An Israeli Knesset member and a prominent American Jewish leader agreed here last night that American Jewry should raise its voice in regard to Israel’s domestic and international problems but at the same time differed on the issue of who is to blame that the dialogue between Israelis and American Jews is based only “on getting money.”
Speaking at a meeting of Breira, a group devoted to diaspora-Israel relations, the newly elected member of the Knesset, Shulamit Aloni and Rabbi Joachim Prinz, chairman of the Governing Council of the World Jewish Congress, agreed that American Jewry should speak up on all subjects pertaining to Israel. “We have to liberate ourselves from the mentality of sheer fund-raising” and begin a dialogue with Israel, Rabbi Prinz declared, noting that he was speaking for himself and not the WJC.
Ms. Aloni also maintained that the relationship between Israelis and American Jews should encompass all aspects of Israel and should be based on “mutual responsibility.” She said that American Jews gave money for the absorption of Russian Jews and other humanitarian works in Israel and thereby sought to absolve themselves of further responsibility. She contended that for many American Jews, “Israel has become a kind of church” to give money to “and redeem yourself.”
The MK who heads Israel’s Civil Rights Part-also contended that American Jews have tended to confuse the government of Israel with the people of Israel. “You did not encourage new voices in Israel,” she said. “While you protested against Nixon, Vietnam and on behalf of Blacks and Mexicans, you were mute on the question of the Palestinians,” she said.
ISRAELI LEADERSHIP AFFECTED BY GALUT COMPLEX
Rabbi Prinz, who described himself as a “sinner” because he was not critical of Israeli government policies during the six years following the 1967 war, claimed that during those years “the Israeli leadership became impossible” and no discussion could be conducted with them. He charged that “they developed a ‘galut’ complex” and were affected by the “sickness of utter blindness to the surrounding reality.” But, according to Rabbi Prinz, there is now a “new sense of reality in Israel.”
Ms. Aloni agreed that “now we are more realistic.” She said that more and more Israelis recognize the need for Palestinian self-determination. “If we want peace, we have to declare that we recognize the rights of the Palestinians to self-determination,” she said. She expressed the belief that once the Palestinian question is settled, the cause of the Israeli-Arab conflict will have been eliminated.
In practical terms, Ms. Aloni said that in her view Israel cannot annex the West Bank but by the same token it cannot return to its pre-June 1967 borders. “Our generation will not be able to return the Golan Heights,” she said, adding that Jerusalem cannot be divided again because that would cause extreme division among the Jewish people. Ms. Aloni said she was shortening her visit here because “I am going home to help (Labor Party leader Yitzhak) Rabin to form a new government without the religious party.”
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