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Korach • June 15, 2018 • 2 Tammuz, 5778 • Torah columns pages 18 –19 • Luach page 18 • Vol 17, No 23
The Newspaper of our Orthodox communities
Israel-Diaspora divide sharpens over Trump
Cedarhurst parties with Kulanu It was all fun and games on Sunday, with the annual Kulanu Fair in Cedarhurst Park supporting a favorite Five Towns organization. With face-painting, rides, games, a petting zoo and food, the day’s cloudy drizzle failed to dampen the excitement of the community’s children. The Jewish Star / Ed Weintrob
By Ron Kampeas, JTA WASHINGTON — Israeli Jews and members of the non-Orthodox American Jewish majority disagree on much — developments in Judea and Samaria, religious pluralism, even the degree to which they are “family.” Now we can add Donald Trump to the mix. Twin polls of Jews in Israel and the U.S. published by the American Jewish Committee on Sunday uncovered divides on all these issues, but an especially stark one about perceptions of the American president. Asked if they approved of Trump’s handling of the U.S.-Israel relationship, 57 percent of American Jews disapproved while 34 percent approved. Among Israeli respondents, the divide was 77 percent approved while 10 percent disapproved. That gap extended to perhaps Trump’s best known Israel related policy, moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. American Jews were statistically evenly split, with 46 percent supporting and 47 percent opposing. Israeli Jews were overwhelmingly in favor, 85 percent to 7 percent opposing. There are areas of agreement as well, on the importance of a thriving Israel and a thriving Diaspora to the Jewish future,
and on whether being Jewish is a matter of religion or ethnicity. “The surveys reveal sharp differences of opinion between the world’s two largest Jewish communities on President Trump, U.S.-Israel relations, and Israel’s security and peace process policies,” the AJC said. “On Jewish communal issues, such as Jewish religious equality in Israel, the surveys confirm fissures between American Jews and Israelis, though, at the same time, the data show a degree of commonality in opinions about the vitality of both the Diaspora and the State of Israel and their significance for the future of the Jewish people.” There’s also a small bright light for Trump stateside: American Jews still overwhelmingly See The Trump divide on page 23
Friedman in DC to prep peace plan The United States Ambassador to Israel, Long Islander David Friedman, has been called back to Washington to help the Trump administration prepare to present its forthcoming Middle East peace plan. The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem confirmed that Friedman had returned to the States, saying that while in DC, Friedman would be meeting with State
Department and White House officials. Friedman had been set to attend the American Jewish Congress Global Forum in Jerusalem on Sunday, but was forced to cancel his attendance at the last minute after being called back to the U.S. for urgent discussions on the peace process, according to AJC donor Jeffrey Aronson. Upon entering the White House last
year, President Trump vowed to broker “the ultimate peace deal” between Israelis and Palestinians, though the prospect of a deal seems unlikely in the region’s current climate. In December, Palestinian leaders said they were rejecting the U.S. as a peace broker after Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and later relocated the U.S. embassy there.
Metamorphosis at YOSS While it may be a big word for preschoolers, talmidim at Yeshiva of South Shore’s Early Childhood Center got to experience metamorphosis firsthand, welcoming caterpillars to their classrooms and observing their transformation into butterflies.
Bernie’s betrayal of Israel is a Dem timebomb Commentary by Jonathan S. Tobin There was a time when what the socialist representing Vermont in the Senate said about Israel didn’t matter much. But the days of Sen. Bernie Sanders being an irrelevant eccentric are long gone. His surprisingly tough challenge to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries made him the darling of the party’s progressive wing. That alone would have elevated him to the status of a senior statesman. But with the Democrats essentially leaderless as they begin planning for a 2020 effort to avenge their demoralizing loss to President Trump, Sanders is making little secret of his desire for another try at the White House. Though
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and Sen. Bernie Sanders on May 25, 2017. Drew Angerer/Getty
he will face a host of a host of other potential challengers, including many who will seek to steal from him the mantle of the candidate of the party’s grassroots, it still sets up Sanders to be a formidable contender in 2020, as well as someone who is viewed as a party spokesman on a range of issues. That’s why when Sanders publishes videos on his official Twitter account denouncing Israel and its defenders, and presenting the “right of return” as a reasonable Palestinian demand and essentially exonerating Hamas for the ongoing violence at the Gaza border, attention should be paid. Whether this is just a sign of the senator’s personal extremism or, as other more sanguine political See Bernie’s betrayal on page 23