September 2005

Students blog on the Jerusalem Post website. If you nominate us, maybe BoZ will be posted there too.

Arik Sharon has taken to begging coalition members to help him finish his term in office–a phenomenon that would make him the third PM in Israel’s history to actually serve the number of years she or he was elected for. That’s kind of pathetic. How can we wish for hope on the foreign front when we have no domestic stability?

Gerald Steinberg analyzes the religious Zionist - Secular Zionist tension

This tension has been deepened by the revival of the old fight over credit for the success of Zionism and the revival of Jewish sovereignty.

The secular ideologists often claim that the rebellion against the European rabbinical establishment provided the source of political Zionism, led by Theodor Herzl and his early followers. In this version of history, religious Jews came later, and were secondary contributors to the diplomatic and military victories that led to the establishment of Israel. Similarly, they dismiss the religious settlement activity after the 1967 war as messianism without a realistic political foundation. The debate about the future of the settlements – particularly in Gaza and beyond the 1949-1967 “Green Line” – reflects this attitude, as do attempts by the religious communities to demonstrate that they contributed as much as the secular Labor movement to the building of Israel.

Read the article to see the way he understands the way that secular and religious Zionism complimented one another. I think the general sense in the RZ community is that secular Zionists got the ball rolling, but it is the relgious Zionists who took up the mantle of ideological leadership soon after.

Finally the Jews have been “humanized” in Pakistan. Before this the Pakistanis were Judaephobes.

One hundred years of the Elders of Zion and we finally score an HBO show.

I found this last paragraph of the article about the UN and Israel in JPost very amusing.

“If a Palestinian representative declares tomorrow that the moon is made of green cheese than it’s very possible that a majority of member states will declare that indeed the moon is made of green cheese,” says David Harris, executive director of American Jewish Committee. “And if its green and not white cheese it’s because the Zionists have poisoned the cheese, and that’s the way it works,” he said.

More to come later.

Scott Dubin of Arza made a good point last night at the first session of revived Creative Zionist Circle (well, they’re not calling it the CZC yet, but I’m working on it): much of Israel activism is no-better than the search for the perfect Zionist-porn to get Jewish American students off faster.

In less jarring terms, this means that instead of actually caring about content, Israel activists are on the search for the “next big thing” that will make Jews feel somehow connected to Israel without entering into a relationship with it; you don’t marry a one-night-stand, but you sure may enjoy the occasional encounter.

But content should matter, because Israel shouldn’t be a non-gendered slut. Israel should be a committed relationship. Jews should go-steady with Israel, for good and for bad. Be in it for the long haul.

In light of this idea, is the HaDag Nahash Tour an crude attempt at a pick-up line, or the start of a wonderful friendship? I’m with the former. I love HaDag Nahash’s music, but I don’t think the State of Israel should send them as representatives of Zionist culture.

Israelis sneak into New Orleans to help in post-Katrina chaos:

“The soldiers were shocked seeing us,” Lusky said. They asked the Israelis, “How come you came from so far? You have your own troubles. You’re such a small country.

“The answer,” Lusky continued, “is that we’re a small country but big friends. For us it was so obvious. America has been such a good friend for ages.”

I think this is the ultimate Zionist goal: to have the power as a collective Jewish actor to do good in the world. Could anyone imagine Galut Jews sending a search-and-rescue team?

Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics released its annual report on the make-up of Israel’s population this week.

The Diagnosis:

The Jewish state is becoming less Jewish

It is important to note that the statistics listed below only include those with Israeli citizenship - and as such, these statistics are not referring to the “Palestinian” demographic threat, where one can (mistakenly) argue that Israel, by withdrawing from Judea and Samaria could attempt to solve the problem. The statistics below indicate that within the “Green Line” Israel is facing a serious demographic threat, whereby if Israel is to remain a Jewish State, she must be willing to face-up to some difficult questions:

1) Would Israel, in order to maintain its Jewish majority as well as “democratic” character, be willing to “Disengage” from the Galil, Negev and Eastern Jerusalem, all areas with significant Israeli Arab populations (and all within the “Green Line”)?

2) Would Israel, in order to remain a Jewish State, be willing to limit the scope of its “democratic” character and principles towards non-Jews in Israel, in order to ensure not only a Jewish majority in Israel, but a Jewish character, that would be reflected in her policies and culture?

If the State of Israel (as a Jewish State) decides to do nothing, it is only a matter of time before she will cease to exist as a Jewish State and becomes a bi-national state of its citizens. This bi-national state will be free to rename itself Palestine, change the Law of Return to apply to Arabs and not Jews, and change national anthem from Hatikva to something more representative of this new state.

Without further ado…

From Yediot Achronot:

* By the end of 2004, Israel’s population reached 6,869,500, including 5,237,600 Jews (76.2 percent), 1,340,200 Israeli Arabs (19.5 percent) and 291,700 “others” (4.2 percent).

* In 2004, the Jewish community constituted 76.2 percent of Israel’s total population in comparison to 77.8 percent in 2000. However, the Muslim population reached 16.1 percent in 2004, in comparison to 15.2 percent in 2000.

* The Israeli population is regarded as the “youngest” population, with 28.4 percent under the age of 14 years, compared to an average of 17 percent in other westernized countries. However, in comparison to other communities in Israel, the Jewish population is the “oldest”, while the Muslim community is considered the “youngest.”

* Furthermore, 11.6 percent of the Jewish population is over the age of 65, compared to 2.7 percent in the Muslim community; 43 percent is under the age of 14 compared 25.6 percent among the Jewish community.

From Globes:

* The growth rate among Israel’s Jewish population was 1.4%. The growth rate among Muslims was double the Jewish rate, at 3.3%

From the Jerusalem Post:

* Fertility rates have remained stable, however, among the Jewish population at 2.9 children per woman, according to the CBS. Since 2000, the rate has dropped among Muslims, from 4.7/4.6 to 4.4.

* Growth in the Israeli population in 2004 in Gaza and the West Bank (5.2%) well out-paced growth in Jerusalem (2.4%) and Tel Aviv (1.1%)… Dor-Shav attributed the relatively high Jewish birthrate to the premium national religious and haredi communities place on large families.

The time has long since passed for Israel and the Jewish People to face up to the true demographic threat facing the Jewish State of Israel, namely the ever increasing Israeli-Arab population, and begin to address this issue in a serious manner. We must once and for all determine our answers to the following questions:

What role does the State of Israel play in the lives of the Jewish People? Is it imperative that Israel remain a Jewish State? If so, what are we willing to do to ensure that it remains one?

I include the Jewish People in this equation, because no Jew who cares about Israel remaining a Jewish State should be able to claim ignorance on this point. If Israel is to remain a Jewish State, then it requires Jewish bodies and lots of Jewish babies (aside from any other steps the State of Israel may feel compelled to take on this matter). By choosing to remain living outside of Israel, those Jews are showing where Israel stands on their list of priorities, and as such, will be required to live with any actions that the State of Israel ultimately takes in order to save itself from this grave threat.

While there may be a difference of opinion as to the actions that the State of Israel should take, there is no question that if Israel is to remain a Jewish State, that the time to act is now - if only we will find the courage to do so.

I came across Betar UK’s website where they post the complete ideology of Betar as written by Jabotinksy in the 1920’s. They also present what they call Betar’s ideology in a nutshell, a three paragraph long summary of the entire ideology, written by them. Here’s the first part

Betar -
The love of the entire land of Israel. Betar supports the concept of a Jewish state with a Jewish Majority in its biblical-homeland. The entire land of Israel as given to the Jewish people by G-d with it’s eternal capital Jerusalem. We therefore wholeheartedly support the settlement of all of Israel including Judea, Samaria, Gaza and the Golan Heights, and support the rights of all Jews to live anywhere in Israel.

What then is, practically speaking, a Jewish “State”? When can it truly be said that our country has ceased to be “Palestine” and become Eretz Yisrael? Only then, when there will be more Jews that non-Jews; for the first condition of a national state is national majority…Sooner or later, every country in the world is to become the national state of the predominant nation there. Thus if we desire that Eretz Yisrael should become and remain a Jewish State, we must first of all create a Jewish majority.

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