Israel’s Left, Palestinianism and Jewish Israel

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promotes ‘peace’ talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA). He says Israel will sign a peace agreement—if certain conditions are met. One of his conditions is the Arab recognition of Israel as a Jewish State.

Israeli Leftists do not think such recognition is necessary (“Likud Ministers: Peres Shooting His Mouth Off Again”, Arutz Sheva, January 23, 2014). Some Leftists believe that such a demand is total nonsense (“[Former Mossad chief Meir] Dagan: Demand for Recognition is 'Nonsense”, Arutz Sheva, February 12, 2014).

But while such comments make headlines, they are not newsworthy. The reason is simple: Israel’s Leftists do not want a Jewish Israel. They don’t believe Israel should be Jewish. They don’t care if Israel isn’t Jewish. They’ve been trying to get Israel away from its ‘Jewishness’ for decades.

They don’t want to recognize Israel as a Jewish State. Why would they demand Arabs to do something they themselves won’t do?

But while the Leftists may see this question of a Jewish Israel as irrelevant to the peace process, others do not. For these ‘others’, the question of Israel’s Jewishness is far from irrelevant; it’s the core issue of Palestinianism, which lies at the heart of ‘Palestinian’ statehood.

Palestinianism is the drive to replace Israel with a Muslim entity. It is the drive to drive Jews out of the Levant. For the Muslim, ‘Palestine’ is not to be just another nation. It is to be the crowning symbol of Islamification.

Listen to Muslim clerics. Listen to officials from Hamas and the PA. Better yet, read the Hamas Charter. It’s all there—and it is very, very clear.

It is Palestinianism.

Jews in Israel—including the President and all former Mossad chiefs—have an obligation to demand Arab recognition of Israel as Jewish. This is an obligation because that demand guarantees that Israel survives the current diplomatic war against Israel. It guarantees that, after a ‘Palestine’ is created, Israel remains the home of the Jews. It tells the Muslim that Israel is not interested in being replaced by a Muslim ‘Palestine’. It declares that Israel will be separate. It will be Jewish.

This is why the ‘Palestinians’ say they refuse to accept Israel as Jewish. They don’t want Israel to be separate. They want Israel subsumed under their ‘Palestine’. Recognition of Israel as Jewish would invalidate their ‘Palestinianism’; or, as  PA Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi recently put it, “Recognition of Israel as a Jewish state would mean giving up the rights of Palestinians”, (Haaretz, January 12, 2014).

Think about what she is saying. The most fundamental right of Palestinians is not statehood. It’s Islam. Why else would a PA official call for Jihad in Jerusalem (“PA Minister: Jihad Should be Directed at Jerusalem, Not Syria”, Arutz Sheva, January 22, 2014)? Why else do Muslim officials repeat that Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the Western Wall are not Jewish, but Islamic?

Palestinianism demands it.

This question of Israel’s Jewishness is not just a negotiation point. It goes to the heart of the ‘Palestinian’ cause, which is based upon the Muslim ‘Palestinianism’, which is the Muslim goal to replace Israel with a Muslim ‘Palestine.’

Israel’s President and high-ranking former military and Intelligence officials know that the desire to un-Jewish lsrael is part of the Arab war against Israel. Like all public and former public officials, they have an obligation to defend and protect the country they serve.

Peres and Dagan should defend their country. They should demand that Israel be recognized as Jewish. To do otherwise  signals to the Muslim that Israel is not interested in being an independent country, separate from Islam. An Israeli indifference to its Jewish identity also signals that Israel is indifferent to being transformed into something else—something not-Jewish.

We all know what ‘not-Jewish’ means in the Muslim Middle East. It means the destruction of the State of Israel.

Shimon Peres and Moshe Dagan may not care about their Jewishness. But as public officials, they have a public duty to defend Israel, despite their personal feelings. Israel’s Jewishness is a war-target. These officials and former officials are obligated to protect that target from Israel’s enemies.

The Left wants to make Israel a secular state. But this is the Middle East. There are no secular states here.

Israel will be either Jewish or Muslim. There are no other options.

For Arab-Israel peace talks, Israel’s Jewishness is not irrelevant, unnecessary or nonsense. It’s the core question. How we answer it will determine if Israel will be Jewish or Islamified.