Political polarization, the collapse of institutional gatekeepers, and social media’s amplification of fringe voices were always going to put pressure on American Jews. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s alliances and policies have compounded these forces, putting US Jews in the crossfire of partisan politics and Middle East adventurism.
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE—Jewish history includes three episodes of flourishing in exile: the Babylonian diaspora’s great academies , the centuries-long experiment in Moorish and then Christian Spain , and the American Jewish experience, particularly after World War II. But the American experience has come under intensifying threat, and the causes are not mysterious.