The right-wing crew assembled at Yeshiva University last night didn’t definitively answer the question that brought them there: “Will Jews Exist?” But what did emerge in spades was a ton of handwringing over Jewish assimilation, the “existential threat” Iran posed and Israel’s image on college campuses–along with Sheldon Adelson’s pronouncements that the Palestinians are not a people (see the video above).
The neoconservative columnist Bret Stephens, casino mogul Adelson and Yeshiva University president Richard Joel were brought to the stage by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and his organization This World. A consensus emerged that the future wasn’t too bright for Jews: Iran could wipe out Israel, assimilation was killing off American Jewry and the Jewish state was losing the battle for the hearts and minds of young Americans. Joel came off as the moderate on the panel, though with the likes of Adelson and Stephens, that’s a low bar.
Where they differed was on what could be done to arrest the tide of destruction hurtling towards Jews–and whether Benjamin Netanyahu would strike Iran.
Boteach kicked off the conversation by evoking what he saw as a dire threat from Iran, a state developing a “nuclear weapon,” according to the celebrity rabbi. Both Stephens and Adelson responded with harsh criticisms of the Obama administration, with Stephens saying that Israel has walked into a trap by working to placate the U.S. over Iran instead of taking unilateral action. The Wall Street Journal writer said that those who favor diplomacy with Iran are “objectively fellow travelers with the most oppressive regime in the world today.” (With analysis like that, no wonder Boteach kept talking up the Wall Street Journal writer as a Pulitzer Prize winner.) The right-wing casino mogul admitted that he didn’t know the difference between a Shia and Sunni before launching into his own religious analysis of Islam that he said showed Iran would not to hesitate to wipe out the Jews.
Adelson was convinced that Netanyahu would strike Iran if that’s what the situation called for, while Stephens was skeptical.
The high-strung anxiety really got started when Boteach moved the panel discussion to the recent Pew survey on Jewish life, which showed growing levels of intermarriage and decreasing participation in liberal Jewish denominations. “We in the United States of America don’t seem to need a Rouhani bomb to devastate [the Jewish community.] We’re doing a very fine job of that ourselves,” said Boteach. He later told the audience that one factor leading to assimilation is that Jews are so accepted in society today, as opposed to when anti-Semitism forced Jews to assert a strong identity.
The Yeshiva University president suggested that the “problem of assimilation starts at home,” and said that Birthright trips–which Adelson funds–are an important way to get young Jews more attached to their religion and Israel. Boteach responded with more anxiety, and said that the solution was to bring Judaism to the mainstream rather than solely focusing on attracting Jews to organizations like Hillel, which Joel used to run. The rabbi, who has close ties to Cory Booker and Samantha Power, then turned to Adelson to say that he had the power to “shape” the future of the Jewish people–and asked him about what could be done to stop the downward slope Jewry was on.
The casino mogul took the conversation to Israel, a country the panelists–especially Stephens–said is critical to the maintenance of Jewish identity. “As long as there’s Israel, super-secular Jews like me have a locus of pride,” Stephens, a Pulitzer Prize winner, said.
Adelson thinks the answer is throwing more money at the problem of Israel’s worsening image. He said that the “cavalry” was coming in the form of a new “propaganda” organization he and his wife have funded, Rethink Israel (whose domain name was registered by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, as reporter Eli Clifton pointed out). The website, meant to showcase America’s and Israel’s shared values, features information on how Israel has free wi-fi, gay pride rallies and a television show for dogs. The 80-year-old Adelson said the point is to make Israel “cool” again.
But Boteach and Stephens were more worried about Israel’s critics winning the battle at U.S. universities. Stephens said that there was “Jewish guilt” over the situation for Palestinians and that Jews were among the most articulate critics of Israel. But he said that Israel’s “enemies” on college campuses like Columbia could not be won over, and that Israel should focus on a country like China to win new allies, relaying a story about how a Chinese person told him how Jews were the smartest people in the world. Boteach sharply disagreed. The rabbi said that advocates for Israel needed to fight on campus against a growing boycott, divestment and sanctions movement because society’s movers and shakers come out of elite colleges.
Boteach also wrung his hands about Israel’s “brain drain.” But when it came down to the one thing Israel could do that would improve its image–reaching a deal with the Palestinians–the panelists rejected the idea. Stephens said that the Gaza withdrawal showed that a Palestinian state would be disastrous for Israel and said that there shouldn’t be a two-state solution until the Palestinians adopt liberal values. Adelson took the opportunity to go on a rant about how the Palestinians are not a people and that they’re really “southern Syrians.” He was greeted with applause. And the president of Yeshiva University said that Adelson and Stephens made “cogent” comments.
By the end of the night, the conversation circled back to Iran. Before everyone left, a Yeshiva University professor closed out the panel by listing 15 reasons why Iran is a threat to Western civilization. As for the question, “Will Jews Exist?” it seems they thought the answer is maybe not–unless Adelson’s money can turn the tide.
Editor’s note: Watch video from the same panel where Sheldon Adelson called for firing an atomic weapon aimed at Iran.
Iran is the most oppressive regime in the world today? Kim Jong Un is going to be so disappointed.
These kind of sick warmongers raise antisemitism with this ugly talk.
>> “We’re doing a very fine job of that ourselves,” said Boteach. He later told the audience that one factor leading to assimilation is that Jews are so accepted in society today, as opposed to when anti-Semitism forced Jews to assert a strong identity.
Sucks to be accepted in – and to become a part of – “un-Chosen” society, eh, Shmuley? It must make you yearn for the good ol’ days, when Jews were hated and an oppressive, colonialist, expansionist and supremacist “Jewish State” could more easily be justified!
>> The 80-year-old Adelson said the point is to make Israel “cool” again.
Secular, democratic, egalitarian, law-abiding, obligation-honouring, accountable and peace-seeking is just so boring and un-cool. :-(
Oppressive, colonialist, expansionist and supremacist “Jewish State”: Yeah, baby, yeah!! Now THAT’S a good time just waiting to happen! :-)
Adelson is a hateful and immoral Zio-supremacist.
The Chinese obsession with Jews is a funny thing. One story I’ve heard from a Jewish friend – this sounds so surreal I sometimes doubt it is true, but given the volume I’ve heard of similar stories it just might be – is about how he came into China a few years ago on a study trip. He mostly stayed around Beijing but got a visit by a Jewish friend from the States. He had gotten to know a family which lived close by and suddenly got an invitation to a wedding. He was elated, he thought he was getting to know ‘real Chinese people’.
It turned out, he and his friend(who was also invited) were both taken to that wedding for a simple reason. The family wanted to show the rest of their social circle that they had Jews as friends, which means they have been taught all the secrets of Jewish business acumen that is somehow inherently linked in Jewish DNA. The family got a lot of status from it, and my friend and his friend left feeling pimped because of their Jewishness.
A lot of Chinese also think every single successful American is Jewish, it’s not uncommon to hear they speak of the “Jews” Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett in admiring terms. In addition there are a ton of books about Jews in China, how to be successful like Jews and so on. A lot of it is flattering on the surface, but if you scratch a little, there’s plenty of pretty standard anti-Semitic themes(although in an innocent way) running through. Jews are described as cunning, manipulate and so on. It’s described as positive, but still, the same old tropes.
By the way, do you have the full event? Actually, I’d just like to see the video from their talk about assimilation if possible. The above video was only about Adelson ranting about Palestinians and nothing else, repeating the stuff he told Gingrich who then aped him in the Republican primaries last year. Will you put up a video about their talk about assimilation and/or the full video? I’d be great.
The greatest threat facing contemporary Jews: the fusion of Judaism with Zionism (Jewish ethnic nationalism) and the association of Jews in the mind of the world with the policies, attitudes and methods of the Israeli government and the Israel lobby.
I would love to see Adelson, Boteach, Stephens and Joel enter into a meaningful conversation on that subject — but it doesn’t seem likely — they are true believers whose minds have been swallowed whole by the ideology of Zionism — they can’t think outside that box.
By the way, the anxiety being expressed here about “assimilation” has very much the tone and vibe of handwringing by white nativists and white nationalists about threats to their cultural identity and community.