Stating the obvious
Regarding “Tens of thousands protest Nation-State Law” (August 5), I really don’t know what all the fuss is about. While there is a distinction made between “church and state,” the United Kingdom is characterized as a Christian Protestant entity.
One obvious example arising from this nation state definition is that while Christmas Day is a public holiday in the UK, Yom Kippur is not. English is the official language rather than one of the many others that are widely spoken. That does not make me feel like a second-class citizen. I respect the fact that this is so and it does not alter my allegiance to my country in any way.
What I do expect, however, is that as members of a longstanding, loyal, peaceful and productive community, Jewish employees should be treated with understanding and respect by their employers and that, wherever possible, mutually agreeable arrangements should be negotiated in order to ease the burdens that would otherwise arise for those members of the Jewish community who wish to comply with the requirements of Halacha. In broader society, I would expect the practices of shechita and brit mila, for example, to be respected and protected in law.
The Nation-State Law recently passed in the Knesset is surely no different in principle. As long as minority populations within Israel can continue to enjoy the same civil rights and legal protection as its Jewish citizens, then the law is simply – using a phrase that fans of Monty Python’s Flying Circus may recognize – a “statement of the bleeding obvious.” DANIEL B. MYERS Netanya
While it does appear that there were thousands at the protest rally, I have to wonder where all the funding and organization for these rallies comes from. They have a concert stage with multiple multimedia screens so they are not exactly spontaneous. That is really rather expensive to set up. I’d be curious to know who was funding it and what their actual motivations are. Perhaps it would behoove your paper to print what the law actually says. I’ve read it and I like it; it does nothing to cause unequal treatment before the law (the major claim of the protesters).
JAMES BLEVISS Jerusalem