Every day the Knesset has the option of passing laws that will advance Israel as a democratic Jewish state or turn it into a racist Jewish state. There is a very thin line between the two. This week, the line was crossed. If the Knesset legal counselor did not consider the bill entitled "the Jewish National Fund Law" as sufficiently racist to keep it off the agenda, it is hard to imagine what legislation she will consider racist.
Who is Haaretz you ask? It is one of Israel's most liberal newspapers. And they are fighting for their country, too. Are they self-hating? No....I say they are life affirming.
In 1995 the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that Jewish National Fund could not discriminate against non-Jews. This week the Knesset voted in favor of a preliminary reading permitting said discrimination. The effort was lead by people such as MK Uri Ariel, who supports West Bank settlers and is the person who initiated the Jewish National Fund bill. The bill had the support of Benjamin Netanyahu, Ami Ayalon, Michael Eitan, Reuven Rivlin and Shalom Simhon, no surprise on Netenyahu.
The bill is also backed by the head of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, MK Menahem Ben-Sasson.
Any explanation by the supporters of the bill seeking to beautify it should be rejected immediately by anyone who cares about the country's image. This bill reflects an abasement of the Zionist enterprise to lows never imagined in the Declaration of Independence. Even though the Jewish National Fund purchased the lands for the Jewish people in the Diaspora, the State of Israel has already been established and these lands must now serve all its citizens.
For those living for tomorrow and not the past, the aim is to create in Israel a healthy, progressive state where the needs of the two peoples should concern the leaders and legislators. The Jewish National Fund's land policy counters the interests of the state and cannot discriminate by law against the minority living in Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/...
Just as we struggle to define what kind of democracy we want to live in, so do the Israelis. This last Knesset vote is not furthering any democracy I would want to live in.
This is an old article but relevant none the less.
As much as I have distain for Bush and Company, I hope they can get one thing right...just one thing:
Rice: Palestinians should live free of 'humilation of occupation'
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that Palestinians deserve to live under better conditions than they are subjected to and be "free of the humiliation of occupation" in a state of their own.
"I promise you my personal commitment to that goal," Rice said at a dinner marking the third anniversary of the American Task Force on Palestine.
"There could be no greater legacy for America," Rice told the group, which describes itself as nonpartisan and supportive of a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/...