Think Twice with Jonathan Tobin

At a time when most Americans have lost the ability to listen to people with opposing views on political issues, how can a fractious Jewish community that is also split on denominational lines to pull together. That’s the question posed by JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. He believes that Jewish disunity has been exacerbated by the capture of the political left—which is still supported by the majority of Jews—by anti-Israel and antisemitic “progressives.” This puts even more pressure on Jewish liberals to conform to fashionable opinion on the left that poses a threat to their community’s interests and safety.



He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by DePaul University Law Professor Roberta Kwall, author of the new book, Polarized: Why American Jews Are Divided And What To Do About It. She believes that a vital Jewish center can be reconstituted if people realize that the things that unite them are still greater than those that seek to tear them apart.



Part of the problem is that Israel, which was once thought to be a unifying factor is now the greatest source of division with many unaffiliated or liberal Jews no longer supportive of it with a small but well-publicized minority actively opposed to Zionism.



At the core of her effort is a statement of largely anodyne principles that she believes the overwhelming majority of Jews agree on. Among them is support for the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish and democratic state as well as the legitimacy of criticizing its government.



But for Kwall, just as important is the need to re-emphasize education and the importance of tradition to reinforce Jewish identity. In such a context, it will be easier for Jews who disagree on politics or aspects of Israeli policy to listen to each other and find common ground.



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The secret to the success of the Israel Defense Forces involves many factors but according to JNS Israel military correspondent Yaakov Lappin, it involves creating a culture as much as the courage of its soldiers, air crews and sailors and their effective use of cutting-edge technology. Lappin, who has written about this in his recently published book, Blue Team Dynamics: Three Proven Leadership Principles Inspired by IDF Sources for Business and Life, joins JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin on this week’s episode of Think Twice to discuss how this works.



The book is based on years of research and interviews dating back to 2018. According to Lappin, the three principles that are the foundation of IDF culture involve the importance of after-action review of everything they do, cultivating the ability to switch from the routine to an emergency mode and encouraging the need to recognize how to manage long-term change inside an organization. As he notes, the same ideas can help individuals or non-military organizations and businesses also succeed.



Lappin concedes that many of these lessons were forgotten by Israel’s military and intelligence establishment as well as their political masters prior to the catastrophe of Oct. 7, 2023, which occurred almost exactly 50 years after the IDF suffered another disaster that was also rooted in organizational failure. With respect to Oct. 7, Lappin says the mistake came from a basic human failing in which, “the human mind adopts and falls in love with a narrative” that is very difficult to break out of. This overrode the culture that should have prevented the complacency that led to the Hamas and Palestinian terrorists being able to carry out the worst mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.



Prioritizing after-action detailed post-training and combat analysis started inside the Israeli Air Force but it has spread to the other branches of the military now too. That involves creating a culture where admitting mistakes of any kind is not only permitted but lauded as necessary, especially where it concerns commanders.



The necessity of knowing when to switch to emergency mode was actually highlighted by the way many in the IDF responded to Oct. 7. Those efforts ensured that the grievous damage inflicted by Hamas was limited and then allowed the Israelis to defeat the terrorists. Nevertheless, it’s still true that the IDF failed to anticipate this “black swan” event and that the procedures which should have prevented that mistake which involve looking for “black feathers,” rather than the swan itself, didn’t happen.



According to Lappin, the “Blue Team” approach, which refers to the creation of two groups dedicated to both planning IDF actions and those that seek to examine and defeat those plans as an enemy would, must also be credited for the amazing triumphs Israel achieved after Oct. 7 in Lebanon and against Iran. And as he notes, the very same ideas have also been applied by IDF veterans in their post-military careers in business and technology.



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JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin wants to know what’s the bigger problem? Is it the global surge of antisemitism? Or is it the passivity of some Jews who recoil from active defense against their attackers or the willingness of others to actively collaborate with those who seek their destruction?



He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Tablet magazine editor-at-large Liel Leibovitz who answered by speaking of his outrage at the reaction of American and European Jews to efforts to harm them. He was particularly incensed by the fact that when a deranged man entered a New York City synagogue and disrupted services and attacked a congregant, not a single person present attempted to restrain him or defend the person who was assaulted. Instead, they simply sat back and waited for security to rush in and save them.



He believes this is symptomatic of Diaspora Jewry’s inadequate response to their current dilemma. “If that's all you've got, then what you have isn't a congregation. What you have is a hospice.”



“If Zionism taught us anything, and indeed if Judaism taught us anything,” he continued. “It’s that our expectation should never ever be to be safe. Our expectation should always be to be free. Free people have the door wide open. Free people welcome everyone that wants to come in. Free people are armed and trained and ready to defend themselves against their haters. This is a very normal state of being, applicable everywhere, it seems, except for the mainstream American Jewish community, which still harps on about risk management. Well, you know, that way lies doom.”



Leibovitz discussed Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s advice to Jews that they should prioritize the interests of the Democratic Party over their own safety and even the existence of Israel by supporting an antisemite like the party’s U.S. Senate candidate, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. She was, he asserts, “speaking the quiet part out loud.” That is something, he says, that most of the leadership of American Jewry has failed to do.



According to Leibovitz, “the inconvenient truth is that by deed, if not by word, every single one of our so-called communal leaders practice the same exact thought process” as Nessel. He says that when it comes to “the most pressing issues that actually affect the well-being of Jews today”—such as supporting the Trump administration’s effort to root out DEI policies that enable antisemitism in academia, immigration and the threat from Islamists—they are acting like Nessel. They are prioritizing liberal partisan political stands, not the interests or even the defense of the community.



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The Oct. 27 Israeli election will be a referendum on the record of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But according to JNS contributing editor Ruthie Blum, the voters will also be registering their verdict on whether they believe the promises of his opponents. Blum joins JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin on this week’s episode of Think Twice to analyze the upcoming vote.



According to Blum, many Israelis may be tired of the prime minister, who has now served for 15 out of the last 17 years as his country’s premier and for 18 years in total. But the campaign will also test the appeal of the apparent new leader of the opposition bloc, former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot. The general has mainstream appeal and has the sympathy of the nation after losing his son during the war in Gaza.



As Blum notes, Eisenkot is trying to sound as much like Netanyahu as possible when it comes to issues like the war against Iran and its terrorist proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah while still blaming the prime minister for Oct. 7. Yet the military establishment he embodies just as, if not more responsible for Israel being surprised by Hamas. More than that, his record as chief of staff shows that he is clearly on the left though not trying to sound like it. And contrary to the promises that have been made, the opposition may well hope to bring in the Muslim Brotherhood-connected United Arab List to help them form a government now that it has one Jewish member on its list of candidates.



Israelis are, she says, exhausted by the war and sick of the divisiveness that it engendered. But a key factor in determining the outcome will depend on which of the various smaller parties (38 different lists registered before the deadline) will be able to garner the necessary 3.5% of the vote in order to make it into the Knesset. If the right, left or Arab splinters and votes are “wasted” by being cast for parties that don’t qualify, that may make the difference in whether Netanyahu or Eisenkot will be able to form a government.



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Antisemitism in American education isn’t merely a matter of elite universities. It’s being tolerated and encouraged at colleges large and small across the country by woke administrators and faculty. But according to JNS Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Tobin, it’s also happening in K-12 schools, something that is being facilitated by teachers’ unions.

He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Deborah Project Legal Director Lori Lowenthal Marcus, whose cases involve suing school districts and institutions of higher learning where Jews are being targeted and suffering discrimination.

Marcus recently won a significant victory by forcing Haverford College, where administrators and faculty were tolerating anti-Zionist and antisemitic behavior, to adopt new standards that will, if enforced, force them to fundamentally change their approach to Israel and the treatment of Jewish students.

What made the difference in the Haverford case was the fact that investigations by Congress and the federal government pressured the school into conceding to the demands of Jewish students. Without that pressure, Marcus says, the school would have stood its ground.

The Deborah Project has also been defending students in Philadelphia whose families were forced to move to enable them to go to school without suffering antisemitic targeting. The incident involved a public high school that established a “prayer room” that was a de facto mosque, where Jewish students were falsely accused of assaulting other students.

According to Marcus, part of the problem in fighting back against antisemitism in education is the way the entire profession of teaching, at both the K-12 and college levels, has been captured by people indoctrinated in toxic theories. They don’t consider antisemitism to be a problem because Jews don’t qualify as victims in the intersectional mindset, in which only racial minorities deserve help.

The other problem is that many Jews are either too intimidated to take action in defense of themselves or their children. Many are also partisans and so prejudiced against President Donald Trump and the Republicans that they oppose their efforts to combat antisemitism even when it is to their benefit.