Netanyahu: American Jews Do Not Welcome You

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting the United States for the seventh time since President Trump took office. On this occasion, he claims to be here to address what he alleges is the imminent danger Iran poses to the State of Israel.

While Torah Jews generally abstain from weighing in on what our Rabbinical Board considers political matters, it is our duty as American Jews to clearly distinguish our Jewish identity and our role as patriotic American citizens from the disingenuous label that Netanyahu and his cohorts insist on casting upon all Jews.

Although these visits may appear innocuous at first glance, their underlying and at times overt purpose is to import the ills and travails of Zionism onto the shores of the United States by positioning Netanyahu as the representative of the so-called Jewish state, and by extension, of Jews everywhere. Netanyahu cannot afford for Jews to be recognized as a distinct religious community separate from the State of Israel. Were Jews to be viewed as such, the entire premise of a perpetual war fought under the banner of 'fighting for the Jewish future' would lose its credibility.

To prevent this, Netanyahu deliberately seeks to frame the interests of a foreign state as the responsibility of American lawmakers. Anyone who dares to question or protest Israel’s endless conflicts is swiftly branded an antisemite. This is not accidental. It is a cruel and calculated strategy designed to enmesh Jews in a war they have no part in and no responsibility for.

American Jews, and Jews anywhere in the world for that matter, are not responsible for the acrimonious actions of Israel in Gaza or the West Bank. Jewish identity is rooted in the religion we practice. It carries no inherent political or national allegiance. Yet this reality is precisely what Israel cannot afford to acknowledge.

We see this strategy repeated openly today. President Isaac Herzog has done with candid zeal what Netanyahu often does more subtly. This week, Herzog visited Australia as the ostensibly concerned leader, expressing worry for the Jewish community in Sydney following the horrific and heartbreaking attack in Bondi on Chanukah. In a public statement on social media, he wrote, “We gathered to hold our heads high, show our pride in our Jewish and Zionist identity, and our deep love of the nation state of the Jewish people, Israel.”

Here, the motive is unmistakable. Herzog makes no effort to conceal the message. Jews and Israel are one and the same. The tragic attack in Bondi is yet another catalyst for this pernicious conflation, yet he has no qualms about exploiting it for Israel’s interests. And one must ask, will Israeli leaders ever cease entangling Jewish identity with the State of Israel? The answer, clearly, is no.

Israeli officials routinely shed copious crocodile tears when Jews are targeted abroad, while simultaneously gaslighting Jews about why they are wrongly viewed as extensions of Israel. They dismiss this phenomenon as 'organic antisemitism,' claiming Jews are hated merely for being Jews. But we know better. Statistics clearly indicate that Jews are targeted at an exponential rate when Israel is at war. Yet Zionists obscure this reality by dismissing it as mere “Jew hatred.”

Today, Netanyahu is in the United States. Herzog is in Australia. The locations differ, but the objective is the same. And our message to them is clear. Your time has come to an end.

Jews are no longer manipulated into supporting Israel out of fear. We recognize these tactics for what they are. Zionists may have the mic, but we have the truth. They use Jewish lives and Jewish identity as cannon fodder to advance the national interests of a state that violates the most basic tenets of the Torah.

In unison, we say, NOT IN OUR NAME!