Diaspora Jews Examine Multifaceted Israel on Its Diamond Anniversary

The Media Line spoke with some of the 3,000 attendees of the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly about their relationship with Israel amid the tense sociopolitical climate

Israel kick-started its 75th Independence Day celebrations as the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) General Assembly was held amid both intense protests and hope for the future.

Approximately 3,000 delegates from across the globe congregated at the Expo Tel Aviv convention center on Sunday for the annual convention, timed to commemorate the birthday of the Jewish state.

JFNA, an umbrella organization representing 146 regional Jewish organizations across North America, hosted the event. The organization is led by President and CEO Eric Fingerhut, a former Ohio state senator and former member of the US House of Representatives.

JFNA President and CEO Eric Fingerhut. (Dario Sanchez/The Media Line)

“We want to celebrate Israel at 75—it is a miracle and we are blessed to be part of it. We want to reflect with pride on our helping build Israel and help it flourish,” Fingerhut told The Media Line.

Fingerhut spoke about holding the massive conference while Israel is in the spotlight for its controversial proposed judicial reforms. He noted that most of the JFNA’s focus is not on Israel politics, but rather on promoting the welfare of Jews around the world, mentioning the COVID-19 crisis and the Russian invasion of Ukraine as two crises to which the JFNA organized a response.

“A political debate like this is not our most comfortable spot, but we care deeply about what is happening in Israel and it does impact us in America, so for that reason we have just done our best to dive in,” he said.

Rebecca Caspi, who serves the JFNA as the Israel office director-general and senior vice president for global operations, described the atmosphere of the event to The Media Line as one of “support and love and commitment.”

Rebecca Caspi, JFNA Israel office director-general and senior vice president for global operations. (Dario Sanchez/The Media Line)

Besides the COVID-19 pandemic years, the JFNA General Assembly has been held annually since 1999. This year’s General Assembly has been unique for the socially and politically tense climate in which it’s taking place.

Many of the attendees expressed hope that the event could provide an alternative to Israel’s divisive political atmosphere. The event’s slogan, “One past. One future. One people,” was emblazoned across the screen atop the stage as the attendees sat down.

One of those attending the forum was prominent Canadian businessman David Koschitzky, who echoed the sentiment of the slogan in a conversation with The Media Line.

Canadian businessman David Koschitzky. (Dario Sanchez/The Media Line)

“It’s less about the issues for me, it’s how we handle those issues. I’m finding that the lack of respect we have for other opinions that has started in the US over the last six to eight years has come over here to Israel,” Koschitzky said.

Outside the convention, an estimated crowd of 2,000 demonstrators gathered to protest against the judicial reforms that the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, has been trying to legislate over the past months. If passed, the reform would decrease the power of Israel’s Supreme Court and, critics say, make Israel an autocracy.

Demonstrators outside the assembly shouted “shame” through megaphones and chanted to “end corruption, save justice.” They held signs with slogans such as “Democracy is in our heart,” “Dictatorship kills the soul,” “Israel; the only ‘democtatorship’ in the Middle East,” and “I have no other land.”

For the past four months, hundreds of thousands of protesters have demonstrated weekly against the proposed reforms.

At the center of the outdoor protests was Nancy Kaufman, former CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women. She told The Media Line that she was protesting because of her “deep, deep belief in democracy and [her] enormous fear of what is happening in terms of the proposed judicial overhaul.”

Former CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women Nancy Kaufman. (Dario Sanchez/The Media Line)

As a sea of Israeli flags, and a few American flags, were waving outside, attendees inside weighed in on their strong feelings on the reforms.

Fingerhut reflected on his own time in Congress, noting that the process of law-making is a messy one.

He said that many of those promoting the reforms are doing so because they feel their voices aren’t represented in the courts. Proponents of the judicial reforms say that the Supreme Court remains a bastion of the left-wing Ashkenazi elite that once ruled Israel until the right took over in 1977.

“How do we make sure that people who have not had their voices heard feel that their voices are heard, with others who will not feel that they are being relegated to the back? It is not easy,” Fingerhut said.

He cautioned that American support for Israel depends on Israel’s status as a democracy. “Look, we are Americans at the end of the day. Checks and balances. It is in our blood,” he said.

Political and social leaders have been calling for unity for weeks amid the social unrest in Israel. Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, who has been chairing the compromise talks around the proposed reform, added to those calls at the conference in his announcement of a new initiative called Voice of the People.

The venture, launched in conjunction with the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization, aims to increase dialogue across world Jewry.

Voice of the People is meant to be a collaborative forum for Jews from around the world to have serious, respectful conversations. Herzog described his vision for Voice of the People as a “Jewish Davos,” in reference to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting held in Davos, Switzerland, at which the world’s most powerful people debate global issues.

Many Jewish organizations from around the world, such as the Zionist Federation of Australia, expressed support for the initiative. Others, however, have criticized the move as too little, too late amid the controversial judicial reforms.

While Herzog addressed the audience, controversies continued to erupt as the Supreme Court overturned the defense minister’s decision to block Palestinians from entering Israel to attend a joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial day ceremony.

In the end, all 169 Palestinians who had previously been blocked from attending were able to attend an event in Tel Aviv commemorating Israelis and Palestinians killed in combat, together with 15,000 Israeli participants.

Hopes for unity were marred earlier that day when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu canceled his scheduled appearance at the General Assembly just hours before he was due to arrive, in what some saw as a snub towards American Jewry.

He did not offer a reason, only stating he could no longer attend.

One convention attendee, retired lawyer Warren Pesetsky, told The Media Line that he thought it was because Netanyahu was “afraid of protesters.” He went on to say he came to the event to “interact” with people in Israel instead of “just touring,” and that he stood by the protesters.

Asked about the consensus among his friends at home, Pesetsky said, “Well, we were just standing with another couple who we met on this trip but who live near us and they’re on one side and we’re on the other. I actually said [this] to a couple of protesters or people who feel that way, and we talked—the four of us—and I walked away. I said, ‘Me, you don’t have to convince, and them, you can’t convince.’”

Fingerhut said that he was disappointed at Netanyahu’s cancellation but understood that he had a lot to balance.

The absence caused speculation and heightened feelings of resentment among North American Jewry that their voices are not adequately represented by Israel.

Kaufman said that American Jews should “absolutely” get involved in Israeli politics, because “this is the land for all Jews.”

Koschitzky said that he believes that Netanyahu’s absence was due to the wider issue of general intolerance.

“It’s very unfortunate that we have reached a situation where a sitting prime minister of Israel would not feel that he would be respected in an audience of Jews from North America or from the world,” he said.

He compared the current atmosphere to the atmosphere surrounding the Oslo process, the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) that took place in the 1990s under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat.

“I remember when we had the Oslo Accords, there were parts of the country that were very supportive and there were parts that weren’t,” he said. “But we never have had a Yom Ha’atzmaut, a Yom Hazikaron with a concern where one side can’t come to the cemeteries and speak.” Using the Hebrew names for Independence Day and Memorial Day, Koschitzky was referring to the fear of protests at military cemeteries from anti-reform activists when pro-reform politicians spoke at the ceremonies.

Some attendees were less concerned about Netanyahu’s absence.

“I’m happy to be here with this many people, and I’m happy to celebrate regardless of that appearance or not,” University of Southern California student Ariela Moel told The Media Line.

Another student, Mexican national Gali Polichuk, who studies at the University of Florida, did not want to discuss the protests.

“Every country has its complications and issues. I don’t really have a comment on that,” she told The Media Line. “It is incredible to meet all these amazing people here and to be able to express my love for Israel with other people that consider themselves as Zionist as me.”

In addition to protests and political issues in Israel, other issues were on the minds of attendees.

When asked what the top three issues for Israel are right now, JFNA Senior Vice President Caspi told The Media Line that judicial reforms were only third on her list, coming after economic issues and the threat from Iran.

Despite the various threats, she expressed satisfaction that the role of women in addressing these issues has become more central. She mentioned that the CEOs of the Jewish Agency for Israel, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Israel office are all women.

“We made great strides. There is much more work to be done, but I feel a lot less lonely when I walk into a room and try to make good things happen for all the citizens of Israel,” Caspi said.