69 million page views

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.

Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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'."

Comment on this item

Mark my comment as a response to If I were a Palestinian, I'd *love* for Israel to make a new law saying Israel is the Jewish people's national home by Anon.

Email me if someone replies to my comment

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

See recent outstanding comments.

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2023 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)