You’d never see this in the New York Times, alas. Because dual loyalty is an antisemitic canard, right? In Haaretz, intern Bianca Ambrosio says the obvious, that Jews in Italy have dual loyalty, acting politically out of concern for Israel. (Me, I don’t say Jews, I say Zionists).
Such a quandary becomes particularly relevant when elections in our countries of residence occur and Jews – as all other citizens – are asked to elect our national leaders. We must consider whether it is more important to choose the government that will best serve the country in which we live, or to vote principally in consideration of how the future government will treat the State of Israel.
As bitter anti-Zionism expands on a ubiquitous level, Diaspora Jews often tend to choose leaders who can guarantee the state’s proximity to Israel, rather than electing the government best suited for the country.
Ambrosio explains the Jewish rightward shift in the U.S. (I know this is disputed; but tell me what leftwing values the Democratic Party today represents):
Indeed, Diaspora Jews often forgo their political ideology and beliefs in order to ensure that the government they are electing will undertake policies that support the Jewish state.
Dershowitz says that Jews have a sacred mission to protect Israel. And so does this Italian:
Daniele Nahum the vice-president of the Jewish community of Milan, believes that these tendencies aside, it is most important to ensure that the policy of the Italian government remain balanced regarding the situation in the Middle East and consistently supportive of Israel’s right to exist, And in this sense, the Italian government can doubtless be trusted….
Everything works out alright in the end, of course. Neocons say the same thing, our values are congruent:
It is now the hard task of Italian Jews to find the golden path that might reaffirm both their loyalties: to Italy as Italians, to Israel as Jews.
