Israel was never meant to be a gold-plated donor project - opinion

Ronald Lauder's recent warning about Israel no longer being able to take Diaspora Jews for granted highlights a deep fracture, but the issue is not new. The crisis between Israel and significant portions of the Diaspora did not emerge suddenly with social media or post-October 7 political polarization; these factors merely accelerated an existing problem.

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Israel could no longer take Diaspora Jews for granted.

For decades, many organized Diaspora Jewish institutions fostered a version of Jewish identity that allowed for admiration, funding, and defense of Israel without making it the central organizing principle of Jewish life. Israel was often viewed as a project to support, a destination to visit, or a cause for annual fundraising dinners, rather than the core of Jewish civilization.

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The crisis between Israel and large parts of the Diaspora did not begin with social media, campus radicalism, or political polarization after October 7.

This structural failure, though not necessarily malicious, meant that while Jews were taught to advocate for and donate to Israel, they were less frequently taught that Zionism required a fundamental reshaping of Jewish existence. The institutional architecture of the Diaspora developed its own ecosystem, which, after the Holocaust and Israel's early vulnerability, was essential for mobilization and defense.

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For years, many institutions treated Israel not as the gravitational center of Jewish civilization but as a project to support, a destination to visit, a cause to defend, or a speech to deliver at an annual dinner.

However, as Israel grew stronger and Jewish sovereignty became a reality, much of the Diaspora's institutional framework continued to operate psychologically as if exile were the permanent Jewish condition. This contradiction means that if Zionism is to mean more than philanthropy, Israel's sovereignty must be recognized as the central gravitational force of modern Jewish civilization. This implies that Hebrew is foundational, Jewish history is primarily about rebuilding national life, and aliyah is an embedded ideal, not merely an eccentric option. This shift poses a challenge to the established Diaspora institutions.

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If Zionism means anything beyond philanthropy, it means Jewish sovereignty in Israel is not merely one pillar of Jewish life among many. It is the center of gravity around which modern Jewish civilization now turns.