Respect for other religions?

Emanuel Feldman, in Cross-Currents, published an article entitled Missionaries on the Jewish Doorstep in which he discusses the Jewish attitude towards those who practice other religions. He states:

We are not a missionary religion, and the benevolent behavior of the modern State of Israel toward non-Jewish religious minorities demonstrates Jewish magnanimity to those who do not follow Jewish ways. We have only respect for those who wish to worship their own deity in their own way, and to live ethically and lovingly with all people. We condemn those who would demean or use violence against believers of another religion.(emphasis added)

Is it odd Feldman would reject violence against those who practice other religions, but seems to be silent about violence against Jews whose practice is different from the Chareidi view of Judaism?

Israeli-Disapora Relations

In an article in the Forward titled Israeli Prime Minister Turns Tables, Asks Diaspora: What Can We Do for You? Anthony Weiss reports that Ehud Olmert has asked, in a change of direction, what Israel can do to support the Diaspora:

Olmert suggested a number of practical possibilities — among them an international network of Israeli cultural houses, programs that would send Israeli teachers to Jewish schools around the world and venues to connect Israeli expatriates to local Jewish communities — all to be jointly funded by Diaspora Jews and the Israeli government.

What is even more important to Jews around the Diaspora is the sense that living as a Jew in the Diaspora is not wholly different and incompatible with living as a Jew in Israel. Perhaps nothing divides Diaspora and Israeli Jewry more completely than the sense that what it means to be a Jew is so different for both communities. Diaspora Jewry has a broad and largely inclusive definition of what it means to be a Jew. Certainly, there are many individual Diaspora communities that shun other groups of Jews and label them as inauthentic. But they have no power to influence or affect the vast majority of Diaspora Jews in any meaningful way.

However, in Israel, a minority of Jews make it virtually impossible for the majority Jewish community to actively live meaningful Jewish lives. Through their political power, the Chareidim demand adherence to their own narrow and largely anachronistic view of what it means to be Jewish. The Chareidim have so successfully promoted their view of what Judaism means that most Israelis have little interest in being Jewish. They would prefer to leave that to the odd-looking people in their long silk coats and funny hats who don't seem to live in the same real world that most of us populate.

For most of Diaspora Jewry, the gap between their idea of a Jewish life lived well is very different from what they see going on in Israel. It makes it almost impossible for Diaspora Jews to identify with and seek relationship with their Israeli counterparts. If Olmert wants to increase the connection between these two communities, he needs to look at what it means to be a Jew and not just what it means to be an Israeli.