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The Israeli origins of Amitai Etzioni’s big ideas about community
(JTA) — “Although I was born in Germany, my formative years were spent in the early, idealistic days of the cooperative Jewish settlements, in pre-Israel, Palestine,” wrote Amitai Etzioni in his 2003 memoir, “My Brother’s Keeper.”
In writing about his early years in a cooperative settlement called Kfar Shmaryahu, the Israeli-American sociologist and polymath provided the origin story for the big idea that made him famous: communitarianism.
When Etzioni died May 31 at age 94, the obituaries noted how he came to Israel as a young refugee from Nazi Germany and fought in Israel’s war for independence. But few noted his early life in Israel shaped his life’s work. Nor did they note how far Israel had come — for better and for worse — in the years since he lived on a kibbutz, battled as a Palmach commando and studied at the Hebrew University.
Communitarianism is a social philosophy that emphasizes the importance of society, as opposed to the individual, in articulating the good.”[W]hile individual rights surely matter, these rights must be balanced with commitments to the common good — for instance, by protecting the environment and public health,” Etzioni explained.
He also held that the various liberation movements of the 1960s went too far in undermining authority figures and what he called “the accepted standards of upright conduct.”
Because it proposed a “third way” between liberalism and conservatism, communitarianism was also embraced — and ridiculed — on both sides of the aisle. Bill Clinton and Tony Blair were fans. Some labeled George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservatism” communitarian.
Etzioni left Israel in his mid-twenties for a teaching job at Columbia University. He opposed the Vietnam War and the nuclear arms race, activism that propelled him beyond the academy and into the role as a “public intellectual.” He taught ethics for two years at the Harvard Business School before launching into a hybrid discipline he called “socio-economics.” Hired by the Carter administration in 1979 as a senior adviser, he joined the faculty at George Washington University, where he taught international affairs for more than 30 years.
The theories behind communitarianism weren’t new, but Etzioni’s articulation came to wide public attention on the eve of the Clinton presidency, when, according to one profile, it was “supposed to be the Big Idea of the ‘90s, the antidote to ‘Me Generation’ greed and the cure for America’s cynicism, alienation and despair.”
“We need an awakening of values, of caring and commitment,” Etzioni told an interviewer in 1992. “The Communitarians are saying this is possible; in fact, it is inevitable.”
“It was as if I were growing up in a high school of communitarian theory and practice,” wrote Etzioni about his youth spent on an agricultural cooperative in Israel. (Courtesy of Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi)
Although communitarianism never did live up to the hype, Etzioni became a reliable commentator and theorist in a host of fields and causes, including just war, bioethics, national security and privacy.
Although he occasionally wrote about Israel, his roots there were rarely front and center in his work or public image. In his memoir he notes that a lot of readers thought he was Italian. (“Amitai” comes from the Hebrew word for truth; he took “Etzioni” from a folk tale about a boy who learns to protect nature from a tree – “etz” in Hebrew.)
In his memoir, however, he delves deeply into his youth in Israel. “In those days, the country was quite different from what it has since become,” he writes. “[I]t was strongly imbued with the spirit of community (from which the term communitarian arises); most people were dedicated to serving the common good and to erecting a home for Jews escaping Nazi-dominated Europe. It was in that pre-Israel that I first knew the high that one gains when serving a cause greater than oneself.”
His parents were among the founders of the small farming community; a young Etzioni would attend co-op meetings with his father, where members would debate how cooperative they needed to be – a question, he writes, that was never settled.
“It was as if I were growing up in a high school of communitarian theory and practice,” wrote Etzioni.
He also discovered the limits of that practice after a year as a teen on Kibbutz Tel Joseph. He found the kibbutz “excessively communal,” with little tolerance for individuality or privacy. Communitarianism itself would often be attacked on the same grounds: Etzioni would later have a fierce antagonist in the American Civil Liberties Union, which felt some of his calls for limiting privacy and suspending individual rights in the name of the common good went too far.
Etzioni wrote movingly about watching friends die in the fighting for Israel’s independence. Although he never wavered in feeling the war was justified, he lamented that the Jews and Arabs might have avoided the bloodshed had they agreed to the two-state partition that, in 2003, he still felt was inevitable. Nor did he regret Israel’s founding: “The Jewish people require a homeland to protect them not merely from physical annihilation, but also from cultural devastation,” he wrote in 1999.
But perhaps the most fascinating influence on Etzioni’s thinking was the year he spent in a Jerusalem institute set up by Martin Buber, the Vienna-born social philosopher. The formidable faculty included Gershom Scholem on Kabbalah, Yeshayahu Leibowitz on biology and Nechama Leibowitz on Bible.
Etzioni imbibed Buber’s ideas about “I and Thou” relationships – the “unending struggle between the forces that pushed us to relate to other human beings as objects, as Its, rather than as fellow humans, as Thous.”
Etzioni would call this “moral dialogue,” as in his definition of democracy: “[O]ur conception of right and wrong are encountered through moral dialogues that are open and inclusive. It is a persuasive morality, not a coercive one.”
Etzioni’s memoir and his obituaries recall a more hopeful political climate, when right and left could briefly imagine common ground around the common good. They also recall a different Israel, before it largely embraced the free-market economics of the West and let go of many of its communitarian values.
In 2013 Etzioni wrote about his own seeming irrelevance – he called it his “gradual loss of a megaphone” — after his brief flurry of influence. He had no regrets, nor loss of confidence: “Until I am shown that my predictions or prescriptions are ill-founded, or not of service, I will try to get out what must be said. I’ll keep pulling at the oars, however small my boat, however big or choppy the sea.”
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Vance courts Jewish Republicans, but leaves Tucker Carlson ties unanswered
(JTA) — LAS VEGAS – Vice President JD Vance emphasized the importance of the American-Israel relationship, pinned rising antisemitism on immigration, and sidestepped a question about podcasters like Tucker Carlson, during a highly-anticipated, closed-doors appearance at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual summit on Monday.
Vance’s appearance came at a moment when a number of Jewish Republicans have turned against him over his reprimanding of Israeli officials, indulgence of anti-Israel conspiracy theories and his silence on Carlson, a prominent media personality who promotes such narratives.
Some donors have indicated that they would prefer Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Vance as the presidential nominee in 2028. Yet Vance was met with a standing ovation as he took the stage, and received another one as he left, according to multiple people who were in the room.
Following the event, RJC leaders said they felt the appearance was a positive step in the relationship.
“Today is not primary day. But I think today was progress day for JD Vance and the Jewish community,” RJC board member Ari Fleischer told reporters.
The summit’s Monday evening portion was closed to the press, but an audio recording of Vance’s 35-minute conversation with Norm Coleman — the RJC’s chairman — was sent to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
During the conversation, Coleman asked Vance where he drew the line when deciding which podcasts he could appear on. Coleman named Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Joe Rogan and Nick Fuentes as examples of hosts who have platformed antisemites, but Vance avoided mentioning Carlson, answering only about Rogan and Fuentes.
“I do not think that Joe Rogan and Nick Fuentes are the same, just substantively,” Vance said.
“Obviously I’m not going to talk to a guy who’s attacked my wife or said that Hitler is a good guy — but outside of some pretty bright lines, I try to talk to as many people as I can,” Vance said.
Vance’s response, which advocated for a wide-tent approach, drew applause in the room, though some were not pleased with the answer — nor the openness of the question.
“You might think that Norm Coleman — who owed his audience a bit more — would have said, ‘Let’s address this Tucker question once and for all: Where do you stand with him?’” said Neil Cooper, an RJC member who said he’s run out of patience with the vice president.
Sid Rosenberg, the right-wing firebrand radio host, wrote that Vance “had a chance to hammer @TuckerCarlson and @megynkelly but instead spent all his time defending @joerogan over Nick Fuentes.”
Ann Rubinfeld, an RJC member who supports Vance for 2028, said she is deeply opposed to Carlson but didn’t feel that the vice president needed to address Carlson head-on. “I don’t think that needs to be said,” she said.
Vance received a number of ovations during the conversation, including after Coleman commended him and Trump for leading what he said was the most pro-Israel administration in American history. Chants of “USA!” rang out as Vance took the stage. The warm reception may have come as a surprise for some in the room.
“This will be a tough crowd for him tomorrow,” Florida Rep. Randy Fine told reporters on Monday. In the morning leading up to Vance’s appearance, Rosenberg called on attendees to “give Vance a chance.” Ron Dermer, who has served as Israeli Ambassador to the United States and Strategic Affairs Minister, told the crowd, “I hope you all give him a warm welcome,” and thanked Vance for his “critical role” behind the scenes of the 12-day war fought with Israel against Iran in 2025.
Cooper said he’d expected “more skepticism, even bordering on stony silence” heading into the event, but hoped to be won over.
He added, “People get too excited by celebrities.”
Vance had made a stop in Michigan earlier on Monday, and told the room that he met with the rabbi of Temple Israel, as well as the security guards who helped prevent an antisemitic attack on the synagogue. Vance also referred to Michigan’s Republican nominee in the November senate race, Mike Rogers, who is facing Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, in what he called “maybe the single most important candidate right now in this midterm election.”
Asked about his opinion on the U.S.-Israel relationship, Vance said Israel is “certainly one of our most important alliances in the world,” and that Israel and America or any of its allies must always be pursuing their own interests.
“I’m very much a foreign policy realist,” he said.
Vance also brought up the “growing suspicion” of the U.S.-Israel relationship among people under 40, and said “we have to articulate why this is in the best interest of the United States of America,” listing benefits such as intelligence collection and technology sharing.
Some of the heat Vance has drawn from Jewish Republicans has stemmed from comments he has made about Israel. In June, in response to criticism of the Iran deal, Vance said that Israeli cabinet members should not attack “the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”
“We don’t forget statements like that,” Valerie Greenfeld, an RJC member who lives in Jerusalem, said in a text to JTA.
Speaking about the rise of antisemitism in the United States, Vance blamed it partly on immigration policy. He said that the increase comes from “people who are bringing ancient ethnic hatreds into the United States,” and that it is not a problem by-and-large among white Americans.
“You know, the Fuentes character who really does hate Jews — and also by the way, really hates me and my family, so you’re in good company — that is real,” Vance said. “But it’s not common among most of our fellow citizens.”
Vance condemned antisemitism, and drew applause when he told attendees, on behalf of the White House administration, “We love you guys, we appreciate you guys, and you will very much always be on the team so long as I have any say in it.”
Vance spoke about his own Christian faith and the connections between it and Judaism. He said he noticed similarities during a previous RJC event and at the wedding of his Jewish former chief of staff, Jacob Reses, where Vance did a reading.
“There were all these liturgical similarities between Judaism and Catholicism that are very fascinating,” Vance said.
Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Jewish conservative activist who attended the RJC confab, wrote afterwards that he appreciates Vance’s commitment to his religious beliefs, and that he agrees on forming foreign policy from an “America first” perspective. But Vance had more to prove, he said.
“His refusal to unequivocally denounce and condemn Tucker, who just called for Trump’s immediate removal, will make it very hard for the American Jewish community to consider his otherwise stellar policies,” he said.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Vance courts Jewish Republicans, but leaves Tucker Carlson ties unanswered appeared first on The Forward.
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At Jewish Republican summit, GOP casts midterms as a battle against DSA
(JTA) — LAS VEGAS – Speakers at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual convention at the Venetian Resort cast the upcoming midterm elections as a battle against not just the Democratic Party, but specifically its left-wing Democratic Socialists of America faction.
“A Democrat majority in November is not just a political setback for our party and our movement, it is a direct threat to the Jewish community,” said Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican National Committee. “The people in charge would not be moderate Democrats who have occasionally pushed back on antisemitism. It would be the Squad. It would be the DSA.”
Ed Gallrein, the farmer and former Navy SEAL who defeated Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie in a Republican primary back in May, said that “radical socialism sentiment is gaining ground across our nation,” calling November’s elections a battle between “the Constitution versus the Communist Manifesto.”
Georgia Rep. Mike Collins, who is challenging Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, accused the Jewish senator of using November’s election as a springboard to run for president in 2028 as “the DSA candidate.” (Ossoff has repeatedly denied having interest in running for president. He is also neither a DSA member, nor has he been endorsed by the group.)
Even the WiFi password for the Vegas confab — “DSA=AntiUSA” — offered a rejection of the group.
The RJC’s summit comes after a string of victories by DSA members and DSA-backed candidates in Democratic primaries across the country, sparking criticism from Republicans and moderate Democrats who oppose tenets of the group’s left-wing ideology, including its anti-Zionist stance.
The total number of House members endorsed by a DSA chapter could rise from two to seven, depending on how November shakes out, in addition to candidates in downballot races. Though there are 212 Democrats in the House, Republican officials on Sunday and Monday painted the Democratic party as one that is ceding control to the DSA.
China, Russia and Iran, Gallrein said, are hoping that “Democrats controlled by the DSA take the House and the Senate, and that they can exploit and divide America.”
Speakers panned other DSA-backed politicians such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, as well as the streamer Hasan Piker, who has fundraised for numerous DSA-endorsed candidates.
Florida Rep. Randy Fine specifically attacked Muslim politicians in the Democratic party, saying he was addressing “the elephant in the room.” He was among the speakers to say that there are anti-Israel and antisemitic voices on both ends of the political spectrum. The difference, he said, is that Republicans “repudiate this evil” with actions like voting out Kentucky’s anti-Israel congressman Massie, while Democrats elect anti-Israel candidates.
Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News personality who has spread antisemitic conspiracy theories in recent years, was repudiated by the RJC and also cast aside by the party’s leader, President Donald Trump. Trump’s second-in-command JD Vance, however, has made no such condemnation, to the chagrin of many Jewish Republicans.
With Vance set to speak at the RJC’s summit on Monday night, multiple Jewish Democratic groups blasted the RJC for hosting him, particularly in a session that is closed to the press.
“JD Vance may be speaking behind closed doors, but he should not be able to avoid questions about his attacks on Israel, his failure to confront antisemitism within the MAGA movement, and his continued alliance with Tucker Carlson,” said Brian Romick, president and CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel, in a statement.
“What’s next, a live taping with Tucker Carlson on the main stage?” the Jewish Democratic Council of America wrote.
In a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the JDCA’s CEO Halie Soifer said, “The RJC may choose to highlight the less than ten DSA candidates on the ballot in November for their own cynical political purposes, but Jewish voters see past their deflection and lies, just as they see the Republican Party for what it is — the party of Donald Trump.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post At Jewish Republican summit, GOP casts midterms as a battle against DSA appeared first on The Forward.
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Israel and Greece ink defense deal to protect against regional threats
(JTA) — Israel and Greece finalized on Monday a $3.5 billion deal providing the Hellenic Republic with a multilayered antimissile system designed to protect the European Union country against aerial attacks from nations such as Iran and Turkey. It is one of the largest defense export deals in the history of the Jewish state.
The two countries “share common strategic interests and face shared regional challenges,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a press statement sent out after the deal was signed at Tel Aviv’s Ministry of Defense.
Called the “Achilles Shield,” the agreement was inked by the General Director of the General Directorate for Defense Investments and Armaments of Greece, Maj. Gen. Ioannis Bouras, and Israel’s Ministry of Defense Director-General reserve Maj. Gen. Amir Baram.
“At a time when actors with hegemonic ambitions are seeking to expand their influence and undermine stability in the region, Israel and Greece will continue to deepen their defense and strategic cooperation, and will act with determination to preserve stability and safeguard their security and shared interests.” Katz said.
Katz didn’t name Iran or Turkey in his remarks, but it was widely understood that the two countries pose regional concerns for both countries. Turkey and Greece are not just neighbors but historic enemies with several current disputes. As Israel’s relationship with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has deteriorated, Jerusalem and Greece have drawn closer in an effort to counterbalance Turkey’s growing power.
At the same time, Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israel multiple times since 2024. Greece has not been under Iranian fire, but Tehran has threatened to attack European countries. Greece hosts a U.S. naval base and is among those European countries that are closer to Iran.
The agreement isthe “largest defense export deal in the history of Israel-Greece relations, and one of the largest in the history” of the country, Israel’s Defense Ministry noted.
The multilayered system Israel will build for Greece will mark the first time that it provides a country with a system that can combat a wide array of threats from ballistic missiles to drones, the ministry explained.
Among the systems included in the “Achilles Shield” architecture are David’s Sling, SPYDER, BARAK MX and MMR multi-mission radars for air surveillance.
The two countries on Monday also signed a supplementary deal valued at $30.2 million for the sale of the Israeli company Rafael’s Drone Dome systems.
Chairman of Israel Aerospace Industries Boaz Levy said during the recent fighting with Iran that Israel’s aerial defense systems had shown they could intercept “a range of threats, chief among them exoatmospheric ballistic missiles.” The same systems that defended Israel could also be used to help allies in Europe, Levy explained.
“We are proud to take part in the important ‘Achilles Shield’ project, and will continue to be key partners in additional projects in Greece and around the world, as we develop and build the next generation of defense technologies,” he added.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Israel and Greece ink defense deal to protect against regional threats appeared first on The Forward.
