At times, it is difficult to understand what should be straightforward logic. I hear so-called experts on the Middle East talk about Israel as one of the most forward, if not the only democracy in the Middle East. Everyone knows or should know the United Nations created Israel as a homeland for Jews. Small acts of anti-Semitism coalesced into pogroms, perhaps maturing in Russia, and finally culminating in the ghastly extermination camps run by the Nazi and known as the “Holocaust”. It sickened the world. The reality of the situation untied the world to respond positively to the call by Zionist leaders to create a land where Jews would forever be safe. Once, they selected the Holy Land; the world cast a die for trouble that is destined to plague the world forever. None of us who vigorously supported the effort had it thought out, as we should have. We chose to believe the new nation would be in unoccupied land—I distinctly remember politicians using the term ‘wasteland”. This mistake was destined to make headlines for the next 67 years, as we all know. We ignored the fact that people owned that land; Jews, Palestine Muslims, and Christians occupied the chosen land, which means it was their homes. More importantly, various small areas in that land, have deep religious significance to them. Still, the biggest misunderstanding or failure in logic was something even more fundamental.
The world intentionally created Israel as a Jewish-dominated state, where Jews could feel safe. A state where there would never be a pogrom—ever. However, this is where physical reality clashes with religious reality. There is and never will be a drive to create a physical home for Catholics in Italy as there is for Jews in Israel. Compare, for example, the Vatican, the religious home of Catholicism, with Israel, the religious home of Jews. The Vatican is not a Catholic State. It is not a sovereign nation. It has no plurality. It has no homegrown political leader. Most important there is no pretense it will be a democracy. I believe that the world saw the Israel in their mind as something other than it turned out. Certainly, that was my case. I never foresaw such strife. I suppose I can cover my ignorance or oversight by saying I though the land was unoccupied; therefore, there would be no opposition to Jewish dominance.
The concept of Democracy—one-person one vote and the majority rules—is being challenged in Israel, in a way I never thought about before. Democracy in a territory occupied only be Jews could be a Jewish Democracy; a way they could select leaders from among Jews. Recently, Islamic nations have joined in what they term the ‘Arab Spring’. A caliphate is a government headed by a Caliph or religious leader chosen by other religious leaders, just as happens in the Vatican. Cardinals use democratic methods to choose a Pope, but I have never heard Catholic refer to the process of choosing of a Pope as a democratic process. The Arab spring modeled after the United States, is different; they are using democratic methods for “all the people” to choose their leader.
The recent Israeli election made it clear; there is an Arab population in Israel, and they used democratic methods, but it is not a Democracy as so many of them proclaim. The surprising thing is that it never should be. The world created Israel to be Jewish State, and it must stay a Jewish state. That was the intention of its creation. The entire world agrees with that premise.
Now we are where the rubber hits the road. The closest approximation to reality we can ever have is a two-State solution. An Israeli State dominated by Jews and a Palestinian state dominated by Palestinians. If the Jews could stop falsely claiming to be the most democratic state in the Middle East; they are not and should never be. They could stop all the propaganda antics of hating Muslims to create problems in many host countries that are proud of their Jewish citizens and expect their loyalty. Netanyahu asking Jews from these troubled spots all over the world to move to Israel was disgraceful. He did that to ensure they maintain a Jewish majority in all Palestine. The Jews have to be satisfied with the land they have and not enter the tail-chasing exercise of causing trouble around the world to get Jews to move to Palestinian territory. All this does make things worse; it creates the need for more land for right-wing political advantage over people who they do not have the right to dominate. Netanyahu fails to understand why Ben-Gurion formed the first State of Israel, but worst of all he does not seem to understand what Zionism means in terms of the modern world of 2015. Need I remind you what the definition is:
Zionism is a movement for (originally) the re-establishment and (now) the development and protection of a Jewish state in what is now Israel.
Theodor Herzl and later led by Chaim Weizmann established Zionists as a political organization to create a safe religious home for Judaism, a simple dream.
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