Nahman Shai, former Israeli “Diaspora Minister”, head of the Hebrew University’s Military Society Scholars Association, and former dean in Jerusalem, stated that Israel must deeply reassess its internal calculations after 7 October 2023. He argued that most Israelis assume national focus should be on domestic failures, the surprise attack, failed preparations, and the collapse of strategic assumptions.
In a column published in Maariv, Shai wrote that other internal issues, including the failures of government ministries and the political crisis that captivated public opinion, also deserve investigation. However, nowhere, he said, has he found any indication that Israel is preparing to study its relationship with diaspora Jews. He noted that this issue has been marginalised and left unaddressed.
Shai said this reality resurfaced in his mind when Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City a few weeks ago, arguably the most important city in the world. For Israelis and Jews, New York is also the most Jewish city globally, home to more than one million Jews and tens of thousands of Israelis. Mamdani, an openly Muslim politician and declared opponent of Israel, who devoted part of his campaign to attacking it, defeated his competitors with ease.
Shai stressed that Mamdani would not have won without the votes of Jewish and Israeli residents. The shock and confusion in Israel over his election, he argued, reflect how disconnected the Israeli public, including its leadership, has become from what is unfolding in the United States among the largest, wealthiest, and most influential Jewish community in Jewish history.
He added that had hundreds of thousands of New York’s Jewish community members, including Israeli migrants, not voted for Mamdani, he would not have been elected. This poses a critical question: why and how did he secure such widespread Jewish support? One explanation, he noted, is that the office of mayor is not viewed as a national political position.
According to Shai, voters in New York primarily choose their mayor based on issues directly affecting their lives, such as living costs, public transport, housing, and education. Yet Mamdani’s continued attacks on Israel during and after his campaign were startling. During a visit to the White House alongside the US president, he declared that Israel was committing genocide. Donald Trump did not respond.
Cumulative Failure
Shai argued that Mamdani’s election is a symptom of rising reservations among American Jews, echoed in other diaspora communities, toward Israel and its policies in recent years, including the Iron Sword war. Although the community initially rallied instinctively at the start of the war, donating hundreds of millions of dollars, this pattern had been seen in past wars and was taken for granted. The huge pro-Israel rally in Washington in late 2023 still fit the “what was is what will be” mindset. But things have changed, he said, and Israel must recognise this reality.
Even before the war, Jewish communities, especially young Jews, expressed deep reservations about Israel. A significant share of them, at least one quarter, adopted terms such as colonialism, genocide, and ethnic cleansing when discussing Israel. This, Shai said, reflects Israel’s longstanding failure to address the core political issue. Controlling another people for more than fifty years while offering no political solution carries a growing cost.
Shai explained that the war only strengthened these trends. Popular support declined, and at the same time, anti-Jewish sentiment surged. He doubts that antisemitism has reached such levels in the United States in the past century, coming from both right and left.
For the majority of the Jewish community, he said, the current period has been a formative and unprecedented experience shaping their stance toward Israel. They ask, rightly: why must we pay the price for Israel’s “adventures”? What is our role in these decisions? Who even consults us or considers our interests?
The shift in relations between Israel and the diaspora is now a fact. Even with ongoing expressions of solidarity, underlying dynamics indicate a major transformation. Historically, Israel and the diaspora shared liberal values that shaped Jewish identity, including protecting minority rights, striving for diversity, and opposing injustice. Israel once aligned with these values.
These principles, he continued, emerged from a long Jewish history of oppression, exile, and constant struggle for survival. Through centuries of displacement, Jews developed the ability to recognise danger early, flee persecution, and rebuild elsewhere. They mastered professions that enabled mobility and excelled in fields such as medicine, law, and engineering. Their dedication to learning supported their integration in each new society. This adaptability is why the Jewish people have endured.
Shai claimed that any Israeli reassessment of diaspora relations must acknowledge this survival instinct, something deeply embedded in Zionist ideology itself. Even the establishment of a sovereign Jewish state did not erase it. Jews still understand that the future can deteriorate quickly, and that their Jewish identity may become a liability, prompting them to seek alternate options.
Zionist leaders once believed that creating a national homeland would eliminate these fears. They were wrong. These fears have resurfaced in the past two years on a scale no one anticipated. Israel has failed to guarantee absolute physical security for its citizens.
Moreover, Shai argued, Israel’s policies have directly affected diaspora Jews. Alongside historical antisemitism, new forms of “anti Israel sentiment” have emerged, fuelling violence against Jews worldwide. In effect, Israel’s security has weakened and so has the security of Jewish communities.
Antisemitism will persist in some form, he said, but Israel must now prepare both itself and the Jewish people for the consequences. Israel is obligated to strengthen ties between the two largest Jewish communities in the world. This process has been moving in the opposite direction. Repair and recovery will take time, and without action, Israel risks losing diaspora support, human resources, and alignment with the values and policies it claims to uphold.
Shai argued that Israel and diaspora communities must invest in education to restore ties. In Israel, youth must be taught nationalism and its meaning. In the diaspora, Jewish and Zionist education must clarify what Israel is, why it matters, and why it deserves support. This is a major educational project that Israel must lead and fund. Without it, ties cannot be rebuilt.
He added that Israel must convene an international conference bringing together Jewish leaders from around the world to renew the foundations of Israel diaspora relations. A similar effort took place in 1950 with the Ben Gurion Bluestein agreement. Since then, numerous organisations emerged, including the Jewish Agency and the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, along with new initiatives such as the “Voice of the People” project launched by Israel’s president. The debate, he said, must take place again.
Shai concluded by saying that Jewish leaders, whether in Israel or abroad, must allocate time and space to meet and redefine priorities to safeguard the future of the Jewish people. Long term processes such as assimilation and rising antisemitism threaten Jewish continuity. He expressed uncertainty about how to convince the Israeli government to allocate resources and attention to the dramatic shifts underway in Jewish communities worldwide. But he warned that without action, Israel may lose their support, solidarity, and alignment with its current values and policies.
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