Livni: Israel-Diaspora link weakening

"We're becoming more an 'Israeli people,' and less 'the people of Israel,'" says foreign minister.

By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
Livni cool 248.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Livni cool 248.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Identification with Israel is weakening among Diaspora Jews, as is knowledge of Jewish history and identification with the Jewish people, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said at Sunday's cabinet meeting, following the presentation of a report by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute. "The connection between Israel the Diaspora is connected to [Jewish communities'] sense of identification with Israel," the foreign minister said. "In the communities, we see the weakening of this sense, a deterioration of identification with the Jewish people." A parallel problem is occurring in Israel, according to Livni. "We're also undergoing a problematic internal process. We're becoming more an 'Israeli people,' and less 'the people of Israel,'" she said. "In Israel today, the common denominators are Hebrew and military service, and these represent Israeliness - not something that is a shared experience with the Jews of the Diaspora. We have to strengthen in Israel the understanding of our Jewish essence as a people, the meaning of the existence of a Jewish and democratic state," the foreign minister continued. Livni specified that the government "must provide an answer to this by creating a constitution and through the content of our education."