Last night again, demonstrations were held all over Israel with hundreds of thousands taking part. People are extremely concerned about the future of Democracy in Israel, and speakers at the events are urging participants not to give up and continue the protests until the government realizes they have overstepped bounds and are misusing their power. In an interview on TV last night, one of the protest organizers, a retired general, claimed that the protests will go on until Israel is returned to being a “Jewish and Democratic State”.
And there lies the core of the problem. The Israeli version of the “Big Lie” that we are a Democratic and a Jewish State is misleading the protesters, making them feel good about themselves, and motivating them to continue the actions. They do not realize it, or they may be misleading themselves, but Israel is neither a Democratic State nor a Jewish State, and it never has been either of those.
“Jewish” and “Democratic” are mutually exclusive and our intelligent politicians (do not ask who those are…) know this only too well. This “lie” is used when politicians want to show how great we are. It is used when politicians want to scare us that we may lose it, and both left and right take pride in preserving and nurturing this falsehood.
Religion implies superiority and inclusivity and absolute truth and absolute authority and each religion will exclude any other religion and often even will attempt to exclude other thoughts within the religion. The schisms in the Catholic Church in the 16nd century and the wars against Reform Judaism in Israel of our times are just two examples of this.
Since the founding of the State, in 1948, Israel has strived to become a Democratic State, but how can you call yourself democratic, when someone decides how you are allowed to get married, how you are to be buried, what you are allowed to eat, when you are allowed to use public transportation, to mention only a few of the restrictions being imposed upon the population in attempts to transform Israel into a “Jewish State”.
I the last twenty or so years, the powers of the religious, Haredi political parties on the fate of shaky coalition governments has significantly increased, culminating in the current situation whereby the government will not survive unless the demands of religious politicians are met. And they are exploiting this situation to the hilt, with new religious restrictions being voted into law on an almost daily basis. The population, including the protesters worried about democracy, accept to a large extend the demands of the religious parties (albeit sometimes reluctantly). How do they explain to themselves that they are fighting for a democracy that they themselves are undermining by allowing religion to get an ever stronger grip on Israeli society? Is it the Jewish State they want after all?
Since 1967, after the Six Day War, that Israel won impressively, it occupied large areas, including the West bank of the Jordan (so-called Yehuda and Samaria). Today, more than fifty years later, Israel controls the lives of two million Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Many in Israel however, do not call them “Occupied” and are of the opinion that Israel should annex the territories as quickly as possible. This being a problematic step internationally, the process is done slowly, but today hundreds of thousands of Israelis live permanently in the Occupied Territories and building continues at a frightening speed. However, nobody intends to protect the rights of the Palestinian inhabitants once annexation will become a fact (which is a matter of time only), turning Israel into an Apartheid State. So this is the democracy the protesters are fighting for? Democracy for Jews only is not a democracy no matter how often politicians try to convince us. (And themselves).
Many in the past have pointed out a way out of this quagmire but for obvious reasons, Israeli politics has ignored the advice. The only way a Democratic State (or a Jewish one, but never both) can be established and preserved is a complete separation between Religion and State, a status quo protected by a Constitution. Countries like France and the U.S., with a large majority of religious people, have successfully preserved the rights of all, and with that democracy, through a Constitution.
An Israeli Constitution has been prevented (mostly by religious parties for obvious reasons) but today it is more urgent than ever. And if the protesters do not realize this and fight for that, their efforts will be wasted. Or maybe they find comfort and solace in a pseudo Democracy and a will live with a Halachic State in the end.
Who do they think they are kidding?
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