I remember how my Jewish liberal family and friends talked about Israel as a secular society and that this is what separated us from the Arab neighbors. Certainly takes this notion, digs a deep grave, and buries it. Israel is the Nazi equivalent of the 1930s/40s and they’re not even hiding it anymore.
Lebanon is a secular country home to 18 different religious sects. The people/society aren’t secular of course, but the government is made up of people from various religions.
Egypt is a secular military dictatorship where 10% of the people (about 10 million) are Christians.
In the wake of the 1948 Palestine war, the Israeli government conferred Israeli citizenship upon all Palestinians who had remained or were not expelled. However, they were subject to discrimination by being placed under martial law until 1966, while other Israeli citizens were not. In the early 1980s, Israel granted citizenship eligibility to the Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the Syrian citizens of the Golan Heights by annexing both areas, though they remain internationally recognized as part of the Israeli-occupied territories, which came into being after the Six-Day War of 1967. Acquisition of Israeli citizenship in East Jerusalem has been scarce, as only 5% of Palestinians in East Jerusalem were Israeli citizens in 2022, largely due to Palestinian society’s disapproval of naturalization as complicity with the occupation. After the Second Intifada, the opposition loosened, but Israel made the process more difficult, approving only 34% of new Palestinian applications.[citation needed]
According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, the Israeli Arab population stood at 2.1 million people in 2023, accounting for 21% of Israel’s total population. The majority of these Arab citizens identify themselves as Arab or Palestinian by nationality and as Israeli by citizenship. They mostly live in Arab-majority towns and cities, some of which are among the poorest in the country, and generally attend schools that are separated to some degree from those attended by Jewish Israelis. Arab political parties traditionally did not join governing coalitions until 2021, when the United Arab List became the first to do so. The Druze and the Bedouin in the Negev and the Galilee have historically expressed the strongest non-Jewish affinity to Israel and are more likely to identify as Israelis than other Arab citizens.
There are a lot of parallels to apartheid, but it’s somewhere between.
I think a closer parallel could be Ireland under Cromwell, which is still not a good model.
Unfortunately no longer true since the 2018 basic law where Israel defined themselves as for the Jewish people only, revoking a core part of the 1992 Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty. Which led to large public protests within Israel at the time. The current admin are off the rails atm.
After it was passed, several groups in the Jewish diaspora expressed concern that it was actively violating Israel’s self-defined legal status as a “Jewish and democratic state” in exchange for adopting an exclusively Jewish identity.
I swear the only 3 countries I’ve heard scream about being secular are France, Israel, and India, all of which are exactly the opposite because the government is exclusively following a religious doctrine and cracking down on minorities as well as anyone not a part of that national religion.
It’s OK to wear a cross in, It’s OK to make the sign of the cross, because that’s the majority religion. Headscarves, however, are considered a “outfit ostensibly showing a […] religious affiliation” and that should, according to some french lawmakers, be banned.
I remember how my Jewish liberal family and friends talked about Israel as a secular society and that this is what separated us from the Arab neighbors. Certainly takes this notion, digs a deep grave, and buries it. Israel is the Nazi equivalent of the 1930s/40s and they’re not even hiding it anymore.
Lebanon is a secular country home to 18 different religious sects. The people/society aren’t secular of course, but the government is made up of people from various religions.
Egypt is a secular military dictatorship where 10% of the people (about 10 million) are Christians.
Non-Jews are denied citizenship and thus disenfranchised. Textbook apartheid. Israel can be a Jewish state or a democracy, it cannot be both
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_citizens_of_Israel?wprov=sfla1
I have to fact check this, it’s a clear lie.
There are a lot of parallels to apartheid, but it’s somewhere between.
I think a closer parallel could be Ireland under Cromwell, which is still not a good model.
Unfortunately no longer true since the 2018 basic law where Israel defined themselves as for the Jewish people only, revoking a core part of the 1992 Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty. Which led to large public protests within Israel at the time. The current admin are off the rails atm.
I swear the only 3 countries I’ve heard scream about being secular are France, Israel, and India, all of which are exactly the opposite because the government is exclusively following a religious doctrine and cracking down on minorities as well as anyone not a part of that national religion.
Citation needed wrt France
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_scarf_controversy_in_France https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250219-france-s-senate-backs-move-to-ban-headscarf-in-sport
It’s OK to wear a cross in, It’s OK to make the sign of the cross, because that’s the majority religion. Headscarves, however, are considered a “outfit ostensibly showing a […] religious affiliation” and that should, according to some french lawmakers, be banned.