Jewish, but not democratic This amendment to add “the Jewish and democratic State of Israel” to the declaration of loyalty is part of the Israel Beiteinu doctrine. It draws on the Avigdor Lieberman spectacle at the UN podium last month where he called for a population exchange. Netanyahu is playing straight into Israel Beiteinu’s hands even as he boasts that it was his idea to begin with and that he too wants to have prospective citizens swear allegiance to a “Jewish and democratic State of Israel.”It’s doubtful that the government has actually given some thought as to how this is supposed to be implemented.How will a potential Arab citizen fulfill the obligation of keeping Israel “Jewish”? What will said Arab citizen do if the millions of immigrants from the FSU decide that they want to go back? Should he stand at the entrance to the airport, trying to prevent them from leaving? Or perhaps he should commit suicide in order to keep the demographic balance? Or convert to Judaism and join a Zionist movement? This country, with ministers such as Lieberman, Neeman and Yishai, and with full participation from Labor head Ehud Barak, is sticking it to the Arabs. They are trying to send a message that they are the landlords and the Arab are mere tenants, guests in a country that is part of our heritage. They create an atmosphere of increasing suffocation and take oppressive nationalist steps that cannot be considered even remotely democratic.And even as Israel markets itself as the only democracy in the Middle East, it treats the Arab-Palestinian as a fifth column representing an existential threat to the state.Here is the level of perceived threat each group represents, in ascending order: 1. Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel 2. Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem 3. Palestinians west of the barrier 4. Palestinians east of the barrier 5. Palestinians of the Gaza Strip Until Israel starts treating Palestinians, many who live in its borders, as people who also have rights to this land and not just partial rights in the land, we will all keep treading water and keep uttering that Israel is a Jewish and democratic state – democratic for the Jews and Jewish to the Arabs.– Dr. Ahmad Tibi is a Palestinian citizen of Israel and is deputy speaker of the Knesset I would not take the oath Does anyone really understand what “Jewish and democratic” means? Cultural Zionists from Ben-Gurion to Yehuda Amichai did. They assumed a democracy with a Jewish character would advance the Hebrew language, whose modern revival was the real Zionist revolution.The Declaration of Independence assumed just such a Hebrew republic when it mandated that all citizens – from any “race” and “religion,” and irrespective of individual “conscience” – might contribute to a common life that was Jewish in the national sense, but did not presume to straighten the crooked timber.Today, then, our everyday words contain the nuances of Jewish history and literatures (the state is not named Edom, after all) but leave space to welcome anyone willing to be acculturated, even Arab writers like Salam Masalcha, say. This approach to nationality is common throughout the democratic world, from the European Union to Quebec. No other conception of Jewish can be democratic because it makes a nonsense of equality.Is this the “Jewish” Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman expects loyalty to? No. He wants a state in which Halacha, and its rabbinic courts, have civil responsibilities. He wants citizenship and other material privileges to be based on J-positive blood or conversion by Orthodox law.He wants a state whose founding is justified and capital established, not by standards of international law, but congregational presumptions about divine will. He wants a state that purports to represent Jews everywhere, as if the majority of liberal American Jews do not blush for him.Now, Neeman says all immigrants – not just Arabs – should take an oath to his totalitarian idea. I would not have when I first came – and would not now.– Bernard Avishai is adjunct professor of business at Hebrew University and the author of the recently published The Hebrew Republic.It’s not racism, it’s stupidityIn recent days, Israel has been pounded by a storm of controversy, a great sound and fury signifying nothing. The word “racism” has been heard in the Israeli media on average once every 10 minutes. We have defeated ourselves.It’s possible to criticize an amendment that makes loyalty a condition of becoming a citizen. Racism is not part of the equation.The law is not against Israeli Arabs, and also, at this point, not against Palestinians seeking permanent resident status in Israel. The amendment is meant to affect mainly those seeking citizenship, for instance from the Ukraine or Russia, countries from which most of the requests for citizenship come from (hundreds per year, most of which are approved). One can accuse Avigdor Lieberman of being many things, but anti-Russian or anti-Ukrainian isn’t one of them.Our media doesn’t bother with the facts. There was no public debate. There was only a campaign against the “racist” amendment. There is no reason to go searching for delegitimization in the countries of the world. The Israeli media has done enough of that by itself.At the core of the issue, the amendment is at once both correct and idiotic. It is correct considering it adopts the norms already in place in many democratic countries because it applies only to those seeking citizenship, not those who are already citizens. Also, Israel has the right to use any and all democratic means to distance itself from the hostile elements within, who oppose the very idea of the Jewish democratic state.But it’s also a stupid and excessive amendment because there is no connection between the just nature of it and the results. Indeed, whoever wants to become an Israeli, be they Russian or Palestinian, will have to agree to declare that he believes in the coming of the messiah and the reincarnation of souls, as Judaism posits.The true focus of this debate should not be on the loyalty oath but on the Citizenship Law itself. The law is meant to prevent a massive return of Palestinians using marriage as a means. Instead of addressing the real issues, the Israeli government let itself be dragged into an unnecessary storm.This country has no clear immigration laws and it will pay dearly for this.– Ben-Dror Yemini is a columnist at Ma’ariv, where a full version of this excerpt appears.
The Citizenship Law amendment: Racist, just, or stupid?
It is not unreasonable to ask that new citizens pledge allegiance to the principles upon which this nation was founded.
Jewish, but not democratic This amendment to add “the Jewish and democratic State of Israel” to the declaration of loyalty is part of the Israel Beiteinu doctrine. It draws on the Avigdor Lieberman spectacle at the UN podium last month where he called for a population exchange. Netanyahu is playing straight into Israel Beiteinu’s hands even as he boasts that it was his idea to begin with and that he too wants to have prospective citizens swear allegiance to a “Jewish and democratic State of Israel.”It’s doubtful that the government has actually given some thought as to how this is supposed to be implemented.How will a potential Arab citizen fulfill the obligation of keeping Israel “Jewish”? What will said Arab citizen do if the millions of immigrants from the FSU decide that they want to go back? Should he stand at the entrance to the airport, trying to prevent them from leaving? Or perhaps he should commit suicide in order to keep the demographic balance? Or convert to Judaism and join a Zionist movement? This country, with ministers such as Lieberman, Neeman and Yishai, and with full participation from Labor head Ehud Barak, is sticking it to the Arabs. They are trying to send a message that they are the landlords and the Arab are mere tenants, guests in a country that is part of our heritage. They create an atmosphere of increasing suffocation and take oppressive nationalist steps that cannot be considered even remotely democratic.And even as Israel markets itself as the only democracy in the Middle East, it treats the Arab-Palestinian as a fifth column representing an existential threat to the state.Here is the level of perceived threat each group represents, in ascending order: 1. Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel 2. Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem 3. Palestinians west of the barrier 4. Palestinians east of the barrier 5. Palestinians of the Gaza Strip Until Israel starts treating Palestinians, many who live in its borders, as people who also have rights to this land and not just partial rights in the land, we will all keep treading water and keep uttering that Israel is a Jewish and democratic state – democratic for the Jews and Jewish to the Arabs.– Dr. Ahmad Tibi is a Palestinian citizen of Israel and is deputy speaker of the Knesset I would not take the oath Does anyone really understand what “Jewish and democratic” means? Cultural Zionists from Ben-Gurion to Yehuda Amichai did. They assumed a democracy with a Jewish character would advance the Hebrew language, whose modern revival was the real Zionist revolution.The Declaration of Independence assumed just such a Hebrew republic when it mandated that all citizens – from any “race” and “religion,” and irrespective of individual “conscience” – might contribute to a common life that was Jewish in the national sense, but did not presume to straighten the crooked timber.Today, then, our everyday words contain the nuances of Jewish history and literatures (the state is not named Edom, after all) but leave space to welcome anyone willing to be acculturated, even Arab writers like Salam Masalcha, say. This approach to nationality is common throughout the democratic world, from the European Union to Quebec. No other conception of Jewish can be democratic because it makes a nonsense of equality.Is this the “Jewish” Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman expects loyalty to? No. He wants a state in which Halacha, and its rabbinic courts, have civil responsibilities. He wants citizenship and other material privileges to be based on J-positive blood or conversion by Orthodox law.He wants a state whose founding is justified and capital established, not by standards of international law, but congregational presumptions about divine will. He wants a state that purports to represent Jews everywhere, as if the majority of liberal American Jews do not blush for him.Now, Neeman says all immigrants – not just Arabs – should take an oath to his totalitarian idea. I would not have when I first came – and would not now.– Bernard Avishai is adjunct professor of business at Hebrew University and the author of the recently published The Hebrew Republic.It’s not racism, it’s stupidityIn recent days, Israel has been pounded by a storm of controversy, a great sound and fury signifying nothing. The word “racism” has been heard in the Israeli media on average once every 10 minutes. We have defeated ourselves.It’s possible to criticize an amendment that makes loyalty a condition of becoming a citizen. Racism is not part of the equation.The law is not against Israeli Arabs, and also, at this point, not against Palestinians seeking permanent resident status in Israel. The amendment is meant to affect mainly those seeking citizenship, for instance from the Ukraine or Russia, countries from which most of the requests for citizenship come from (hundreds per year, most of which are approved). One can accuse Avigdor Lieberman of being many things, but anti-Russian or anti-Ukrainian isn’t one of them.Our media doesn’t bother with the facts. There was no public debate. There was only a campaign against the “racist” amendment. There is no reason to go searching for delegitimization in the countries of the world. The Israeli media has done enough of that by itself.At the core of the issue, the amendment is at once both correct and idiotic. It is correct considering it adopts the norms already in place in many democratic countries because it applies only to those seeking citizenship, not those who are already citizens. Also, Israel has the right to use any and all democratic means to distance itself from the hostile elements within, who oppose the very idea of the Jewish democratic state.But it’s also a stupid and excessive amendment because there is no connection between the just nature of it and the results. Indeed, whoever wants to become an Israeli, be they Russian or Palestinian, will have to agree to declare that he believes in the coming of the messiah and the reincarnation of souls, as Judaism posits.The true focus of this debate should not be on the loyalty oath but on the Citizenship Law itself. The law is meant to prevent a massive return of Palestinians using marriage as a means. Instead of addressing the real issues, the Israeli government let itself be dragged into an unnecessary storm.This country has no clear immigration laws and it will pay dearly for this.– Ben-Dror Yemini is a columnist at Ma’ariv, where a full version of this excerpt appears.