In honor of Israel’s 75th birthday and Herzl Day which will take place next week, the government will debate a historic resolution making Zionism the guiding and decisive value in all government actions.
The move has already been met with outrage by the former interim prime minister and opposition leader MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid).
In accordance with the coalition agreements signed between the Likud party and Otzma Yehudit, the proposed resolution was circulated among the government ministries, urging that Zionist values be implemented in formulating decisions and policy on the settlements, security, culture, and immigration, to name a few major areas.
Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Otzma Yehudit’s Minister of the Negev, the Galilee and National Resilience, will lead the legislative initiative.
The resolution, titled, “Zionism as Guiding Value in Government Activities,” calls to “order government ministries and all of the government’s arms that Zionist values as they are expressed in the Basic Law: Israel Is the Nation-State of the Jewish People, will henceforth be the guiding and determining values in shaping the policy of public administration, interior and foreign policy, legislation and action of the government and all its components and institutions, both at the phase of devising public policy as well as the phase of integrating and carrying out the same public policy, without diminishing the principles anchored in the Basic Laws.
Lapid’s response was a jarring mix of hate and disinformation, most likely because he never graduated high school and has limited comprehension skills.
Lapid tweeted: “Ben Gvir’s group of racists wants to pass a government resolution on Sunday against the Druze, our brothers in arms, against immigrants from Russia, against the Arab citizens of Israel, including those who serve in the security forces. It is not national, not Zionist, and not even Jewish. It’s blatant racism, and it’s a gift to BDS supporters. I call on Netanyahu to stop this madness.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir quickly responded: “The cat is out of the bag. Finally, you openly admit that you are against the values of Zionism and the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. There is no discrimination here against our Druze brothers and against those who are loyal to the State of Israel. And I did not understand why the beloved Jewish Aliyah from the USSR is non-Zionist in your eyes.”
One must wonder if Lapid believes there exists a dichotomy between the values of Zionism and the rights of the Druze, Russian immigrants, and Arabs. The problem is, the Yesh Atid chairman is so used to saying one thing, and the next moment the exact opposite, it’s humanly impossible to determine what he believes.
But if one wishes to understand the values upon which the Jewish State was founded, the English copy of the Declaration of Independence is available at the Knesset website and can be easily recognized by its title, “Declaration of Independence.”
The declaration views its moral foundation as stemming from the Zionist movement: “In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country.”
The Zionist values that guide the Jewish State are also spelled out in relatively easy English:
“The State Of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice, and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education, and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”
Are these racist values? Is there a hint of derision here against non-Jews or any group of olim? So, why would Lapid accuse the proposed resolution to employ these values as being racist?
The only lesson from this is, Kids, stay in school.
