Haaretz Today
The American Jewish Establishment Is Defending an Israel That No Longer Exists
The endless rationalizations by American Jewish organizations for why an Israeli lawmaker's latest indefensible remarks should not change anyone's understanding of the country increasingly look like a refusal to confront what Israel has become
Ben Samuels
FollowAugust 18, 2026
The American Jewish establishment has long twisted itself in knots rather than directly call out the Israeli government, almost always cushioning even its sharpest objections with caveats and qualifications. But the American Jewish Committee's recent condemnation of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir managed to achieve something even more bizarre: It criticized one of Israel's most inflammatory lawmakers in a manner so willfully detached from reality that it almost bordered on parody.
Read differently.
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SIT • 23:47
What sort of drugs this nation is on. A narcotic society that collectively capture the sense of a widespread, numbing obsession, distraction, or addiction include soporific, opiate, and palliative. Not an expert in this field but research with its effective arm AI helped me reach that conclusion. Many readers in Israel might ask that question, " who is that Palestinian telling us of who we are." Bear with me just test yourself before you go to bed tonight" ask yourselves same question. Remember many a times true image can come from unexpected corner.
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Pasternak21:05
Claiming that one supports a two-state solution has become the placeholder for vague disapproval of what Israel is doing. Israel has made it more than clear that there will never be a Palestinian state. So the question to ask of those who claim support for Israel is, if and when, as becomes more and more likely day by day, Israel annexes the West Bank and probably Gaza and possibly Southern Lebanon along with it, would the Palestinian and Lebanese populations living living in this expanded State be given citizenship and the right to vote, or will they be treated as are the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, which Israel has officially annexed, and denied both. To do so is to create an absolutely ethno-religious apartheid nation (call it hard. Zionism) which, as Mamdani says, does not deserve support, whereas a nation which recognizes equal rights for all, regardless of ethnicity and religion, does.
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SergeantPasternak • 23:29
Israel will never annex the West Bank or Gaza. Maybe a part it where Jews live but that would be very complicated with the border looking like s jig saw puzzle. Why? Because the US would not allow it. Israel can do all sorts of things but never directly contradict its only friend and benefactor. Not going to happen and very soon Netanyahu and his thugs will be out of power (and hopefully in prison) and sanity will finally return.
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Sergeant • 17:34
Israel began its long descent into hell when Rabin was assassinated. Optimism was replaced by pessimism and doom. It just took time to arrive... Rabin wasn't perfect but he was a trusted leader with a conscience... Just like America radically changed when Lincoln and Kennedy were assassinated, Israel follows the same playbook. Ironically it was Netanyahu who triggered the assassination of Rabin and then reaped the benefit of his incitement. Much like Trump, Netanyahu is a master at lying, manipulation, self-promotion [becoming wealthy], and becoming a cult like leader. After Kennedy's death, the US murdered hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese [and over 50,000 American soldiers died for nothing] and of course Gaza is a parallel catastrophe. There is no light at the end of the tunnel...
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Henry Weil • 17:11
Ben Gvir is probably paid by Hamas what better allied can they have Bibi should never have made
the crazy idiot and dangerous as Minister of security, This if necessary proves that Bibi will sit with
any admited Killewr to keep his job Ben Gvir has been thses last 4 years the best mouthpiece for
the Arabs his stupid extreme BS is their freind and our enemy
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CV16:41
The problem with the mental process that leads a crowd from racism to ethnic cleansing to genocide is that there aren't that many examples of populations that actually climbed down the genocidal ladder orderly and stepped out of the bubble of rage and delusion without suffering a major defeat that "resetted" the entire sociological, political and cultural system of the country. Germany, Japan are such examples.
The one example of such a deescalation would be Apartheid South Africa which managed to step out of Apartheid without massacring each other... but Israelis are massacring Palestinians, so the example doesn't work : Israel is farther down the hole.
At the very least, nothing significant will change as long as Israelis don't disown the entire system of the colonization. And this is extremely hard for the system is baked in zionism, and part of the identity of the country.
So I don't know what will happen, but it's not going to be a rose path.
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CB • 10:00
Similarly, J Street continues to pretend that there is a good Israel that needs to be recovered if only the radical bunch in charge could be ousted. At the other end we have the publication Jewish Insider that really should be called Zionist Insider as it cheers for US politicians that support Israel and never says a word about anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace. Everyone needs to remember the obvious, that liberty and justice for all have no place in Israel, never had as it is an ethnic cleansing project and that LJ4A has always been bedrock in America, the last five words of the Pledge of Allegiance. What is most astounding is that no US politician ever mentions LJ4A because to do so would immediately spotlight the hypocrisy of supporting Israel. Mamdani has the right idea but is reviled as a leftist radical. Americans are a very confused bunch that cannot remember who they once claimed to be, always falling short but at least trying to live up to the ideal.
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Amhazing • 06:34
Journalist Ben Samuel who holds a management position is so realistic and unbiased who actually among other Haaretz journalists professionally and authentically present their editorials that are immensely educational and enlightening. Thank you wholeheartedly my beloved journalists and proudly my friends. Haaretz is truly news we can trust and in my opinion vanguard of world journalism.
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Lou Arpino03:34
Great article! Israel has changed because Zionism has changed. While no saint, Ben Gurion, when asked why he insisted that the draft Declaration of Independence be changed to reflect that all inhabitants of Israel were completetly equal regardless of race, religion or sex, reponded that he did so because he feared the day when Israel would be governed by Rabbis. That day has come and too many Jewish advocacy groups are unable to admit it.
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CBLou Arpino • 10:03
"Governed by rabbis..." Don't you think it is more a case of rule by a tag team of fanatics of different sorts?
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Lou ArpinoCB • 13:59
@CB. Just as American policy with Israel is shaped by Evangelical Christian Zionists (think the likes of Huckabee), Israel's governance is shaped by Messianic Zionists.
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Pukallpa19.08.2026 | 01:11
Germany must stop weapons exports to Israel and Netanyahu must resign. The whole government is beyond the pail. There are no redeeming personalities. Ben Gvir and Smotrich are the tip of the iceberg. Vile creatures that are not shy to use the same words for Palestinians that the nazis used for Jews. Absolutely despicable.
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commonsense18.08.2026 | 23:59
In Germany, finally, Ben Gvir did, astonishing enough, cause an outcry within the political class, even mainstream jewish leaders felt forced to seek a distance (… contrary to jewish values, etc).
The sudden alarm however is a bit hypocritical, focusing on one man, allegedly ONE guy personifying all evil there might be in israeli politics & society - maybe Bengvir is one of the loudest,, but certainly not isolated at all in Israel, and how could he be as a prominent minister ? - he dares to say out loud what others think, and many others feel. And are his „phantasies" so far away from what actually happens on the ground ?
But he disturbed the falsely idealized unrealistic picture of Israel officially upheld ..
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commonsensecommonsense • 19.08.2026 | 00:07
IBG personifies what in Germany - typically used for radical islamist leaders - has been called a „preacher of hatred"
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commonsensecommonsense • 19.08.2026 | 00:29
by the way, what Ben Gvir said: is it so far from Herzog's „.. no innocent civilians in Gaza" ?
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두 하아레츠(Haaretz) 칼럼 자료에 대한 요약과 평론입니다.
<핵심 요약>
<1. 더 이상 존재하지 않는 이스라엘을 변호하는 미국 유대인 기득권층 (벤 새뮤얼스)>
미국 유대인 위원회(AJC) 등 주류 유대계 단체들은 이타마르 벤그비르 국가안보장관의 팔레스타인 비하 및 표적 사살 발언을 비판하면서도, 그의 발언이 "이스라엘 국가의 정책을 반영하지 않는다"고 선을 긋는다
벤그비르는 단순한 극단주의 방관자가 아니라 경찰과 교정 체계를 총괄하고 네타냐후 총리와 내각에 막대한 영향력을 행사하는 핵심 실권자다
그의 존재와 정책을 이스라엘과 분리하려는 시도는 방어가 아니라, 극우화된 이스라엘의 현실을 직시하지 않으려는 인지부조화이자 회피에 불과하다
<2. 우파가 맞다, 유대인 테러는 없다. 오직 이스라엘의 테러만 있을 뿐이다 (기디온 레비)>
서안지구 정착민들의 폭력, 팔레스타인인의 생명을 경시하는 극단주의적 언행, 수만 명의 가자지구 사상자가 발생하는 현실 앞에서도 많은 이스라엘인은 "그것은 우리가 아니다", "우리 이름으로 행해진 것이 아니다"라며 책임을 회피해왔다
정착민들의 만행을 '유대인 테러'라는 종교·종족적 일탈로 규정하는 것은 국가 차원의 책임을 희석하는 역할을 해왔다
이 폭력은 국가의 묵인과 군경의 동조 속에 체계적으로 이루어지므로 본질적으로 '이스라엘 국가 테러'이며, 국제사회가 바라보는 이스라엘의 진짜 모습임을 인정해야 한다
<비평 및 분석>
두 글은 공통적으로 <'온건하고 도덕적인 이상적 이스라엘'이라는 환상과 '극단주의가 국가 권력과 결합한 현실 이스라엘' 사이의 괴리>를 날카롭게 파헤친다
미국 유대계 기득권과 이스라엘 내부의 주류 여론은 극우 장관이나 정착민 폭력을 '일부 극단주의자의 일탈'로 치부하며 국가의 본질과 분리하려는 자기기만에 빠져 있다
따라서 이들의 행위를 '일탈'로 축소하는 것은 비판이 아니라 오히려 현 체제를 유지하고 면죄부를 주는 은폐 논리로 작동한다
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