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If non-Jews have full rights, then why does everybody have to carry an identity card which lists their nationality as "Jew" or something else (and if one of these nutcases has his way, it will list "Jew, Reform" or "Jew, Conservative" for those Jews who don't meet the theocrats' standards of orthodoxy)?

If non-Jews have full rights, then why does everybody have to carry an identity card which lists their nationality as "Jew" or something else (and if one of these nutcases has his way, it will list "Jew, Reform" or "Jew, Conservative" for those Jews who don't meet the theocrats' standards of orthodoxy)?
1. Why does your driver's licence give race? It is an identifying characteristic. Part of the concern is to differentiate between Israeli arabs and Palestinians.

2. Theocrats? The Israeli elite, stating with their Supreme court are anti-religious.

3. The point about Orthodox vs non-orthodox Jews is about CONVERSION. Many Jews believe noting that non-Orthodox conversion is easy, and that Reform Judaism has no respect for Jewish law, question the veracity of any Reform conversion.
Think about it this way. If you were converted to Christianity by a Unitarian minister, should you be considered Baptist?

Finally, while Israel is not a theocracy and its elite are secular, it is tied to Judaism. There is a trinity to Israel
There is the land and country "Medinat Yisrael"
There is the religion of Abraham Isaac and Jacob (Jacob was renamed Israel)
And there is the people/nation, the decendants of Jacob/Israel "B'nei Yisrael"

Just as the French differentiate between French and non-french citizens, so to does Israel. Whi;le non-Jews can be citizens they are not Israeli Israelis.
This differentiation is a little strange in the US, but it is the US whihc is the exception in the world. We are one of the few countries based on an idea instead of a race.
No matten how tolerant another country is, this distinction will confuse leftists and libertarians who seek to impose their view of secular non-racial Americanism on the world.

If oyu think I'm kidding about he leftist comment, note that Ran Cohen is a member of the Israeli Socialist Party and is holding the same line here as Edward Said and Noam Chomsky.

Do you really want to be in bed with those people?