THE BLACKBURN REPORT: December 2014

Friday, December 26, 2014

What the Media Gets Wrong About Israel

Israel has an identity problem. Is it a Jewish state that provides legal and material preferences for citizens of Jewish ancestry? Or is it a secular nationstate, but one that happens to be rooted in Jewish culture and the Hebrew language? For more than six decades Israeli politicians have maintained a useful ambiguity about this deeply existential question. But no longer. In elections in March, Israel’s voters will be forced to confront stark choices about the country’s national identity. In the absence of a formal, written constitution, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has embraced a gamechanging “nationstate” bill that would award “national rights” only to Jewish citizens. The outcome of this crossroads election is by no means certain. Initially, polls suggested that Mr. Netanyahu might well cement his hold on power and accelerate Israel’s rightward drift. But the recent forging of a new political coalition between Isaac Herzog, leader of the leftcenter Labor Party, and Tzipi Livni, leader of the Hatnua, a small centerright party — who was sacked from the cabinet earlier this month, as Mr. Netanyahu called for new elections — suggests that there may be a viable electoral alternative. Mr. Herzog and Ms. Livni oppose the Jewish nationstate bill. They are oldfashioned Zionists, wedded to the notion that all of Israel’s citizens, Jewish or otherwise, are entitled to equal democratic rights. And unlike Mr. Netanyahu, they both understand that Israel’s continued control over the post 1967 occupied territories threatens its democratic character. Israel’s 1948 declaration of independence guarantees “complete equality12/26/2014 Israel, a Jewish Republic? NYTimes.com http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/26/opinion/israelajewishrepublic.html?_r=0 2/4 of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex.” So Israel may be a “Jewish state” in a cultural sense, but at least no more so than America can be called a “Christian state.” Israel was never intended to be a theocracy. It is also home to less than half of the world’s people who claim Jewish ancestry. Twenty percent of its citizens are not Jewish, but rather Muslim, Christian and Druze. And this minority is growing. Furthermore, most of Israel’s citizens who do claim Jewish ancestry are in fact secular, nonpracticing Jews. A large majority of its millionplus Russian immigrants are not even recognized as Jewish by the Orthodox rabbinical courts. A Jewish nationstate law would discriminate against these nonJewish citizens — but it could also provide the quasijudicial pretext for denying Palestinians citizenship if the ultraright get their way and Israel someday annexes the occupied territories. This is a bad idea in every conceivable way. In reality, Israel is a multiethnic, vibrant and largely secular society. This is clearly not a tragedy. It is actually what most of the country’s original Zionist founding fathers envisioned — a new, modern state in ancient Palestine where those Jews who so desired could become citizens of a nation like any other modern nationstate. “Israelis” would be seen not as members of the Jewish Diaspora, but citizens of their own state. Hillel Kook (19152001), an early Zionist leader from the Revisionist wing, thought of the new Israeli state as a “Hebrew Republic” — a place where Jews could leave behind the Diaspora. Instead of being Jewish Americans or Jewish Frenchmen, their identity would be defined in the first instance by their chosen citizenship in the new Israeli state — and not their Jewishness. They would be Israelis first — and would choose or choose not to practice their ancestral religion, just as most Frenchmen are Catholics who never attend Mass. Over more than six decades Israelis have created a distinct national culture, largely based on their language — always a key ingredient to any national identity. And this cultural identity is wholly separate from a Jewish Republic? This definition of Israeli identity — one based on the Hebrew language and culture rather than religion — is a very good thing for the prospects of peace. The Palestine Liberation Organization and most Arab leaders already recognize the reality of the Israeli state. So why would Israeli leaders now want to define their identity from their neighbors’ in religious terms? Why does Mr. Netanyahu want to define his nationstate with precisely the same phrases used by Hamas, a nonsecular, fundamentalist party dedicated to the formation of an Islamic republic? Mr. Netanyahu himself is a secular politician. His insistence on a “Jewish state” seems to be only a prescription for endless conflict with his “Muslim” neighbors — and perhaps today a tactic to postpone further negotiations on the creation of a Palestinian state. The notion of a Jewish state is ultimately political poison for the Jewish Diaspora, and specifically for American Jews. If Israel is seen as a Jewish state, then the implication exists that some or all of America’s seven million Jewish Americans “belong” in Israel. They do not. They belong in the United States, and they’re not going anywhere. American Jews have thrived over the last hundred years, and in doing so they have enriched the secular and multicultural ethos of the United States. They can practice their faith as well or better in America than anywhere else. Their relation to the state of Israel is precisely the same as that of IrishAmericans to Ireland, or ItalianAmericans to Italy. For all these reasons, talking about a “Jewish state” destroys a useful and wise ambiguity. Instead, Israelis need to celebrate their “Israeli” national identity. They should talk about Israel’s cultural and technological achievements. And talk about Israel’s security, too, and where its borders should be drawn so that the endless conflict between Arabs and Israelis can finally come to an end. Kai Bird is the author, most recently, of “The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames.”12/26/2014 Israel, a Jewish Republic? NYTimes.com http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/26/opinion/israelajewishrepublic.html?_r=0 4/4 Correction: December 25, 2014 An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Isaac Herzog, leader of the leftcenter Labor Party. He was not sacked from the cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A version of this oped appears in print on December 26, 2014, in The International New York Time

Monday, December 22, 2014

The new Euro-Muslim states

Op-ed: The Westernization of the Arab world has been replaced with the Islamization of Europe. The Arab League boycotted Israel from its very first day, and the 'European Union' with its new Muslim masters may now follow in its footsteps.

Published: 12.22.14, 00:33 / Israel Opinion

Once again, the "European Union" is forgetting about everything and dealing only with Israel and the Jews – a well-known and popular habit in Europe for hundreds (the Jews) and dozens (Israel) of years.

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But this time it's different: The distance between the continent and the Muslim world is becoming increasingly shorter, and a new historical term can be coined: "Euro-Muslim states."

Just like the Arab world did all in its power to harm the young Israel, the same trend is taking shape in the European Union as well. While in the past we talked about the Westernization of the Arab world, we are now talking about the Arabization of Europe. The Arab League boycotted Israel from its very first day, and the "European Union" may now follow in its footsteps.

This may surprise many people, but there are already large citiesin Europe which will have a Muslim majority within five to seven years. Not just a huge minority, but an actual Muslim majority. And because cities determine reality these days, the coming years are expected to bring an extensive demographic and political change in the Euro-Muslim states.

The first European city which will have a Muslim majority by the end of the decade is Marseilles, the second largest city in France, where Muslims already make up 30% to 40% of the population. In 2016, the city will inaugurate a huge mosque with a 25-meter minaret and a prayer hall for 14,000 worshippers, fitting the huge community. This city has such a high crime rate that it's almost dangerous to live there.
Demographic censuses are banned in France, but according to estimates, the percentage of Muslims in the country has already crossed 13%.

A Muslim praying in Germany. 'If I were European, I would be very anxious right now. It's possible that the continent's Islamization is already an irreversible process' (Photo: Reuters)

By the end of the decade, a Muslim majority is also expected in Barcelona, Spain, where about 30% of residents are Muslims and there is a huge demand for more and more mosques.

There are smaller Spanish towns like Salt, where 40% of resident are already Muslims. The Muslim immigration rate to Spain is huge, and so is the birthrate, which leans on the welfare policy of the clumsy, suicidal giant called the "European Union."

Another city where a Muslim majority is expected very soon is Brussels, which is ironically the capital of the "European Union" and where 25-30% of residents today are Muslim. Islam is more powerful than the Catholic Church in Brussels.

In Malmo, the third largest city in Sweden, 25-30% of residents are Muslims and 40% are foreigners. The city has an alarming crime rate. In the capital of Stockholm, "only" 20% of residents are Muslim.

The same applies to Rotterdam and Amsterdam – in both cities, 25% of residents are Muslims – and Luton, which is located 50 kilometers north of London. Luton is the third largest city in England, and its white residents are already a minority – only 45%. The rest are Muslims and Asians.

The socialist parties are trying to gain support among these new huge communities, knowing that attacking Israel will be seen very favorably there. But the socialist rule marks an even quicker increase in the percentage of Muslims in the continent, as the socialist are in favor of continuing the crazy, legal and illegal, immigration of Muslims to the continent.

If I were European, I would be very anxious right now. That's the reason why right-wing parties are beginning to rise in Europe, seeing this transformation in the face of the continent as an eternal disaster.

These parties will increasingly take over the continent in the coming years, and that will cause greater shocks to the point of future civil wars. And it's also possible that the continent's Islamization is already an irreversible process.

It's a shame that little Israel is unwillingly inserted into the internal shocks in the continent (why is Israel the European Parliament's business anyway?), but punching the Jews and gaining legitimacy has always been a European game, whether among the Christians or, now, with the new masters – the Muslims.