'Lebanon war was damaging'
Photo: AP
Report: Draft Jewish strategy
Jewish People Policy Planning Institute annual report for 2006 declares Iran, rise of radical Islam topmost threat to Jewish people; Lebanon war rattled security of Diaspora Jews
The new security threats introduced to the Middle East in the past year indicate a major shift in the Jewish people’s condition, according to a report drafted by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute.
The 2006 annual assessment will be presented to the Israeli Cabinet Sunday.
The report focused on radical shifts in trends around the world, and their influence on the future of the Jewish people. The report’s team of authors, headed by United States Ambassador Dennis Ross, stated that the advancement of Iran’s nuclear program and the “rising tide” of radical Islam posed profound strategic threats.
According to the institute’s chairman, Avinoam Bar Yosef, the assessment “reflects one of the most complex and perturbing periods in the history of the State of Israel and the Jewish people – and thus its importance. We hope the assessments and recommendations in the report will help Israeli and Jewish decision-makers to correctly read what is happening and respond appropriately to the intricate challenges we face.”
The authors claimed the security threat against Jews worldwide has increased. They linked this development to the rise of radical Islam in the Middle East and the international arena and to the fact that lately more voices in Europe are calling for the delegitimization of Israel as a Jewish state. The report notes that the Jewish relationship with Islam is the most important security issue, in Israel and in the Diaspora, and recommends that a global Jewish strategy by drafted to deal with the situation.
The authors expressed heightened concern over the Iranian threat, noting that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s calls to demolish Israel, in combination with Iran’s mass-destruction capabilities, could constitute an existential threat to Western civilization and the Jewish people.
“The nightmare of an anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli and Holocaust-denying Iran with nuclear weapons is not an illusion; it is a real threat, and not just to Israel but to the greater Jewish community,” the report warns.
The report also addressed the second war in Lebanon, which had great consequences for world Jewry. According to the report, the absence of an Israeli victory affected Jewish communities worldwide for the worse, especially European Jews, who fear the threat of radical Islam. US Jews, who feel more secure in their environment, expressed deep concern for the wellbeing of Israeli citizens and were surprised by the damage to Israel during the war.
The report’s authors recommended that a pan-Jewish strategy be drafted on addressing the Islamic threat. Likewise, they suggested that greater weight be given to consideration of Judaism and the Diaspora in decision-making, and that the intellectual muscle of the Jewish people be recruited to join in the decision-making that will shape the future.
The report further observed that for the first time the Jewish community in Israel has become the largest Jewish community in the world. According to the report, the number of Jews in Israel reached 5,309,000, constituting 40.6 percent of Jews worldwide, which number about 13.1 million. With that, the report noted that Israel’s position as an absorption state for Jews has decreased, in light of the fact that 92 percent of the world’s Jews live in the 20 countries assessed by the UN to have the highest standard of living.
The report notes that there has been no change in the rate of reproduction among Jews. The number of US Jews, which was the largest Jewish community until now, stands at 5,275,000. The report’s authors, including demographer Prof. Sergio Della Pergola, assessed that current demographic trends withstanding, by 2030 more than half of the world’s Jews will live in Israel.
President and founder of the institute, Prof. Yehezkel Dror, commented that certain world processes constitute a threat not only to the Jewish people. “The Iranian threat concerns not just the Jewish peoples but all people,” he said, adding that the Jewish people must make sure the world acts against this threat. “Europe isn’t as aware of the threat as we are, and the question is what will they do with it. The Jewish people need to encourage them to act,” he said.
