Thursday, June 01, 2006

Further to "The Israeli Lobby"

This is a follow up post that addresses various issues raised by a commentator on the blog I posted my original piece on. I was advised to research my subject more thoroughly.

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To Juanita - research is all I've been doing for 30 years and my head sometimes feels like exploding with facts. But I'm willing to be proven wrong.

I purposely mentioned the Israeli-Arabs in my previous comments. You missed that.

Why is Israel described as a “Jewish State” if that does not mean it is of the Jews, for the Jews and by the Jews? It is akin to the US officially describing itself, as a “Christian State.”

In another twist to this Twilight Zone of a country… “It would not occur to the average English peaking observer to object to translating [the Hebrew word] ezrahut as "nationality" because "citizenship" and "nationality" are interchangeable terms in the United States, as well as in most democratic societies. In Israel, however, they are two separate and very different statuses. Citizenship (ezrahut) may be held by Arabs as well as Jews while nationality (le'um), which bestows significantly greater rights than citizenship, may be claimed by Jews alone.”

“No [one version of] Israeli nationality applies to all citizens, as does a US nationality in the United States or French nationality in France, for example. In Israel, there is only a Jewish nationality. That non-Jews cannot qualify for nationality rights in the state of Israel was affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1972 in a statement that there is no Israeli nation separate from the Jewish people.”

From: http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0190/9001020.htm

These are Israeli values - not American values. The American taxpayer subsidizes these un-American values (to the tune of $105 billion since 1948) and the Israel lobby is dedicated to making sure that Joe Six Pack US taxpayer doesn’t figure it out.

The Law of Return applies only to Jews, no other faith. If there is any other way to become an Israeli besides being Jewish and moving to Israel or being an indigenous person (and their descendents) caught up in the founding of the state that happened to stay in ’48 please let me know. Show me chapter and verse the language in Israeli law that unambiguously allows a Christian or a Hindu or any other faith to move to Israel and lawfully become a citizen without converting to Judaism or marrying a Jew and I will concede the point.

Regarding Israeli-Arab members of parliament; that cannot be forbidden because these MP’s were/are Israeli citizens. Israeli as described above but Israeli. That’s the surrealistic mélange of Israel.

As far as Mr. Hodges remark that England’s state religion is Anglicanism and Denmark’s Lutheran he is exactly correct but you don’t have to be a member of that religion to be a citizen of those countries. The two situations are not analogous except on the surface. They would be analogous to medieval Europe yes, but not the Europe of today. Why be medieval?

Regarding citizenship in Palestine the following clauses from the draft Constitution of Palestine. Illustrate my point. “Article (5) Arabic is the official language and Islam is the official religion in Palestine. Christianity and all other monotheistic religions are accorded sanctity and respect. The constitution guarantees equality in rights and duties to all citizens irrespective of their religious creed.” and “Article (19) All Palestinians are equal before the law. They enjoy civil and political rights and bear public duties without difference or discrimination, regardless of race, gender, color, religion, political opinion, or disability.”

Even though the draft says that Islam is the official religion it goes out of its way to state “equality in rights” are guaranteed to all irrespective of creed. This is far from the two-class system in Israel. As stated earlier Denmark, England, France, Norway and many other countries have a “state” religion. Granted Israel is no Saudi Arabia in denying religious freedom but nevertheless discriminates against the non-Jewish. As stated above this is not an American value.

Case closed?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Actually, Israel is worried about demographics, they cannot admit non jewish elements because they would be a minority in their own country. That is why they are so desperate for immigrants (most use Israel as a stepping stone to elsewhere since the quality of life is crap) that they have accepted Russian non jewish immigrants who claim to be jewish without looking too closely. And the dirty secret is that many of them are so disillusioned that they return to live in Russia. Betcha AIPAC doesn't tell you that on their web site.