Moreover, the threat environment does not only threaten Israel and the Jewish people. If you took Israel and the Jews out of the equation, Iran would still be a threat to international peace and security. Radical Islam would still be a threat. The energy crisis and global warming – which will have tragic consequences also in the Middle East – would still be a threat.
We therefore need to work in common cause with the international community to address these threats. Indeed, I come to the support of Israel not because it’s a Jewish cause but because I believe – with all its imperfections – that it is a just cause, bound up with the larger struggle for international peace, security and human rights.
A strategic planning process would see the threats as challenges, and seek to translate them into mobilizing opportunities through strategic thinking, planning and advocacy. For this reason, this week’s Conference on the Future of the Jewish People being convened by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute is as timely as it is relevant.
It brings together the best of American Jewry’s organizational leadership, Israel’s political leadership, and representatives of communities and organizations from around the world. The agenda will address the global threat environment, as well as the internal one within and between Israel and the Jewish people.
