In Today’s World, Non-Jews Will No Longer Define Who We Are!

Among the many incisive points that thinker and educator Ben M. Freeman made in our interview with him (INTERVIEWS) was the following:
 
One of the narratives about Jewish people since the Enlightenment is that we have to be Jewish in a way that’s acceptable to the non-Jewish world. They create categories of “good Jew” and “bad Jew,” and they shame us when we act in a way they deem to be unacceptable…. Not only are non-Jewish definitions of our identity wrong, but they also harm us.
 
I thought about Freeman’s point when I read that Paul O’Brien, U.S. Director of Amnesty International, told the Women’s National Democratic Club: Israel should not exist as a Jewish state (NEWS). O’Brien, who is not a Jew, opined: “I believe my gut tells me that what Jewish people in this country want is to know that there’s a sanctuary that is a safe and sustainable place that the Jews, the Jewish people can call home.”
 
In a way, he’s right: That place is called Israel. But without a formal, official Jewish country that can defend itself and protect its citizens, the idea that a “safe and sustainable sanctuary” will forever remain a haven for Jews is pure fantasy. One need only examine the oppression and expulsion of Diaspora Jews throughout history to know that.
 
O’Brien dismissed a 2020 survey conducted by the Ruderman Family Foundation that found eight in 10 Jewish Americans identify as “pro-Israel,” and two-thirds feel emotionally “attached” or “very attached” to the Jewish state. “I actually don’t believe that to be true,” he said.
 
With all due respect to O’Brien and his beliefs and gut feelings, Jews are no longer willing to be defined by others. We had that for 2,000 years in the Diaspora and we’re done with it! Like every other group of human beings, we alone are entitled to define our own identity.
 
About a year ago, I met a non-Jewish woman who, when the subject of Israel came up, said with great disdain, “You sound like a Zionist.” I replied, “That’s because I am a Zionist.” She immediately called me a fascist and racist because I love and support Israel.
 
After some unpleasant back-and-forth comments, I asked her what her solution to the Israel-Palestine issue was. She replied with a straight face, “All the Jews should leave Israel and move to other countries around the world. Once there, they should stop being Jews.”
 
I’m not sure what no longer being Jews would actually mean, but it doesn’t matter. Her “solution” — her “final solution” — is so preposterous, so insulting, so bigoted that it’s hardly worth a response. I refer again to Ben M. Freeman’s quotation above. And I say to her, wherever she may be, “Thanks but no thanks.”
 
— Lenny Giteck, Publisher and Editor