A prominent member of one of America’s most active pro-Israel advocacy groups has said that marriage between Jews and non-Jews is a “tragedy” for Israel because it presents a “crisis” for the core of political support for the Zionist state.
The remarks by Steven Bayme of the American Jewish Committee have been described as “racist”.
Bayme has been included three times by the Jewish-American newspaper The Forward on its annual list of the top 50 Jewish leaders who “make a difference”.
Steven Bayme the Director of Contemporary Jewish Life at @AJCGlobal, says intermarriage erodes the most highly-organized Jewish community in history. https://t.co/riRBC7VAdY #Judaism #Israel
— Mondoweiss (@Mondoweiss) May 13, 2020
He made his comments during a speech about a “crisis” within the American Jewish community, claiming that “mixed marriage threatens Jewish future.” His speech was captured in a video wherein he warns the community about the decrease in the number of Jews who are growing up with a strong affinity with the state of Israel.
In the video published by Mondoweiss, Bayme repeatedly cites the threat to support for Israel, because non-Jewish spouses, he claims, foster Jewish alienation from the colonial-occupation state.
Bayme suggests that younger Jews are distancing themselves from Israel and that this trend is more acute within mixed marriage families. This, he says, poses a threat to the state.
“The danger obviously is that if the cause of Israel becomes an orthodox cause alone, that will be a tragedy for the Jewish people, a tragedy for the state of Israel and frankly a tragedy for American Jewry.”
Intermarriage erodes the most highly-organized Jewish community in history, Bayme insists, referring to his own community.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
