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TODAY. Time that Israel stopped being a religious dictatorship

What is so badly needed right now ? The truth. Facts. A bit of logic.

Israel has no official religion. Yet the declaration of independence in 1948 made it clear that Israel is “The Jewish State”.

And now – all the Western powers seem to agree with Benjamin Netanyahu - yes Israel IS the Jewish State.

And why does that matter?

Well, look at the past , and the present. What does a theocracy mean for its people?

Well, for hundreds of years up to around the 500 BC time, the Israel lands, especially Judah, were controlled by a state ideology of “Zion theology,”  the idea that Yahweh, the god of Israel, had chosen Jerusalem for his dwelling-place and that the Davidic dynasty would reign there forever. Then the Babylonian conquest happened, and the Hebrew Bible developed in the exiled community. The exiles saw themselves as a people distinct from other peoples.

Oppressed by the Romans, the Jews later became persecuted for centuries by the Christians. In theocratic Europe, the Inquisition developed, culminating in the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition, torturing and killing non-Christians.

So, we see what religiously controlled States did to people, in the past.

And today.

Iran’s Islamic Republic says it all – enforcement of sharia law, oppression of women, oppression of religious minorities, the Supreme Leader exerts ideological and political control over a system dominated by clerics who shadow every major function of the state. 

Saudi Arabia is an Islamic theocracy and the government has declared the Qur’an and the Sunnah (tradition) of Muhammad to be the country’s Constitution. Laws are enforced against religious minorities. It has  the Committee for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, which carries out religious policing, including control over women’s clothing and their lives. There are severe punishments for blasphemy. Education is dominated by a religious focus.

How does Israel get away with pretending not to be a theocracy? 

There’s a worldwide pretence that Jews are an ethnic minority. But Jews are all over the world, and do not have distinctive physical traits or genetic markers.

From the Balfour Declaration of 1917, to the Declaration of Independence in 1948, the world powers seemed to agree that the Palestine communities didn’t matter, and the land could be claimed by Jews who had previously bought properties there, and by the European Jews who survived the Holocaust.

This was grossly unfair to the Palestinians, – and to the Jews, who had little other choice.

But they’re there now. And can’t realistically be moved elsewhere. And Palestinians exist too.

So – everybody has to live with this. It would be a good start if everybody, especially Israeli citizens, recognised the humanity of all people, stopped banging on about “God’s chosen people”, and clearly stated Israel as a secular state.

January 25, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes