Where Lieberman and Obama meet

[Emit]

There is something counterintuitively similar in the rhetoric used by US President Barack Obama and Israel Beiteinu" chairman Avigdor Lieberman.

Whereas the two figures' political agendas could not be more different, both have focused their recent political efforts on igniting a public discourse that revolves around values rather than policies.

Whereas Obama has revived discussion of equality and freedom, Lieberman has delved deep into the (arguably inconsistent) nature of the Jewish state...

~snip~

Consciously or not, Lieberman's campaign slogan "There's no citizenship without loyalty" took on the task of addressing perhaps the most fundamental question emerging from Israel's Declaration of Independence: Can Israel be both a democratic and a Jewish state? Lieberman is quite bluntly suggesting that the answer is a simple no.

'THERE'S NO CITIZENSHIP without loyalty" alludes to the disturbing attempts of Arab-Israeli MKs to defame the State of Israel, while posing a real threat its security in the name of democracy.

~snip~

While Israel's Declaration of Independence does not straightforwardly address the question of Arab-Israeli loyalty to the state, it does leave clouded the precise nature it should adopt - a true democracy or a plain state of the Jews.

The declaration essentially suggests that a mélange of both identities - Jewish and democratic - is reasonably attainable. It suggests no recipe, however, as to what to do if the combination turns out to be incongruent.


~snip~

Recognizing that Israel is a Jewish state places the Jews by definition before anyone else on the ladder of civil and religious rights, despite any attempts to claim otherwise. This, to me, seems like a rather undemocratic thing to do. It's much like suggesting that America should be both Christian and democratic.

~snip~

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