Ben Gurion presided over the hunt for Jewish guerrillas from Irgun and Lehi. Yet, he encouraged Jewish soldiers to drive out Arabs in 1948. Moshe Dayan and leftists after him argued against annexing the West Bank because Israel doesn’t want more Arabs. Jewish state was more important to Dayan than Jewish land. In our politically correct time, Olmert and Jerusalem mayor Lupolyansky decried the increasing Arab presence in Jerusalem. Israel pushes her Arabs to emigrate. Low conversion rates among Slavic immigrants prompted the Ministry of Absorption to push for non-Orthodox conversion courts whose giyur would amount to Allah Akbar declaration. Israel wants to be a Jewish state and is concerned with non-Jewish presence.
Moderately religious Jews and their atheist leaders want to rid the country of non-Jews for a secular reason: comfort. Centuries of persecutions left the Jews with no illusion about their difference and the others’ built-in ant-Semitism. It is uncomfortable to live with aliens, much less with the aliens who dislike you. Presence of large number of non-Jews repudiates the purpose of Jewish state, and removes from Jews a reason to suffer in Israel rather than moving to Canada.
Ethnic-conscious policies are unsustainable in the current international political situation. Israel will have to abandon the Jew-only Law of Return under foreign pressure. Israel could drug the issue by allowing reunification of Jewish families (thus immigration) while bureaucratically opposing Arab’ reunification. Israeli Supreme Court will eventually strike down such practice.
Israel’s only solution to Jewish character of the state is the religious definition. A politically correct state cannot be Jewish, but can be Judaic – like the Vatican is Catholic and Mecca – Muslim. A minimal enforcement of Sabbath, kosher food laws, and gay-free streets would leave Israel a Jewish state without major opposition from the West.
Hello Obadiah,
What’s wrong with a not-religious definition of Jewishness:
Every Jew is a Hebrew and is therefore an Israeli. Whether his likes it or not, his is a descendant of the Hebrews.
Anybody who sincerely wishes to be a Jew must consider himself a descendent of the ancient Hebrews, and subscribe to the whole Jewish history.
This would be similar to being “American”.
Someone can be a second generation descendant of Irish/German/Russian/Chinese Grandparents. Still he/she is “American” because he/she says so.
An American is someone who says “Our Founding Fathers” about Washington, Jefferson, Paine, Franklin and company.
An American is one who says “We fought the WWI, and in Vietnam, we killed the Native Americans, we are the major economical, political and cultural power of 20th and so far 21st Century. We have religious freedom, we have a constitution, we have a trade deficit, we have a stupid president, we, we, we. We immigrated here from all over the world. Above all, we are loyal to our country, we are willing to contribute and sacrifice for our country.
In the same way, Israelis can be the ethnic Hebrews (who themselves are mixed race) as well as non-Hebrews (who may well have a Hebrew blood in our veins without even knowing it) identify with the Jewish nation and the Jewish history. Why should that be so difficult?
It would sound like this: We Jews had lost our country in the 1st and 2rd Century. We have been refugees in many countries of the world where we have been persecuted. We Jews have made enormous contribution to science, medicine, technology, business, literature, philosophy, political development and just about every aspect of human progress.
We are treasure our Jewish heritage and are proud of being Jewish without looking down at other nations.
Something like this would be sufficient. It would also sort out anti-Semites.
Additionally, we Jews, should demand that anyone who wants to be Jewish must forswear every part of Islam and/or Christianity that is anti-Semitic. This means that a Muslims will have to forswear big parts of Quran and Hadith in order to be Jewish.
Christians will have to renounce their idea that Jews are “Christ killers” and the part of the gospels that claims so. On the other hand, a Jew can well become Buddhist or ever Christian and still remain a Jew.
Yeah, but that boils down to a question, What does it mean to identify oneself with Jews? And how, for immigrational and security purposes, that identification could be confirmed?
And, Ray, BTW, what about Gentiles who married a Jew and raised their children jewish? Are they or their children not jewish, because they have no or lesss Hebrew blood in their body? Such a definition would welcome e.g. Lenin in Israel but would exclude many Karaites, coz they are Turks, by your own definition. Judaism is about deeds. The jewish nation was the first republican ( and I don´t say democratic ) nation of the world. Everyone who was ready to abandon Idoltary and accept basic values was welcome. 3000 years before the US was established, 2000 years before Rome became a Republic ( in it´s best sense of the word ) the Nation of Israel, including a significant number of Hebrews, but also Canaanites, Egyptians and other tribes, was founded. The first LIBERAL AND REPUBLICAN NATION EVER. With a constitution ( the ten commandments ) and a Legal body. Just because Jews stick under every possible and impossible condition to their constitution and their laws, they survived. An ethnic definition of Jewishness would kill the Republican sense of the glorious jewish nation. Then Palestinians and Kurds would also be able to claim their "Jewishness" and therefor their right for owning Judea.