President Biden, Jewish American safety is your responsibility, not Israel’s

Over 7 million Jews live in the United States. It is our president’s job to protect us.

President Joe Biden hosts a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House on Dec. 11 in Washington, D.C.. Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images

Contributing Columnist Emily Tamkin December 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — At the White House’s Hanukkah party on Monday, President Joe Biden said, “Were there no Israel, there wouldn’t be a Jew in the world that is safe.”

This is not the first time that Biden has made a similar remark. On Oct. 12, just days after Hamas’s horrific terror attack on Israeli civilians, Biden said, “Were there no Israel, no Jew in the world would be ultimately safe. It’s the only ultimate guarantee.”

I know that there are Jews in the United States and in the world who share this sentiment. And it is certainly true that Israel has historically been a refuge for Jews from Europe, the Soviet Union, and across the Middle East. I have also spoken to many American Jews who moved to Israel because they felt it was the only place in the world where they could really be Jewish.

But Biden is not a historian or chronicler of Jewish opinion. He is the president of the United States, a country home to some 7 to 8 million Jews. And as the elected leader of this country, the responsibility for the safety of American Jews — and indeed all Americans — rests with him.

There are some who might say that what Biden really meant is that, should the worst befall American Jews, and should this country become unlivable for us, at least we have another country to which to flee.

But this is an abdication of responsibility. Jewish safety in the United States is contingent on the United States remaining (some might say becoming) a pluralistic and tolerant society. No one person can guarantee that it remains that way. But I would hope Biden, as the literal president, would see this as a part of his job. As someone who was inspired to run for the nation’s highest office because of the frightening antisemitic and white supremacist riots in Charlottesville, he should know that a key part of his job is to ensure that our democratic structures are stronger when he leaves than they were when he arrived.

There have been Jews in the United States, today home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, for longer than it has been a country. Some American Jews’ families have been here for generations, and some immigrated here themselves. But all of us — and I can’t believe I am typing this in 2023 — are a part of the fabric of this country. And our safety should not rely on the existence of a foreign state.

There are American Jews who wholeheartedly support Biden’s policy toward Israel. And there is a vocal minority who want to make clear that Israel’s war on Hamas and bombardment of Gaza — and Biden’s material support for it — is not being waged in their name. Many have personal, tangible connections to Israel. Others connect more to the idea of Israel than they do to the country as it exists today.

But all of these people are American as well as Jewish.

It was deeply offensive to me, as an American, when former President Donald Trump, speaking to a Jewish audience, referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “your prime minister.”

Netanyahu is not my prime minister. I am an American. And my safety, as well as my family’s safety, here in the United States should not be contingent on a foreign leader. I would hope that the head of the state in which I actually live would be the first to recognize that.

Emily Tamkin is a global affairs journalist. She is the author of The Influence of Soros and Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward. Discover more perspectives in Opinion. To contact Opinion authors, email [email protected].

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