Why is Israel a Jewish state?
Israel is a Jewish state with a large Arab minority. This minority, some 20
percent of the population, has equal rights under the law and enjoys all
personal freedoms, including freedom of religion and worship. Currently,
about 11% of the seats in the Israeli Parliament are held by Arab members.
However, the State of Israel is a Jewish state, established as the
independent state of the Jewish people exercising the right of
self-determination in the Land of Israel, its ancestral homeland. As such,
Israel is the only state in the world where Jews can live according to their
religion without special permissions or laws. For example: school breaks
occur on Hanukah rather then Christmas, exams are not held on Saturday
(Shabbat), and almost all the food is Kosher.
Israel is also a Jewish state according to international undertakings and
resolutions, including the Balfour Declaration, in which the British
Government undertook to establish a national home for the Jewish people in
Palestine; and UN Resolution 181 of November 29, 1947, in which the General
Assembly resolved to terminate the British Mandate over Palestine (Eretz
Israel) and to establish two states there, one Jewish and one Arab. The Jews
accepted the resolution joyfully and, when the Mandate lapsed, David
Ben-Gurion declared "the establishment of the Jewish state in Eretz Israel,
to be known as the State of Israel".
Israel's Declaration of Independence pledged to maintain a democratic Jewish
state that would ensure equality irrespective of religion, race, sex, or
nationality. This pledge has withstood the test of reality to this day.
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... Here's Israel's right-wing prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, admittedly responding to pressure from Washington but finally admitting in public that he believes the best solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict lies in establishing two independent states in the Holy Land: the existing Jewish one and a new, sovereign but demilitarized Palestinian Arab state on the West Bank, eventually joined to the Gaza Strip. ... For starters, like the vast majority of the Mideast's Arabs, the Palestinians still steadfastly refuse to accept the very idea of a Jewish state in the Middle East. ... As Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek put it, "Netanyahu's demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state is ruining the chance for peace." ...
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... laid down by the Jewish state. ... detonating a nuclear weapon against the world’s most powerful nation. ... and child on the planet has had to endure the “He wants to wipe Israel ... be attacked) American interests in order to pin the blame on someone ...
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... laid down by the Jewish state. ... detonating a nuclear weapon against the world’s most powerful nation. ... and child on the planet has had to endure the “He wants to wipe Israel ... be attacked) American interests in order to pin the blame on someone ...
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... demands for an Arab state on the other side of them had no basis. ... Moral equivalency is the approach of Malley and Agha. ... recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state, no Arab influx, and its ... to accept Israel as a Jewish state would legitimize the ...
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