tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014209.post1804751282776872073..comments2024-03-28T14:55:27.949+02:00Comments on My Right Word: Thumbs Down to Tom of the TimesYMedadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14333122797414935958noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014209.post-1377516255226638142012-11-12T12:11:08.535+02:002012-11-12T12:11:08.535+02:00Thanks for the references but they seem to be focu...Thanks for the references but they seem to be focussed on the notion of attempting to explain the inexplicable and even inexcusable. <br />The proverb of "doing figure 8's in the air" springs to mind.<br />The historical facts are indeed facts but nation states change over time and in the 21st century you can't have a western democracy based on religion and/or culture stemming from that religion.<br />The national anthem issue is a case in point. HaTikva is a song not even appropriate for all Jews, but only for Ashkenazi Jews. <br />Iraqi and Yemenite Jews didn't have their eyes pointed to the East, to Zion.<br />Other citizens, such as myself, can't identify with it at all.<br />By the way, I even served in the IDF, as did my children, but they are Jewish and I am not.<br />By all means have a national Jewish character but don't call it a Jewish democracy, that's all, because the linking of the two terms is as meaningless as having a secular theocracy.Mike Carmelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11158940994518512521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014209.post-57828782037715982472012-11-12T11:52:09.908+02:002012-11-12T11:52:09.908+02:00Read this; and this as well as this.Read <a href="http://www.jni.co.il/rec/18-Jewish-State-The-Struggle-for-Israels-So" rel="nofollow">this</a>; and <a href="http://www.azure.org.il/article.php?id=545" rel="nofollow">this</a> as well as <a href="http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1493834/jewish/Is-Democracy-Jewish.htm" rel="nofollow">this</a>.YMedadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14333122797414935958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014209.post-29673390517659239162012-11-12T10:35:52.774+02:002012-11-12T10:35:52.774+02:00I've never been able to understand the often a...I've never been able to understand the often accepted term "Jewish democracy".<br />This term is meaningless.<br />You can have democracy and you can have Jewish but a democracy can't be subjected to an adjective which excludes a lot of its citizens. Democracy is something for everyone - it means that everyone has equal rights. <br />How then can it be only Jewish?<br />You can have a democratic country whose principal national character is Jewish, but not a Jewish democracy any more than you can have a Christian democracy or a Buddhist democracy. Mike Carmelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11158940994518512521noreply@blogger.com