Hardly a week passes without a media report concerning the growing chasm between American Jews and Israelis over issues of culture, religion and politics. The recent Israeli elections may aggravate the divide.
On the afternoon of March 17, 1992, Israel’s embassy in Argentina was reduced to rubble by a blast that killed 29 people – four Israelis and 25 Argentinians – and injured nearly 250. A group tied to Hezbollah, a proxy for Iran, claimed responsibility.
In the early and mid-1980s, I saw up close some of the remarkable Israeli efforts, supported by the United States government and a few American Jewish groups, on behalf of Ethiopian Jews.
The Arab country with the oldest and largest Jewish community – as well as the largest Jewish diaspora – has opted for political and economic ties with the Jewish state, itself home to some 1 million Jews of Moroccan descent.