Yet another double standard
Elliott Abrams shows that the continuing 'Palestinian' and Arab refusal to accept Israel as a Jewish state is yet another double standard. The whole idea behind the partition of the Palestine Mandate in 1947 was, in the words of U.N. General Assembly resolution 181, the creation of an “Arab state” and a “Jewish state.” The Arab rejection of Israel as a Jewish state is in fact at the heart of the Middle East conflict. It is based on the widespread refusal to accept Israel as a permanent presence in the region, but is usually couched in more acceptable terminology—indeed, the language of “rights.” As one news story put it, “Palestinian negotiators have recognized Israel’s right to exist, but not as a Jewish state, which officials say would prejudice the right of return for refugees and violate the rights of Israel’s non-Jewish residents.”By the way, this is not limited to Muslim states - there are Christian states as well, and that's fine with the rest of the world. Read the whole thing.
In other words, the argument is that if Israel is a “Jewish state” it will certainly, unavoidably, necessarily discriminate against non-Jews. The problem with this debating point is that those who use it apply it only to Israel; no one ever voices any concern about states based on Islam and discriminating in favor of Muslims.
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So the usual arguments against the acknowledgement of Israel as a Jewish state are hypocritical and specious. Every Arab state is far more Islamic than the “Jewish state” of Israel is Jewish; to take one example, Israel imposes no religious test for the offices of president or prime minister. Moreover, the treatment of religious minorities is far better than in the Muslim states, as the flat ban on building even a single church in Saudi Arabia and the repeated violence against Christians in Egypt and Pakistan remind us. If some secular professor maintains that all states should be devoid of religious identity, fair enough; that is a principled argument. But when Arab political leaders say they will never acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state, that isn’t an argument at all. It is a reminder of their continuing refusal to make peace with the Jewish state and with the very idea that the Jews can have a state in what they view as the Dar al-Islam.
Labels: double standards, Islamic republics, Israel is a Jewish state
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:32 PM
1 Comments:
The Roger Cohens of the world dismiss the issue of Jewish sovereignty as a sideshow. But its at the root of the Arab-Israeli conflict for the past century. Without recognition of the Jewish nature of Israel and that its people are entitled to national self-determination, no peace process will go anywhere.
When you come right down to it, this indifference, I should more correctly state, hostility to Jewish national aspirations is a form of anti-Semitism.
No one is bothered by the existence of Muslim and Christian states. But its the pesky Jews who upset the proverbial applecart by insisting on recognition of their national sovereignty.
There they go again throwing a monkey-wrench into the peace process. That's how little weight Israel's most vital interests have in the councils of the international community!
What could go wrong indeed
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