Diaspora Jews must implement strategies to survive and thrive. These fall into two categories: personal and community resilience.
By Michael Hochberg and Leonard Hochberg, JNS
“Where is it safe?”
Nowhere is entirely safe, especially if you are a member of a tiny minority. Especially when that minority is hated and feared.
Jews might appear fully assimilated. Never doubt that Jews are still widely hated. And what the enemy thinks matters: As U.S. Marine Corps Gen. (Ret.) James Mattis said: “No war is over until the enemy says it’s over. We may think it over, but in fact, the enemy gets a vote.”
The days have returned when Jews need to consider and balance a variety of risks.
Looking for the kind of near-perfect safety that Jews have enjoyed in the United States and across much of the West during the past 70 years is a mistake. It doesn’t exist, and looking for it leads to decision paralysis. The right questions are: “What dangers am I, as a member of this minority, prepared to tolerate?” and “What actions can I take to generate power and strength for myself and my community?”
Risk ranges from personal to geopolitical.
On a personal scale, Jews are being attacked in uncoordinated and seemingly random ways by hostile individuals and small groups. Professional lives and livelihoods are under threat from discrimination, lawfare and confiscatory government actions. Discrimination is starkly obvious; to cite just one example, consider the recent decline of Jewish representation at top schools. The progressive ideology prevalent in academia in the United States has little room for Jewish students or faculty and possibly no room at all for conservatives or anyone who supports Israel.
Freedom of worship is under threat. Roman Catholics have appallingly been cited by U.S. officials as “potential terrorists.” Jewish religious organizations, i.e. Hillel and Chabad, have been targeted at American universities, and nongovernmental organizations have allegedly coordinated pro-Hamas protests and encampments. In Great Britain, charitable organizations have fulfilled the same role. Attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions worldwide have occurred at an accelerated rate since Oct. 7.
Diaspora Jews must implement strategies to survive and thrive. These fall into two categories—personal and community resilience:
Personal resilience involves planning and training for emergencies; having resources close at hand; and acquiring skills that are valuable, portable and fungible. Staying informed of events enables smart decisions. Maintaining good health, having an emergency plan and knowing when to leave can be the difference between life and death. A broad network of professional and personal contacts across multiple jurisdictions, and resources available in other jurisdictions, create options in emergencies. Choosing to be discreet and not advertise one’s faith may be required. Finally, being legally armed and appropriately trained allows defense against rioters and uncoordinated, spontaneous attacks. Such attacks in some jurisdictions can be government-sponsored, which is one reason that governments introduce regulations to disarm minority groups.
At the community level, one needs to engage and befriend neighbors, the local police and local officials. Organizations that work to stop antisemitism, cripple anti-Jewish groups and defeat antisemitic politicians need support and donations. Political parties must see Jewish votes and donations as essential for victory. Community leaders should make self-defense courses broadly available. One must coordinate within the community for mutual aid in the event of attack and the community must deploy every means to ensure that those attacking cannot expect to remain anonymous. There must be clear and systematic costs imposed on those who attack Jews, whether through their words or their deeds, so as to deter participation in such attacks.
Over the past three generations, while enjoying the luxury of safety, Jews have lost track of these imperatives in America, but not in Israel.
For the first time since the Roman conquest of Judea, there is a Jewish state and a powerful army dedicated to its defense. Jews have learned that being perceived as weak creates great danger: Israel’s dependence on the United States has imposed sharp limits on Israel’s deterrence and strategic options. As Israel exercises power in its defense, its enemies are using those actions to justify attacks on Jews worldwide.
The Jews of Israel have to deal with risk from individual acts of violence; targeted and coordinated acts of terror; conventional attacks by Iran and their proxies; potential attacks from other hostile states; and the looming threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon.
The security dilemma for Israel’s leadership is: How to keep Jews safe around the world while also ensuring its own security? No other nation-state faces this same existential security dilemma. A sovereign Israel may denounce antisemitism in the West, but its ability to take direct action is greatly circumscribed. Certainly, Israeli intelligence services seek to engage with their counterparts in other states to thwart terrorist attacks. Independent action on the soil of other states is challenging, dangerous and frequently counterproductive. And the world is filled with unstable and hostile regimes: Vilifying, liquidating or expelling Jews is a traditional way of generating both popularity and revenue.
Jews of the Diaspora must now act aggressively to mitigate the dangers that threaten the survival of Jewish communities and the liberty that Jews enjoy in the West.
Michael Hochberg earned his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Caltech. He is a visiting scholar at the Centre for Geopolitics at Cambridge University.
Leonard Hochberg taught at Stanford University, co-founded Strategic Forecasting, STRATFOR, and was a fellow at the Hoover Institution. He currently is the U.S. coordinator for the Mackinder Forum.