Elliott Abrams is clearly correct in asserting both that American Jews are moving away from support of Israel and that this tectonic shift is traceable much less to Israelâ??s policies than to the manner in which American Jews now constitute their worldview and their Jewish identities.
As it happens, I am somewhat more critical than Abrams of the policies (or lack of policies) pursued by the Netanyahu government. Admittedly, there are few if any good moves that Israel can make on the international chessboard these days; but the optics have been significantly worse than they could have been. Still, nothing one might say on this point diminishes the rightness, or the importance, of Abramsâ?? thesis: the root cause of the growing gulf between the worldâ??s two largest Jewish communities lies in the way that most American Jews now conceive of themselves and their Jewishness.
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