Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
‘Israeli’ as a nationality
TR Firfirey asked an interesting question: “How does religion define a nation?” (Weekend Argus, December 23). Greater minds than his and mine have wrestled with this problem, not least the Israeli Supreme Court.
About four years ago, several prominent Israelis and some Arab citizens petitioned the court to recognise a new category of “Israeli” nationality, that could be applied to all citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA).
The petitioners argued the nationality categorisation system contributed to discrimination against Israel’s Arab citizens. Perhaps that’s where the anti-Israel activists got the idea that the Jewish homeland is an apartheid state. However, nothing can be further from the truth.
The Supreme Court denied the petitioners’ request to recognise Israeli as a nationality. They gave several reasons for their decision. Chief among them was that the change would force Jewish citizens of Israel to choose between being Israeli and Jewish. This change would compel Jewish citizens of Israel to choose between being Israeli and Jewish. Basically, the petitioners wanted to create a new collective Israeli nationality to protect Arab civil rights.
The Jewish State is the only democracy in the Middle East, so all living there have equal rights, and of course, obligations. If Jewish citizens of Israel were to be classified as Israeli, it would mean that Judaism is not a nationality for them but a religion. This is diametrically opposed to the doctrine of Zionism, the national movement of the
Jewish people. Israel is more than a democratic state; it is also a Jewish State. And even though it is a Jewish State, all and I mean all, its citizens have equal rights.
In addition, there is no such place as Palestine. This is an Arab construct. There is no Palestinian language, no Palestinian culture, no Palestinian history and before the birth of Zionism – there were no Palestinian people. It has never been the name of a nation or state. It is a geographical term, used to designate the region when there was no nation or state there. The term comes from “Peleshet” (in English a Philistine).
What a pity Firfirey’s letter is laced with such emotive words as deny, exclude, force, and even “stolen (with the help of G-D)” 3 000 years ago. Of course G-D would help the Jews, after all we are His chosen people. He didn’t have to steal anything, it belonged to Him. To answer Firfirey’s original question: I am Jewish and South African. I am a South African Jew or a Jewish South African. Take your pick.