Comments on: What HAVE you been smoking?

By: Ravi Singh

Ravi Singh — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:29:22 +0000

The fact that Mizroch believes that the W Bank belongs to the Israelis is the reason there cannot be peace…. Its not because of the Palestrinians, they would accept a state within the 67 borders. That is something Israel is not prepared to give. The simple fact is that time is not on Israels side. Politically it will be forced to climb down, very much like aparthied S Africa was. Arrogance blinds the Gods chosen people.

By: Shlomo Toren

Shlomo Toren — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:11:36 +0000

There are more than a few falacies here that should be dealt with.

Criticizing the Government Prosecution, the police and the Courts is not anti democratic. There needs to be a real discussion of how the High Court Justices are chosen and who does the choosing. The present system can honestly be criticized as lacking balance and oversight. The needs to be better oversight over the police and the internal dicisplinary system there , is requesting changes in itself "anti-democratic"? I'd venture that Amir wants to change things too. Should we label his request to make changes in the Rabinical Court system "anti-democratic" or "anti-Jewish" or leave it to "hypocricy"?

As lack of understanding of demographics, the Oslo Accords and the nature of the PA, and what or what not determines whether a PA state can be "viable", Amir is firmly stuck in the Left wing echo chamber. Sort of like GIGO gone wild. Amir is building castles in a sand pit and if we listen to him we will sink with him (or not because I understand that he isn't even living in Israel so we would sink by ourselves while he watches from a far).

By: אבי קסנר

אבי קסנר — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 09:56:47 +0000

I just want to make what I believe are simple points.
1. The more educated and richer people get, the lower their birthrate. There is no reason to use the birthrates of today, to predict the birthrates of the future. However, this isn't true in the Orthodox Community in America for example. Though it is true everywhere in the Muslim world.
2. If Israel is 60% Jewish and 40% not-Jewish it's still a Jewish, Democratic country. If it's 50% Jewish, then depending on the laws, it will still be a Jewish and democratic country. Only if the Jewish population becomes less than 40% then Israel will have to decide between being Jewish or Democratic. However, there is no projection of that ever happening.
3. Becoming democratic does not mean you become the US or Sweden v.2.0 It means the law applies to all citizens equally, and that the people vote. If Israel annexes all it's land, and makes all people in those lands citizens, there is nothing to prevent Israel from being both Democratic and Jewish.

One not so simple point I want to make.
I don't know why people keep talking about a "bi-national state" as if that's some terrible future. Israel has always been a bi-national state. Though it's better to call it a multi-national state. Israel is composed of Jews, Druze, Christian and Muslim Arabs. Today, Israel has a sizable Russian and Thai non-Jewish population. This has not destroyed our Democracy or our country. 1-2 more million Arabs in the country is not going to change anything.

By: אבי קסנר

אבי קסנר — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 09:16:59 +0000

"Actually Haviv, I come from Israel, I was born here. I grew up in South Africa where “Jewish” meant the exact same thing as it does here: It’s whatever you and God agree between the two of you that it is."

I'm not sure why you defined it this way. This isn't the way being Jewish has ever been defined.
Nobody accepts the "Jews for Jesus" as being Jewish. Nor Samaritans, nor Kaarites. Nor any Christian group which calls themselves "the real Jews".

So why would you try to define it this way?

By: אבי קסנר

אבי קסנר — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 09:14:17 +0000

Arieh Kovler , that would be "liberalism" not "democracy". By the by, communism protects the weak and minorities better than democracy does. Democracy is "rule by the people"

By: Binyamin Lachkar

Binyamin Lachkar — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 07:48:17 +0000

Well you have misunderstood democracy. Democracy *is* the rule of the majority. Of course democracy has to respect minorities but it is not *about* protecting minorities. This is a complete distortion of democracy. You have replaced the rule of the majority with the rule of a non-elected minority whose values and ideology are not shared by the people. We usually call that dictature.

By: Jimmy Coleman

Jimmy Coleman — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 06:31:48 +0000

Thank you for articulating your points so well. We know that the issue with Gaza and the West bank will have to be settled, The Longer it goes, the more power the Radicals Like Hams, Fatah, and Egypt's MB will hold. Let's usurp it. Turkey will be forming a Union. The Turkish-Islamic Union. The Seat of Religion will remain Jerusalem, However, the peer pressure the Union will place Upon the Proxies supporters should be enough. Here is another fact that may surprise a Few. The Holy Qur'an plainly states that the Jews will live in the Holy Land( Jewish State) until the end times. Game Over, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah. The Jewish state isn't going anywhere, so, we will take the wind right out of their sails. Time is all that we need. The Rockets and Bombers are also a violation of The Qur'an. Israels most recent restraint that lasted thru 800 rocket attacks, did in fact meet the Qur'ans requirement of a restrained defense. Peace is coming. We can do better. insha'Allah. G-D bless.

By: Arieh Kovler

Arieh Kovler — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:23:33 +0000

No. You have misunderstood democracy. Democracy isn't mob rule and it isn't just about voting and the week of the majority. Democracy is also about protection of the rights of minorities and individuals, about individual freedoms and the rule of law.

Natan Sharansky and Ron Dermer put it well in their book " the Case for Democracy"

By: Binyamin Lachkar

Binyamin Lachkar — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 19:40:58 +0000

"many members of the next (likely) coalition are staunch supporters of reforming the makeup and functioning of the Supreme Court and the rest of the judiciary (powers of the Attorney General and State Prosecution) so as to be able to execute their political and diplomatic agendas without legal interference."

How is that anti-democratic? On the contrary, these people want to make Israel more democratic and go back to what it was before the undemocratic Judicial revolution of the early 90's. Democracy is not when non elected judges decide whatever they want, even against the law, but when the people we elected rule. The judiciary is just here to implement the law, nothing else.