Is Israel a Jewish State?

[Kathryn]

i THINK Israel is a Jewish state but I don't think Palestine is.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Would the Israeli equivalent of Dario Franchitti - i.e. someone who has lived in Israel his whole life but isn't religiously or ethnically Jewish - also be entitled to take part in his country's self-determination?

What does "tak[ing] part in his country's self-determination" entail?

 

[IndigoChild5559]

JERUSALEM — Israel passed a controversial new “nation-state law” last week that’s sparking both celebration and fierce debate over the very nature of Israel itself.
The law does three big things:

1. It states that “the right to exercise national self-determination” in Israel is “unique to the Jewish people.”
2. It establishes Hebrew as Israel’s official language, and downgrades Arabic — a language widely spoken by Arab Israelis — to a “special status.”
3. It establishes “Jewish settlement as a national value” and mandates that the state “will labor to encourage and promote its establishment and development.”

Israel’s hugely controversial “nation-state” law, explained

Ok, 2018 so maybe out of date but this does seem to imply that Israel is a Jewish state.
If this is true, then imo, a "Jewish" state shouldn't exist and I certainly don't mean that anyone, especially Jews ought to be wipe out to rectify this.

There are folks who see Israel as a Jewish state especially Muslims. If this is not true then Israel should take steps to change that perception. I got to say though neither the name of Israel nor the flag helps with that perception.

It is better imo for a state to not to promote one ethnicity over another. The Jewish ethnicity seems far too embedded for a peaceful coexistence.

The murder of a Muslim ought to as abhorrent to the government of Israel as the murder of a Jew. Restrict a person to an area because of their ethnicity is wrong. It was wrong when the US did so to Native Americans, it is wrong now.

And I understand the idea being to protect your people, but they should all be your people. Even the people you would call terrorists. You should protect them from themself and everyone else regardless of their ethnicity.

Of course this is only if Israel is looking for peace in the Middle East. If not then nothing stated here matters.

Israel has been a Jewish state since 1948. It has a secular government, and most of the Jews there are not religious, but Judaism is the state religion as it is the traditional religion of the Jewish people. However, despite that, Israel also has freedom of religion. Arab Israelis are almost always Muslim or Christian with equal rights.

The whole purpose of the state of Israel is to give Jews a nation state in our traditional homeland where we can flee from antisemitism, and be the masters of our own destiny.

 

[Godobeyer]

i THINK Israel is a Jewish state but I don't think Palestine is.

That's the problem.
A country which can survive only through racism regime and oppression to it's minority(which was majority ), don't deserve to be existing.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

That's the problem.
A country which can survive only through racism regime

Racist? Arab Israelis have equal rights. They even have representatives in the Knesset. They can vote, attend school, and enjoy healthcare no different than any Jewish citizen. They can access public services and participate in the legal system, no different than any Jewish citizen.

 

[Godobeyer]

Racist? Arab Israelis have equal rights. They even have representatives in the Knesset. They can vote, attend school, and enjoy healthcare no different than any Jewish citizen. They can access public services and participate in the legal system, no different than any Jewish citizen.

Arabs in Israel. This joker card to deny that israel is not apartheid regime?

They is reality on ground is totally different.
Arabs of Israel living as second citizenship.

What's your opinion about many videos show settlers attack Palestinians under protection of israel policies

 

[IndigoChild5559]

Arabs in Israel.

They aren't in Israel to visit tourist attractions. They are Arab-Israelis. Citizens of Israel. SMH. Moving on...

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Racist? Arab Israelis have equal rights. They even have representatives in the Knesset. They can vote, attend school, and enjoy healthcare no different than any Jewish citizen. They can access public services and participate in the legal system, no different than any Jewish citizen.

Have you ever been to Israel?

 

[Godobeyer]

They aren't in Israel to visit tourist attractions. They are Arab-Israelis. Citizens of Israel. SMH. Moving on...

You can say they are were there before Israel declared as country.


Whatever your skip to comment about racist acts against what you called Israeli Arabs, and second citizenship
shows dishonest discussion.

 

[RestlessSoul]

@Nakosis


Israel is a state where (almost) any Jew can become a citizen. I don't see it as a Jewish state in the same way as I do see Saudi Arabia a Muslim state.
I emigrated there in 1969 because of all the ant-Semitism I was seeing and experiencing in England.
I became a citizen and served briefly in the army during the 1973 war.
During my time there, I was educated in computing and worked as an analyst programmer.

Soon after the war I became a follower of a guru who I followed around the planet for over 20 years.
During those years I became aware of Dharmic writings that I still read today(even as an atheist).
I left the guru, but retained much of what I learnt. (Especially meditation.)
I ended up back in England.

I was never much into politics there as I am today apolitical.
Regarding the Nation State Law, I never saw the necessity of it. Maybe it was some political move, I really don't know.

Today in 2024, antisemitism has reared it's ugly head again here(in England) and around the world. Jews are beginning to leave the home countries, for Israel.


JSCA

Can’t be easy being Jewish anywhere in the world right now. I don’t suppose it ever was, tbh. Do you think the actions of the current Israeli government is making things better or worse for the Jewish diaspora? Genuine question…

 

[Nakosis]

Israel has been a Jewish state since 1948. It has a secular government, and most of the Jews there are not religious, but Judaism is the state religion as it is the traditional religion of the Jewish people. However, despite that, Israel also has freedom of religion. Arab Israelis are almost always Muslim or Christian with equal rights.

The whole purpose of the state of Israel is to give Jews a nation state in our traditional homeland where we can flee from antisemitism, and be the masters of our own destiny.

It'd be kind of like if we declared the state of Florida a traditional Western European centered state. If might make me feel more comfortable but I suspect it'd make a lot of the resident feel left out. And, I'd also expect there would be a lot of internal and external conflicts caused by it.

Masters of our own destiny? I imagine we'd be too busy dealing with all of the conflicts being caused to worry much about that.

Yeah, maybe it is not comfortable and it often sucks but I'm not sure fleeing from it is going to solve much. I can certainly take part in my culture without the state promoting it.

 

[Jedster]

Can’t be easy being Jewish anywhere in the world right now. I don’t suppose it ever was, tbh. Do you think the actions of the current Israeli government is making things better or worse for the Jewish diaspora? Genuine question…

I'll just say this, I don't connect the actions of Israel with the Jewish diaspora. I know diaspora Jews organise their own security, long before this war. My own old school, has had security guards for decades.

Most of the world regard both Hamas & Hezbollah as terrorist organisations, yet have done nothing to remove them.
I also think many of the states that publicly condemn Israel, are really happy that Israel is having a go.

Israel is doing the only thing, which has been a long time coming.


{As I have said in an earlier post, discussing this here really depresses me, it bring up a lot of memories of people I have lost. So, please don't message me on this. }

 

[IndigoChild5559]

Have you ever been to Israel

When I was younger, I never had the funds. I always assumed I would use my inheritance to travel, including to Israel. I dreamed of the day! By the time I got my inheritance, I had become too disabled to travel. Looking back, I greatly wish I had borrowed against my inheritance, and gone when I was younger.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

You can say they are were there before Israel declared as country.

Not most of them. The number of actual Arabs in the Land whose lineages trace back a century or two is actually pretty low. Most of the Palestinians there today are from families that immigrated from Jordan and Egypt fairly recently, largely as part of a tactic to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state, or later, to undermine it. Remember that even Yassir Arafat was born in Cairo.

And just like there were some Arabs whose families had been there for centuries, there were also some Jewish families who had lived there constantly going back to the Roman era.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

The number of actual Arabs in the Land whose lineages trace back a century or two is actually pretty low. Most of the Palestinians there today are from families that immigrated from Jordan and Egypt fairly recently, largely as part of a tactic to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state, or later, to undermine it. Remember that even Yassir Arafat was born in Cairo.

Nonsense. I've seen Zionists make this ridiculous (anti-Arab conspiracy) claim before but never any proof of it. The majority of Palestinians in Jordan are refugees who ended up there due to the Nakba ethnic cleansing. You're basically claiming that the Nakba happened in reverse. Jordan is another artificial state created by the British fairly recently, as well.

"The Israeli Defense Force launched "Plan D" in which various Palestinian populations who resided in areas of strategic value would be subject to small scale massacres in an effort to encourage them to leave their places of residence. Approximately 300,000 Palestinians became refugees as a result. During the war of 1948, the new Israeli state acquired vast new territories designated to be Arab lands. In the process approximately 725,000 more Palestinians fled to Jordan and Lebanon where they constituted 50% and 10% of the respective populations."

UNHCR Web Archive

webarchive.archive.unhcr.org

Arafat was from a Palestinian family.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Racist? Arab Israelis have equal rights. They even have representatives in the Knesset. They can vote, attend school, and enjoy healthcare no different than any Jewish citizen. They can access public services and participate in the legal system, no different than any Jewish citizen.

No, they are not treated equally:
"PCIs are among Israel’s most marginalized minorities. Israel does not have a constitution that guarantees equality for all before the law. Instead, important privileges and rights are conferred based on nationality. For example, an Israeli law passed in 2018 declared that only Jewish people have a right to self-determination and that Arabic is not an official language, despite its indigeneity. Even discussing the Palestinian history of displacement and dispossession in public entities, including schools, risks the loss of state funding under legislation popularly known as the Nakba law.

PCIs also hold different identification documents than their Jewish counterparts. The IDs are labeled with race and religion—markers that restrict where Arabs can reside. Though most PCIs are allowed to vote (since they hold Israeli passports, which differentiates them from East Jerusalemites, who do not), they face organized suppression and intimidation efforts. In elections conducted in 2019, authorities mounted cameras in polling stations where PCIs vote, and those living in the Naqab (Negev) had to travel 50 kilometers (31 miles) to the closest polling station. It wasn’t until 2021 that a Palestinian political party was able to join an Israeli governing coalition for the first time. The experience was short-lived, however, and it was succeeded by the most extreme, right-wing government in Israel’s history."

The Many Civil and Human Rights Challenges Facing Israel’s Palestinian Citizens

PCIs, who are among Israel’s most marginalized minorities, have experienced even more violence and racism after the October 7 Hamas attacks.

carnegieendowment.org

 

[Debater Slayer]

Israel is doing the only thing, which has been a long time coming.


{As I have said in an earlier post, discussing this here really depresses me, it bring up a lot of memories of people I have lost. [...]

I'm sorry for your loss. However, I find it unfortunate that your post also defends policies that have brought and are currently bringing loss, grief, and trauma to hundreds of thousands of people, including some I personally know. If everyone resigned to accepting or defending such policies as "the only thing which has been a long time coming," I don't know how the region would ever see genuine, enduring peace.

 

[Jedster]

I'm sorry for your loss. However, I find it unfortunate that your post also defends policies that have brought and are currently bringing loss, grief, and trauma to hundreds of thousands of people, including some I personally know. If everyone resigned to accepting or defending such policies as "the only thing which has been a long time coming," I don't know how the region would ever see genuine, enduring peace.

(War is horrible for all sides. )
I have stated where I stand, nothing more to add.

 

[Godobeyer]

(War is horrible for all sides. )
I have stated where I stand, nothing more to add.

Racist, and occupation and mass punishment are horrible, which are the main fuel of violence and war.

 

[Godobeyer]

Not most of them. The number of actual Arabs in the Land whose lineages trace back a century or two is actually pretty low. Most of the Palestinians there today are from families that immigrated from Jordan and Egypt fairly recently, largely as part of a tactic to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state, or later, to undermine it. Remember that even Yassir Arafat was born in Cairo.

You probably mean Not all of them.
Most of Arabs in Israel were there,before Jews came from europe running from holocaust.

And just like there were some Arabs whose families had been there for centuries, there were also some Jewish families who had lived there constantly going back to the Roman era.

It's was mixed era, after it's taken by Muslims, under muslims control no one reclaim injustice by three religions.
All are same rights and duties.
No racist regime or threaten to religious places, for three religious under muslims protection.