While I recognize your intent and feel 100% the same way it is ironic that reports in the press, i.e. Newsweek, report a growing self-confidence, or complacency on the part of Israelis themselves regarding Iran and any kind of threat to their security.
Israel has become so efficient at protecting itself that she feels she can do it alone and the world be damned. And this now I think sadly includes the United States.
About the only thing I felt totally positive about with our former administration was it's unfailing unequiviocal support for the State of Israel. I do not have that confidence with this administration. I think the Israelis feel the same way thus their self confidence and self reliance on their own initiatives, economic power and self preservation.

Israel's ungracious swipe at the US and VP Biden in recent days calls into question Rabbi Yoffie's suggestion that Israel needs only a gentle nudge from time to time to ease the plight of women and the Reform citizens of the nation. It's a lot more than that. The continued growth of Jewish settlements in Arab neighborhoods is endangering the Arab-Israeli peace process and by extension contributing to instability and strife throughout the region. Our own country's security is directly threatened by escalation of tensions in the region. Certainly American officials know this and will have to start handling relations with Israel in a different fashion. Could Rabbi Yoffie forsee a set of circumstances when American Jews would ever stand up and loudly proclaim that the Israeli government's policies are reckless and dangerous? It begins to look like both American Jews and even the American government are being ignored by Israel's leaders.

The West's penchance for showing tolerance toward the intolerant will lead to the destruction of western civilization. Militant Islam is on the rise. Our desire to look away and accept dhimmi status will only accelerate the destruction of western civilization and the values of personal freedom, individual rights and tolerance toward others that we hold most dear.

My letter to the Editor regarding your laudable realization that Israel's security & well-being is even more important than "bringing justice to the world "may not be published so I want to communicate directly with you. Your organization, URJ through its subsidiary, RAC, is,ironically, one of the reasons that Reform Jews have neglected Israel. RAC which, as you know, is an ultra-liberal Political (not Religious) Action Committee, organized the Aug 18, 2009 Obama conference call which led to myself & perhaps a million of my fellow congregants hearing the call for health care reform, a secular, political issue, instead of hearing about the tragic state of affairs now facing Jews, Jewish interests & Israel, during the High Holidays. Finally, you seem to realize the misplaced priorities of your own organization. From now on we should expect to hear from our pulpits more about Jewish problems (declining numbers, increasing anti-Jewish hostility, anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism etc) & less about "social justice" & political issues which are better addressed in other venues than from the pulpit of our religious institutions. More Jews are realizing that unqualified support of liberal policies is not helping Israel (Obama is far less supportive of Israel than any recent president back to Carter). Just look at today's anti-Israel diatribe orchestrated by him. RAC should be less partisan ( 50% of Americans calling themselves liberal supported Israel in its wars against Hezbollah & Hamas while 75% of Americans calling themselves conservative supported Israel).
As Pogo said, "we have met the enemy & they are us". John Feibel, Cincinnati, Ohio

Don, the segregated buses which run on over 100 bus lines in Israel are public buses, not private ones. If ultra-Orthodox Jews insist on putting their women in the back of their own buses or pick-up trucks while the men ride up front, that is different from segregating the public transportation. People who are not ultra-Orthodox have must have a choice on where to sit on public transportation. Remember, the ultra-Orthodox are not content to having segregated buses, they also want segregated public street, segregated stores and offices, etc. And they have segregated schools, which not only exclude women, but also black Jews, and people from different religions. An entire Jim Crow society. When people insist on segregation in the name of Judaism, I believe progressive Jews have an obligation to stand up and convince them that segregation is not a Jewish value any more than degrading the status of women. Even they refuse to listen to reason, we have an ethical obligation to fight segregation and practices which demean women.

As for integrated neighborhoods, I am all for that in Israel just as we have in the U.S. Also in the occupied territories and everywhere else in the world. There were integrated neighborhoods in the Middle East long before the state of Israel was founded. The settlements in the occupied territories are not integrated. The settlers are not sending their children to schools with their non-settler neighbors. They are not socializing with their non-settler neighbors. These settlements are about seizing and holding territory, not creating a pluralistic society.

The Bible makes it clear that a Jewish state gets no free pass. Rather it is held to a high ethical standard, which many times Jewish states have failed to meet, angering God and leading to misery and destruction.

Our ancestors were confident that Jews would run an exemplary state if given the chance again in modern times. After all, Jews were so often the victims of discrimination and oppression, denied important rights. Surely no one would be more sensitive to protecting the rights of Jews and Gentiles alike than Jews.

We would not be true friends of Israel if we did not use our influence to see that all the rights we enjoy as Americans were protected for all people in their country. That certainly includes the rights protected by our Bill of Rights including the free exercise of religion, prevention of establishment of religion by the state, freedom of speech, freedom to peacefully assemble, freedom to petition the government, the guaranty that life, liberty or property would not be taken without due process of law, protection against unreasonable search and seizure, and protection against cruel and unusual punishment. These rights are not some frills which weaken a country; history has proven that they strengthen it. Additionally, unless the people in Israel share the rights which Americans prize so highly, how can the foreign supporters of Israel defend it and win friends for it?

Israel was not created to be an ultra-Orthodox country. It was to be a haven for persecuted Jews, where they could enter at will and live in freedom until such time as they chose to move elsewhere. Those goals can be easily achieved without establishing a state religion.

No modern state has any business dictating religious practices. Establishing a certain religion, like ultra-Orthodox Judaism or even Reform Judaism, corrupts religion as well as corrupting the government. It is always a bad thing and our founding fathers wisely recognized that.