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‘We’re listening,’ Israel’s new Diaspora minister says in first public comments in the US
AUSTIN, Texas (JTA) — The new Israeli government is listening to the concerns of more liberal Jews, Israel’s new minister of Diaspora affairs said on Thursday.
But Amichai Chikli said that while some proposed changes that worry Americans — including an overhaul to the country’s Law of Return — would happen slowly, any criticism is largely misplaced.
“There is a large alarm on the left, it’s obvious, and it affects dramatically most of the Jews who live here in America,” Chikli said at the summit of the Israeli American Council, which aims to keep Israelis in America connected to Israel, often through business.
“We had an election. The result was crystal clear. We were very honest with our agenda, and it is our responsibility to form this agenda,” he said. “And it does not mean that we are not listening. We do listen, and I spent hours today, yesterday, to listen to Jewish leaders and what they have to say about the Law of Return, about the judicial changes, and everything. We’re listening to the criticism. We’re listening to the concerns. We care about it.”
Chikli was making his first public comments outside of Israel since being appointed minister of Diaspora affairs late last month in Israel’s new right-wing government, helmed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s decision to ally with extremist parties, including ones that advocate for curbing rights to Arab Israelis, LGBTQ Israelis and non-Orthodox Jews, has drawn concern from across the Diaspora, as has the government’s effort to weaken Israel’s judiciary, which historically has acted to protect the country’s minorities.
Diaspora Jewish leaders have raised particular concern about the coalition’s agreement to amend Israel’s hallmark Law of Return, which permits anyone with a Jewish grandparent to claim citizenship. The eligibility rules were crafted to reflect the Nazis’ criteria for whom to kill during the Holocaust, but Israel’s religious parties say that has left the door open to immigrants who are not invested in building a strong Jewish state.
Speaking in a live interview with Israeli journalist and TV presenter Miri Michaeli, Chikli said he believed it was a problem for Israel’s identity that a decreasing percentage of immigrants from the former Soviet Union are connected to Judaism and many of them don’t stay in Israel for very long.
But the new minister said any changes to Israel’s Law of Return would happen slowly and through a process that includes consultation with others.
“No one, no one is going to cancel the Law of Return, which is fundamental for the state of Israel,” Chikli said.
“We’re not saying we’re about to cancel Chapter Four tomorrow morning,” he said, referring to a technical name for the law. “That’s not what’s going to happen. What’s going to happen is there’s going to be a committee to determine how can we deal with this serious challenge. And as you see when you go into the details, that’s a challenge. We need Israel to be a strong Jewish state, and we need to tackle this challenge, and we’re going to do it slow. We’re going to do it by listening to all.”
Chikli, who has previously made disparaging remarks about Reform Judaism and who has said the LGBTQ Pride flag is an antisemitic symbol, grew up and lives on a kibbutz founded by the Conservative movement of Judaism where three-quarters of voters backed left-wing parties in the most recent election. He said his government’s critics would do well to change how they form their opinions about the government.
“I think that maybe one tip is less Haaretz and New York Times, and more common sense and tachlis, what the government is actually doing,” Chikli said, referring to newspapers perceived as liberal and using the Hebrew word meaning details. “That’s it. We are proud to be Zionists. Me, myself, I’m proud to represent this government.”
Nearly 3,000 people, many of them Israelis living in America, are expected to attend the IAC’s summit in Austin this week. Chikli’s comments came during the opening day, when Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke to the summit via video message and acknowledged concerns around the new administration.
“It’s no secret that, since Israel’s most recent election, questions were raised by many of our friends around the world and in the United States,” Herzog said. “Our friends want to know that Israel will continue to carry the rich, ethical heritage on which our country was founded, that it will continue to stand for those values of democracy, liberty and equality, which are the animating force behind the United States and Israel alliance. So allow me to reassure you that Israeli democracy is strong.”
Many of the events during the conference’s first day did not address the month-old government, its turmoil or the concern ricocheting across the world, including among many of Israel’s allies.
Ofer Krichman, an Israeli expat who works in finance and lives in New Jersey, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he had expected the new Israeli administration to be a bigger topic of conversation.
Instead, he said, he had conversations about “ideology, but based not on politics, based on Jews all around the world, antisemitism, how to cope with that, which is not business, but that’s a valid topic to discuss, and it’s a concerning topic.”
One of Chikli’s first acts was to extend his title to include a mandate to fight antisemitism. He says the movement to boycott Israel, known as BDS, is of particular concern to him. Noa Tishby, Israel’s first special envoy for combating antisemitism and delegitimization of Israel, also spoke during the summit’s first day.
The turmoil was on the minds of some attendees. Grinstein, the founder of the Reut Group, a nonpartisan Israeli policy think tank, told JTA that the relationship between Israel and world Jewry is at a pivotal moment.
“The new government represents a massive challenge to world Jewry on a number of counts,” Grinstein said. “First of all, the government handed responsibility over key touchpoints to world Jewry in Israel to the most radical factions of the government. … These things really make it structurally challenging for world Jewry to be as involved in Israel as they used to be.”
Those concerns offered an undercurrent during the first day of the conference. But the dominant vibe was simply on making business connections and meeting people.
Shani Gil, who works in real estate in the Los Angeles area, said she spent her first day at the conference going through the booths, mingling and handing out business cards.
“It’s an electric vibe in the air,” she said. “Everyone’s very excited.”
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What Israel Can Learn From American Thanksgiving
A traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Gratitude is a deeply Jewish concept, emphasized in the Biblical text, the Talmud, Jewish law, and throughout rabbinic thought. Most significantly, gratitude is woven into the rituals of daily life, including the first statement of “modeh ani” that we recite upon waking each day as well as in the morning blessings.
This overlap between the value Judaism places on gratitude and the theme of the upcoming American holiday of Thanksgiving gives us a reason to truly recognize that day as a Jewish experience. But there is another deep connection between Judaism and Thanksgiving, one that Jews everywhere, including in Israel, should be more aware of and embrace.
Many of the values that the United States was built on, including justice, equality and freedom, stem from the Bible and Judeo-Christian tradition. This should be a reminder that here in Israel as well — the land where those ideas started — we should be more cognizant of those values as a society, especially in these challenging days as we rebuild after more than two years of war and face deep divisions among ourselves.
On Nov. 26, 1789, President George Washington proclaimed a day of public thanks, saying gratitude wasn’t just a feeling but a national duty, “acknowledging … the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
His statement reflects the influence of the Bible on the Founding Fathers’ worldview — and not simply because he referred to the Almighty. Rather, it is important to recognize that many of the values that Americans are especially grateful for on Thanksgiving — the values that allow a form of government for safety and happiness — are derived from Judeo-Christian concepts.
As outlined in his book Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers, Daniel L. Dreisbach, a professor at American University, describes the Bible as the most read and most quoted book in early American political discourse. Stories and quotes from the Bible were used to justify civil resistance, examine the rights and duties of citizens, and understand the role of political authority. Early American politics and its groundbreaking democratic system can only be understood properly by understanding the role of the Bible, he writes.
The Declaration of Independence and Constitution are secular documents, but the ideas contained in them have unmistakable direct roots in values illustrated in the Bible.
Although the United States faces many challenges, and the Biblical values of justice, equality, and personal freedom are not always upheld as they should be, the ideal of these values has been front and center to the country’s success and to the opportunities it has given to millions, including my own father, my in-laws, and grandparents, who immigrated to the US from the ashes of the Holocaust and were able to freely raise a Jewish family.
In Israel, also a democracy, political and community leaders need to recommit to the values of freedom, equality, and justice, especially now — not just in theory, but in policy and practice.
Even though Israel remains without a constitution, these values need to be paramount, both in speech and action; in classrooms and courtrooms; in the Knesset and in the beit knesset. Freedom must extend to agunot, women trapped in marriages that have fallen apart and are often abusive, because their husbands refuse to grant them the halachic get required for a legal divorce. Jewish law demands that state rabbinic and government officials must do more to ensure the religious and civil laws are used in ways that promote freedom and dignity for these women.
Equality must be extended to minorities, including Arabs, Muslims, Christians, and Druze, who often face discrimination. From the lack of government investment in these communities to the racism expressed by some politicians, community leaders, and parts of the general public, minorities often do not receive fully equal treatment. Equality is also a value that needs to be embraced by the citizens. The most glaring example of this today is the continuing refusal of the ultra-Orthodox sector to serve in the army, which puts an undue heavy burden on those who do serve, including secular and religious Jews, Christians, Druze, and Bedouins.
Perhaps an approach that can help is trying to be more thankful for and aware of these democratic values derived from our very own Jewish tradition, especially now as we attempt to pick up the pieces and rebuild. Part of being thankful is looking beyond ourselves.
This is illustrated in a powerful way in the order of the words in the morning recitation of “modeh ani” — “thankful am I.” Usually the order would be “ani modeh” (“I am thankful”), but this prayer flips that order, emphasizing the thankfulness before the “I.” This implies we are better off as individuals, as a family, community and as a society when the first word out of our mouths is “thanks” rather than “I.”
During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln established an official date for Thanksgiving as a national holiday and called on everyone to care for the widows, orphans, and the wounded as the nation sought healing. This is the spirit we need in Israel now: to use gratitude as a moral call to rebuild our society, rooted in the very Biblical values that have long given hope to the world.
Rabbi Dr. Brander is the President and Rosh HaYeshiva of Ohr Torah Stone, a network of 32 educational institutions in Israel. He previously served as a vice president at Yeshiva University in New York and is Rabbi Emeritus of the Boca Raton Synagogue in Florida.
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Israel Launches New Military Operation in Northern West Bank
Israeli soldiers walk during an operation in Tubas, in the West Bank, Nov. 26, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
Israeli security forces took up positions inside the northern West Bank city of Tubas on Wednesday and ordered some Palestinian residents from their homes in a counterterrorism operation.
Tubas Governor Ahmed Al-Asaad told Reuters Israeli forces, backed by a helicopter, were encircling the city and establishing positions across several neighborhoods.
“The incursion looks to be a long one; occupation [Israeli] forces have driven people from their houses, commandeered rooftops of buildings, and are conducting arrests,” he said.
The Israeli military said the operation carried out with police and intelligence forces began early on Wednesday following “preliminary intelligence identification of attempts to establish” terrorist strongholds and infrastructure.
The military said it located “an observational control room” during its searches of dozens of homes in the West Bank.
Israeli vehicles could be seen driving through the city, with troops patrolling streets carrying rifles and rocket launchers. Troops were also seen in the nearby town of Tammun.
PALESTINIANS ARRESTED, TROOPS SET UP ROADBLOCKS
Al-Asaad said Israeli forces ordered those whom they forced out of their homes not to return until the operation ends, which he anticipated could last several days.
“They are continuing to complete their control of the city,” he told Reuters, with Israeli forces setting up roadblocks and so far detaining at least 22 Palestinians.
The West Bank is home to 2.7 million Palestinians who have limited self-rule under the Palestinian Authority. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have settled there.
Wednesday’s activity extends military operations launched by Israeli forces across parts of the northern West Bank this year, beginning with the city of Jenin in January days after US President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Since Hamas carried out the Oct. 7 attack on Israel from Gaza two years ago, Israel has sharply curtailed movement in the West Bank, with new checkpoints erected and some Palestinian communities effectively sealed off by gates and roadblocks.
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A Reason for Jewish Hope: Perseverance Has Always Seen Us Through
The Western Wall and Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
In recent years, Jews across the world have witnessed intimidation, harassment, and even instances of violence. These developments are serious, and they deserve our full attention. Yet even in this climate, we must remember that we have, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “a rendezvous with destiny.” That rendezvous, when viewed across the arc of Jewish history, remains a profoundly hopeful one.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed in a moment like this. But perspective matters. If one were to graph the trajectory of the Jewish people across millennia, the line would not appear as a clean upward slope. It would look more like a stock market chart — containing multiple peaks and valleys. And yet, despite every downturn, the long-term trend has always been upward. It is important to recognize this as we endure the news cycle on a daily basis.
Children often repeat sayings like, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” or “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” We know reality is more complicated: words can harm, and challenges can shake us, but those old sayings contain a deep truth. Hardship, while never sought after, can strengthen us and forge unity. When we remember who we are — and what we have already overcome — we rediscover the inner steel that has carried our people through history’s darkest chapters.
This perspective is helpful today, especially as we confront new challenges from seemingly every direction. In New York City, for example, we will have a mayor — Zohran Mamdani — whose positions and rhetoric pose real questions as to whether he will defend Jewish people in New York against those who want to intimidate our community. The recent protest held outside a synagogue hosting a Nefesh B’Nefesh event was not just disruptive; it was frightening. Mamdani’s official response — which criticized the event itself — was lacking to say the least.
But even here, it is important to have perspective. Compared to the past violence and destruction we have been through, the challenges of this moment — though real — are not insurmountable. And unlike many eras of the past, today we have power and resources to fight back, and a state that exists to protect Jews with a Jewish army.
This does not mean that we are just passive passengers on history’s ride. Quite the opposite. We have obligations to resist with all our might in education, in advocacy, in political engagement, and in communal solidarity. We must defend our institutions and support those on the front lines, and we must cultivate the courage to stand proudly as Jews and supporters of the only Jewish state at a time when hiding might feel easier.
But humility is also part of wisdom. We are a people of roughly 15 million among billions. There are limits to the amount of influence we can exert on the world around us — and we can’t beat ourselves up too much about things that remain largely out of our control. The winds of history blow with a force larger than any one community. We have great challenges and even greater opportunities that point toward a future of continued growth, strength, and security.
It is natural to feel concern, even fear, when living through a period of backlash. Regression always feels permanent when you are inside it. But history tells a different story. This moment may be a valley, but valleys precede rises. We have every reason to believe that a rise is coming. Our rendezvous with destiny has never changed — and it is brighter than this moment suggests.
Daniel Rosen is the Co-founder of a Non-profit Technology company called Emissary4all which is an app to organize people to impact the narrative and move the needle on social media and beyond . He is the Co-host of the podcast “Recalibration”. You can reach him at drosen@emissary4all.org