Friday, July 06, 2012

While Haredim account for less than 10 percent of Israel’s seven million citizens, and Arabs 20 percent, their high birthrates mean that about 46 percent of today’s kindergartners come from the two groups, growth that is “challenging the basic formula” of Israeli society, according to Aluf Benn, editor of the left-leaning newspaper Haaretz.

“These groups don’t want a larger slice of the pie, they want a different recipe,” Mr. Benn said in an interview. “If Israel defines itself as a Jewish democratic state, the Arabs would do away with the Jewish part, and the ultra-Orthodox at least in their dream would get rid of the democracy. They respect the authority of the rabbis.”
“If Germany defines itself as a German democratic state, the immigrants would do away with the German part"

A link from A AbuKhalil
Moreover, the idea that German residents of foreign heritage are a drain on state finances is wide of the mark, according to the book. True enough, people of non-German descent pay less tax than their "native" counterparts (7,400 Euros per year per head to 10,800 Euros), but they also receive less in pensions and benefits. What's more, the authors say, "As a proportion, more migrants are productive than native Germans."
And as always, Beinart: "I'm not asking Israel to be Utopian... I'm not even asking it to allow full, equal citizenship to Arab Israelis, since that would require Israel no longer being a Jewish state. I'm actually pretty willing to compromise my liberalism for Israel's security and for its status as a Jewish state."

A Jewish state for a Jewish people iff a German state for a German people

I'm a political realist. That line isn't directed at Likudniks (who would by and large agree) but at "liberal" Zionists and their defenders, and at pedants who claim sophistication is synonymous with sophistry.

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