My new article on Linkedin “The Challenge of Immigrating, the Challenge of Immigration”

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian immigrants are coming these days to Israel, posing a serious challenge to the country. On the one hand, they are refugees seeking asylum from a brutal war. On the other hand, Israel is not like any other country, and people who come here must be ready and willing to take on the task of being Israelis, or their absorption will be unsuccessful and they will resent the country that gave them a haven. Being Israeli in the full sense of the word is a great challenge, and teaching people to be a part of the people of Israel is a challenge for the state. But only if both are achieved will the refugees become Israelis and will be happy in their new home.

In the terrorist attack on Tuesday evening in the orthodox city of Bnei Brak, two of the five victims were Ukrainians who came to Israel before the war to work. Another victim was an Arab Israeli police officer who confronted one of the terrorists and was shot in the chest before firing back and killing the assailant.

Terror does not distinguish between nationalities or faiths, and in many ways, this is the essence of living in Israel. It is a land that demands certain traits from its residents. For those who possess them, it is “a good and spacious land … flowing with milk and honey” (Ex. 3:8). For those who do not possess the required traits, Israel becomes “a land that devours its inhabitants” (Num. 13:32).

At the moment, the people who are living in Israel do not constitute a nation. They are defined as Israelis, at least the Jewish residents feel as Israelis, but their definition of what it means to be an Israeli varies greatly. Division is everywhere, mutual contempt is the norm, and the country is on its way to internal breakdown. In such a setting, adding Ukrainians to the clutter will only exacerbate the problems.

But any challenge is also an opportunity. If we rise to the challenge and launch a national program for enhancing unity and solidarity in the nation, the lemon will become a sweet lemonade. If we do not, it will become a very sour lime.

Solidarity pertains not only to newcomers from Ukraine. It has been a problem since the establishment of Israel. Like the original Israeli people, today’s Israelis come from all the cultures in the world. They immigrated to Israel from different lifestyles, standards of living, customs, traditions, and levels of education. But unlike our ancestors, who chose to become Jewish, from the Hebrew word Yehudi, meaning united, the immigrants who formed present-day Israel, especially after its official establishment in 1948, fled here from persecution or financial hardships, to improve their personal security and financial situation, and not in order to reunite the nation.

There have been exceptions, of course, and Zionist movements had a clear ideology of rebuilding a Jewish home specifically in the Biblical land of Israel, but especially after the establishment of the State of Israel, and to an extent, even before, ideology was not the key factor in deciding to immigrate to Israel, if at all.

Yet, even back then, when Zionism was the motivation, unity of the entire nation, above all differences, was not the goal. The lack of this aspiration has been the Achilles’ heel of Israel since the beginning of the Zionist movement.

The State of Israel will flourish and be safe only when its people unite. Just as terror does not distinguish between nations and cultures, Israelis should not make distinctions, but anyone who lives here should have one single ideology: unity above differences.

Unity does not mean sameness. On the contrary, when different people unite and form a tight bond, their unity becomes much stronger than that of similar people. The effort they had had to exert in order to build their union makes it that much stronger than those who feel natural affinity toward each other.

While the founders of the state did not succeed in forging unity within the nation, they were keenly aware of its vitality to our success. A notable example of this was David Ben Gurion, leader of the Jewish community in Israel before the establishment of Israel, and the country’s first Prime Minister. Ben Gurion wrote, “‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is the supreme commandment of Judaism. With these three words [the length of the sentence in Hebrew], the eternal, human law of Judaism has been formed… The state of Israel will be worthy of its name only if its social, economic, political, and judicial structures are based upon these three eternal words.”

Until today, we have not been able to live by these three eternal words. Perhaps the challenge that the Ukrainian refugees pose to the State of Israel will trigger a sincere attempt to forge that badly needed union.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Times That Call for a Tough Hand”

There is a tense atmosphere in Israel these days. Within a week, a total of 11 people have been killed in terrorist attacks perpetrated either by Israeli Arabs or by Palestinians who entered Israel illegally. There is no question that we should not let fear overwhelm and disrupt our lives, but at the same time it is obvious that there is panic in Israeli society. The recent attacks inspired by the tactics of ISIS have proven that such acts can happen anywhere and at any time.

Any city in the world that has been affected by terrorism can relate to the sense of panic and anxiety that permeates every street, every inch of entire neighborhoods. Fear, mistrust, anger and sorrow are all feelings that describe the current state of mind of Israelis who feel that their right to live a normal life has been taken away from them.

Our sages wrote, “He who comes to kill you, kill him first” (Midrash Rabbah, 21:4) and “If one comes to kill you, kill him first” (Midrash Tanchuma, Pinhas, Chapter 3). This ancient law also applies to those who protect themselves or others from an existential threat. It aims at saving lives from those who deliberately want to kill us or others.

The terrorists today are not afraid of anything; even their own death is no deterrent. They know that if they succeed in inflicting harm, they will be hailed as heroes in their hometowns, their pictures will adorn squares, and candies will be distributed in the streets where they lived to celebrate the murders they have committed. We have seen this many times in previous attacks. On top of that, the murderer’s family will receive generous financial compensation from those who support terrorism. And in the event that the terrorist survives and goes to prison, he or she will find better conditions there than some of them had at home.

Even if we covered every street and every neighborhood with security personnel, we would not be able to eliminate the threat and the fear that plagues us. However, if we begin to respond with an iron fist to those who seek to kill us, as we are commanded to do, we could effectively combat terror. If, on the other hand, we continue to cringe, the circle of terror will widen, and we will keep witnessing violent and extreme events that befall us, and will again and again face the heartbreaking images of orphans and widows.

We are in a constant struggle for our safety here in Israel. From attack to attack, we feel shock waves that force us to question ourselves: Why should I live this way, for what purpose? If not here, where could I live?

If we assess our situation correctly, we will eventually arrive at the simplest truth: Our external foes can only be neutralized by our internal unity. Our existence depends on how much we support and help each other. We must build a society that lives in mutual guarantee over our differences, because “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18) is the great rule of the Torah. If we lived according to it, all people would feel a positive enlightenment emanating from the Jewish people, and thanks to it, the rest of humanity would also come closer to the realization of this rule.

If we implement this principle and unite with each other like members of a close-knit family, no one will be able to harm us. Thus, internal solidarity and cohesion are the true and lasting defenses against our enemies.
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Medium published my new article “Nature Has a Lot of Love, but No Altruism”

Researchers in Australia, who intended to conduct a study on Australian Magpies, attached tiny trackers, weighing only 2.7g, to five birds in a flock of magpies in order to track their movements and habits. Surprisingly, within hours, the trackers were all removed from the magpies by their fellow flock-mates. The tracked magpies tried to remove the devices by themselves but couldn’t. When other birds saw them trying to break free from the tracker straps, they jumped in to help, and within minutes, they were free.

The scientists explained that “While we’re familiar with magpies being intelligent and social creatures, this was the first instance we knew of that showed this type of seemingly altruistic behavior: helping another member of the group without getting an immediate, tangible reward.”

Between 2005 and 2007, I happened to meet the celebrated primatologist Jane Goodall several times. We had several fascinating conversations about nature and about the difference between human behavior and animal behavior. In one of our conversations, she shared with me that when you spend a long time in nature, you come to feel that it is full of love, and the only ones who do not feel it are we, people.

Indeed, if you examine nature closely, it is easy to see how much love there is in it. Nevertheless, love is not altruism. There is always a motive behind the things animals do for each other that comes from self-interest. In the case of the magpies, the birds with the trackers suddenly looked different from the rest of the flock, so other birds helped them restore their “normal” appearance.

Each bird in a flock or each animal in a pack sympathizes with the rest of the members of the group. Since the survivability of one bird largely depends on the size of the flock, it is clearly in the interest of the birds to have as large a flock as possible. This provides them with more protection from rivals or potential predators.

Humans, as Goodall noted, are different. We have an additional trait, if you can call it that: We enjoy seeing the suffering of others. When others suffer, especially when it is the result of our own actions, we feel superior, and the pleasure of superiority over others is a uniquely human trait.

This is why up to the human level, everything in nature is perfectly balanced. There is instinctive love, and everything works harmoniously. But when humans come into the picture, the insatiable lust for superiority disrupts the entire system. This is what makes us exploit and abuse others, overconsume, amass unnecessary wealth, and deplete the earth’s resources.

Because we are devoid of natural love, except in the case of blood relations, but today even these ties are breaking, we are the only beings on the planet that must “work” on loving others. It will not be altruism, since our actions will not be without reward. However, our reward will be to see the joy of others. Only when we can operate in this way will we stop abusing our surroundings and each other.

In short, the antidote to our delight in superiority is to develop an opposite feeling: pleasure in seeing the success of others. Only when we cultivate this feeling among us, as a society, will we have a chance at becoming caring like the rest of the animals in nature, and we will create a sustainable environment where all of us can flourish.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Canada Students’ Hitler Salute Proves Entrenched Antisemitism”

Last week, “A Jewish teacher, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, was surrounded by students who flashed the Heil Hitler salute in class at a North York school,” the Toronto City News reported. This was neither the first nor the second such case in Canada. CBC reported that this is the “third incident this month involving students performing a Nazi salute within the Toronto District School Board.” It may surprise some people that there is antisemitism in Canada, but it shouldn’t. Jew-hatred is spreading rapidly, and will proliferate around the world until we Jews take the required action to eliminate it.

It should not surprise us that there is antisemitism in Canada, since many of its residents come from inherently antisemitic nations in Europe. The displays we see today merely express what has been kept hidden in their hearts until now, but nothing fundamental has changed in how they feel toward Jews.

Moreover, antisemitism will not go away until we dry up its well. Since Jew-hatred is expressed by non-Jews, we attribute its origin to them. But they are not the origin. Our own sages tell us countless times that when we hate each other, we bring about the hatred of the world toward us. Even if we do not feel that we hate other Jews, the very existence of antisemitism means that hatred exists among us, even if covertly.

Our sages referred to Jewish self-hatred as sinaat himam (hatred without cause). They explained that this is what caused our downfall in the days of the Second Temple and the exile from the Land of Israel. While we refer to it as self-hatred, in essence, it is the same ailment that destroyed us two millennia ago.

Therefore, we may use antisemitism as a sensor for self-hate. Even when we do not sense it, if there is antisemitism, it means that we are hateful of each other. Consequently, the antidote to antisemitism is to strengthen Jewish unity. This is the action we must take.

We have always known this, and we have always spurned it, even in the face of the most demonic perils. In 1929, Dr. Kurt Fleischer, then leader of the Liberals in the Berlin Jewish Community Assembly, stated that “Antisemitism is the scourge that God has sent us in order to lead us together and weld us together.” Regrettably, it did not happen and we did not come together.

These days, as antisemitism rears its ugly head once more, we must not forget that we hold the key that can lock it up for good, and that key is our own unity. If we turn toward each other with good intentions, we will lock antisemitism outside our world. If we keep treating each other with contempt, loathing, and conceit, as we often do today, the door to Jew-hatred will open all the way and a tsunami of antisemitism will wash upon us.

You will find more on this topic in my books Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour, and The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Negev Summit: Israel as ‘A Light unto Nations’”

The role of Israel as a connecting force in the Middle East is not a coincidence; fostering unity has been the essence of the people of Israel since time immemorial. As part of an historical summit in the Israeli Negev town of Sde Boker, top diplomats from Israel, the US, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Morocco have agreed to meet regularly to establish a permanent forum for the creation of “regional security architecture,” in light of the possible renewal of the Iranian nuclear deal.

The unprecedented forum is one of the results of the “Abraham Accords” which brought normalization of diplomatic ties between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco. While the new Middle Eastern regional front will also focus on joint efforts in the areas of counterterrorism and defense, education, health, tourism, food, water, and energy, the main concern for Israel and its Arab allies is Tehran’s threat.

The State of Israel must do everything in its power to protect its security, both by forming alliances and by striving for additional political meetings, and there is no doubt that a unified security front in the Middle East can deter Iran. On a more internal level, if the people of Israel demonstrate a unified spiritual front against any threat, this will sooner or later neutralize it. Cohesion is the ultimate power for the redemption of people from troubles and torments. As the sages said, “When Israel are as one man with one heart, they are as a fortified wall against the forces of evil.”

And why exactly do we, the people of Israel, have the power to change complex and sticky situations? Because from our beginning about 3,800 years ago, we acquired from our ancestor Abraham in ancient Babylon a method of connection which taught us how to transcend the egoism that ruled us, how to rise above differences, and how to direct ourselves toward the supreme force of nature. Thus, “Israel” (from the Hebrew Yashar-El) means “straight” to “God,” and from its foundations, Israel has always been an ideological group aimed at being a unifying force in the world.

If we as the people of Israel were stronger on the inside in terms of cohesion, we would see significant results in all areas of life without the need for political agreements. However, as long as we are not united on the inner front–strongly connected in one heart–then there will be a vital need for our leaders to sign agreements on the political and security fronts.

Meanwhile, buds of the future role of Israel can also be seen forming on the physical level. Israel is revealing an extraordinary political feature of being at the center of every fateful conflict and threat–from the “Negev Summit” bringing the Middle East countries together over Iran, through the role of mediator between Russia and Ukraine, to the recent visits of the President of Israel to Turkey and the Israeli Army delegation to Morocco.

Israel is gradually gaining ground in taking up its rightful role as a connecting force between peoples. In the future it is also expected that Israel will formalize its physical and spiritual role to become a sort of international parliament and forum through which countries can communicate –a contemporary Sanhedrin reminiscent of the ancient assembly of sages in the Land of Israel. As the Jewish thinker Rav Kook said, “The purpose of Israel is to unite the whole world into one family.”

Countries all over the world will subconsciously continue to feel that Israel should function as the connecting factor between all nations and peoples, regardless of who leads the nation in turn. The world will continue to ask us to act as mediators. World demand will spur us to continue to perform the task entrusted to us since the days of our original agreement with Abraham, to truly become “A Light Unto Nations.”
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “ISIS as a Meter for Jewish Unity”

Two things characterize the horrific terrorist attacks that occurred in Israeli cities recently: 1. The assailants were Israeli citizens, born and raised in Israel to Bedouin and Israeli Arab families. 2. The terrorists were inspired by ISIS. This wave may subside, but the trend going forward is clear: There will be more and more terrorist attacks within Israel, perpetrated by supporters of ISIS, who come from Israeli citizens of Arab or Muslim descent.

Not all Arabs and Muslims are terrorists. Many of them simply want to lead their lives in peace and enjoy the affluence that living in Israel enables them to achieve. Nevertheless, the education they receive, the media outlets that broadcast to the Arab speaking population in Israel, and the ambience they grow up in leave them no choice but to become a society that inherently rejects the presence of Jews in Israel (to which they refer as Palestine), and the existence of the State of Israel altogether.

Over the past several years, the State of Israel has invested many billions of dollars to promote education, housing, job opportunities, and community services in Arab and Bedouin communities in Israel. Regrettably, because of the inherently anti-Israeli disposition, it is not generating any closeness between Arabs and Jews, and it is failing to generate gratitude among Arabs toward the state or foster any sense of commitment toward it.

It is not only the recent terrorist attacks that prove it. After the attacks, spontaneous celebrations broke out in several Arab towns within Israel. As I said, it is the ambience that fosters the next killers.

But the heart of the problem is not the hatred of Israeli Arabs toward Israel. The heart of it lies among us, Jews. Our own division is fueling their hatred and audacity. The more divided we are, the more our haters feel emboldened and their hatred intensifies.

Just as with any form of antisemitism, the fuel behind the entrenchment of ISIS among Israeli Arabs and Bedouins is our own division—first and foremost within the State of Israel, and subsequently, among Jews the world over.

If there is no peace among us, we will have no peace with anyone. ISIS is only a meter that shows us how hateful we are toward each other. Its life’s marrow, its oxygen, its fuel is our hatred for each other.

Inadvertently, the Jewish people determine how the world will treat them. Our foes may be Muslim, or Christian, or proponents of social ideologies such as Nazism or communism, but in the end, the fuel behind them is our own division, our odium for one another.

Hitler derided our division and feared our union. So did Henry Ford, and many other antisemites throughout the ages. Fittingly, our sages have repeatedly lamented our division as the progenitor of our downfalls, and praised our union as our source of success.

No other nation is expected to display internal unity. When other nations are united, they are feared. When we unite, we are loved.

Nothing about us is the same as it is for other nations. Our roots are different: We are descendants of eclectic natives of countless tribes and nations who had joined together under the tenet of loving others as themselves. Accordingly, the world expects us to show that we care for one another regardless of our circumstances. When we succeed, they praise us, and when we fail, they scorn us and say that we are redundant. The more brazen ones among them try to do away with us, and the rest of the world tacitly supports them.

Accordingly, when we try to appease the world by dispensing billions on what we regard as their needs, they consider it bribery and do not hate us one bit less for it. On the contrary, it only increases their contempt toward us. In doing so, they are telling us what they really need from us: to focus on each other.

This is why the heightened level of ISIS activity that we are witnessing in Israel these days means that we have grown more separated than before. Accordingly, the only action that will turn down the hatred is to strengthen our internal unity.

You will find more on this topic in my book The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism.
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My new article on Linkedin “A War over Worldviews”

The war in Ukraine seems to be at a stalemate; Russia had underestimated the determination of the Ukrainian people and the military power of its army, and Ukraine is not strong enough to drive the Russian forces out of the country altogether. As a result, a war that many expected to last no more than two weeks before Ukraine capitulates has become a war of attrition that is decimating Ukraine’s cities, displacing a quarter of its people, so far, and killing thousands of civilians. On the other end, the war is exhausting Russia’s military might, depleting its resources, and frustrating its leadership.

Yet, a more clandestine, yet very significant process is taking place in Ukraine: a farewell to imposing ideologies and the onset of a more rational approach to governance. Winston Churchill, England’s prime minister during World War II, knew a thing or two about fighting against tyrants. In 1947, he said, “Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

I tend to agree with this statement, although clearly, we have witnessed the faults of Western regimes since 1947 more than once. Yet, it is not because we need to change the Western approach to governance, but because we need to add a missing element that will solidify it and guarantee its success: sincere concern for others.

If Western governments are plagued by the same hunger for power that soils every other regime, they will inevitably become despotic, too, albeit perhaps with titles that sound more appealing, and therefore more misleading.

In order to succeed, the goal of Western civilization must be to establish societies that are not only free from tyranny, but free from hatred of others, as hatred is the cause of tyranny and oppression.

Liberation from hatred is humanity’s next step. It is imperative to maintain democracy while we are evolving, but we must not think that democracy is the end of the road. All the while, we should be teaching ourselves how to care for others, starting with our own countries, and ending with caring for other nations just as we care for our own. Only in this way will humanity have a future that is not strewn with bloodshed.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Globalization 2.0”

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, overseeing $10 trillion. Last Thursday, its founder and CEO Larry Fink, sent a letter to shareholders stating that “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades.” Fink is not alone. Wall Street investor Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital echoed similar concerns in his own letter to shareholders on Wednesday. He wrote that negative aspects of globalization have been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and have “caused the pendulum to swing back to local sourcing.” I do not foresee countries disconnecting from each other, but there is definitely a shift. We are heading toward a world where economies share with one another, and people feel more like a global society than an assortment of nations. We are headed toward the next phase of globalization: globalization 2.0, if you will.

Previously, production required working hands. When the cost of labor became prohibitive in the West, companies sought cheaper labor elsewhere and began to move production lines overseas. At the same time, communication improved, transportation became more affordable, and products that were once distributed locally began to find global markets.

Today, however, there is less need for working hands, since much more is done by robots and automated machines. Products have also become increasingly compact, and these days even services such as call centers are outsourced to other countries. Locality, it seems, has lost much of its significance; it has become less important where something is produced, and less of a factor in its pricing. Clearly, many products are still dependent on location, such as ores or fuels, but the trend is crystal clear.

While locality has lost much of its significance, connections between countries have become imperative for their survival. The economic asphyxiation imposed on Russia through sanctions due to its invasion into Ukraine will hurt it very badly. Just as globalization sustains some countries, especially those heavily dependent on export or import, denying it can destroy a country by cutting off provisions and disconnecting it from the global financial system.

The only time when disconnecting a country is helpful is when it is for the purpose of forming a better, more correct connection. Just as parents sometimes send their children to their separate rooms when they cannot stop fighting until they cool down, sometimes countries need to do the same.

The situation between Russia and Ukraine is an example of such a situation. The two nations share the same culture, their languages are very similar, they intermarry freely, and even the borders between them fluctuate (and are therefore disputed). However, when they cannot get along and begin to fight, they must be separated until the tension subsides and they can communicate constructively.

Currently, it does not seem possible, but through their conflict, humanity will learn how to do it. It is, however, a terrible shame that people, and indeed entire nations, must pay so heavily to learn how to communicate, something that should be obvious to all of us.

In correct relationships, the participants regard the common needs before their own. It is as if there is a big bowl in the middle of the world, and all the countries circle it. Each country throws its dish into the bowl, and everyone enjoys the resulting stew.

On the one hand, countries talk about sustainability and restriction of production in order to curb greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, the same countries produce twice as much as they consume or export. The surplus litters Earth’s soil, air, and water, while people who cannot afford the products starve for lack of the unsold goods. It is unjust, unwise, and unsustainable.

Globalization means we have become one society. It is time we began to act the part. It is time to establish global planning, global production, a global welfare system that really works, a global health system, and global education.

If we felt more like one family, or at least one country, and less like gang members who have been thrown into one prison cell to fight to the death, we would not need armies. The funds we would save would finance much more than the needs described above. There is an abundance of everything on Planet Earth. The only thing amiss is good connections.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “How a Father of Five Becomes a Killer of Mothers”

Last Tuesday evening, a 35-year-old man, a schoolteacher and father of five from the Bedouin settlement of Hura, drove his car to Beer Sheba. There, he saw an elderly Jew riding his bicycle. He rammed him with his car and killed him. He drove away from the scene and stopped at a gas station, where he spotted a woman standing with her back to him. He stepped out of the car, drew an 8 inch long blade knife and stabbed her in the back. She turned to him and he stabbed her again. She fell on her back so he leaned over and stabbed her until she stopped moving. She died. He got into his car and drove on. Near a roundabout, he pulled over, went into a clothing store and drew his knife. He stabbed three people there, two men and a woman. The woman died. He went back to his car and saw an elderly man driving through the roundabout. He accelerated and crashed into the car. The elderly man was hurt and stunned. The schoolteacher got out of the car, drew his knife, and stabbed the elderly driver multiple times until he died. At that point, a bus driver saw what was happening, drew a gun, approached the attacker, and told him to put down the knife. The attacker jumped on him, too, but the bus driver pulled back and pulled the trigger. The stabber collapsed and died within seconds; the killing spree was over.

It is hard not to wonder how a father of five, a schoolteacher who spends his days educating children, can become so monstrous toward people from another faith. But when you think of what he himself was taught—that killing Jews, any Jew, not necessarily soldiers, rewards you with heaven above, admiration below, and a lifelong financial support for your family, courtesy of the Palestinian establishment, it becomes more understandable.

Indeed, the reward came right away. Hamas praised the killing, and the social media post in Arabic that the Israeli government posted about the slaying got more than 4,000 jeering faces within hours after posting.

In his past, the assailant spent five years in jail for membership in ISIS. Clearly, he had been filled with hatred from his youth, which led to his joining ISIS, and the hatred he absorbed there lived long after his release from jail. Indeed, the applause on social media proves that killing Jews is praiseworthy in the Arab society as a whole.

There is a solution to the problem, but it takes courage. Currently I do not see who among Israel’s leaders has it, but the solution will not change if we stall. It will only become more evident that there is no other way.

There are two steps to the solution. Since hostilities have reached a level that risk innocent civilians, the first step is to separate the two populations. Arabs and Jews can no longer live together; it is a fact of life, written in blood.

Jews and Arabs have a common father: Abraham. Just he said to his brother Lot, “Is the whole land not before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; and if to the right, then I will go to the left,” Jews must part from their Arab cousins.

The second step in mending the situation is to solidify Jewish unity through education. There will never be a military solution to the belligerence of our haters. As our leaders and sages have been telling us since the inception of our nation, the only thing that can dissolve the world’s hatred toward us is our own internal unity.

We, the nation that conceived the notion of loving others as ourselves must implement it on ourselves and set an example of unity and mutual responsibility. If we do, the world will welcome us, including the Arabs. If we do not, we will continue to suffer from senseless killings and the world’s hatred toward us will only grow more violent.

For more on the significance of Jewish unity, see my books Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour, and The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “AIPAC’s Super Pac Marks Its Course”

According to a story that went up on JTA, the AIPAC Political Action Committee (PAC) is what we would expect from a lobbying group whose stated mission is “to encourage and persuade the US government to enact specific policies that create a strong, enduring and mutually beneficial relationship with our ally Israel.” However, “The ‘super PAC’ that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee launched in December … is more opaque: It’s called the United Democracy Project. Its brief mission statement does not mention Israel nor the powerhouse pro-Israel lobby behind its founding. Instead, it emphasizes the promotion of democracy.” When AIPAC spokesman Marshall Wittmann had to explain why the super PAC does not state that it supports Israel, he avoided the question and “did not directly answer.”

The omission of Israel from the new PAC’s mission statement highlights the course that American Jewry has been on for years: away from the State of Israel. Other than orthodox organizations, there is no connection between American Jewry and the State of Israel, and the new PAC simply spells it out.

It is not because of the policy of this or that Israeli government; it is much deeper than that. American Jewry is divesting from Israel as part of a process of divesting from Judaism altogether. Some people may resent the uncouth statement, but I always choose truth over manners.

I have no doubt that politicians will continue to make pilgrimages to AIPAC conventions and say all the right words, but the rift will continue to widen. Eventually, no one will be able to deny it.

If Israel had any inner strength, it would tell AIPAC, and all the other organizations that pretend to support it, that since they are not true to their words, they will have no prerogatives in Israel. They may come and visit like any other tourist, but nothing more than that.

The problem is that Israel will never do that because it is powerless. Our only source of strength is our unity. Since we have none of it, we have no strength at all. We grovel before anyone who smiles at us, and kowtow to bureaucrats and peddlers who promise us the world, but never deliver. We are so insecure because of our division that we cannot see that the State of Israel no longer needs outside help. We have developed to the point where the country is independent with or without external funds. Regrettably, we will not see it as long as we are weak within—divided to the core.

AIPAC’s New PAC is an opportunity for us to wake up, grow up, and realize that we are on our own. We have no one but each other. It is time for Israel to become the nation it is meant to be.

We can stand up to the bigotry and hatred of the United Nations only if we stand as a united nation. We ourselves are a miniature United Nations. Our ancestors did not come from one place or one tribe; they came from all over the Fertile Crescent and formed a nation through their sole desire to unite above their differences. We were a startup nation from the get go.

Our “algorithm” is unique: Stay different, yet stay together. When we abide by it, we are the strongest in the world and the world admires us. When we abandon it, we are the world’s laughing stock.

For Jews, education for unity is the single most important goal. “Love your neighbor as yourself” was our first “export,” and the most valuable ever. Regrettably, we have stopped producing it, so the world thinks it is a hoax. After all, who would buy a product denounced by its own manufacturer?

If we return to our roots, we will not need any lobbyists pretending to support us. Our unity will be our best promotion and the only one we will ever need.
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