhere. It may not be easier but it will force us to be more resilient. I fear that we will continue to “kick the can…” again and continue to keep creating the Jewish anxiety for the future.
Never ending anxiety!
Americas is still an ally because of Trump. But under-40s of all parties are now hostile to Jews and Israel.
Not because of Trump. The vast majority of Republicans are strongly pro Israel. However Trump is an unreliable ally as Josh demonstrates.
That is half true. Even younger Republicans have turned against Israel. That reflects the reckless reporting on Gaza, where, along with West Bank residents, 70% still think October 7 was fine and dandy.
I was referring to elected Republicans since that is what we are talking about. Elected officials.
Then true. Ass for Democrats, look at Van Hollen’s op ed in the Times today. And Jews continue to vote en masse for Democrats, forgetting that Roosevelt died almost 80 years ago.
haha the joke of the day--good one
I've been thinking this for decades. I stopped giving to ADL a decade ago when they became obsessed with blacks, Trans, gays...everyone but Jews. Thanks guys. And yes, Jews want to assimilate. What did we get? Hostility just when we needed aid. The NAAACP was founded largely with Jewish money and the first chairman was Jewish. Jews died for blacks. Jews led black legal efforts. Jews wrote most of Thurgood Marshall's briefs (he wasn't that smart). Ever see thousands of blacks at an Israel day parade? Nope. But you saw thousands of Jews at black parades and marshes.
We were everyone's useful idiot. Time to say F/U. Quit giving to black charities. Quit supporting "social justice" because it ain't for us. Tell the 900 Jewish journalists that it would be nice if more than a handful stood up for us. Find a black op-ed writer who isn't obsessively pro-black. Find a Jewish op-ed writer who speak out for everyone but Jews.
And quit voting for Jewish politicians. They never stand up for us. They are the ultimate ass kissers and assimilationssts.
I don't understand how Blacks forgot in such a short period of time that Jews even protested and marched with MLK, and were instrumental in helping them achieve their equal and just civil rights in the US .
I must disagree with you about us "being everyone's useful idiot". It is never wrong or foolish and always a mitzvah for us to help others when needed. Our helping black people gain increased rights is a good thing even to this day.
I thought it was all nice too. Then I read polls starting 15 years ago showing the largest identifiable group of anti-semites in the US was blacks, followed by hispanics. Jews preach tiikun olam -- but if trying to repair the world for 3000 years fails...take the hint! I do think Jews are fools, the phrase "smarted dumb people in the world" is always in my mind. Jews are the most productive and successful people in world history, and for that we get....hated. PR problem anyone?
I think that pouring large resources into helping others, only for them to never be there for us, is foolish. And its worse when they are hostile. Some thank you. Try wearing a yarmulke in Brooklyn.
While I understand your sentiment -- and shared it, having worked on black causes for years, I have regrets. If its dumb to love someone who is hostile to you in your personal life, why does it become smart in your public life?
I hear you. We must pour resources into helping ourselves, agreed. And I understand your anger. It isn't right or fair that we are dealing with the hatred again.
I fidn it astonishing that blacks, trans, gays etc. are "Free Free Palestine." These are the people Jews fought for? That's my point. I think Jews have been fools. Even before the recent lifting of the mask, I always thought Jews defended the other groups because they were too afraid to speak up for themselves, so they sought to establish principles for others that might benefit them. Didn't work out too well.
We have to help ourselves as well as others. "If I am not for myself who will be for me?"
that's my point. thank you.
Problem is we can’t help anyone if we’re all DED dead! Wakey wakey. Jew hatred runs deep in the human race.
I wanted to add, on this subject: people forget that Jews from around 1875-1965 lived an equivalent of Jim Crow: barred from neighborhoods, many fields of employment, professions, universities, public office. Ever wonder why there are so many Jewish hospitals? Why so many American Jewish Nobel/Fields winners before about 1960 went to CCNY? All because of intense prejudice very very similar to Jim Crow. But did blacks protest it? Never. Never.
Excellent. This is the blueprint for the 10/8 world.
We're on our own, and have always been on our own, regardless of any temporary (in our history 10-20-30 years is a blink of an eye) alliance.
If you are a Jew, and that matters to you, best get that through your head.
first and foremost we must accept the biggest problem that because only in Judaism can those based on bloodlines can call themselves Jews even when the believe in no religion itor a man made "judaism" it does not matter says the Pew and Gallop polls> they are the vast majority of "jews" in Diaspora
A realistic and harsh reflection, but necessary and hopeful at the same time. Accepting reality sometimes opens doors you didn't know existed or didn't remember existed. Thank you, Joshua.
🙏🙏💪🇮🇱💙🫂🙏🙏
Better get moving fast on it. With Jews like Brad Landers, a dhimmi supporter of Mandami and anti Zionist becoming NYC's only Jewish congressman later this year, we aren't going to be able to rely on the "Jewish leaders" here in the US.
And landers has many comrades ( born as jews) in media , politics, academia and Hollywood.
see my comment--you nailed it
Our best allies in Congress are without exception gentiles.
We never could count on Jewish "leaders." Nothing new. I never vote for Jews in office other than Lieberman when he was around, and would vote for Shapiro if I lived in PA.
It's a long time coming. Israel needs to stand on its own to the greatest extent possible. But I still harbor the fear in the back of my mind that she cannot survive if the United States actually turns on her.
Tangential thought: what are the two things that bring on risk of attack if worn in public? Jewish symbols and MAGA hats. And the first is far more dangerous than the second.
I read a very interesting article the other day which pointed to the vast difference between Ashkenazi Jews and Mizrahi. It is very telling before and after Oct. 7, how Ashkenazi Jews have always counted on being "accepted" if we followed very strict rules of conduct with the non-Jews. Polite, soft-spoken, don't make waves, donate to non-Jewish causes, stand up for every minority, but definitely not your own people, and try to be as assimilated as possible so you could "pass". On the other hand, Mizrahi never dreamed of being accepted in Arab society as Jews were always Dhimmi, a Muslim term of second or third class status, with many restrictions and special taxes. What they did was depend on each other, on the extended family, and the Jewish community, for support and acceptance and aid. Thus after October. 7, the Ashkenazi were hit with the equivalent of a nuclear bomb, especially in countries where there was the highest hope of total acceptance and equal status, that is, the US, and to a lesser extent, Britain, Canada, and Australia. The Jews in European countries had experiences varying depending on the degree of open Jew hatred there was in society already. The Mizrahi, never believing they would be accepted, have had much less trauma from this world wide wave of Jew hatred that has been unleashed.
HAHAHA as always the inconvenient TRUTH is ignored.. The diaspora Jew especially in the US has greatly diminished or even eliminated Jewish/Israeli political clout by voting for the OBAMAcrats the anti Israel anti Jewish party. creating a JAMES BAKERESQUE 'FUCK THE JEWS THEY DON'T VOTE FOR US ANYWAY" condition. Plus their loud consistent rhetoric criticizing Israel. this is the only result possible courtesy of the Diaspora Jew!
So true! I have a very different view than many of my family and friends ( except my own children whom grew up with my perspective) as I lived in Israel in my 20s, where I was in civil guard for 6 years patrolling around Israel and the West Bank at night 3-4 times/week. A few mornings each week I inspected Pal women for knives, tiny mines or hand grenades, who came on buses from the West Bank to Israel proper for work. Completely different thinking about who are Israelis and what they have to endure and are up against from än even more vile enemy than what existed in the region 40 years ago
I hope for American Jews to find a way to respond to the attacks on their lives. A dilemma for me is when Jews favor a Jew only worldview. That has a long history of creating resentment. I saw the same behavior with Mormons and that behavior creates resentment.
I don't think you have to worry about that.
Joshua, I honestly think this is a very strong and important article, and much of what you say is absolutely true. No people can ultimately outsource their survival to others. Alliances matter, friendships matter, diplomacy matters — but every country ultimately acts according to its own interests, pressures, demographics, economics, and political realities. That is simply reality.
At the same time, I would slightly distinguish between Israel’s position and the diaspora’s position because I actually think Israel today is far stronger and far less dependent than many people realize. During the Iran conflict, yes, many Western countries behaved cautiously and stayed largely on the sidelines. Publicly they hesitated, delayed, calculated, and worried about their own internal politics and demographics. But privately many of them understood perfectly well that Iran represented a major threat and were quite content letting Israel and the United States carry much of the burden.
That may be cowardice, but it also reflects self-interest and political fear more than outright abandonment.
And despite all the tensions, Israel is not isolated in the simplistic sense people often describe. The Abraham Accords changed the region significantly. India has become an enormously important partner and friend to Israel in ways many people still underestimate. New diplomatic openings continue developing quietly as well. Israel is building relationships because strength attracts relationships.
The place where I think the crisis is truly deepest is the diaspora itself. Diaspora Jews are fragmented, psychologically shaken, politically reactive, organizationally weak, and often deeply dependent on external approval structures. That is where the real overhaul is needed.
And honestly, one of the greatest frustrations for many Jews is watching enormous Jewish organizations collect vast sums of money while still lacking accessibility, accountability, strategic clarity, coordination, or the ability to seriously prepare diaspora communities for the realities now emerging around them.
So I think your larger point about Jewish self-reliance is absolutely correct. I would simply say that Israel and the diaspora are now entering this new era from very different positions of strength.
Very timely analysis. I reason that since 250 years ago, a mere drop in the ocean of time and civilizations, the US didn't yet exist and the People Israel had already lived and survived for millennia, thrown into the proverbial sea of troubles, there may be a coming macro timeline we might not be able to easily foresee .Empires came and went, and they might still do. We tend to see things not very far from our own very limited timelines. Thousands of years ahead, my intuition tells me, the People Israel and The State of Israel will still exist. We still don't really know either what mostly has preserved the Jews or what has caused so much hatred from its "daughter" religions. Let's hope that whatever "Élan Vital" dwells in Israel lives also in the USA, and that it may resist the uncivilized pressures that seek to overcome it.
After the Holocaust , what did we the Jews learn? Or as some of our detractors put it....we the Jews didn't learn the lesson of the Holocaust. The Europeans for example were not required to learn anything. American Jews love assimilation. We look askance at the Hasidisim, their frocks, their sheitels, their trail of young kids, the boys with long payes. Everything we want to escape. Gigi hadid is wearing her key necklace...symbolic of the "Palestinian resistance" and their "memory" The Jews of course have no memory as we have no civilization....and we require no separate country as we can find our meaning in Diaspora.....and anyway Israel was founded by dispossessing the indigenous Arabs in their quaint dress...that costume is OKAY and tend to their sheep ....it' slike out of the Bible! Jewish "settlers" build ...with Arab workmen....suburban tracts that defile the natural beauty of the land while Palestinian architecture is organic to the landscape. Everthing about Zionism, about Judaism is artificial and contrived except our devotion to other rights causes....BLM, free free Palestine.....this is a time for Jews to do more than realize that in the future ....as now....the Dem party is anti Israel and anti Zionist and will do the least possible for American Jews' safety. And the Republicans are vulnerable to isolationism and antisemitism too. Maybe this doesn't precisely answer your thesis....with which I agree. but this is what is on my mind.