Israel: A J****h & "Democratic" State

Why is it that there are so many Jewish leaders and Jewish organizations, both in Israel and abroad who are always warning of the need to protect Israel's democratic character, yet one virtually never hears any calls from these organizations to protect Israel's Jewish character?

There is currently an initiative in the works to have the leaders of major Jewish organizations convene to confront the rift in Israeli society that the "disengagement" plan has caused, and the threat that the "opposition" to the expulsion of Jews from their homes has posed to Israel's "democratic" character.

"This would be a special emergency session initiated by leading Jewish figures from around the world who love Israel and respect democracy," Anti-Defamation League Director Abraham Foxman said Monday.

"The events that have taken place surrounding the evacuation of Gush Katif prove there is in Israel a large fundamentalist minority that poses a real threat to the democratic character of Israel," Foxman said.

"I fear that the message of Meir Kahane that democracy cannot exist alongside Judaism has penetrated a large segment of the Jewish public," Foxman said.

Here are the problems I have with this initiative:

1) Why is there no mention of the threat to Israel's democracy that Prime Minister Sharon poses, where he was able to make a total mockery of Israel's "democratic" institutions in order to push his "Disengagement" plan through? (Running on an election platform which was totally against "Disengagement" from Gaza, rejecting the results of the internal Likud referendum which he promised to accept, firing cabinet ministers who refused to go along with his plan, buying votes of MK's by offering them ministerial and deputy ministerial portfolios...)

2) Why are these leaders of major organizations not convening to address how Israel can continue to refer to itself as the Jewish State when it expels Jews from their homes, destroys Jewish communities in the Land of Israel, destroys synagogues and houses of Torah study, uproots the graves of those murdered by Arab terrorists, and hands over the Land to the sworn enemies of the Jewish People and State?

3) Who elected these "leaders" of major Jewish organizations in the 1st place? Whom do they purport to speak for? They certainly don't speak for me.

4) Could it be that it is more important to these Jewish leaders of the world that Israel maintain its facade of being a "democratic" state over Israel's Jewish character, as it allows them to fit in better in their home countries by showing how western, liberal and progressive Israel is?

If so, it would seem that these leaders of major Jewish organizations have only their own best interests at heart, and if that's the case, please spare those of us here in Israel any ideas for emergency initiatives that you may have which only seek to stengthem themselves at Israel's expense.

5) Perhaps Abe Foxman of the ADL (an organization that one would have expected to naturally be against the expulsion of Jews regardless of where it was being perpetrated or how "democratic" the decision to carry out the expulsion was reached) is correct about one thing. I imagine that more and more Jews every single day are coming to the realization of the inherent conflict between Israel existing as both a Jewish and democratic state, and are recognizing the need to place one before the other. It is clear what the leaders of major Jewish organizations have chosen, now it is time for the Jewish People, and particularly those of us living in Israel to decide.

As opposed to sweeping this issue under the rug, which both leaders in Israel, as well as world Jewry have done at every opportunity, perhaps we would be best off discussing this issue out in the open and coming to the necessary conclusions, as painful as they may be, for the sake of the future of the State of Israel?