I may quibble over some of the facts in this op-ed (for example, most studies put the liberal streams in Israel at closer to 10% and Orthodoxy at a much lower number than the one Mr. Sharansky uses), his main points are right on.
To quote Sharansky:
“Israel and world Jewry are fighting together against various efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state, including the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement. One of the main tactics of these efforts is to distance young Jews from Israel by convincing them that it is illiberal and retrograde—in short, that it is not a home for them. By failing to offer these Jews a respectable place in our public square, we are effectively telling them their communities are not welcome here, confirming the message they receive from our adversaries at precisely the moment when we ought to be bringing them closer.
Therefore, to abandon the Kotel agreement now is to legitimate extremism, to alienate large groups of fellow Jews, and to allow discord to further poison our public life. With Israel facing unprecedented attacks on the world stage and with anti-Zionist sentiment routinely used as a pretext for anti-Semitism, we are weakening ourselves at an especially vulnerable moment, playing directly into the hands of those on the outside who would truly do us harm.”
Click here to read the article.
It is because of these sentiments that we are mounting a massive write-in. Stay tuned for the announcement!
