:::The Case against a Jewish State Need not be an Arab-Only agenda
By: Ofra Yeshua-Lyth [ ::: Left Forum ::: ]
… imagine a Jewish State" that might have been created in thinly populated areas of Finland or Canada. How long would it have taken to the local native minority to crystallize into an angry underprivileged group vehemently opposing the regime which discriminates against it?
Expressing sympathy to the decision of Israeli Knesset's Election Committee to ban Arab parties from participating in the coming elections, Israeli columnist Ben Caspit (Maariv January 13, 2009) wrote that "nothing makes one rage madder" than Arab Knesset members. These parliamentarians, according to Caspit have registered a "record of impudence" as "they do not accept Israel as a Jewish State" and at the same time make no plans to emigrate elsewhere. Yedioth Aharonoth, the most widely read paper in the country bangs the same cords of consensus: "Whoever denies the right of the Jewish People to its own state should not be allowed to savor the pleasures of serving in the Jewish State's House of Representatives".
A part from the simple understanding that freedom of expression is the most basic requirement of any democracy (and the reason why the Israeli Supreme court is expected to trash this latest scandalous political move of the Israeli Knesset majority), it is important to be reminded that one need not be "an Arab" in order to oppose and to keep challenging Israel's choice to call itself a nation state where nationality is exclusively based on religion. There is nothing new in this line of thinking. The recently published biography of Amos Keynan, a venerable past publicist of Yedioth Aharonoth (Unrepentant, by Nurith Gertz, Am Oved, Israel) has ample evidence of the disgust felt by a large number of Jewish citizens towards the religious-national regime already in the early fifties.
Israelis are brained washed to a degree that allows a senior writer like Caspit to issue self-refuting utterances like: "Can you even imagine Jewish members of parliament in the United States, England or France treating their homeland in such a manner? Never." And indeed one's imagination cannot conjure up the image of a Jewish parliamentarian in a western democracy whose "pleasures of serving" include representing a community denied of basic civil rights in anything concerning land and property ownership, family union, equal opportunities in education and employment or even the right to express a legitimate political opinion.
The literature documenting the problematic treatment of the Jewish State towards is rich enough and backed by official statistics. Enough to quote from the Ministry of Education's publication where chapter 8 titled "Human Rights and Minority Rights in Israel" includes the following disclosure: "At the outset we would point out that the realization of rights in the Israeli society and state is incomplete, due to … the tension between Israel's definition as a Jewish State and its declared commitment for civil equality (Translation by this writer). (1)
Often the choice of Israel to be a national-religious entity produces blatant racist statements. Nobody should be surprised at feelings of anger and rejection in the Arab-Israeli political rhetoric, expressing an objective state of continuous discrimination.
Once and again we hear righteous laments over the "Middle Eastern" (Islamic) environment where poor democratic Israel is condemned to live in a constant bloody conflict. Why not use one's imagination to try and described a "Jewish State" that might have been created in thinly populated areas of Finland or Canada. How long would it have taken to the local native minority to crystallize into an angry underprivileged group vehemently opposing the regime which discriminates against it? And how would Scandinavian or Canadian neighbors, world famous for their good nature, react to the way their relatives in the "Jewish Area" are treated?
Like Amos Keynan, the linguistics Professor Uzi Ornan (85) used to be a member of a nationalistic Jewish underground in the days before the state of Israel was created. In the last eight years Ornan is leading a group of about forty Israelis – most of them Jews according to all religious criteria – who have taken a court action against the state of Israel, demanding to be registered as "Israeli nationals" rather than have their nationality defined by religion or ethnic origin (e.g. Jewish or Arab). A few thousand Israelis have signed some years ago on the "I am Israeli" declaration (2) which Ornan had composed. The group of applicants includes politicians like Uri Avneri and Shulamith Aloni as well as professors and other Israelis from a wide political spectrum. Nobody has yet suggested we should "emigrate from Israel" although the state's attorney described our demand to recognize an Israeli nationality as "undermining the infrastructure of the Jewish State."
One would expect that self proclaimed liberal Israeli Jews who occasionally take pains to condemn raving nationalism to recognize the unacceptability of the present civil status. We all live in a state that had branded over a million of its own citizens as second class. An absolute majority of our politicians are trying to prevent these million citizens from even protesting this status. The Arab parties were sanctioned for daring to suggest Israel should become "A State for All its Citizens". This term represents a basic premise for every western democracy. It is a great shame to be part of a society which does not even allow running for elections on a platform so similar to the 220 years old American constitution.
(1) To be Citizens in Israel/Jewish Democratic State official textbook for the examination published by the Ministry of Education, the Pedagogic Administration, Jerusalem 2000 (Hebrew).
(2) Presently the signing has been renewed at http://www.atzuma.co.il/petition/aniisraeli/1/
