Israel’s government long abandoned the concept of Jewishness and consciously molds Israeli nation. The Newspeak is readily available: State of Israel instead of the Land of Israel and the West Bank instead of Judea and Samaria. Israel-born secular youth identifies less with Jewish people and more with Israeli nation; polls show opposition to government spending for strengthening ties with the Diaspora. The nation is heading to the rift between Israelis and the Diaspora Jews; they become more and more different.
Since 1950s, non-Jews averaged about a third of the Eastern European aliyah. By the most conservative estimates, 300,000 non-Jews immigrated to Israel before 1986. Then the Soviet Union opened floodgates and filled Israel with Slavs. Evicting the Jews to Palestine was a conscious Russian policy from Vitte to Stalin, and the KGB state additionally realized its imperial ambitions by resettling Slavs into Israel. Russia similarly colonized Kazakhstan, Baltic republics, and other acquired territories. Russian government extended every kind of help to the Jewish Agency with the eye to exporting Slavs into the Middle East.
The tremendous influx of Slavs was made possible by absurd rabbinic interpretation of Jewishness. Even allowing that a Jew is a child of Jewish mother, there is a major question the rabbis ignore: who is a Jewish mother? Is she, in her turn, merely a child of another Jewish mother - or a person who actually identifies with Jews? The rabbis opted for a former option and, theoretically, someone could be a Jew if his maternal great-great-great-grandma was Jewish even though none of his other relatives identified with the Jewish people. Israeli government merely accepted the rabbinical criterion in the infamous amendment to the Law of Return which stipulated the right of “return” for great-grandchildren of Jews. The government wanted more subjects; the army needed more recruits; Jewish Agency got money and prestige based upon the numbers of immigrants; political hypocrites imagined to solve the Arab problem by bringing non-Arab immigrants, even if Slavs.
In 1980s, 50-90% of Jews in various regions of the USSR were married to non-Jews. Hardly two-thirds of the immigrants in early 1990s had two Jewish parents. But the reality was worse: the proper Jews were mostly mid-age and older, while the Slavs were mostly young spouses of Jews. The old Jews proceeded to die out, and the young Slavs bred semi-Jews and non-Jews in Israel.
By the mid-1990s, children of two Jewish parents constituted hardly a third of the immigrants. Jewish Agency, tasked by the government with importing specifically young people, left no tombstone unturned and discovered imagined Jewish roots of scores of youngsters duly dispatched to Israel in shiploads. By the end of 1990s, the young aliyah was hardly 3-5% Jewish.
There is a single sensible definition of Jew: a child of both Jewish parents. Now, the parents could be Jewish by birth, conversion, or the way of life. A considerable number of Slavs married to Israeli Jews have to all practical purposes joined the People of Israel, and their children are fully Jewish whether the rabbis recognize them or not. A great majority of Slavs, however, has no intention of assimilating into the Jewish nation. From watching Russian TV to frequenting Russia to distancing themselves from Israeli affairs to outright anti-Semitism and Slavs’ haunting Jewish pupils in Israeli schools, most Slavs remain Slavs. Surprise, surprise. Gentile spouses of Jews from civilized countries move to Israel in small numbers and generally for ideological reasons. Slavs swarm Israel to escape from the pervasive Russian poverty and hopelessness, even if that requires living among Jews. Fortunately, wage level in Russia is now similar to Israel’s, and purchasing power is much higher in Russia; Slavs, accordingly, started to trickle out of Israel.
The official estimate of 200,000 Slavs in Israel is laughable. Include those semi-Jews with Jewish grandparent they never knew and children of self-hating Jewish father and Slavic mother - the number is closer to a million. Worse, the number is consistently growing as intermarriage sips through the Israeli society. Like Druses, Slavs are used to submission and profess loyalty to strong Jews, but are bound to switch their loyalty to Arabs as Jews continue with weak policies. Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine are traditionally anti-Semitic and pro-Arab. They sell weapons to anti-Israeli regimes. It is unrealistic to expect the Slavs to part with national habits, prejudices, and ideological brainwashing and embrace the Jews.
One good thing about Tzipi Livni is that she voted for Michael Kleiner’s amendment which would have annulled the grandparents clause in the Law of Return. Russian parties joined the leftist bunch against the amendment. The leftists, at least, acted out of principled anti-Zionism (anti-Semitism, actually) while the Russian parties hang corruptly onto their Slavic electorate.
Israel cannot practically expel a million Slavs, at least for logistical reasons. Unlike Arabs, they enjoy the last-resort protection of Russia – very limited, but still likely. Short of the outright eviction, Israel can mount pressure on Slavs to move out. The Baltic states and Central Asian republics similarly pushed the Slavic colonizers out – softly, but persistently. Israeli government, however, lacks nationalist zeal of Estonians and is unlikely to oppress the Slavs into assimilating or leaving. Activist citizens should fight Slavic anti-Semitism by measures ranging from insisting on police investigations of hate speech to burning Slav-owner bookshops that sell neo-Nazi books. Zero tolerance to intermarriage with Slavs in Israel is a must, and open contempt of Slavs is a noble personal attitude.
Jewish nation experienced massive influxes of pagans, notably Edomites, before. Eventually, we assimilated them, though perhaps not for good. Compulsory military service does a great job of assimilating Slavs. In the meanwhile, Jews have the best chance of preserving our national character by moving away from Israeli towns dominated by Slavs.
Obadiah,
So far I always have enjoyed your writing. However in this article, I think you really have lost it when you talk about “open contempt of Slavs”.
I still agree with most of you are saying like: Zero tolerance to anti-Semitism, insistence on maintaining one national language and demand for loyalty for Israel. Anything less then that should disqualify
Our being, or “individuality” is not determined by the genes of our ancestors any more than by the car you drive. I am surprised that you, who is a visionary thinker able to imagine generations to come, don’t see the coming future where the genetic composition of children will be selected through scientific methods to assure that the new individual will be given the strongest, healthiest, fittest, most disease resistant body with the best possible brain and sharpest senses. It is not different from cars. Just like you want to give your kid the best possible car, or computer, the future generations of parents will most certainly want they children to have the most superior bodies including sharpest senses and brains.
Even today, most Jews are genetically indistinguishable from Palestinians, Syrians, and very closely related to Turks, Greeks and Italians. What makes us Jewish, is not the percentage of genes that we have inherited from the ancient Hebrews roaming the Middle East. It is our culture with it’s values, our ways of thinking, talking, relating to each others, and to the physical world and other such deep aspects of our mind.
Most of us are descendants of ancient Hebrews, and we could also claim to be descendents of ancient Greeks, Italians, Slavs, Germans, Persians, Turks. What makes on Jews is that we declare ourselves to be the part of he Jewish people and Jewish heritage even if based on genetic grounds we could as well be Egyptian.
Anti-Semitism is a mental disorder. It is true that it is widely spread in Eastern Europe. It is also true that I will continue unless there is a conscious action taken to eradicate it. However “open contempt for Slavs” is not the right means for eradicating this mental illness. Rather it is a variation of the same mental illness.
And, yes, I do agree that the issue of assimilation of Slavs must be addressed. It IS important that Israel IS a Jewish nation and that Israeli identity is a Jewish identity.
If Israel was ruled by wise rulers, rather than the short-sighted politicians, a way would have been devised that would allow Arabs to join the Jewish nation. For those who chose not to join would have to accept a guest status. There could be two levels of guests: “Good, welcomed guests”, and “unwelcome guests” which should be asked to leave soon.
Arabs and Slavs can become Jews if there is no racially based prejudice. If they really are sincere about becoming Jews, they should be welcomed and cherished as brothers.
All Jews are Israelites. Some are in their country, others are still in exile.
Interesting to read what you have written about those "Slavs". but one must admit that these "Slavs" atleast serve in the army and work.
whereas you seem to support "Jews" who are more cultist than religious. Those Jews who do not serve in the army and live off the "goyishe" state.
Maybe instead of looking into the mother and her religiousity, we should see who the father is and see if he works!
You guys are still living in the ghetto, still practicing the ways that made Ben Gurion angry.
Temper your hatred and open your hearts, enough of placing Kashrut before compassion and work.
These Slavs also man the police units which perpetrated Gush Katif and Amona. And many of these Slavs sit on welfare paid by the Jews. In fact, Slavs receive much more welfare funds than the ultra-Orthodox Jews.
On other side, Obadiah supports paternal lineage.
And yes, kashrut indeed stays before compassion.
A small correction should apply, in that Russia is simply Anti-Jewish, not anti-semite, As Arabs are also semites, and still receive its support as you've written.
As for the subject - Israel should have been the one place in the world that someone cannot shove an old woman, call her a 'dirty Jew', and walk away unscathed. Now that this happens, the country serves no purpose.
At the start of this article you use the correct terminology for the areas Judea& Samaria. My question is this Why do you then refer to the muslims/arabs/bedouin as "palastinians" especially when there are no such (people) secondly you give them credibility each time you use this term. If they are to be called anything (fit to print) they are jordanians as this land was "stolen" to provide another homeland for thses people! Why aren't these people refered to as illegel occupiers of the EAST BANK.
The Arabs didn't steal that land. They lived there for generations. Still, Jews have to deport them to make a Jewish state.
Regarding the "Palestinians" name, if it looks like a duck and flies like a duck, then before the law it is a duck. Red Indians were as American as it gets; did that help them?