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If I were a Palestinian, I'd *love* for Israel to make a new law saying Israel is the Jewish people's national home
Reader comment on item: Recognizing Israel as the Jewish State: Statements, Actions, Analyses
Submitted by Anon. (Israel), Feb 26, 2014 at 15:21
First of all, making it a "law", reeks of weakness and suggests it's debatable (try to imagine Italy making a similar law).
Second of all, and more importantly, it would suggest that Israel hadn't really been the Jewish state up to now, making it difficult to argue that Palestinians should recognize something which didn't quite exist up until now.
Israel is the Jewish state. That has never even been questioned. Trying to enshrine it in law makes absolutely no sense and it only useful for those who wish to posture.
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Daniel Pipes replies:
Why is this a sign of weakness? As I documented elsewhere, it's a common enough step around the world:
Not only do 56 states and the PLO belong to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, but most of them, including the PLO, make the Shari'a (Islamic law) their main or only source of legislation. Saudi Arabia even requires that every subject be a Muslim.
Further, the religious-national nexus extends well beyond Muslim countries. Argentinean law,Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe points out, "mandates government support for the Roman Catholic faith. Queen Elizabeth II is the supreme governor of the Church of England. In the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, the constitution proclaims Buddhism the nation's 'spiritual heritage.' … 'The prevailing religion in Greece,' declares Section II of the Greek Constitution, 'is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ'."
Reader comments (84) on this item
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Title | Commenter | Date | Thread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legal and Ethical Basis For "State Of Israel" Recognition [121 words] | Robert Rosenthal | Apr 6, 2014 19:17 | 214333 | ||
| The two claimants for Palestine at the Paris Peace Talks in 1919 were the Arab People and the Jewish People. [195 words] | Wallace Edward Brand | Mar 17, 2014 23:36 | 213865 | ||
| "the Jewish homeland" vs "the Jewish state" [86 words] | Motke | Mar 14, 2014 04:28 | 213780 | ||
| 1 |  Survival Depends On Knowing One's Enemies [114 words] | Lujack Skylark | Mar 17, 2014 15:00 | 213780 | |
| Washington: PA doesn't need to recognize Jewish Israel [216 words] | PezDispenser | Mar 9, 2014 04:54 | 213650 | ||
| Kerry: 'Jewish state' demand 'a mistake' [50 words] | Motke | Mar 14, 2014 04:13 | 213650 | ||
 If I were a Palestinian, I'd *love* for Israel to make a new law saying Israel is the Jewish people's national home [90 words]w/response from Daniel Pipes | Anon. | Feb 26, 2014 15:21 | 213445 | ||
| In response. [203 words] | Anon. | Mar 1, 2014 15:11 | 213445 | ||
| What if the PA recognizes Israel as a Jewish State in English but not in Arabic? [51 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | PezDispenser | Feb 9, 2014 09:13 | 213088 | ||
| Add this Jordanian quote to the list [18 words] | PezDispenser | Feb 5, 2014 10:39 | 212984 | ||
| 1 | He is the best [4 words] | Jon Purizhansky | Jan 24, 2014 14:14 | 212798 | |
| 1 | Bevin to Parliament 1947 [66 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Jerome Verlin | Jan 23, 2014 23:03 | 212779 | |
| 1 | Questioning the wisdom [102 words] | Shai Solomon | Jan 23, 2014 16:21 | 212772 | |
| 1 | Touching a nerve [63 words] | David W. Lincoln | Jan 22, 2014 20:04 | 212758 | |
| 2 | Quid Pro Quo [24 words] | Edward | Jan 12, 2014 13:44 | 212618 | |
| 'Palestinians' Never Learning Why It Can Never Be [108 words] | M. Tovey | Jan 6, 2014 15:35 | 212495 | ||
| 1 | Yes, You Do Need Recognition, Yair [80 words] | Dave | Oct 17, 2013 12:17 | 210486 | |
| Very disturbing news [109 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Alexandros | Oct 12, 2013 14:46 | 210409 | ||
| 1 | Jewish/Islamic/Christian/etc state is essentially racist [56 words] | Karim | Jul 21, 2013 23:29 | 208399 | |
| 4 | Rebuttal to Karim [177 words] | PezDispenser | Oct 17, 2013 12:40 | 208399 | |
| 4 | What is the point of the phony peace talks? [477 words] | Lujack Skylark | Jul 20, 2013 23:39 | 208379 | |
| Ezekiel 38 America [83 words] | Brandon pals | Mar 13, 2014 20:29 | 208379 | ||
| Ezekiel's Gog/Magog Prophecy Is About Russia and Russia's allies vs. Israel. [171 words] | Lujack Skylark | Mar 15, 2014 00:41 | 208379 | ||
| I thought Bush demanded Arafat recognize Israel as a Jewish state [20 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Abu Nudnik | Mar 26, 2013 11:29 | 204716 | ||
| Few Oddities [194 words] | Amin Riaz | Mar 25, 2013 19:45 | 204699 | ||
| 2 | Charity starts at home [135 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 20, 2013 19:51 | 204699 | |
| I am way, way too smart [95 words] | Amin Riaz | Jul 22, 2013 10:39 | 204699 | ||
| 3 | The Hindu Genocide [119 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 23, 2013 06:57 | 204699 | |
| 3 | And speaking of the nonsensical [152 words] | dhimmi no more | Jul 23, 2013 12:06 | 204699 | |
| 1 | All answers are in Pg99 of Al Mawrid Pg426 of Hans Wher [70 words] | Amin Riaz | Jul 24, 2013 10:49 | 204699 | |
| 1 | Further return [66 words] | Kepha Hor | Dec 24, 2013 18:35 | 204699 | |
| Troubled Mathematics [91 words] | Amin Riaz | Dec 25, 2013 21:26 | 204699 | ||
| 3 | The Arabs and wannabe Arabs can go back to al-Hijaz [480 words] | dhimmi no more | Dec 26, 2013 09:09 | 204699 | |
| 1 | Guess which page number you will find answers? [102 words] | Amin Riaz | Dec 27, 2013 21:27 | 204699 | |
| 1 | Israel as a contiguous Jewish state [48 words] | George | Mar 22, 2013 16:08 | 204582 | |
| 6 | Shocking News [229 words] | Alexandros | Mar 22, 2013 13:04 | 204578 | |
| Obama as Israel as Jewish state? Not so fast: He mentioned "sons of Abraham" ,not sons of Jacob [37 words] | Shishir | Mar 22, 2013 04:20 | 204571 | ||
| 1 | Daughters of Sarah [52 words] | sara | Mar 22, 2013 16:38 | 204571 | |
| 1 | Israel as a Jewish state. [44 words] | George | Mar 22, 2013 18:10 | 204571 | |
| I see your point about Sarah, Sara...very odd that Obama did this though [140 words] | Shishir | Mar 23, 2013 02:49 | 204571 | ||
| George you misread me [33 words] | Shishir | Mar 24, 2013 00:17 | 204571 | ||
| 4 | making the case for The Jewish state from the palestinian perspective [285 words] | myth | May 28, 2011 06:14 | 185663 | |
| 3 | reasonable but off base [52 words] | yuval | Mar 21, 2013 12:08 | 185663 | |
| 1 | That's the entity he desires commit suicide [101 words] | yuval Brandstetter MD | May 27, 2011 16:13 | 185649 | |
| Why give up any land? [5 words] | Jude | Mar 22, 2013 20:02 | 185649 | ||
| Islam as a national entity [104 words] | Joe Six-Pack | May 25, 2011 09:02 | 185558 | ||
| Jewish Israel [53 words] | Jay1 | May 24, 2011 18:34 | 185538 | ||
| ONE ISLAM NATION [89 words] | Peter Ramsey | Nov 9, 2009 11:58 | 164265 | ||
| 3 | The Muslim leaders are beginning to think. [183 words] | Lynn | Oct 2, 2009 08:09 | 162457 | |
| 1 | Better Call it a Secular State [133 words] | Abdulkarim Al-Habsi | Sep 29, 2009 01:40 | 162273 | |
| 2 | NO SUCH THING AS A 'palestinian'. [250 words] | gordon weare | Sep 17, 2009 18:08 | 161706 | |
| 4 | Who are the Palestinians [117 words] | Abdulkarim Al-Habsi | Sep 29, 2009 01:22 | 161706 | |
| 3 | The 'palestinian race' propaganda! [137 words] | Gordon Weare | Sep 29, 2009 22:02 | 161706 | |
| 1 | Who is the looney? [81 words] | Abdulkarim Al-Habsi | Oct 1, 2009 00:31 | 161706 | |
| 5 | Israel A Wasteland if not in Israeli Hands ? YES !! [319 words] | Gordon Weare | Oct 1, 2009 23:09 | 161706 | |
| 1 | I have no problme with that [100 words] | Abdulkarim Al-Habsi | Oct 4, 2009 03:30 | 161706 | |
| 2 | Oh So Predictable [151 words] | Gordon Weare | Oct 4, 2009 19:39 | 161706 | |
| 1 | Keep repeating a lie often enough until it becomes a truth [214 words] | Silverio Facundo Yareaj | May 23, 2011 19:02 | 161706 | |
| Denial of Judaism in Israel. [142 words] | Lynn | Aug 20, 2009 13:25 | 160477 | ||
| 2 | Islamic hypocrisy knows no bounds [67 words] | George | Aug 15, 2009 15:49 | 160231 | |
| Grand Kufar of Infidelistan. [102 words] | Drew | Oct 1, 2009 21:08 | 160231 | ||
| What's So great ? [61 words] | drew | Oct 3, 2009 22:44 | 160231 | ||
| 43 | ALL muslim states are ISLAMIC, Israel deserves equal treatment [399 words] | Phil Greend | Aug 13, 2009 15:46 | 160164 | |
| Reality check [116 words] | Chrisona | May 5, 2009 17:07 | 154980 | ||
| 2 | Recognize Israel and Burn Arab Charter[or no peace talks or treaty of any kind.] [168 words] | Clarence Puckett | May 8, 2009 01:01 | 154980 | |
| 1 | God Mandated Israel's Existence. [250 words] | Clarence Puckett | May 9, 2009 01:10 | 154980 | |
| Rejecting Ireland as an Irish state, and Saudi Arabia as an Arab state. [199 words] | Jgarbuz | Apr 23, 2009 10:51 | 154359 | ||
| Does everyone know where Abbas was born? [59 words] | Asher | Apr 20, 2009 16:30 | 154169 | ||
| 1 | Why does Israel require recognition from the Palestinians ? [70 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Debanjan Banerjee | Apr 20, 2009 11:27 | 154161 | |
| 2 | Because the Arabs want Israel to be Arab and Muslim [120 words] | Reina | Aug 16, 2009 08:25 | 154161 | |
| Don't forget, also. [106 words] | Lynn | Aug 16, 2009 12:01 | 154161 | ||
| Basis for Negotiation-revisited [419 words] | Jonathan Williams | Apr 19, 2009 19:34 | 154115 | ||
| Norway [32 words] | Jon Purizhansky | Apr 19, 2009 09:11 | 154092 | ||
| IS IT GENETIC ? [164 words] | Gordon Weare | Oct 1, 2009 14:58 | 154092 | ||
| Exactly- a good cluster.... [26 words] | Svet | Oct 3, 2009 04:06 | 154092 | ||
| Bush should recognize that the "Jewish State" should have included the West Bank and Jordan [170 words] | DrRJP | Jan 14, 2008 10:29 | 118140 | ||
| A question about Bush's mixed message [21 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes | Pez Dispenser | Jan 13, 2008 04:14 | 118065 | ||
| "Recognition" vs "Acceptance" [340 words] | joshua sandler | Jan 2, 2008 12:58 | 117344 | ||
| Recognition [94 words] | Debra | Jan 3, 2008 18:03 | 117344 | ||
| 1 | Not necessarily so [229 words] | Seth Johnston, M.D. | Jan 10, 2008 09:08 | 117344 | |
| Palestinians' Dreams [287 words] | joshua sandler | Jan 27, 2008 02:49 | 117344 | ||
| May the hand of G-d fall properly upon Ehud Olmert. [33 words] | Ynnatchkah | Jan 1, 2008 18:46 | 117298 | ||
| Annapolis [43 words] | steven L | Dec 27, 2007 17:23 | 117008 | ||
| Recognizing Israel as "Jewish" is rather meaningless [93 words] | Charles Martel | Dec 27, 2007 14:03 | 116988 |
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