The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute (JPPPI) presents its annual report to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Cabinet Sunday, recommending tighter Israeli-Diaspora ties, as well as more U.S. involvement in the Israeli-Arab diplomatic process.
The report states that as the Jewish People approach the end of the first decade of the 21st century, they face an array of new dangers, including geo-political uncertainty, a soon-to-be-nuclearized Iran, and the world economic crisis. The replacing of the U.S. government is also a significant challenge.
The JPPPI recommends strengthening the crisis-management process and framework on the backdrop of the terrorist threats, and reinforcing the interface between the Government of Israel and the international Jewish leadership.
Established by the Jewish Agency for Israel, the JPPPI has set as its mission to engage in "professional strategic thinking and planning on short and long-term issues of primary concern to the Jewish People."
The annual report is being presented at Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting by the Institute’s Board of Directors, including former Justice and Finance Minister Yaakov Ne’eman and Director-General Avinoam Bar-Yosef.
Jewry Linked to U.S. Fate
The JPPPI report notes that the problems that plagued the United States over the course of 2008 had a proportionately negative influence on the status of world Jewry, which sees the U.S. as a major ally. At the same time, Israel’s image as a shelter for the Jewish Nation is threatened by the strengthening of the Iran-led camp calling for Israel’s destruction.
Bar-Yosef says that while the world financial crisis negatively affects Western Jews’ political strength, it can also open up new opportunities. “The United States is likely to be the first to recover from the financial crisis,” he says, “before Russia, China and India, bringing the U.S. back to the #1 spot in world leadership."
Call for More U.S. Involvement
"In addition," the report's authors feel, "if the new Administration under President Obama gets involved in the Middle East, this can contribute to the stabilization of the region and the formulation of a coalition of moderate Arab states together with Israel and the West, against Iran and its nuclear program.”
The report on world Jewry did not relate to the ongoing crisis caused by the Disengagement of 2005, which led to the destruction of 25 pioneering Jewish towns, the displacement of 9,000 Jews for over 3.5 years, and a crisis of national identity amidst thousands of youth around the country.
Madoff and Other Ills
The socio-economic picture for world Jewry as 2009 begins is also not a rosy one, according to the report. The financial crisis has struck a hard blow at Jewish wealth, and the Madoff fraud has hurt Jewish philanthropy, affecting Jewish education and communal life around the world. In addition, the Madoff scandal threatens to kick off a new wave of traditional anti-Semitism.
The report relates to the sociological changes in the U.S. that became evident in the recent elections, and calls upon Jewish communities in the U.S. to deepen their ties with the Hispanic and Afro-American sectors. Jewry must also seek out additional common interests with the West, so as to strengthen their alliance against fundamentalist groups.
The JPPPI calls on Israel to seek out ways to help lower the costs of Jewish education in the Diaspora. It further notes that Hamas, despite having lost the recent war, is still strong and is an expression of regional Islamic extremism.