Haim Watzman seems to be too silly a fellow.
Over at The Jerusalem Report on the Jerusalem Post website he has a satire on the idea of a loyalty oath.
So, I just altered the two items American citizens have to deal with and ask, "how difficult can it be?" - when it can be so simple:
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the republic of Israel for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.”
or
“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the laws of the republic of Israel against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of Israel when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of Israel when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”
It works for that democracy the United States of America, why not for Israel?
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3 comments:
Let's see. The first one is recited by children in (some) schools. The second one is recited by a foreign national who wants to receive American citizenship.
But Israel's Palestinian citizens aren't children, and they're not foreign nationals.
Also, gasp, your pledge and your oath don't specify that Israel is a Jewish state. Are you willing to let the Arabs get away with that?
So I guess what we have here is the annihilation of the metaphor. Better luck next time!
Haim, actually, those examples could be adopted for Israel and all would say them. Like a latter-day one time "Ma'amad Har Sinai" of secular nationalism. I was pointing out that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with allegiance pledges or fascistic, for that matter as has been suggested. We could always add "Jewish" and you did notice, yes?, that the word "democracy" doesn't appear but Israel is defined as "democratic" by law, Should we not have that included?
Annihilation of metaphor - or lack of thinking? Better luck to you.
Yeah, you're right... it's a silly fellow indeed. I liked the way you published the headlines, I won't digress in the blog, so I would like to learn more about this "indivisible" justice.
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