A near-national panic seems to have broken out in Israel: How could so many New York Jews vote for a Muslim candidate for mayor? After all, everyone knows that the primary responsibility of New York’s mayor is to defend the State of Israel – and only afterward worry about garbage collection, the subway, crime, or the cost of rent.
It may come as a surprise to some Israelis, but American Jews – including those who donate to Israel, love Israel, and visit Israel regularly – are, first and foremost, Americans. When they enter the voting booth, they do so as citizens of New York, not as unofficial spokespeople for Jerusalem.
When choosing a mayor, they think about personal safety on the subway, public schools, transportation, taxes, and the quality of life in the city where they actually live – not about who will applaud the next speech by Israel’s prime minister at the United Nations.
American Jewry is not Israel's representative
In Israel, there are still those who struggle to grasp that American Jewry is not an overseas branch of Israeli politics. Some Israelis seem convinced that every Jew around the world is supposed to vote – even for a neighborhood committee – according to a loyalty test tied to Israel, preferably one pre-approved by a panel on Israeli television. In this worldview, if a candidate does not sound like a spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, supporting that candidate borders on betrayal.
But New York is New York: a city where Jews, Muslims, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and whites live together, vote according to their day-to-day interests, and conduct New York politics – not cabinet meetings in Jerusalem. Someone living in Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Queens is far more concerned about childcare costs, housing prices, or whether it is safe to ride the subway home at night than about the wording of the next Middle East condemnation statement, or even the mayor’s position on the future of the territories.
There is also more than a little Israeli condescension at work here – the assumption that American Jews are obligated to think exactly as Israelis do, vote exactly as Israelis do, and define their priorities according to headlines in Israel.
The politics of American Jews
Reality is far simpler. New York Jews have lives of their own, problems of their own, and a deeply rooted American civic identity. Israel matters greatly to many of them, but it is not the center of their daily existence. And, incidentally, even among those for whom Israel is important, many hold political views about Israel that differ from those of whichever Israeli government happens to be in power.
One may disagree with the positions of a particular American elected official regarding Israel. One may even worry about them. But to be shocked that Jews vote according to their American worldview is mostly a sign that some Israelis are still living mentally in the 1950s, when it seemed that every Jew in the world was an honorary representative of the Jewish Agency.
And finally, a small note to a few former Israelis in New York who recently slipped into existential anxiety: Israel is still home – even if you moved away from it, even if you chose not to share in the price it pays or in the struggle for its survival. And if life in the Diaspora suddenly becomes less comfortable and less secure, home is always there.
The writer served as strategic adviser to Shimon Peres, 1990-2016, and is a member of the B’Yachad Natzliach political party.