It sounds like a bad joke, but it really happened: A rabbi went from Israel to Peru, converted agroup of Native Americans to Judaism, brought them to this country and put them in asettlement, on land taken away from its Palestinian owners. There they receive, as allsettlers do, generous government subsidies, paid for with money taken away from thousands ofIsraelis living below the poverty line. There they can live happily ever after (unless theyleave the settlement in an unarmored car, in which case they may be ambushed by the originalPalestinian owners.)
What causes a state to bring total strangers from another hemisphere in order to displace thenative people, who gave lived there for many centuries, at the price of an eternal bloodyconflict? The answer touches the foundations of Israel.
Since the founding of the state, its emissaries have been searching for “Jews”. In the formerSoviet Union, Jews were discovered either by finding Christians with remote Jewish familyconnections (the “Jewish grandmother”) or by simply forging documents. Nobody knows howmany non-Jews were thus brought to Israel by the Jewish Agency and other organizations – atleast 200 thousand, perhaps 400 thousand. According to the laws of Israel, they wereautomatically accorded citizenship.
A few days ago, the “National Demographic Council” was revived, after being condemned toinactivity for some years. This is an institution that is supposed to deal with what manyIsraelis consider the state’s most important problem – more important than the war with thePalestinians, Saddam’s weapons of annihilation, growing unemployment and the economiccrisis.
The “demographic problem” is being pondered in universities, talked about in the media,expounded by politicians and commentators.
“Experts” with computers are calculating what will be the percentage of Jews in Israel in 10,25, 50 or a hundred years time. Will they be less than 78%? Or – God forbid! – only 75%? Will thewomb of the orthodox Jewish woman, in addition to expected immigration, balance theproduction of the Arab uterus?
And if not, what can be done? Some propose encouraging Jewish births while resolutelydiscouraging Arab natural increase. Some suggest preventing Jewish immigrants from Russiafrom bringing with them Christian family members (allowed by the Law of Return in its presentform.) Some demand the immediate expulsion of all foreign workers, before they settle downand establish families. Some pray for a wave of anti-Semitism in France or Argentina (butdefinitely not in the United States), that will push multitudes of Jews towards Israel. Many,including members of Sharon’s government, support the simplest solution: driving all Arabsout of the country. The “new historian”, Benny Morris, recently hinted that Ben-Gurionshould have done this in 1948.
The attitude of the state to it Arab citizens, who now number 19% of the population, reminds oneof Pharaoh, who – according to the Bible – told his people how to deal with another nationalminority: “Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply.” And of the methodemployed: “They made their lives bitter.” (Exodus, 1)
According to the official definition, Israel is a “Jewish Democratic State”. This wasenshrined in law and endorsed by the Supreme Court. In theory, there is no contradictionbetween the two adjectives: The state is Jewish, but democracy safeguards equality fornon-Jews, too. Or, alternatively, the state is democratic, but safeguards its Jewishcharacter.
In reality, this is not a “Jewish democratic state” but a “Jewish demographic state”.Demography overcomes democracy in all fields of action. An Arab citizen feels at every turn,since childhood, that he has no part in the state, that he is, at most, a tolerated resident. Inevery government office, police station or place of work, even in the Knesset, he is treateddifferently from a Jew, even in times of quiet. True, apart from the Law of Return, which gives a”Jew” and his family (but not to Arab refugees) the absolute right to come to Israel, no lawdiscriminates between a “Jew” and a non-Jew. But this is only make-believe: numerous lawsaccord special privileges to persons “to whom the Law of Return applies”, without mentioning”Jews” specifically.
This is so self evident, that all state officials act accordingly without even being aware ofit. The “Israel Land Authority” distributes land to Jews, not to Arabs. All state developmentprojects include Jews only. Among the hundreds of new towns and villages set up since thefounding of Israel, not a single one was established for Arabs. There is no Arab minister in theGovernment, no Arab judge on the Supreme Court bench.
Usually, all these omissions are explained away by the ongoing Israeli-Palestinianconflict. After all, Israel’s Arab citizens are Palestinians, too. But the question is whatcauses what: does the conflict create the anti-Arab attitude or does the anti-Arab attitudeprolong the conflict?
Critics of Israel accuse it of practicing “Apartheid”, the South African racist doctrine.This analogy may be partly misleading. Unlike Apartheid, Zionism is not based on race, but on amixture of ghetto mentality and 19 th century European nationalism.
Ghetto mentality is the spirit of a persecuted, isolated community, which saw the whole worldas divided between Jews and Goyim (gentiles). European nationalism strove for a homogeneousnational-ethnic state. The Jewish demographic state has absorbed both these elements: ahomogeneous Jewish national-ethnic state, with as few non-Jews as possible.
In Europe, where classical nationalism was born, it is giving way to the modern Americanoutlook, which considers that every holder of a US passport belongs to the American nation,irrespective of race and ethnic origin. This has helped it becoming the most powerful state inthe world, culturally, economically, and militarily. European nation-states aregradually ceding sovereignty to the European Union, and their citizenship is accorded toforeign immigrants, too, who contribute to their economy and safeguard their social welfaresystem. In Germany, children of immigrants born in the country receive citizenship, Britainand France are even more liberal.
Israel is faced with a historical choice: to go back to being a Jewish ghetto, with demographicanxieties and state trappings, or to go forwards towards a new national outlook, on theAmerican-European model.
Zionism was the last European national movement. Israeli colonialism, too, has come 200years too late. So it is perhaps natural that the challenge of adopting a new national outlookcomes rather late. But in the end, I hope, the Jewish Demographic State will be replaced by theIsraeli Democratic Republic, for the welfare and security of its citizens.