Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Ofra Yeshua-Lyth: National Jewish State: Not a Good Idea, for Palestinian and Jews Alike

"There is no such thing as "Israeli Nationality". Israeli citizens are categorized according to "nationalities" that in fact represent their religion affiliations or ethnic origins. Rare challenges to this anomaly from within Israel are crushed (if raised by Arabs) or ignored (if the challengers are Jews). The state accords a privileged status to the "Jewish Nationality" which may be certified only by the authorities of the Orthodox rabbinate.

As Netanyahu, a seemingly secular, smart and sophisticated modern man, and the overwhelming majority of Israeli-Jewish citizens know only too well, the concept of the "nation state for the Jewish People" entails green light for human rights violations sanctioned by the strict, undemocratic and openly xenophobic decries of a very ancient, unreformed and outdated religion."

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