Israel A State of Its Citizens? - Part 1

Israel should be a state of all its citizens, not a state that belongs to one part of its population. Israel defines itself as a Jewish state. It's not just a question of definition or nature. It's a question of substance, structure, aims, goals, policies, laws. Israel is not only a Jewish state. It is the state of many people who are not its citizens, because Israel claims to be the state of all Jews all over the world, including people who are living happily, with full citizenship and rights, in other countries.

The Jewish intellectual Hannah Arendt wrote, after the Zionist conference in the early 1940s, that Zionists were proposing to Palestinians either that they leave their country or to agree to second-degree citizenship. This was the way to build a Jewish state. The demographic obsession is one of the main obsessions of Zionism and the Israeli elite. This has recently become demographic phobia. This is the main reason Israel withdrew unilaterally from Gaza -- to get rid of Palestinians. All the Israeli political parties agree that in any solution, Israel should take as much land from the West Bank and Jerusalem area and that this land should include as few Arabs as possible. This is the rule that shapes Israel's attitude towards the Palestinians: demography and geography. Geography is good, Arabs are bad. We want the good, and exclude the bad.

The Israeli establishment look at us as a quantitative and a qualitative danger. In recent years, words like "demographic bomb", "demographic threat", "demographic danger", are used all the time. I think that when it comes to existential questions the Israeli leadership are in a problem. How to deal with Palestinians in Israel. It is very difficult to square the circle. You cannot be both an ethnic state and a democratic state. So in the Israeli academy there are those who can't live with this contradiction. People like Sammy Smooha at the University of Haifa. After analyzing Israeli democracy -- a fair analysis -- he came to the conclusion that Israel is an "ethnic democracy". Others (Oren Yiftachel) came to a conclusion that it's actually an "ethnocracy".

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• israel
• palestine
• state
• of
• its
• citizens
• azmi
• bishara
• balad
• knesset
• democracy
• jewish
• arab
• conflict
• two
• settlement

[mingoi313]

Israel is an ethnocracy and not a democracy. A country that was built on the blood and pillaging of another nation. Over 800,000 Palestinians were evicted from their homes, over 500 Palestinian villages were destroyed by Israeli terrorists - who later became key figures in the state of Israel e.g. Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon, Moshe Dayan etc etc.

[DelinquentFaith]

State sponsered racism=APARTHEID

[warpedcomedy]

Israel should be a Jewish state. There are 22 Arab states, let there be just 1 Jewish.

[TheUria24]

@TehBloggaar

Racist complains about racism

hehehehehehehe

Funny

[steute2011]

Another shinning example of Israeli style 'Democracy"! Got to love it...the ones always accusing the world of antisemitism.

[doritela2008]

@mingoi313

every nation was built by blood.. and just a correction, there was never a palestinian nation in the area. it was part of the british empire, and the UN accepted israel right to exist

[Kalahridudex]

israel is a jewish state

[helenbransgrove]

Actually, the Zionist society has a well defined caste system amongst Jews - such a racist country.

[PRINSEX]

IS BRITAIN BELONG TO MUSLIMS ?! IS US BELONG TO CHINA ? ISRAEL IS AN HEBREW JEWISH COUNTRY ! ONLY A VERY SMALL PERCENT IS ARABS , THE MEDIA IN THE WORLD GIVES A FALSE PICTURE ! IF YOU WALK IN FRANCE YOU WILL HERE FRENCH THE SAME IN ISRAEL YOU WILL HERE HEBREW ! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH . ISRAEL IS A MODERN LIBERAL COUNTRY WITH EDUCETED SOCIETY ! with gay parades and etc

[warpedcomedy]

Israel should be a Jewish state and all the others should SUCK IT or accept it.

[warpedcomedy]

Israel IS A JEWISH STATE!!!!!!!!

[Tomislavv2]

how the only non theocratical democracy in Middle east is backward.How the only country in ME with freedom of speech is backward? Because israelis do not amputate legs and arms of imodest people like in Saudi Arabia or don't cut the tongues out of minorities like Muslims did last week in Nigeria?Or is Israel backward because withouth any oil Israel is the most developed country by Human development index on ME.Or is it backward because it doesnt't hang people on streets like in Iran and Gaza?