Episode Number
61

Ben Caspit speaks this week with Shmuel Rosner, the political editor of the Jewish Journal and a long-time contributor to the New York Times. Rosner says that the recent meeting in New York of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett with leaders of the American Jewish community was successful, first and foremost because they were happy to meet an Israeli prime minister who isn’t Benjamin Netanyahu. Referring to the strained relations that prevailed between Netanyahu and parts of the American Jewish community, Rosner says that “the leaders of the American Jewry are hoping that a fresh start [with Bennett] means getting rid of the illness that disrupted Israel-diaspora relations in the last decade.” Rosner adds that “Bennett’s message of reconciliation, his message concerning state and religious affairs in Israel, his message concerning a more pluralistic type of government, a more pluralistic type of Israeli society, all these are messages that are fairly easy to communicate to an American crowd, and the Jewish leaders indeed welcomed these messages.”

Links:

-Are Israelis and US Jews no longer ‘brothers’? - Al-Monitor

-Israel assesses frayed ties with US Jews, Democratic Party - Al-Monitor

-Biden-Bennett talks covered Iran, Palestinian economy, evictions - Al-Monitor

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