Changing Attitudes toward Israel: An American Jewish Dilemma with Larry Cohler-Esses

In the not so distant past, the majority of American Jews were unified around two major topics: Israel’s safety, prosperity and survival as a Jewish state, followed closely by the redemption of Soviet Jewry. Today there is little agreement in the American Jewish community on any issue relating to Israel. In fact, among American Jews under 30 the relationship to Israel is often filled with anger and negativity. The radical left questions its basic nature as a Jewish state. Many others feel personally estranged from or indifferent to a state whose changing demog-raphy, conflict with the Palestinians and policies toward those Palestinians and toward its own body politic feel alien to their own experiences as young American Jews. Given this rift, many ask: How significant will Israel remain to non-Orthodox American Jews? What might these changing attitudes mean for American Jewish life? What will they mean for Israel? And most immediately, why has the discussion of Israel become so toxic, a source for division rather than unity?
Larry Cohler-Esses is the Forward’s assistant managing editor. He has reported frequently from Israel, including covering the first Intifada, and has covered the American Jewish community for three decades. His investigative exposes have won awards from the Columbia Journalism Review, the New York Press Association and the Rockower Awards for Jewish journalism.