Silly Fellow

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?

Limited Prayer

Haim Watzman is an opponent of Jewish settlement in areas under Israel's control that are part of the Jewish people's historic and religious homeland but not under its formal soverignty, i.e., Judea and Samaria. He's observant, too.

But, he wrote that:-

I will not pray in Hebron as long as it remains a symbol of violence, lawlessness and intolerance

.

And why?

Because:

The settlers in Hebron, and the teenage riffraff who joined them to defend the disputed house that was the epicenter of the recent confrontations, say they are asserting the Jewish people’s claim to its second-holiest city. The opposite is true. Each act of wanton destruction committed against Palestinians, each stone thrown at an Israeli soldier or policeman, is a blow against Jewish rights in Hebron.

Now, while I agree that the damage done by the riffraff, funny term that, was quite negative, and I wrote about it - not in the Forward but at Arutz 7 (here and also here) -, might I suggest that Watzman has gone out on a limb: for if violence limits prayer, he'd find very few places in which to do so. And Hebron's Arab violence should also, then, count for quite a few negative points in the political accounting.

Haim Watzman and I Dialoguing

Here.