Not interested
In scrapping the deal for an egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall, Benjamin Netanyahu is sending a stark and unambiguous message to the diaspora. It is, as Natan Sharansky put it this week: “you are not part of us”.
But clear as that message is, it should hardly surprise anyone. It has been obvious for many years. The Israeli Prime Minister views the diaspora as essentially little more than the supplier of olim. In the aftermath of the Paris murders in 2015, his response was to urge mass migration of European Jews to Israel.
He is almost entirely uninterested in the views of mainstream diaspora Jews and, politically, he does not need to be. Only the strictly-Orthodox have any influence, through their relationship with the United Torah Judaism and Shas parties. But whatever the realpolitik may be from Mr Netanyahu’s perspective, it is narrow and dangerous.
