Chabad Intown hosts Israeli journalist Haviv Rettig Gur

Haviv Rettig Gur is an Israeli journalist and senior analyst at the Times of Israel Photo credit Yan Finkleberg Israeli journalist Haviv Rettig Gur is speaking at Chabad Intown on Wednesday May in a discussion moderated by Atlanta Journal-Constitution political correspondent Greg Bluestein Gur is a senior analyst at the Times of Israel Last week Gur talked to Rough Draft about his views on American Judaism protestors anti-Zionism antisemitism and more Here s an abbreviated version of our interview Rough Draft What will you talk about in Atlanta Gur We ll be diving into the relationship between American Jews and Israeli Jews between America as a country and Israel as a country I can bring particular perspectives from Israel and from the Middle East that can help American Jews think about how to discuss challenges problems A lot of the situation the American Jewish locality is going through is a function of the conflict in the Middle East RD How do you approach a general audience like at Chabad differently than talks with leaders and rabbis Gur We owe each other loyalty and protection We still disagree with each other we still criticize each other vehemently and loudly But there s this fundamental sense of affinity and solidarity and in a larger audience it s much more of just an educational seminar They re not there to find out how they can help right They re there to learn what the hell is going on RD The Atlanta Jewish locality is divided on Israel Several people who endorsement Israel staunchly believe that saying anything critical of Israel is anti-Zionist or even antisemitic Your thoughts Gur I don t think the criticism of Israel is antisemitic unless it s driving impulse unless the only people you ve ever criticized in your entire life are Israelis or unless you re criticizing Israelis intensively for things America does too The thing I do think is antisemitic and totally illegitimate is the argument that Israel shouldn t exist and millions of people should not have essentially survived the th century RD How do you approach the possibility of protests being outside of your event Gur It doesn t interest me If they re saying something legitimate great there s a war There are suffering civilians If that is the impulse that drives them I don t oppose it There s a lot of ignorance on their side If a pro-Palestinian rally is pro-Hamas then it s not anti-war You re not pro-Palestinian if you re pro-Hamas But that s a dilemma for Palestinians not for me as long as long as they re not interrupting me speaking which is a kind of tyrannical close minded shuttering of a debate because you think you re so righteous in your ignorance that no no other words can ever be spoken again Let them protest and let them enjoy it RD What s the perception of the American Evangelical right in Israel Gur There s a sense that they re our friends our allies There s a sense of kinship There s a sense that we re on the same side of a great custom war If you ask Israelis What do evangelicals believe Why do they advocacy Israel You re not going to hear answers They don t quite know why but it s nice to have a supporter because the people who hate us are so loud It s nice to have someone who likes us By the way the Christian evangelical Zionist leaders I have known I have interviewed certain I ve spoken to groups of them and I ve visited in America Christian Zionist communities they re smart they re clever they re critical They wish Israel didn t do bad things because they want to love it more easily RD How do the Jewish people maintain or protect their history during this conflict Gur There is now a campaign to rewrite Jewish history the great tragedy is that Jewish kids in America by and large are profoundly ignorant of their story They don t know their history They re facing this mass ideological onslaught on new platforms that the older generation doesn t even know about What Jewish institution is run by -year-olds who are on TikTok or Instagram or YouTube But that s where our kids are Our kids will take the fight to TikTok in procedures that I don t know how Gur will present Beyond the Stalemate Rethinking Israel s Role in Shaping a Peaceful Future at Chabad Intown on Wednesday May at p m Tickets are available The post Chabad Intown hosts Israeli journalist Haviv Rettig Gur appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta