Posted on 10/25/2010 11:39:31 AM PDT by Nachum
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently asked Palestinian peace negotiators to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state. Some critics have called this move cynical, because Palestinian leaders are unlikely to offer such an acknowledgment. But others oppose it for a more basic reason: They claim it is antidemocratic.
Israel, so the argument goes, affronts its non-Jewish citizens by identifying itself as a Jewish state and by using traditional religious emblems as official national symbols—for example, the Star of David on its flag.
Along the same lines, various Israeli intellectuals have proposed dropping "Hatikvah" (The Hope) as their country's national anthem, because it refers to the Jewish soul's millenial yearnings for a return to Zion. A few have urged repeal of Israel's longstanding law of return, which gives Jews from any country a right to immigrate and become citizens.
Some Israeli Arabs have advocated that Israel should become a state identified with no particular ethnic or religious group but rather a state of all of its individual citizens. Israelis commonly view this liberal ideal with suspicion, for it has no relation whatever to the political practices of any countries in the Middle East. Also, Azmi Bishara, the principal Israeli Arab proponent of "a state of all of its citizens" and a former member of parliament, outraged many Israelis by supporting Hezbollah against Israel in the 2006 Lebanon war.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Oy Veh! I think they call that New York! Jewish and Democratic? I think it will work!
G’valt!
Or, they could just cut out the interregnum (so to speak) and go STRAIGHT to adopting sharia law...
What other country on the planet has EVERY SINGLE ASPECT of it’s existence under question whilst being derided for breathing? There are attempts afoot to decry Israel as undemocratic (even though the vast majority of Israeli Arabs prefer living in Israel than any other Arab country). Israel needs to focus on the MAIN STUMBLING BLOCK SINCE 1900 - namely, does she have the RIGHT to exist as the homeland for the Jewish people? Those that say no (which is what the Arabs have stated since day 1) can go to Hades while those that are willing to let the Jews alone and TRULY NEGOTIATE can have their views. This is the crux of the conflict...yes or no? Do Jews have the RIGHT to live as Jews in that region or not. So far, the Arab response has been violence and more violence.
I would ask if you can go to college and become dumber by the day?
Same goes for Iran. Separate religion from government. They have separate purposes.
Netanyahu’s critics are purposely turning the whole notion of national independence on its head. People declare independence and fight for independence because they want to rule themselves by their own lights and according to their own way of life.
After being handed over to be slaughtered by every country in Europe, the jews decided to seize their national independence. The fact that they have consented to allow citizenship to non-jews living among them does not change the fact that Israel exists in the modern era because jews demanded the right to self-determination, fought for it, and with God’s help took it.
They are a tiny spec of an island of freedom in a muslim sea, and not one of the surrounding countries has ever granted full legal equality to jewish citizens in those countries. In not one of those countries are non-muslims safe in their homes or safe in their jobs. In not one of those countries can someone become a Christian and go on breathing, much less become a jew or even publicly support jews.
Take it up with God.
Tsum leben :)
In a way, this is like asking: can Germany be German and still be democratic. All European nations are nation-states,even Germany though many of its citizens are non-German. Belgium, a kind of exception to the rule, shows what problems are entailed when the people do not belong to the same ethnic group.
unt, sien mit mazal...
The question REALLY being debated is not whether Israel exist as a Jewish State, nor whether Jews should have a Jewish State.
The crux of the question is really, “Do Israel and the Jews even have a right to exist?”
Answer that one.
Yes. Now let’s get back to the other two.
Democracy is not a fetish nor is it a religious rite. It is a means to an end, it is a means by which civilized people govern themselves.
In a democracy, people agree to share power with their neighbors. It is by means of citizenship laws that people define who they will agree to share power with. Set the rules of citizenship too broadly, such that you include your enemies, or even people who simply don't share your cultural values, and you will vote away in one election the independence your uncles and grandfathers fought and died to give you.
Citizenship should not be granted, ever, to your enemies. It should only be granted to people who want to be one of you and are willing to put their lives on the line right alongside you. Giving citizenship rights to people who don't share your values and don't want to share them, is a suicide pact.
So, should only jews be allowed to hold citizenship? Since it was founded for the purpose of establishing a national homeland for the jews, in their historical homeland, it is silly to imagine anything else. If a non-jew wants to be an Israeli citizen, though, he should at the very least want to be Israeli.
If a muslim wants to be Israeli, and serve in the IDF, and defend Israel against all her enemies, then God bless him. If he sides with her enemies and lends them aid and comfort, he should be stripped of his citizenship and expelled from the country. There are plenty of arab countries to choose from and its pointless to pretend that an arab who supports Hezbollah is an Israeli.
Poland in the ancestral home of the Polish People.
Ireland is the ancestral home of the Irish People.
Taiwan is the ancestral of the Taiwanese.
And so it goes,
We, Jews, are a Nation and a Religion.
Israel, is the ancestral home of the Jewish (Hebrew) People.
Even if the World refuses to recognize us as a Religion (from which the rest of your beliefs spring) it has no choose but to accept us as a distinct Nation- a People.
Israel the Nation State is the home of the Jewish People.
We have outlasted history and you are our enemy at your peril.
Poland in the ancestral home of the Polish People.
Ireland is the ancestral home of the Irish People.
Taiwan is the ancestral of the Taiwanese.
And so it goes,
We, Jews, are a Nation and a Religion.
Israel, is the ancestral home of the Jewish (Hebrew) People.
Even if the World refuses to recognize us as a Religion (from which the rest of your beliefs spring) it has no choose but to accept us as a distinct Nation- a People.
Israel the Nation State is the home of the Jewish People.
We have outlasted history and you are our enemy at your peril.
Not a good example with colleges giving out degrees in Wymmn’s Studies and the like.
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