Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Israeli election to bring changes?

Interesting article by Julian Kossoff, a former journo with the Jewish Chronicle, in today's Daily Telegraph blog
Salient point of Orthodox Haredi Jews opposed to Zionism here:
Dubbed the Israeli Putin,[Avigdor Lieberman] the Molodvan-born former bouncer and has set a collision course with the other "ultras" of Israeli society.

The "no loyalty, no citizenship" policy threatens to challenge the grudging status quo which has allowed to the Haredi community to thrive in Israel, reaping generous state subsides for their social welfare and educational network, despite the fact that many in their ranks veer from ambiguous to outright hostility towards the concept of the state that funds them.

Many of the 'black hats' believe Zionism to be a secularist aberration which has hijacked Judaism; that to reinvent the Jewish nation in the Holy Land prior to the return of the Messiah is downright heresy.

Just like Israel's Arabs, most members of the ultra-Orthodox community don't serve in the army. Yisrael Beiteinu thus questions their loyalty and right to citizenship.

3 comments:

  1. I can only hope we vote the right wing into power... the left cannot guarantee peace or security.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The only thing right wing militarists in Israel can garantee to Israel is deepening animosity from those watching from afar, because of its violence towards its neighbours.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I disagree completely. Israel is defending herself against murderous regimes that call for the death of both Christians and Jews. Israel is on the forefront of defending our Judeo-Christian values... and of course, the Bible is quite specific on the covenant with G-d that includes the land that was given to us.

    I would expect a Catholic to understand the concept of the covenant between G-d and Israel more than most?

    ReplyDelete