"What is a Jewish democratic state?"

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday December 28, 2008 · 4:48 AM PST

2008/12/28 · 04:48

The above quote comes from the article Once a Political Riser, an Israeli Challenges His Country’s Identity written by Ethan Bronner in the December 20, 2008 issue of the New York Times.

"I realized something about myself and Israel that frightened me," he (Avraham Burg) said recently, looking back over the past few years. "I realized that Israel had become an efficient kingdom with no prophecy. Where was it going? What is a Jewish democratic state? What does it mean that Jews define themselves by genetics 60 years after genetics were used against them?"

These are important questions that tend not to be addressed. Avraham Burg is an Israeli who is asking them and more including:

Is Israel too focused on the Holocaust as a touchstone of history? Can it stay both Jewish and democratic over the long term, or is it time to look for another model? What kind of future is there for Israeli Arabs?

Avraham Burg's

central point is summed up in the English title of his book: "The Holocaust Is Over; We Must Rise From Its Ashes" (Palgrave Macmillan). The Nazi slaughter of six million Jews, he says, has become the central theme of Israeli life, dominating it in a way that distorts the country’s outlook. Teenagers are sent on trips to Auschwitz; every enemy of Israel (Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran) is viewed as the reincarnation of Hitler.

These questions and issues need to be addressed and resolved by Israelis and Jews around the world.

I raise these questions because I believe they need to be discussed. I thought of them in response to the diary An Attempt at a Peaceful I/P Discussion [UPDATED], an excellent diary with over 780 comments. I hope the discussion can continue here as civilly as it is going on that diary.

This content was created by a Daily Kos Community member.

Make YOUR voice heard!

Comments are closed on this story.