A.B. Yehoshua sends 'deepest apologies' for AJC remarks

By Haaretz Service

Israeli author A.B. Yehoshua has expressed his "deepest apologies" over comments he made at the recent American Jewish Committee's (AJC) centennial symposium in the U.S., in which he asserted that only Israel, and not Judaism, could ensure the survival of the Jewish people.

The remarks by Yehoshua, who said only those living in Israel and taking part in the daily decisions of the Jewish state had a siginificant Jewish identity, have sparked a furious debate over the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora.

"Reverberations from the first evening of the conference have made me realize, to my distress, that a not-insignificant portion of the audience was offended by the tone of my remarks, as well as by part of their content," he writes in a letter to delegates to the AJC symposium.


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/715756.html

But the part I like best what he said after:

"The debate between us is a basic one that goes to the root of things. But we are one people, and I have never ceased to stress this cardinal principal. Nor was there anything in what I said at the conference that called it into question. Once again, permit me to apologize to anyone whose feelings I have hurt."


He is Just stating the ultimate aim of any Jewish Zionist should be Aliyah....

`The remarks by Yehoshua, who said only those living in Israel and taking part in the daily decisions of the Jewish state had a significant Jewish identity....`

Its a call for Diaspora Jews to fulfill their Zionism...

Jews living in the Diaspora. I have sensed some resentment from Israelis when American Jews get too opinionated about internal Israeli politics, they sometimes feel like "who are you to say?"

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