This is a speech delivered by UJIA Chairman Mick Davis at the Herzliya Conference.

Securing the future of the Jewish People and Israel

We have all watched the unfolding events of the past fortnight in Egypt and beyond which potentially transform the strategic landscape of the region.  They and the reactions of the West demonstrate the potency and very real nature of the security challenges faced by Israel at this juncture in history.  They show that the world can change with alarming speed and that our basic assumptions can be overturned in the blink of an eye. 

It is against this backdrop that a different but equally worrying assault upon Israel is gaining ground. The notion that Israel’s very legitimacy is under threat –and that threat is both strategic and potentially existential to Israel – has rightly taken root in the collective psyche of the Jewish world; delegtimisation’ has quickly gone from a novel buzzword to well-worn received wisdom as we have belatedly understood the urgency and scale of this threat.  It is also clear that this attack is aimed not just at Israel but at its very essence as a Jewish State and therefore the Jewish people

For good reasons, those fighting this trend have focused in some detail on defining the ‘line between criticism of Israel and delegtimisation’. Not every criticism of Israel is ‘delegtimisation’. Not even every untrue or unfair criticism of Israel is delegitimisation. In fact, the link between ‘criticism’ and ‘delegitimisation’ is sometimes overstated, damaging the credibility of our responses.

It is often actions that attack Israel’s legitimacy: boycotts that exclude Israel, Israelis and supporters of Israel from full participation in the world around them; votes in student unions, trade unions, city councils and the United Nations; protests that destroy Israeli goods or harass performers and authors who plan to visit Israel.

 Sometimes it is attacks that aren’t aimed at Israel directly but target the pillars of legitimacy on which it rests: denying that the Jewish people exist at all, or claiming that they have no genuine link to the Land of Israel; minimising or denying altogether the suffering of the Jewish people throughout history; and by twisting the plowshares of International Law and the United Nations into swords with which to wound us.

There are no rules to this war, no Geneva Conventions to declare some areas off-limits. Battlefronts appear on university campuses, in workplaces, in church groups and in corporate boardrooms.  While we’re winning in one area we could be losing ground elsewhere.

Our lines are being forced further and further back. Musicians are crossing Israel off their tour itineraries, Trade Unions are breaking links with the Histadrut and resolutions to boycott Israel are enshrined in their agenda.  Major retailers are deciding it’s not worth the hassle of stocking Israeli goods. A tipping point may come: Israel could become a pariah in civil society. Then the democracies of the world could turn their faces away and Israel would be left naked, alone and without friends. I can tell you from my experience, resilience is then lost and decline is inevitable.

The delegitimisers were always there.  Previously they were confined to the margins.  Now, as Israel is portrayed as the obstacle to peace they are in the ascendency.  This is something that Israel has the ability to reverse.

Ironically, Jews outside of Israel are at the vanguard of the battle over Israel’s legitimacy. But, because we are Diaspora Jews, we have no impact on how Israel itself responds to this battle.

Israel is no longer seen as an Ohev Shalom v’Rodef Shalom, a lover and pursuer of peace. Even today, while the Palestinian Authority is refusing to negotiate with Israel, it is Israel that is seen as the reluctant party.  If the Israeli Government had internalised and prioritised the threats to its legitimacy then perhaps it would have understood the need to be seen to be doing everything possible to break the deadlock.   We control the land. We hold the people. It is up to us. We need to accept that burden.

Now, tangible and authentic progress towards an agreement with The Palestinian Authority alone will not vanquish the delegitimisers. It is not a sufficient condition but it is a necessary condition. So too is the urgent need to come to grips with poverty and discriminatory practices in Israel as Buji Herzog argued so powerfully yesterday.

Losing credibility in the international arena is one thing.  But there is another, more fundamental dimension to this damage, namely the risk of alienating many wavering Diaspora Jews, for whom support for Israel was always their default position.  This risk is real and proven.

Israel is a reality in the lives of young Jews today, not merely a spiritual or emotional abstraction. It is after all the Nation State of the Jewish People and is at the epi-centre of Jewish identity. And in this sense Israel is a family.  

Families look out for one another. Their fates are intertwined and family members fight for each other. Families also feel the need to let each other know when they’re going off-course. Jews in the Diaspora who are working every day to support and promote Israel feel like they have a legitimate stake in Israel’s future and a voice in discussions about its direction. They contribute a different perspective on Israel’s decisions, because the view from London, Johannesburg and Brussels is not the same as the view from the Knesset or Tel Aviv.

If Diaspora Jewish leaders are to deliver effective support for Israel; bringing their entire communities with them in the fight for Israel’s legitimacy, their voices need to be heard in Israel. Their perspectives and opinions need to be discussed and considered. Israel needs to join the big conversation sweeping though the Jewish world.

It is indeed time for a new “global Jewish conversation”. 

This Conversation is about all of us recognising that disenfranchised and disconnected Diaspora Jews, young and old, are not so much concerned about notions of “taxation without representation”.  They are far more agitated that we have made Israel central to their identity without giving them the ability to explore it outside a knee jerk “Israel right or wrong” option.

Perhaps the new global Jewish conversation is about Israel’s leaders going out into the Jewish world, to diverse community groups, and listening as well as speaking. Come and listen to Jewish students on our campuses as I regularly do. Hear from the JCC's. Speak to young people exploring their Zionism.  Come and hold town hall meetings. Hear what your people have to say, take home their messages and consider them.  Avoid lecturing them and dismissing their concerns as timidity or treachery.

These debates are already taking place within Jewish communities around the world.  Israel must validate and legitimise them viewing diversity as a strength - not a weakness. A critically engaged and valued Diaspora will be the most powerful and committed advocate of Israel’s case.

It is time to think, it is time to talk and above all, it is time to act.