Anne Slifkin

Listening to @AbdulElSayed on @Morning_Joe, two statements stood out as serious warnings for the Jewish community and the U.S.-Israel relationship. I’m not even sure how he can clarify these remarks, because he stated his positions so clearly. First, he has moved from opposing U.S. military aid to @Israel to calling for an end to all arms sales to Israel. What would that mean in practice? Israel continues to face existential threats from Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and other armed groups. Ending arms sales raises serious questions not only about Israel’s ability to defend itself, but also about its access to the weapons and technologies that support its defensive systems and have helped protect at minimum tens of thousands of Israelis from being killed over the past three years. So now it’s his official policy: This has never been just about foreign aid. It is also about Israel’s ability to defend itself. And such a policy could have two devastating consequences for America: 1. Leave our most important ally in the the Middle East, the Jewish state increasingly vulnerable to those seeking its destruction. 2. Force Israel to turn to countries that are not aligned with the United States for the weapons it needs to survive. Both would be terrible outcomes and disastrous American foreign policy. Second, El-Sayed spoke of separating “Judaism and the Jewish people and Israel.” I have heard him speak about growing up surrounded by a Jewish community, attending bar and bat mitzvahs and Passover Seders, and having many Jewish friends. Yet he also makes clear his opposition to Zionism. His remarks reminded me of a conversation I had a few months after the war began. I was part of a group of Jews and Muslims who came together to see how we could rise above the divisions and find common ground. One member of the group expressed a sentiment strikingly similar to El-Sayed’s: “I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood. I went to a hundred bar and bat mitzvahs. All my friends were Jewish. I’m not antisemitic. I’m just against Zionism.” That conversation has stayed with me because it raises a fundamental question: What does it mean to embrace Jewish people and Jewish traditions while rejecting the Jewish people's 4,000 year connection to the land of Israel and Zionism? It is a narrative that must change. For decades, elements of the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel, BDS, and delegitimization movements have worked to drive a wedge between American Jews and Israel, while seeking to marginalize those who publicly support the Jewish state. The statements above are used to make Jews feel uncomfortable in settings. One can disagree with Israel's government, oppose its policies, and criticize its leader s without denying the Jewish people's history, identity, or connection to their ancestral homeland of Israel.