Elliott Abrams on American Jews and Israel (Rebroadcast)
The Tikvah Podcast
Tikvah
4.6 • 620 Ratings
🗓️ 6 July 2017
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Israeli government’s recent decision to shelve a plan for a state-recognized egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall has widened the already deepening rift between Israeli and American Jews. And the debate that has arisen in its aftermath has raised vital questions about the relationship between the world’s two largest Jewish communities.
In this podcast, which originally aired on May 16, 2016, Elliott Abrams joins Eric Cohen to discuss his Mosaic essay, “If American Jews and Israel Are Drifting Apart, What’s the Reason?” Abrams and Cohen confront some uncomfortable facts about the changing nature of American Jewry—facts that are as relevant today as they were when the essay was published.
Courtesy of Pro Musica Hebraica, musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim, and performed by the ARC Ensemble.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Tikva podcast on Great Jewish Essays and Ideas. I'm your host, Eric Cohen. |
| 0:13.8 | Our subject today is an important new essay published in the April 2016 issue Mosaic magazine |
| 0:19.5 | and written by Elliot Abrams on the relationship |
| 0:21.9 | between American Jews and Israel. The essay raises some crucial questions. Are American Jews |
| 0:27.8 | becoming less attached to, less interested in, and even more antagonistic toward the Jewish |
| 0:31.9 | state? If so, do we understand why, and are we willing to confront the real reasons? |
| 0:37.2 | What are the new fault lines within American jury itself? |
| 0:40.3 | And what does this mean for the America-Israel relationship more broadly? |
| 0:44.4 | And what do all these changes within American jury mean for Israel, |
| 0:48.0 | given the tremendous threats it faces in a radicalizing Middle East |
| 0:51.4 | and in a geopolitical world in which new forms of anti-Judaism and |
| 0:55.5 | anti-Zionism seem to be on the rise. |
| 0:58.6 | I'm very pleased to be joined for this discussion today by Elliot Abrams himself to explore |
| 1:02.9 | the important issues raised in his piece. |
| 1:05.8 | Mr. Abrams is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, the former deputy |
| 1:09.8 | national security advisor to the president, and the author of Foreign Relations, the former deputy national security advisor |
| 1:11.1 | to the president, and the author of important books on the state of American jury in the |
| 1:15.5 | Israel-Palestine question. |
| 1:17.4 | Elliot, thanks for joining me. |
| 1:19.0 | Thank you. |
| 1:20.3 | It seems to me that an issue is hotly debated and highly politicized as a relationship |
| 1:24.6 | between American Jews and Israel, simply trying to see things clearly, |
... |
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