Proposed nation-state law crosses American Jewish red lines
by Rob Eshman
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Dec. 1. Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters
I wish I could draw.
A
few years back, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood before
the United Nations General Assembly with a cartoonish drawing of a bomb
meant to illustrate Iran’s march toward achieving a nuclear weapon. He
pointed to a red line across the top of the image, indicating the point
of no return at which the mullahs were sure to go nuclear.
If
I could draw, I would send the prime minister a picture that represents
American Jewry — say, in the shape of the Liberty Bell — and draw a red
line across some part of it. That line would represent how far Israel
can push against its democratic principles before it loses
American-Jewish support.
Netanyahu
got a lot of ridicule for his picture, and I’m sure I’d get some for
mine. But sometimes, as the prime minister must know, you just have to
break it down for people, so they get it.
So,
here goes: There exists, I believe, a red line in the relationship
between American Jewry and Israel, and that red line is democracy.
The
reason the nation-state identity bill, which the prime minister
supports, has precipitated a crisis in Israel is that those red lines
exist for the Israeli public, as well — both Jews and Arabs. They,
after all, have the largest stake in this debate, which is about the
very nature of their country.
The
bill, called “Israel, the Nation-State of the Jewish People,” would
formally identify Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people,
affirm Jewish law as the inspiration for its legislation, and delist
Arabic as an official language. Unlike the country’s Declaration of
Independence, the bill makes no mention of Israel as a democratic
country or of the rights of its non-Jewish citizens.
As
numerous commentators have pointed out, the law’s intent cannot
possibly be to affirm Israel as a Jewish state — something the country’s
Declaration of Independence already accomplished. That document also
promises “complete equality of social and political rights to all its
inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex and will guarantee
freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture.”
In
the region where Israel thrives, those words are as rare and precious
as water. Drain them of their power and Israel as we know it withers and
dies.
Instead,
the proposed law would seriously undermine those rights, privileging
one group, demeaning others and, eventually, frighteningly, laying the
legal groundwork to single out and mistreat Israel’s minority. Can I be
blunt? This proposed law lays the legal framework for apartheid.
And that, I’m certain, is the red line.
American
Jews cherish the fact that Israel is a Jewish state. It may be hard for
some to wrap their heads around, but a country can be a haven for one
people, and utilize its symbols, holidays, and religious and cultural
inheritance as the basis for civic life without disenfranchising other
citizens who live there, or impeding their prosperity or religious
practices. There are countries around the world with state religions
that embody varying degrees of freedom and democracy, from Anglican
England to Muslim Saudi Arabia to Buddhist Cambodia. By objective
international measurements of democratic norms, Israel, within its Green
Line, ranks pretty high among them.
Is
Israel, at 66 years old, a perfect democracy? No. America at 66 was a
slave-holding, white Christian male redoubt, with some beautiful words
and ideals to live up to. And, as the news constantly reminds us, the
United States is still a work in progress. Israel, too, is a
functioning, struggling democracy.
As
it strives to be a more perfect union, Israel has the moral, financial
and political support of American Jews, who know from experience
stretching back to 1776 that no country and no system of government, in
the history of civilization, has done more to defend our rights, protect
our heritage and unleash our potential.
The
irony here is that it is democracy that protected American Jews and
enabled them to flourish here. It allowed American Jews to express their
identity by joining in the struggle for a Jewish state. They were not
cheerleaders or even bit players; they were instrumental in procuring
the funds, weapons and political support that made Israel
possible. Because of the United States’ political system that gave Jews a
voice as a minority, they were the key to getting the world’s largest
and strongest nation to back one of the world’s smallest and most
vulnerable nations. In other words, the system of government so
threatened by this proposed law is the same one that enabled the Jews
who support it to thrive in the land of Israel in the first place.
Will
American Jews support Israel no matter what? Some will — a minority of
a minority. But it is a Jewish and democratic Israel that American
Jewry signed up for, and it is only that Israel that will inspire, and
deserve, their support.
I know Benjamin Netanyahu knows all this. He is a very smart man. He certainly doesn’t need me to draw him any pictures.
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