American Jewish Committee decried today’s announcement by the International Criminal Court prosecutor to formally open an investigation into “The Situation in Palestine,” with a focus on alleged Israeli crimes in Palestinian territories.
By ruling that those who undergo Reform and Conservative conversions in Israel should be considered Jews under the Law of Return, the High Court of Justice both took a stand for Jewish peoplehood and upheld Israel’s national commitment to equality and religious freedom. The decision does honor to the country’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state.
“If Only Israel (IOI) syndrome,” a term I began using several years ago, is the misguided notion, peddled in the name of Israel's “best interests” by some in the diplomatic, academic, and media worlds, that if only Israel did this or that, peace with the Palestinians would be at hand.
“Israel’s economic growth depends on the talent and integration of Arabs and haredim. The future of our economy is these groups,” says Danny Gal, CEO of Kav Mashve, a nongovernmental organization that focuses on Arab employment.
It seemed too good to be true. Finally, here was a story about Israel —the world leader in vaccinating its entire population, in all its rich diversity, against COVID — that the media might present in positive terms.