Israel's disappointing metamorphosis

Israel's disappointing metamorphosis

Didier Bertin – May 30, 2023

I-Existential challenges

The Tel Aviv Opera recently presented a work inspired by the life of Theodor Herzl, one of the founders of Zionism at a time when Zionism and democracy seem compromised in Israel today. Moreover, Israel plunged into a wild liberalism that contrasts with the social and hospitable state that it should have been for all the Jews of the world. Israel represents approximately 45% of the world's Jewish population and only 27.6% of the population linked to Judaism and eligible for the law of return to the Jewish national home (source: i24news). Since the arrival of the Likud and in particular since the too long reign of B. Netanyahu, Israel has restricted its hospitality to the privileged classes by giving free rein to real estate speculation which reaches ceilings above the means of normal households in a country yet in open conflict and participates in amplifying the cost of living of all consumer products which are already very high. This choice of society creates a cleavage between modest Jews confined in poor or dangerous regions and traditional targets of missiles from Gaza and very privileged Jews. The very great luxury rubs shoulders with dilapidated buildings for lack of maintenance and the closure of public services during Shabbat and religious holidays penalize families too poor to buy a private car. Tel Aviv, which is nevertheless the showcase of Israel, is one of the very few medium and large cities in the world not to have a metro. This growing divide between rich and poor people does not correspond to the “Jewish national home” that its founders and the UN in 1947 had desired. The solidarity inherent in Zionism has been undermined by the Likud and its leader B. Netanyahu, a follower of the wildest form of economic liberalism in a state far too small for the present economic forces to balance each other. In Israel, a nominal unit of GDP gives only 0.93 points in purchasing power, while in France such a unit gives 1.14 points in purchasing power, which illustrates the policy of high prices due to the absence of competition and to the real estate speculation. The unit of GDP in France is therefore 22.5% higher in purchasing power than that of Israel.

Israel does not have a constitution, a Senate, or an electoral system that allows it to form a competent and stable government due to a current multitude of proportionally represented parties on lists. Voters do not vote for their MP but for a party that chooses MPs for them. As a result, each MP does not feel responsible to a group of voters in a constituency that would have elected him. The growth in the number of religious and theocratic parties and the dominance of the populist Likud party are hampering democracy in civil matters. In addition, territorial expansion took precedence over peace.

The parties must coalesce to form a majority and small religious parties alone or in coalition which allow larger parties to obtain a fragile majority are in a position to blackmail them to obtain more power (ministries) and more subsidies than they should deserve. Small religious parties can thus demand to interfere and limit the freedom in the daily private life of citizens.

The role of the Upper House is fulfilled by the Supreme Court (15 judges) independent of parliament who judge the reasonableness and acceptability of the laws of parliament by referring "in particular" to some fundamental laws and especially to the Declaration of the independence which together form a sort of pseudo-constitution. The Declaration of Independence called for the establishment of a constitution from October 1, 1948.

This pseudo constitution does not refer to the Declaration of Human Rights as the UN did on December 10, 1948 and which has nevertheless become the cornerstone of a modern democracy to guarantee the fundamental rights of citizens. Indeed, universal suffrage is not enough since it did not prevent, for example, the accession of the Fascist Party in Italy and the Nazi Party in Germany.

In 2018, the Netanyahu government passed a fundamental law which did not include the sentence of the Declaration of Independence relating to the equality of citizens without distinction of religion and race.

In 2023, B. Netanyahu tried to reduce the powers of the Supreme Court, the only body of control of the parliament. This was probably motivated by his own legal problems and those of the Deputy Prime Minister (Dery) ousted from the government by the Supreme Court, and in any case by the request of part of the Likud and the religious parties. The weakening of the Supreme Court in the control of laws endangers the fundamental rights of all Israeli citizens who thus find themselves in the hands of a single parliament with a majority of right-wing and far-right populist parties. Weekly demonstrations by Democrats, strikes by military reservists and pressure from the United States led to the freezing of this reform. President Joe Biden refuses to meet B. Netanyahu until the democratic character of the country is guaranteed by the cancellation of this reform and the support of the United States is vital for Israel. The reform was frozen pending the adoption of the budget before May 31, 2023 under penalty of automatic dissolution of the government, but the budget was voted on May 24 to avoid this dissolution. However, the situation remains extremely precarious since the religious parties which have enabled the survival of the government by obtaining large subsidies and ministries, and the extremists of the Likud are returning to charge so that the power of the Supreme Court is reduced at the risk of losing the support from the United States.

This situation is unrelated to the main components of Zionism but to the sudden preponderance of the worst of them: that of Vladimir Jabotinsky. The degeneration of the ideal Zionist nation was the product of the action of B. Netanyahu, both a disciple of Jabotinsky and a supporter of unbridled capitalism during his five previous governments. B. Netanyahu was undoubtedly influenced by his personal experience of doing business in the United States whose GDP is 54 times higher and the population 38 times higher than in Israel and includes mechanisms of economic balance inherent in its size although the American government also sometimes had to intervene to avoid the collapse of its banking system. It is as if the Jewish people as a whole were being robbed of their national home by forces from within who have turned their backs on traditional Zionism and want to make Israel an undemocratic and expansionist theocracy.

II-The declaration of independence: Completed and distorted by a few so-called fundamental laws as a pseudo constitution

The declaration of independence, however, includes a commitment to make a constitution from October 1, 1948. Only the vision of Theodor Herzl is mentioned there. The British Government who was assumed to organize a Jewish home in Palestine finally preferred to abandon this project in order to promote their relations with Arab countries. The essential fact that allowed the adoption of a Jewish home in Palestine by the UN on November 29, 1947 was the extermination of six million Jews during the Second World War, or two thirds of the European Jewish population.

Declaration of Independence:

ERETZ-ISRAEL (the land of Israel) is the birthplace of the Jewish people. It was there that its spiritual, religious and political form was shaped. It was there that it achieved its statehood, created its cultural values of national and universal significance and gave the world the eternal Book of Books. Forcibly exiled from their land, the Jewish people remained faithful to it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray for his return to it and to restore their national independence there. Impelled by this historical and traditional bond, the Jews tried throughout the centuries to return to the country of their ancestors. In recent decades they have returned in masse to their country. Pioneers, refugees, fighters, coming to Eretz Israel in defiance of restrictive regulations, they made the deserts, bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built towns and villages, created a thriving community mastering its economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend themself, bringing to all the inhabitants of the country the benefits of progress and aspiring to national independence. In the year 5657 (1897) inspired by Theodor Herzl's vision of the Jewish State, the First Zionist Congress proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth on the soil of their homeland. This right was recognized by Balfour’s Declaration of November 2, 1917 and ratified by a Mandate of the League of Nations, thus giving international sanction to the historic ties between the Jewish People and the Land of Israel and recognizing the right of the Jewish People to re-build his national home there. The catastrophe which befell the Jewish people, the massacre of six million Jews in Europe, showed the urgency of a solution to the problem of this people without a homeland by the re-establishment of a Jewish State which would open its doors to all Jews and would make the Jewish people a full member of the family of Nations. Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as the Jews of other countries, tirelessly sought to immigrate to Eretz Israel without being deterred by difficulties or dangers and never ceased to proclaim their right to a life of dignity, freedom and labor in the national fatherland. During World War II, the Jewish community of this country took its part in the fights for freedom alongside peace-loving nations, in order to defeat the Nazi scourge, and it has acquired, by the blood of its combatants as well as by its war effort, the right to be counted among the peoples who founded the United Nations. On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine and called on the people of Palestine to take the necessary measures for the execution of this resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to create their state is irrevocable. This is the natural right of the Jewish people to be, like all other nations, masters of their destiny on the soil of their own sovereign state. Accordingly, we, the members of the council representing the Jewish community of Palestine and the Zionist movement, have assembled here, on this day of the termination of the British Mandate and under the natural and historical law of the Jewish people and in accordance with resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations, we proclaim the creation of a Jewish state in the land of Israel which will bear the name of the State of Israel. We declare that, from the expiration of the Mandate, on this eve of Shabbat, 6 Iyar - 5708 (May 14, 1948) and until the installation of the regular authorities of the State, duly elected, in accordance with the Constitution which will be adopted by the Constituent Assembly convened before October 1, 1948, the National Council will act as the Provisional Council of the State and its executive body, the National Directory, will act as the Provisional Government of the Jewish State which will be called "Israel". ". The State of Israel will be open to Jewish immigration and to Jews coming from all the countries of their Dispersion and ingathering of the exiles; he will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace according to the ideal of the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete social and political equality to all its inhabitants without distinction of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will ensure the protection of the Holy Places of all religions and will be faithful to the principles of the United Nations Charter. The State of Israel will cooperate with the institutions and representatives of the United Nations for the execution of the resolution of November 29, 1947 and will endeavor to achieve economic union throughout the country of Israel. We ask the United Nations to help the Jewish people build their state and to welcome the state of Israel into the family of nations. We ask in front of the aggression to which we have been subjected for some months, the Arab people of the State of Israel to preserve peace and take their part in building the State on the basis of fair representation in all the temporary and permanent organs of the State. We extend our hand, as a sign of peace and good neighborliness, to all neighboring countries and their peoples. We invite them to cooperate with the Jewish people restored to their national sovereignty. The State of Israel is ready to contribute to the common effort for the development of the entire Middle East. We ask the Jewish people in their dispersion to gather around the Jews of Israel, to assist them in the task of immigration and reconstruction and to be at their side in the great struggle for the realization of the dream of past generations: the redemption of Israel. Trusting in the Eternal Almighty, we sign this Declaration at this meeting of the Provisional Council of the State, on the soil of the Fatherland, in the city of Tel-Aviv, this Shabbat eve, 5 Iyar 5708, May 14 1948.

1- Theodor Herzl: Reference is made to Theodor Herzl, an emblematic representative of reasonable Zionism and no to any other current.

2-A Jewish State which would open its doors to all Jews: That is to say a State open to all Jews equally without the influence of a wild liberalism which would create a border on the basis of money that would relegate the poorest people to the poorest and most dangerous regions.

3-We, members of the council representing the Jewish community of Palestine and the Zionist movement: That is to say the whole of the Zionist movement and not the most extremist, fanatical and intolerant fringe.

4-Until the installation of the regular authorities of the State, duly elected, in accordance with the Constitution which will be adopted by the Constituent Assembly convened before October 1, 1948: A constitution was to be established from October 1, 1948, it is a firm commitment.

III- The Nation-State law of the Jewish people

The law of Israel, Nation-State of the Jewish people, adopted on July 19, 2018 on the initiative of B. Netanyahu, does not supplement the declaration of independence but restricts its humanitarian aspect. Far from making a contribution through the declaration of Human Rights that modern democracies must respect, it is on the contrary divisive. The May 19, 1948 Declaration of Independence specified that Israel would treat its people regardless of religion, race and gender. The fact that Orthodox Jewish religious laws predominate in civil life makes secular Jews and non-Jewish minorities uncomfortable and they cannot find their place on an equal footing with the rest of the population. This situation would be worsened by this additional law. The theocratic and expansionist aspect that this law encourages by the reference to settlements can harm the whole of the Jewish people, of which Israel represents only 45% and 27.6% of the people eligible to return to the Jewish national home by increasing Judeophobia out of Israel. This law unfortunately follows the direction of the new social composition of the population illustrated in particular by the last elections of November 2022. In the current Diaspora, the conception of Judaism is modernized and integrated into the democratic framework of the countries where Jews generally live, but Israel is not the national home of the only Jews who live there but of the entire Jewish people and as we said the new ambitions of part of Israel could encourage Judeophobia outside Israel.

IV-The main components of Zionism

The Pogroms in the territories controlled by Russia: Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania… increased dramatically under the leadership of Tsar Alexander III and the Okhrana from 1881 (i.e., after the assassination of Alexander II), that is to say in the Zone of residence where Catherine II had concentrated the Jews from 1791 and composed of the territories conquered by Russia. The Zone of residence included 5 million Jews.

Zionism is a nationalist and emancipatory aspiration resulting from “the secularization and modernity” of part of the Jews of Eastern Europe (Ashkenazim) in reaction to Judeophobia. Judaism is a religion for a certain number of Jews, but for many others who can be called secular Jews (Hilonim in Hebrew) it is considered as a strong identity far removed from religious beliefs and obsessions. The Torah, which acts as the cement of tradition and can also be considered as a narration of the History of the children of Israel outside of religious considerations and until the Diaspora imposed by Rome. The history of the continuous exodus in the Diaspora that followed, the pogroms, the Holocaust, and Zionism constitute complementary elements of the History and identity of the Jewish people. The Holocaust was also a legitimate reason for some to join secular Judaism and abandon religious Judaism.

The founders of the Zionist currents were rather secular and well-integrated into the Western societies in which they lived. Among non-Jews this aspect is often overlooked and does not always allow them to understand what Jewishness means. However, there are now also atheists among non-Jews who claim Judeo-Christian moral and philosophical values alone.

As early as 1862, Moses Hess, a German Jewish philosopher close to Marx and Engels, had written the book "Rome and Jerusalem: The Last National Question" in which he called for the creation of a Jewish state which prefigured the "Judenstaat" of Theodor Herzl. Moses Hess was the first pioneer of modern Zionism, inspired by the revival of nationalities in Europe.

Theodor Herzl was chosen as a representative figure of political Zionism which he describes in his book "Judenstaat" in which he also calls for the creation of a Jewish state and was joined by Max Nordau, however very integrated into German culture but shocked like Theodor Herzl by the Dreyfus Affair.

Leon Pinsker had campaigned for the integration of Russian Jews, but the pogroms of 1881 led him to the idea of a Jewish nation, which he described in his book “Self-emancipation”. He then realized that this nation could only exist in Palestine and he chaired in Odessa with Moses Lilienblum "the Organization of the Lovers of Zion". Leon Pinsker had the idea of using the term "Judeophobia" instead of "anti-Semitism", the origin of which refers to "racist and pseudoscientific" theories of the 19th century.

In opposition to political Zionism Chaim Weizmann personified pragmatic Zionism and achieved concrete results such as the declaration of the United Kingdom in favor of a Jewish homeland in Palestine in 1917 which is referred to as the "Balfour’s declaration" (Balfour had signed as Minister of Foreign Affairs), then the fact that this project was part of the mandate for Palestine given to the United Kingdom in 1920 at the San Remo conference and the Treaty of Sevres. the British government did not complete this project, preferring to base their foreign policy on the Arab world, but it was finally voted on by the UN in 1947 because of the Holocaust.

Chaim Weizmann was the first President of the State of Israel (honorary post) and David Ben Gurion the first "Prime Minister" (Head of Government).

David Ben Gurion also represented one of the important components of Zionism. He was son of a Hebrew teacher, member of the lovers of Sion and joined the Poale Sion in Warsaw (Marxist Zionist Movement), then emigrated to Ottoman Palestine in 1905. From 1921 he became secretary general of the Histadrout (Union of Jewish Workers in Palestine) then in 1935 the leader of the Yishuv (Jewish Community of Palestine).

Vladimir Jabotinsky's violent Zionism and its bad consequences:

In 1925 Vladimir Jabotinsky (born in Ukraine) created the nationalist right-wing revisionist Party in Palestine and claimed a Jewish national home in all of Palestine including the present-day Kingdom of Jordan. He was in opposition to the World Zionist Organization from which he withdrew in 1923. In 1929 Jabotinsky, considered a dangerous person was expelled from Palestine by the British and ended his days in 1940 in the United States. Jabotinsky notably studied in Italy during the Fascist period, which seemed to impress him. He believed that Arabs who did not want to leave Palestine should be driven out by a military organization which he called "the Wall of Steel". To this end he created the "Betar" with a naval academy the "Betar Naval Academy" installed in Civitavecchia in Italy with the agreement of Mussolini. He took the author’s name "of “Altalena" which means the swing in Italian.

Although exiled Jabotinsky maintained his influence on the Revisionist Party whose leadership was taken over by one of his disciples Menachem Begin who changed the name of the Party to "Herut" in 1948. A month after the declaration of independence and after that all the Israeli armed forces were unified under the name of TSAHAL, the Irgun (also inspired by Jabotinsky) attempted to land weapons in Tel Aviv using a ship named Altalena in reference to Jabotinsky. Tsahal was instructed to sink this ship in order to avoid armed dissent.

Revisionism inspired extremist movements such as the Irgun and the Lehi which have been commemorated since the coming to power of the Likud (mainly made up of the Herut) represented by Menachem Begin in 1979 (streets, museum, banknotes at the effigy of Jabotinsky…). In 1965 Menachem Begin leader of the Herut merged with the liberal party (Liberalim) in favor of distancing socialism from Mapai and the Histadrut, open to economic liberalism as well as investment funds, and to the transfer of the social functions of the Histadrut to the State. The new party was called Gahal.

In 1973 Menachem Begin combined Gahal with other fringe parties to form the Likud. The Likud abandoned the totally unrealistic idea of annexing the Kingdom of Jordan. The current Likud of B. Netanyahu therefore comes from the Herut and therefore from the revisionist party of Jabotinsky.

V-The causes of the Likud coming to power in 1977

In 1977 Menachem Begin obtained 43 seats out of 120 and became Prime Minister. This marked both a historic change in the future nature of Israel and the beginning of the change in the popular electorate that today will lead to the impossibility of forming the stable government that Israel needs.

The causes of this situation are numerous:

- Zionism inspired by the values of Jabotinsky substantially dominates on the political stage but its supporters must negotiate power with rising religious parties to have a majority.

-The Likud wishes to retain control of the territories of the West Bank conquered in 1967 and renamed Judea and Samaria; this corresponds to the wishes of many nationalist voters.

-The Likud had obtained the support of the religious National Party, Mafdal, supporting the project of "Greater Israel" including all of the West Bank and that of an ultra-religious Agoudat Israel Party. To obtain the support of these parties, the Likud had pledged to fund religious schools excluding the secular subjects that other schools must teach. The absence of such subjects keeps religious students in the dark by depriving them of all possibilities of integration into normal civil life and directly infringes on their freedom as citizens. They are not always aware of this and can think of living indefinitely from subsidies. Secular Jews regard them as harmful people.

-The surprise attack on Israel by Egypt in 1973 heightened the fear of some citizens for their safety and pushed many of them to choose a much more offensive party than the Labor Party.

- Many Sephardic and Eastern Jews have kept a fear of the Arab countries after they were expelled from these countries. Moreover, their awareness of the very bad treatment they had suffered from the Ashkenazim and the leaders of the Labor Party pushed many of them to join a populist party hostile to the Arabs and to the Labor Party, i.e., the Likud.

VI-Instability of the Knesset and Elections of November 1, 2022

On November 1, 2022, the 25th Knesset was elected, which gives an average lifespan of the Knessets (parliaments) of 3 years and reflects a background instability as only 10 of the 25 Knessets have not been dissolved prematurely. But this instability has worsened since from 2019 to 2022 when five legislative elections have been held because it has not been possible to form a stable government. This instability is systemic since no party has a majority and coalitions with smaller parties are necessary. These small parties take advantage of this to ensure that their ideas are overrepresented in government and ask for funding out of proportion to the votes they bring. However, in 2022 the three religious parties, including one from a coalition, obtained as many MPs as the Likud, i.e., 32 MPs for the religious and 32 MPs for the Likud. The religious parties are therefore on an equal footing with the Likud to govern the country which risks becoming an authoritarian theocracy.

Such bases make governments precarious, all the more so since this must be combined with the existential interest of maintaining excellent relations with the United States, which wants Israel to remain a modern democracy. In addition, the number of American Jews is estimated to be between 6 and 8 million, 75% of whom vote for the Democratic Party.

It was therefore in this unstable context that B. Netanyahu had tried to pass a reform intended to reduce the power of control of the Supreme Court over Parliament. The protests of the President of the State, the Minister of Defense, the magistrates, the weekly demonstrations of the Democrats and finally the pressure of the United States led to the freezing of this reform. Let us repeat that B. Netanyahu cannot meet with Joe Biden until this issue is resolved.

Elections of November 1, 2022:

A multitude of parties presented themselves for 120 seats – Small parties coalesced to exceed the minimum threshold of 3.25% to obtain a seat. However, 30 micro-parties on which votes were cast did not reach this threshold and did not obtain any deputies. Thus, out of 4,795,000 voters approximately 4,347,000 voters were represented. The total number of voters is 6,789,000, 70.63% of whom voted.

VII-Current government

This government is the 37th in the state, which means that on average the lifespan of governments from 1948 to 2023 was only two years. This government was formed in November 2022 and is the most right-wing extremist Israel has ever seen. While this government could have felt before the end of May if the budget was not passed, it decided to carry out a major operation against the terrorist movements in Gaza, which should have been done by a permanent government (after budget vote). In response, 1,000 missiles were sent to the poorest regions of Israel and a few to the Tel Aviv area, threatening the tourist season. One could wonder if the government did not want to strengthen ties with its electorate for security issues, calm democratic demonstrations and force the vote on the budget.

This government includes the following parties or coalitions:

B. Netanyahu's Likud, 32 MPs/120 whose radical roots have been described.

Shas, 11 MPs/120, led by A. Dery, Deputy Prime Minister excluded from this function by the Supreme Court. Shas is an ultra-Orthodox party of Sephardic origin which owes its success to its charitable actions towards the most deprived Sephardic populations.

Yahadut Hatorah (United Torah Judaism) of Yitzhak Goldknopf, 7 MPs/120. It is an Ultra-Orthodox Party that wants only religious rules to govern civil society. According to this party, government funding of Yeshivot (religious schools, focused on the study of the Torah) would ensure the protection of Israel!!!

Hatsionut Hadatit (Zionist Religious Party), led by B. Smotrich (partially from the PNR) in coalition with Otzma Yehudit, 14 MPs out of 120. This coalition wishes to replace democracy with a Theocracy, opposes any Palestinian or Syrian territorial claims on the West Bank and the Golan, advocates the teaching of the Torah, Jewish supremacy and militates for the extension of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and their annexation by Israel.

These parties represent the secular far right and ultra-religious and have obtained an absolute majority in the Knesset. A government of 32 ministers headed by Netanyahu has been formed. Netanyahu tried to sack Defense Minister General Galant (Likud) because he opposed justice reform, but had to reinstate him under public pressure.

VIII-Political characteristics of the population in Israel

Israel is a country of 9 million inhabitants comprising approximately 6.7 million Jews (secular and religious) of whom 5.2 million were born in Israel, which represents a substantial change with the previous generations born mainly abroad. The main minority are Muslim and Christian Arabs who represent about 1.9 million inhabitants or 21% of the population and various other minorities amounting to about 440,000 people.

The voters represented approximately 6.8 million people or 75.5% of the population but for various reasons 2 million voters abstained. Based on the overall figures the Arab Israeli population who could have voted should have been "about" 1.4 million people and yet the Arab parties got only 373,000 votes. Although some Arabs were able to vote for the other parties, it can be assumed that a large part of them abstained and the new law on the Nation-State probably did not encourage them to vote.

The number of Jewish voters rose to about 4 million people, including 26.7% for the nationalist Likud and 26.7% for the ultra-Orthodox supporters to varying degrees of a theocracy. We can deduce that a large majority of the population is divided equally between ultra-nationalists and ultra-Orthodox. The founders of Zionism and Israel may no longer recognize the country they wished to create as a Jewish national home.

The only force that claims to be from the center and secular democracy is reduced to 38% of votes and the cohabitation between the secular and ultra-religious populations has become very problematic. The Israeli population is in fact divided into four distinct parts: nationalists, religious, democrats (forming the country's elite) and Israeli Arabs. The way seems to be traced towards a kind of nationalist and expansionist theocracy which risks pushing Israel out of the world of modern democracies.

IX- Two States, two Nations

The United States and modern democracies desire the existence of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. It is important to maintain good relations with the United States and other NATO countries because Israel needs the weapons of these countries. However, as long as the Palestinian movements are convinced that the disappearance of Israel is essential or finance the terrorists, an independent Palestinian state will remain only a project until the Palestinians change their minds. It should also be noted that the West Bank includes approximately 2.5 million Arabs and its annexation would make Israel a country comprising 4.4 million Arabs (37% of the total population) which would then become a binational, bilingual and Judeo Muslim state. The protection of Israel as a Jewish national home therefore entails the renunciation of the principle of continual territorial expansion.

X- What are the solutions so that Israel can keep its vocation as a democratic Jewish national home in accordance with the declaration of independence.

1-Israel must have a constitution based on the declaration of independence and on the wishes of the nations and founders who participated in its creation to make it a national home for all secular and religious Jews throughout the world and considering all its inhabitants Jews and non-Jews on an equal footing.

2-Israel must not be a theocracy but a modern democracy if it wants to maintain relations with other modern democracies and in particular with the United States to which it owes existential economic and military support.

3-As a modern democracy, Israel must have a constitution that must include “the declaration of human rights” or refer to it and teach it in its schools.

4-Israel must not finance any school that does not teach the secular subjects necessary for the integration of all its citizens into society (military service, professional integration, civil life, etc.) otherwise the freedom of pupils and students of religious schools would be compromised while and the State must guarantee it.

5-In the army, no one can claim special treatment based on their faith because this could jeopardize the common security of citizens. As in many countries, the army could be the crucible for the social integration of all components of the population.

6-Religion “for those who wish” must be taught in dedicated schools outside general education schools and as an optional supplement to compulsory education.

7-Only the civil law must prevail and those who wish to follow religious traditions must make it their private affair.

8-Religious parties have no place in the Knesset but can promote their ideas in associations.

If the political situation becomes inextricable, then all the Jews of the world could be asked to elect the Knesset in order to guarantee that Israel remains the Jewish national home originally created for all the Jewish people in their diversity.