Editor's Notes: In era of Jewish uncertainty, Israel must rework its relationship with Diaspora

Zvika Klein argues that Israel's approach to the Jewish Diaspora is failing because it treats world Jewry as a patient, a rescue subject, or an audience rather than a partner. He contrasts the visions of three Israeli politicians—Amichai Chikli, Bezalel Smotrich, and Yair Lapid—each offering sovereign tools (education, aliyah, respect) that cannot produce genuine partnership. Klein contends that the post-October 7 Diaspora is composed of volunteers who have chosen Jewish identity, and Israel must give them standing in decisions that affect them.

Zvika Klein argues that Israel's relationship with the Jewish Diaspora is broken because its leaders treat world Jewry as a problem to be managed rather than a partner to be consulted. He contrasts the approaches of three Israeli politicians: Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, who prioritizes formal Jewish education and sees Diaspora Jewry as dying; Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who wants a million olim from North America and Europe within a decade; and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who proposes folding the Diaspora Affairs Ministry into the Foreign Ministry and focusing on respect. Klein notes that none of the three offers Diaspora Jews standing in Israeli decisions that affect them. He draws on the Talmudic concept of 'kimu vekiblu'—the voluntary reacceptance of the covenant in the days of Ahasuerus—to argue that the post-October 7 Diaspora, composed of Jews who have chosen their identity despite cheap flights and an open Law of Return, requires genuine partnership rather than sovereign instruments. The article is an opinion piece that uses the author's interviews with the three politicians as evidence for its argument.