Israel: Can it be a Jewish State and a Democratic State
As a frequent visitor to Israel, I often leave conflicted. I love the food, I have many friends that have open their homes to me, the history is unparalleled, the spirit of inventorship rivals any other nation, and the never say die attitude is inspirational. And yet, I am troubled, like many, about the region’s oldest democracy as it struggles with its identify and future. Can Israel be both a democratic state and a Jewish state? In its pursuit for the latter will it sacrifice the former? Last week I happened to be in Israel when key points of the Kerry Plan were released to the public courtesy of New York Times’ Thomas Friedman (who was visiting and staying in the same hotel as yours truly). I won’t bore you with the details of the plan, but it was interesting to witness firsthand the “he said/he said” schoolyard silliness within the Netanyahu government. If the Israeli government, and its outspoken ministers spent as much tim...