The Jewish State
The PA leadership have announced that although they are ready to recognize Israel (something that Arafat supposedly did three times before), they could not recognize it as a Jewish State. In other words, the idea of a specifically Jewish State is anathema to them. Some of them also mentioned that to define a State according to a religion is unacceptable, even though most of the Arab States are defined as Muslim States in their constitutions, and some even prevent the entry of any other religions, such as Saudi Arabia, where anything but Islam is unacceptable! This is the height of hyposcrisy and a good excuse, following Arafat's lead, to find any reason to avoid actual recognition of Israel. They expect us to recognize their right to a State while at the same time continuing to avoid recognizing our State, that is already in existence for 60 years and is recognized by the UN. What chutzpah!
However, this problem is not only found among Palestinians. A few years ago I went with a colleague originally from the former Soviet Union to the Ministry of Science in Tel Aviv to see the Adminstrative Assistant of the Minister, with a view to requesting some support or funding for the World Congress of Jewish Scientists. We had already visited once before, and we were told that some money had been set aside to help us organize a conference in Israel, but then there was delay and the Government changed and the Minister changed and all his administrators. So it was like starting from scratch.
We went in to meet this Assistant, and she was a very business-like youngish woman. We were aware that without her agreement we would not get anywhere. We had sent her some material, but obviously she had not looked at it. So now she read through the preamble of the description of our organization, and in it it stated something like, "Israel is the Jewish State, and there should be an organization of scientists here who identify as Jews and who can connect with their Jewish colleagues around the world." We thought this was very innocuous, but she immediately took offense. She said how can you say, "Israel is the Jewish State,'" what about all those citizens who are not Jewish? Well, we said this organization has nothing directly to do with them. But she insisted, and said no we can't have that in anything that the Ministry supports, and she crossed it out! We were very taken aback and didn't know how to respond. Maybe she was looking for an excuse, but if so she certainly had found one. Well, we said, it is generally recognized that Israel is the Jewish State, so why can't we say that. Oh, she said the Minister will never accept that! And she gave us back the material with the fact that "Israel is the Jewish State" crossed out.
We wanted to argue with her, but obviously it would have been pointless. Whether or not she was an extreme leftist herself, or whether or not that represented her Minister's viewpoint we'll never know. We were asked to call back, and of course we were told that the money that had been set aside had been diverted for other pusposes. End of story.
I found it shocking that a senior civil servant in the Israeli Government would deny that "Israel is the Jewish State." But, there are plenty of others out there, including many liberal/leftist Jews, who seek to undermine this fact. As far as I am concerned they can go to hell, in the same basket as the Palestinian leadership.
However, this problem is not only found among Palestinians. A few years ago I went with a colleague originally from the former Soviet Union to the Ministry of Science in Tel Aviv to see the Adminstrative Assistant of the Minister, with a view to requesting some support or funding for the World Congress of Jewish Scientists. We had already visited once before, and we were told that some money had been set aside to help us organize a conference in Israel, but then there was delay and the Government changed and the Minister changed and all his administrators. So it was like starting from scratch.
We went in to meet this Assistant, and she was a very business-like youngish woman. We were aware that without her agreement we would not get anywhere. We had sent her some material, but obviously she had not looked at it. So now she read through the preamble of the description of our organization, and in it it stated something like, "Israel is the Jewish State, and there should be an organization of scientists here who identify as Jews and who can connect with their Jewish colleagues around the world." We thought this was very innocuous, but she immediately took offense. She said how can you say, "Israel is the Jewish State,'" what about all those citizens who are not Jewish? Well, we said this organization has nothing directly to do with them. But she insisted, and said no we can't have that in anything that the Ministry supports, and she crossed it out! We were very taken aback and didn't know how to respond. Maybe she was looking for an excuse, but if so she certainly had found one. Well, we said, it is generally recognized that Israel is the Jewish State, so why can't we say that. Oh, she said the Minister will never accept that! And she gave us back the material with the fact that "Israel is the Jewish State" crossed out.
We wanted to argue with her, but obviously it would have been pointless. Whether or not she was an extreme leftist herself, or whether or not that represented her Minister's viewpoint we'll never know. We were asked to call back, and of course we were told that the money that had been set aside had been diverted for other pusposes. End of story.
I found it shocking that a senior civil servant in the Israeli Government would deny that "Israel is the Jewish State." But, there are plenty of others out there, including many liberal/leftist Jews, who seek to undermine this fact. As far as I am concerned they can go to hell, in the same basket as the Palestinian leadership.
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:00 PM
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