Dovbear reacts to my previous post with a comment of such breathtaking stupidity that I can't resist suggesting that he stick to topics he knows something about -- even at the risk of opening a yawning gap in his daily routine. In his original post he wrote:

If it's a democracy, it isn't a Jewish state. And if it's a Jewish state, it can't, with a straight-face, offer full-equality to non-Jews.

After some reflection he altered the post to:

Israel can't have it's cake and eat it, too. If it wants to be a better democracy, this means becoming less of a Jewish state. And vice versa.

The amended version is perhaps not breathtaking, only stupid.

The offer of "full equality for all citizens, collective rights for minorities (Arabs) in exchange for recognition that Israel is a Jewish State" was made by Israel's leading constitutional scholar, Prof. Ruth Gavison, who also headed the Israel Civil Liberties Union for many years.

The thought that the more Israel is Jewish the less it is democratic will also be news to the reactionary who penned the following:

"מדינה יהודית" היא אפוא מדינתו של העם היהודי; זוהי זכותו הטבעית של העם
היהודי להיות ככל עם ועם העומד ברשות עצמו במדינתו הריבונית..."מדינה יהודית" היא
מדינה שההיסטוריה שלה שלובה ושזורה בהיסטוריה של העם היהודי, ששפתה עברית, שעיקרי
חגיה משקפים את תקומתה הלאומית..."מדינה יהודית" היא מדינה המטפחת תרבות יהודית,
חינוך יהודי ואהבת העם היהודי. "מדינה יהודית" היא "הגשמת שאיפת הדורות לגאולת
ישראל". "מדינה יהודית" היא מדינה שערכי החירות, הצדק, היושר והשלום של מורשת ישראל
הם ערכיה. "מדינה יהודית" היא מדינה שערכיה שאובים ממסורתה הדתית, שהתנ"ך הוא
הבסיסי בספריה ונביאי ישראל הם יסוד מוסריותה. "מדינה יהודית" היא מדינה שהמשפט
העברי ממלא בה תפקיד חשוב, שענייני נישואין וגירושין של יהודים מוכרעים על-פי דין
תורה. "מדינה יהודית" היא מדינה שבה ערכיה של תורת ישראל, ערכיה של מורשת היהדות
וערכיה של ההלכה היהודית הם מערכיה הבסיסיים".

I'm too lazy to translate. For those who didn't recognize that quote, it's by Aharon Barak (Parshanut, p. 332)

Dovbear's comment is quaintly provincial in that it is rooted in a trend of thought that is both recent and localized, namely, that the raison d'etre of every democracy must be to simply enforce rights. The notion that a nation may actually have particular values or cultural traditions that it wishes to preserve while guaranteeing civil rights -- the overwhelmingly dominant understanding of democracy wherever and whenever it has flourished -- is apparently incomprehensible to a small number of self-absorbed urban academic Jews in a handful of blue states in the U.S. Some of their cohorts have not yet emigrated from Israel.

For Israel to be a Jewish state means, inter alia, that
- it encourages the preservation of Jewish culture (there is no such law currently)
- it's official language is Hebrew (today Hebrew and Arabic have equal status)
- Shabbos and yomim tovim are the official days of rest
- Jews are given the right to immigrate and obtain citizenship (similar laws appear in the constitutions of Poland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Macadonia and others)
- kashrus is kept in public dining rooms in official state institutions (there is no such law currently)
- state symbols are rooted in Jewish cultural traditions (check out the Swiss flag)
- the public square reflects consensus values (which in Israel's case includes certain Jewish values)

None of the above stand in contradiction to democracy. With specific regard to the last point, if Israel were not subjected to the tyranny of a self-appointing radical court that strikes down every reasonable compromise reached by the legislature on religion and state in the public square, it would be more democratic and more Jewish.

P.S. I've just returned to Israel and, as is perhaps evident, that's put me in great spirits. Some of you might be happy to hear that I've brought along a fine bottle of Jefferson's Reserve.