Without a doubt, Israel should legally and officially identify as a Jewish nation state. It was founded as such, built as such, and its whole purpose is such. How timid and equivocating have some Jewish people become that they aren’t even willing to officially define Israel as a Jewish state? It was built by the Jewish National Fund. It was named Israel and not Palestine to demonstrate itself as a Jewish state.
This is not a matter for worry or hand wringing. Nor should people project their bias against patriotic Israelis by suggesting a need for alarm. The desire for Jewish nation status is not rooted in bigotry. Arabs and all people and religions will continue to have civil and religious rights. We are Jews and part of our Jewishness is making sure people are treated properly and share in the same day-to-day laws.
Nor do we want a theocracy. But the anthem, flag, Law of Return, and definition must be Jewish. It is a democracy within that context.
We can never allow Israel to be a non-descript, non identifiable state that can, in the name of democracy, turn herself into an Arab, or bi-national, or vanilla-nothing state. Remember: in the name of democracy, the Arabs elected Hamas and the Egyptians elected the Moslem Brotherhood.
People cannot be allowed to vote themselves out of freedom and into tyranny, nor vote themselves out of their right to live in a Jewish state, even in the name of democracy, just as people should not be allowed to vote away their Bill of Rights.
Democracy does not mean the right to permanently undermine and forever extinguish who you are and what your forebears gifted you. Besides 57 Islamic states, there are many European countries that identify as Christian.
Israel is not simply a state with a majority Jewish population, but a Jewish state. Though Herzel was not religious, he insisted on a Jewish state. He and his colleagues, Israel’s founders, knew why it was important. Too many have died, sacrificed, and bled so that Israel could remain a Jewish state, not merely a place where many Jews live.
Whereas in her early days it was naturally assumed that Israel would be and remain a Jewish state, it is becoming apparent that some Jews on the Left prefer a bi-national or non-Jewish state. Thus, the timely need to be specific now and avoid challenges to her Jewishness down the road.
If it’s not a Jewish state, then East Jerusalem will be severed from us. It is precisely Israel’s status as a Jewish state that provides Israel’s credence for a unified, eternal Jerusalem as her historic capital. If it’s not a Jewish state, what’s the purpose, what’s the Endgame? We are building nitz’chi’yut, not a temporary society that can be morphed into Israelstan.
If it is not an official Jewish state, sooner or later, the socialist laws will begin outlawing those things whose character is considered too Jewish and labeled “offensive, non-inclusive, and intolerant”. It happened to Europe regarding Christianity and it is happening here in the U.S. The insiders soon became outsiders. It can happen in Israel if its Supreme Court decides to transform Israel into something completely secular, non-ethnic, non-nationalistic…limp.
It’s time for Israelis and worldwide Jewry to make a real choice: a Jewish state or a politically correct non-entity, a Hebraic Sweden, a Hague on the Mediterranean.
Tell you one thing: the moment Israel no longer calls itself a Jewish state, 175 million Evangelicals worldwide will no longer be out there supporting her with passion. They are supporting a Jewish state, a state promised by God to the Children of Israel, not some non-descript state with simply a big Jewish population. It’s a conviction thing.