At least Bar is honest

Submitted by PT (United States), Oct 30, 2009 at 03:23

Israel as a western democracy will never make sense to anyone who is logical and half-way honest with themselves. Why should Bar Refaeli, a secular Jew who has little if any faith in God, risk her life and engage in killing of other human beings for an Israel that tries to be a Los Angeles or a New York when she can have the real Los Angeles or New York without all the killing and dying? The confusion here stems from the dishonesty on the part of the secular Jew living in Israel and the secular Israeli supporter living outside of Israel. To start with, what does it even mean for a person who is a secular, atheist or agnostic to call himself "Jewish"? True, a person who left his Jewish faith is still consider Jewish by the Jewish community because that's what Jewish law requires. But Jewish law requirements ought to mean nothing to an honest FORMER Jew, and how the Jewish community, to which he no longer belongs to, views him ought to mean even less.

Why shouldn't that same former Jew believe that Christ died for his sins or that Muhammad was his last prophet? For Pipes, who celebrates the self-thinking of "moderate" and ex Muslims, to call Bar's views "radical" is a bit disjointed and perplexing. Similarly, what does it mean that Israel is a Jewish state when it does not follow Jewish law? Jewish law, as written in the Torah and Talmud, is very clear about "Palestinians", or any non-Jewish group, right to live in Israel--they have limited to no right. So why do secular Israeli backers support Israel's right to exists but not Israel's right to exists as a Jewish state? If all we are pushing for is yet another western secular state, why do it on land formerly occupied by Arabs, surrounded by Arab states hostile to that idea? Lets just push for resettling all the Jewish inhabitants of the land of Israel in any number of western democracies. It will spare a lot of lives and will surely be easier than ever achieving peace with "Palestinians".

At least Bar is honest enough with herself to realize that and leave Israel. I wish Tzip Livni, Olmert and their ilks were equally as honest. Here is an excerpt from the book Uncomfortable Questions for Comfortable Jews by Rabbi Meir Kahane: ...[O]nly G-d and Freud can understand the complex terror of Jews in stating what they truly believe and fear about Arabs. Consider this fascinating piece of abnormal psychology in the Knesset in November, 1985, concerning the sale of land by Jews to Arabs. The motion was raised by Likud Knesset member Benny Shalita and responding was Minister of Agriculture, Arye Nachamkin: Nachamkin: We have to gather every shekel and establish a public fund to buy every dunham of land up for sale. Shalita: But outside foreign forces offer much more.

At this point Abdal Darwasha, an Arab labor party member of Knesset, interrupted: Darwasha: Mr. Minister, are the Arabs of Israel a foreign factor? Nachamkin: I didn't say that. Darwasha: Shalita did. Shalita: I didn't say that. Darwasha: But you meant it. Shalita: I never said "Arab." Darwasha: I read your thoughts. Now, of course, Shalita meant Arabs and Nachamkin was calling for a Jewish fund to buy up the land for sale before Arabs did, and the whole debate was about Arabs buying land from Jews. But neither the cabinet minister nor the Knesset member dare to say the word "Arab," which was the key to the whole problem. Only G-d or Freud... To be raised in the above-mentioned Israel without sensing a major schizophrenia, one must need to be a hypocrite. To agree to let such leaders send you to war, one must need to be a fool . Lets give Bar Refaeli credit for being neither.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".