ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the relationship between Israel and Jews living outside Israel, which is where the majority of the world's Jewish population lives. This relationship is much more complex than many believe. It is often assumed, for instance, that all Jews around the world passionately support Israel. The chapter argues that diaspora Jewish support for Israel, though strong and enduring, is more complicated, and increasingly more ambivalent, than the popular view suggests. It is also widely believed that Israel is very concerned with the security and welfare of Diaspora Jews and that this is a major determinant of its foreign policy and its relations with other states. There is one crucial respect in which the State of Israel is unlike any other state in the world—it is a Jewish state. As the world's only Jewish state, Israel has a unique and special relationship with the Jewish people.
