Rebuttal to Karim

Submitted by PezDispenser (Israel), Oct 17, 2013 at 12:40

The "Jewish" in "Jewish State" is more analagous to the "French" identifier of the French State, rather than an imposition of religion. And in Israel, the umbrella term "Israeli" is wide enough to encompass all the minorities. Yes, Israel has "church & state" issues (or rather more accurately, religious vs. secular tensions), but so does the USA.

Assuming you know a bit about Theodore Herzel's background (and about the anti-religious nature of the early Zionist pioneers), it's fairly obvious that he envisioned a secular, democratic, State of the Jews with full rights for minorities rather than a theocratic Jewish State. A quick look at the Israeli Declaration of Independence proves this point.

And finally, one must be careful with the term racist. It is thrown around way too much these days as a way to shut down debate. Israel cannot be racist since Jews who live there are of all colors and skin tones. Anti-[specific religion] or anti-[enemy nationality] would be better terms to use than racist, but all of them are also incorrect in Israel's case.

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