Bennett warns ‘chasm growing’ between Israeli and US Jews

Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett sounds alarm over growing gaps between Jews in Israel and the diaspora, as well as the future of Jews living outside the Jewish state.

“If there is one thing that keeps me up at night, it’s not Iran, it’s the future of the Jewish people in the diaspora,” Bennett says at the American Jewish Committee Global Forum in Jerusalem. “If we don’t act soon, we’re going to be losing millions of Jews to assimilation.”

Bennett also expresses concerns over the growing divide between Israelis and American Jews on a number of issues, with an AJC poll released Sunday showing sharp differences on US President Donald Trump, moving the American embassy to Jerusalem and egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall.

“I think this is one of the greatest challenges of our generation. It’s got to be at the top of our list. There’s an Atlantic-Jewish chasm growing between Israelis and Jews in the United States,” warns Bennett.

“The AJC poll reflects that the Israeli population is gradually going more rightward and becoming more traditionally Jewish, whereas American Judaism is more left and liberal. That’s a fact. I don’t know how to whitewash that, but it should not be a reason to fall apart,” he adds.