emotions' SOLE controller

Nov 17 2014, 11:35 AM

That's right bytches. This is my thread now, so this thread is about Israel now.

And don't you ever forget it, either.

Ever.

Zechariah

Nov 17 2014, 11:45 AM

... You really think you can do that ?...

emotions' SOLE controller

Nov 17 2014, 11:17 AM

A Sobering Look at Israel’s Fading Democracy

By AVRAHAM BURG


...Its capitalism has erased much of the social solidarity of the past, with the exception of a few remaining vestiges of a welfare state. Israel defines itself as a “Jewish and democratic state.” However, because Israel has never created a system of checks and balances between these two sources of authority, they are closer than ever to a terrible clash.

In the early years of statehood, the meaning of the term “Jewish” was national and secular. In the eyes of Israel’s founding fathers, to be a Jew was exactly like being an Italian, Frenchman or American. Over the years, this elusive concept has changed; today, the meaning of “Jewish” in Israel is mainly ethnic and religious.

With the elevation of religious solidarity over and above democratic authority, Israel has become more fundamentalist and less modern, more separatist and less open to the outside world. I see the transformation in my own family. My father, one of the founders of the state of Israel and of the National Religious Party, was an enlightened rabbi and philosopher. Many of the younger generation are far less open, however; some are ultra-Orthodox or ultranationalist settlers.

This extremism was not the purpose of creating a Jewish state. Immigrants from all over the world dreamed of a government that would be humane and safe for Jews. The founders believed that democracy was the only way to regulate the interests of many contradictory voices. Jewish culture, consolidated through Halakha, the religious Jewish legal tradition, created a civilization that has devoted itself to an unending conversation among different viewpoints and the coexistence of contradictory attitudes toward the fulfillment of the good.

The modern combination between democracy and Judaism was supposed to give birth to a spectacular, pluralistic kaleidoscope. The state would be a great, robust democracy that would protect Jews against persecution and victimhood. Jewish culture, on the other hand, with its uncompromising moral standards, would guard against our becoming persecutors and victimizers of others...

emotions' SOLE controller

Nov 17 2014, 11:49 AM

Zechariah

Nov 17 2014, 11:45 AM

... You really think you can do that ?...

90% of the last 5-6 posts here, focus on Israel.

That's right bytches. Because this is my thread now, so it's about Israel now.

Zechariah

Nov 17 2014, 11:51 AM

...People enter this thread to see what I posted...

emotions' SOLE controller

Nov 17 2014, 11:54 AM

Zechariah

Nov 17 2014, 11:51 AM

...People enter this thread to see what I posted...

You old fossil...you should know by now that I don't care who all is interested, in whatever, bcuz I only care that whoever enters this thread will have to inadvertently ... mainly read posts about Israel's rape of Democracy.

You fake fucc.