Fortunately, something has come in its stead, something American Jews need to pay more attention to. Once you get beyond the headlines of political, military and cultural strife, Israelis and Jews around the world are teaming up to change the world for the better – just like we always said we were supposed to.

In fact, if the early Zionist dream in the first decades of the 20th century was to make the dessert bloom, in the second decade of the 21st century the emerging vision is one of making the air cleaner – in the process setting a remarkable example for the entire planet.

That’s because it’s not in place such as California’s Silicon Valley, but those such as Israel’s Jezreel Valley where the world’s focus is turning for green news these days. As such, the State of Israel is helping boost a nascent industry that President Barack Obama has said is much-needed across the globe to create an economic engine of future jobs and revenues.

The latest chapter in this evolving story came with this week’s announcement by Israeli-American entrepreneur Shai Agassi’s that the latest financing round for his electric car company, Better Place (http://www.betterplace.com/), brought in another $350 million. That brings the total investment to $1.25 billion. As the 41-year-old entrepreneur told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, “This is the largest investment since the [global economic] crash in 2008 and the largest investment ever in clean-tech.” Frankly, that’s breathtaking.

Mr. Agassi’s plan goes like this: Drivers will recharge their car batteries every 100 miles or so at one of 70 special stations placed throughout Israel’s road systems. When pulling in, a robotic device will remove the empty battery and insert a full one. Total time: two minutes. Meanwhile, customers will not spend their day hunting for “10 cents off on Tuesdays” specials at various stations. That’s because they will pay a flat fee for electricity cost.

The project should be fully operation by the second half of next year. The infrastructure is estimated to cost the company about $150 million, meaning the company hopes to return the investment within 18 months.

Most of all, it is another example of how the Jewish state’s know how can combine with American investors to lead the world in safe and environmentally sound technologies. That’s worth bragging about.

Some Jewish organizations are madly in love with the idea that one cannot criticize Israel under any circumstances because Israel’s enemies will eat it up (as if not saying something will make them love Israel and the Jewish people). In particular, they believe you cannot criticize non-Jews who say outlandish things but are deemed friends of the Jewish state.

Enter Rush Limbaugh, America’s leading mean-spirited populist masquerading as a political commentator. (For the record, I devour intellectual based right-wing arguments in publications such as Commentary, to which I’m a long-time subscriber. It makes me rethink positions upon which I was raised. Yeah, I know… “but some of my best friends are…”)

Rush recently said on the air, “To some people, banker is a code word for Jewish; and guess who Obama is assaulting? He’s assaulting bankers. He’s assaulting money people. And a lot of those people on Wall Street are Jewish. So I wonder if there’s - if there’s starting to be some buyer’s remorse there.”

OK, so Rush is an idiot. After all, 78 percent of the Jews did vote for Obama, which means one in five did not. And Rush, it’s not as if we can return the president for store credit. It’s a four-year deal, with admittedly below average satisfaction to date. And while there are some Wall Street Jewish bankers, they’re as out of touch with the rest of us as the non-Jewish bankers (whom Rush must believe all voted for McCain).

But worse for me was that a coalition of Jewish groups just sent out a press release with this headline in caps: “NATIONAL JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS COME TO RUSH LIMBAUGH’S DEFENSE”

It’s signed by American Friends of Likud, CAMERA (the pro-Israel media monitoring hawks), Emunah of America (a woman’s Zionist religious group), the D.C.-based Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, the National Council of Young Israel (a Zionist Orthodox synagogue group), Religious Zionists of America and something called Z-Street (which is meant to respond to the peacenik young upstart J Street, which is opening in Baltimore).

The group’s statement: “While one may agree or disagree with Mr. Limbaugh’s views on many subjects, his outspoken support for Israel has been eloquent, informed and undeniable. Moreover, in commentary on the Jewish people, he has been nothing short of a philo-Semite. We are grateful for his strong and singular voice on these issues.”

Huh? Where did the State of Israel enter into this argument?

So there you have it: Israel is all that matters. Forget what some might say is borderline latent anti-Semitism (and I don’t think he said it to be anti-Semitic, but it’s an element in western society with which we must constantly wrestle). Forget everything else Rush might have said in the past. If you say what we like about Israel, you’re OK with us.

And now you know why I call myself a “neo-centrist,” whatever that means.

In Europe, however, a different picture emerges and American Jews better get used to being alarmed about coming to the aid of European co-religionists. In fact, a recent poll by Germany’s University of Bielefeld showed that 42 percent of Europeans agreed that “Jews exploit the past to extort money.”

The facts: In 2008, according to the Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitic episodes in this country dropped for the fourth consecutive year. Yet, a study released this week by the Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism showed such incidents “increased dramatically around the world, particularly in Western Europe” this past year. The operation is coordinated by the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli Ministry for Diaspora Affairs.

Sadly, more events were recorded during the first three months of 2009 – which covered the conclusion of the 2008-2009 Israeli-Hamas War – than in the entire previous year. In France alone, there were 631 anti-Semitic incidents last year compared to 474 in all of 2008. Great Britain was a close second with 600 incidents, up from 541. Of even greater concern is the violent nature of some events, which resulted in eight murders.

What it means: This highly disturbing information is further proof that those who claim to be “not anti-Jewish, but anti-Israel” can and do encourage a culture of hatred that can lead to tragic results. While one is entitled to oppose the government of Israel’s policies, far too often that spills over into flagrant hatred of all Jews and particularly the Jewish state.

Clearly, Europe is more dangerous for Jews today than just one year ago. That’s not to declare that the community must begin fleeing – although aliyah from France in particular has risen dramatically in recent years. It does mean that more attention and resources must be put into combating European anti-Semitism. While significant efforts have been undertaken in recent years, they clearly fall short. This issue should be placed in the context of intolerance in general and not be solely about Jews. In doing so, the entire continent must confront how xenophobia is gaining ground on its blood-soaked lands.

So I was intrigued to read yesterday that Syria’s foremost Muslim leader had declared that Islam commands its followers to “protect Judaism.”

“If the Prophet Mohammed had asked me to deem Christians or Jews heretics, I would have deemed Mohammed himself a heretic,” Sheikh Ahmed Hassoun, the Mufti of Syria, was quoted as telling a delegation of American academics visiting Damascus, according to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz.

He added, “If Mohammed had commanded us to kill people, I would have told him he was not a prophet.”

Now many people will quickly point this out as long-standing Islamic theology to “protect” Jews and Christians due to their “dhimmi” or second-class status in an Islamic-ruled country. That is, as Peoples of the Book the state is obligated to protect the basic rights of these groups (as opposed to basic “infidels” who do not believe in what the Torah – the first great revelation – calls the “creator of the heaven and earth.”).

Still, the sheikh’s words are important as they clearly fly in the face of political-based drivel from Hamas and others who have twisted Islam into a sadistic, repressive and murderous understanding of what large swaths of people see as God’s word.

That’s why leading U.S. rabbis, let alone Israeli ones, should both praise the sheikh and invite him to repeat his words at a conference outside of the region – say in this country or in Europe. That could do a great deal to undermine the theological attraction of Islamic fundamentalism.

It also could kick start a project that I write about periodically – the need to create a treaty between Islam and Judaism, which I believe is critical to even the remote hopes of the much-needed political settlement between the Jewish state and its predominantly Muslim neighbors.

The center was to be placed on the site of a former Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem’s city center. While part of that land is already a parking lot, there still are some nearby Muslim graves, which is adjacent to a well-traveled park. Placing this structure here is simply incongruent with the center’s desire of spreading the broader moral messages of the Holocaust.

For the record, Mr. Gehry announced that he was withdrawing due to a request by the center to reduce the building’s scope as well as financial disagreements. Americans for Peace Now quickly wondered about that explanation. “The exit from the project of its celebrity architect offers Israel and the SWC a wonderful face-saving opportunity—a chance to change course and come up with a new plan on a new site,” noted Lara Friedman, APN’s director of policy and government relations.

Regardless, this setback for the Wiesenthal Center should serve to increase the pressure on it to select a new sight in the city – and potentially find Israeli Arab partners to ensure that such an error does not occur again.

I speak, of course, of the one who would be called to the Torah as Yeshua ben-Yosef, aka Jesus, son of Joseph.

If that’s the case, how can any of us American Jews who struggle to maintain the path of Moses celebrate this event – even if most Christians see no religious significance whatsoever to the day? After all, it’s not our holiday. It’s theirs. Besides, this year it merges into Shabbat, which is infinitely more important and should be given preparation of its own.

It’s pretty simple actually. The truth of the matter is that at 1.8 percent of the U.S. population, it is impossible to avoid the broader culture. As such, the challenge is to incorporate into it our own lifestyles. That’s why this year, as in years past, my family will gather with those of friends tomorrow night to do what we do ever year around this time: Hang out, eat kosher food, watch a movie, have a “Dance, Dance, Dance Revolution” competition and eat too much dessert.

It’s not a booze fest. It’s not a time for resolutions. It’s not a time to recount the trials and tribulations of the past 12 months. We already did that (or at least gave some thought to doing that) on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Rather, we are going to celebrate being together, as we always should when within elbow distance.

And in doing so, some of us will wish each other a “happy new year,” and none of us will be offended by it. That’s because we all do want to have a healthy, joyous 2010 – which would be a nice complement to our 5770.

As for those resolutions, I like to think back on the ones I made around the Jewish New Year to see how I’m doing. OK on that front, but definitely not good enough. Such is life.

Most importantly, because I know this crowd, we’ll see each other in our Conservative synagogue about 36 hours later.

So happy whatever you want to make of it.

Let me be clear: There was no excuse for this action, which reportedly was halted more than a decade ago. In fact, the Government of Israel should look into compensation for the families affected. For Israel and the Jewish people to be strong, there is no need to be apologetic.

Making the story so stinging was that it came on the heels of several controversial articles that ran in Sweden’s left-leaning Aftonbladet newspaper in August. In unsubstantiated claims widely picked up by other media outlets, a journalist for that newspaper wrote that Israel Defense Forces were kidnapping young Palestinian men from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, only to have their bodies returned to families with missing organs.

Gaining much less attention is that the Swedish journalist who penned the work, Donald Bostrom, is now reconsidering. Why? Because he went to Israel and gained information that is making him doubt his original Palestinian sources. That, by the way, is a strong endorsement for not going nuts at everyone who makes a comment the pro-Israel crowd doesn’t like. Rather, engage them with decency and then see what happens.

However, there is yet another important postscript that the detractors of the Jewish state should hear: A few days later the Guardian issued a correction noting that the context of the story should not have been seen as part of the articles from Sweden. In addition, we note that the reality of Israelis being willingly to openly discuss the issue, let alone criticize their own government, is a far cry from what takes place in the Arab countries whose media so gladly reprinted the piece.

Sadly, there is no doubt that these stories – sans the corrections – are now part of the anti-Israel lore that has gained such steam on the European continent and in the Muslim world in recent years.

For good measure, the PNC delegates agreed to back Mr. Abbas’s absurd policy of not speaking with Israel without a prior comprehensive freeze on West Bank settlement expansion and East Jerusalem housing, areas Israel won in the 1967 Six-day War and which the Palestinians want included in a future state of their own. Mind you, were Israel to insist that the Palestinians publicly renounce the “right of return” to family properties in pre-state Palestine before negotiations, the screams of the Palestinian and international community would be audible from the Mideast to Owings Mills.

The worst of the Palestinian attitude was spelled out by PNC member Adnan Garib. “Negotiate? What for? For the sake of negotiations?” he asked. The response to that is clear: “Negotiate to minimize tensions and lead to creative responses that end the bloodshed of your people. Is that not your goal?”

What all this means, much as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu keeps declaring, is that while the Jewish state seems prepared to talk, nobody else is willing to sit and have the conversation.

So for now the only appropriate policy seems to be Israel’s keeping the offer for dialogue open while continuing to enable Mr. Abbas – despite the Palestinian leader’s noxious statements about Israel – build the West Bank economy as both Israeli and Palestinian security forces quietly work together to intercept terrorists.

Still, we must not allow our attitudes to harden. We American Jews should keep Mr. Netanyahu to his pledge and keep asking him and his representatives how they are improving the lot of Palestinians and how they are keeping to their promise of halting settlement expansion. We also need to keep highlighting and funding co-existence projects.

Meanwhile, Palestinian democracy will continue to be held hostage by the poor performance of its leaders.

• With a late December deadline on “reassessing policy” on Iran rapidly approaching, the White House is widely signaling that it is prepared to enlist harsh sanctions against Tehran. Likewise, administration officials are specifically saying that the military option is not off the table.

• There is a rapprochement of sorts between Jerusalem and Washington, with both President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin “Bibi” Netanyahu praising each other for recent actions – a reality absent for much of the past year.

• Last week, the president told Lebanese President Michael Suleiman that while progress has been made on enforcing U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 – a response to the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War – the process is incomplete.

Part of that resolution demands that Hezbollah disarm. It refuses to do so. Meanwhile, its Iranian-supplied weapons continue to enter the country from venues such as Syria. Recently, the Israeli army captured a boat in the Mediterranean with 300 tons of military supplies heading toward Lebanon and that were assuredly meant for Hezbollah.

Indeed, few people are as abused as the Lebanese. Their tiny nation on the Mediterranean Sea, once known as the Riviera of the region, has since the 1970s been better known as the cradle of terrorism. Indeed, it was there at the Palestine Liberation Organization fled after being tossed out of Jordan in 1970. And today is there that the Hezbollah movement – which has killed more Americans than any terrorist group other than al-Qaeda—holds sway over the country’s south as well as Beirut’s cabinet.

Mr. Obama’s team now seems to be fully engaged on the many interlinked woes facing the Middle East and the Israeli-Arab conflict in particular. Now that they are approaching the anniversary of their first year in office, they finally seem poised to move.

The modern Orthodox Neeman advised both Prime Ministers Menachem Begin in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and then Binyamin Netanyahu in the 1990s and now again as Finance Minister.

In 1997, Netanyahu tapped Neeman when the “conversion crisis” ruptured both the Knesset and Israel-Diaspora ties. Neeman came up with a plausible option of conversion courts (aimed mostly at helping Russians in Israel). They were run by representatives of various Jewish streams and the final testing was by state-paid Orthodox rabbis. In Israel, that’s real progress.

Throughout, Mr. Neeman – a professor of law—has been measured, reflective and filled with integrity. So his remarks last week were stunning. At a Jewish law conference, he announced that “Step by step, we will bestow upon the citizens of Israel the laws of the Torah, and we will turn halachah into the binding law of the nation. We must bring back the heritage of our fathers to the nation of Israel. The Torah has the complete solution to all of the questions we are dealing with.” (Check out the Jerusalem Post article: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1260181017325&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull .)

After an uproar, Mr. Neeman’s office tried to clarify the remarks by saying that the talk “did not contain an appeal to replace the state’s laws with the laws of halachah, neither directly nor indirectly. The minister spoke in general and broad terms about returning the glory of Hebrew law and the importance of Hebrew law in the state.”

One hopes that is the case, but we must criticize any attempt to mandate observance, a method that is ineffective and creates tremendous dissent. Look East to Iran for Example # 1 of what happens when you push a middle class-based democracy into a dysfunctional theocracy.

The State of Israel, as defined by its Declaration of Independence, is a “Jewish democracy,” an admittedly amorphous concept. There should be a healthy debate about how to integrate halachah’s general principles – what we’ll call “Jewish ethics”—into Israeli law. After all, those principles form the backbone of what we consider enlightened legislation and are applied in this country as well. However, in a democracy built on pluralism – despite the inherent tensions – religious authorities cannot determine the legal system. 

That’s one of many messages that we American Jews from across the spectrum can help import to Israel, which could make a dent in creating a more tolerant Israeli society.