Israel Debates ‘Loyalty Oath’ for Naturalized Citizens
When Israel’s cabinet approved a measure calling for new citizens to swear an oath of loyalty to the Jewish state, the floodgates of controversy opened wide.
Critics in the Arab sector and among Israeli and Diaspora Jews view the loyalty oath, crafted by right-wing Yisrael Beitenu party members (“Israel is Our Home”), as a means of delegitimizing Israel’s Arab population. The oath calls for naturalization candidates to pledge loyalty to “the state of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”
Critics say it is by definition discriminatory. That’s because the oath requires future citizens to declare loyalty to an ideology that 20% of the country’s Arab sector citizens neither adhere to nor identify with.
And even among Netanyahu’s cabinet members, the vote on the oath wasn’t unanimous. Two ministers from Netanyahu’s Likud Party voted against it and Labor Party minister Yitzhak Herzog mentioned “traces of fascism” in reference to the proposal.
Is Israel, as Middle East-based author Matt Beynon Rees poses, attempting “to regulate customs of the Muslim minority in an effort to protect itself from perceived threats to national character” much in the same way Europe is now moving?
Anti-immigrant parties recently gained electoral favor in Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands. And earlier this month, German leader Angela Merkel publicly stated that the country’s attempt at multiculturalism — i.e., integration of its Turkish minority — had failed.
Is the proposed measure and subsequent vote a way for Prime Minister Netanyahu to appease his right-wing coalition partners and, notably, his foreign minister so that he can push another settlement freeze through and resume peace talks without a coalition walk-out?
After all, Avigdor Lieberman is widely perceived as an embarrassment to the prime minister for his off-color public statements and unilateral actions that come at the most inopportune time. And the loyalty oath bill has been the foreign minister’s “vision.” It was Yisrael Beitenu’s prominent campaign platform during elections and approval now might be the bargaining chip needed to quiet the foreign minister and green-light continued Israeli-Palestinian discourse.
This article is very misleading. The vast majority of Israelis support the loyalty oath. Generally, only the far-left has made a lot of noise about this. The Israeli media has the same kind of left-wing bias as the American mainstream media, hence, many media attacks on the legislation. Almost all countries have some form of loyalty oath. When someone becomes an American citizen, don’t they swear allegiance to the Constitution? Lieberman is NOT far right, he is not an embarrassment to anyone except the Left, his popularity has increased, people generally love his politically incorrect statements.
A universal expectation in western countries, of loyalty from its citizens, is expected and non negotiable.The fact that new citizens are required to swear allegiance to the US is never questioned-as it shouldn’t be.
Therefore, the question becomes-why are people in an uproar over Israel’s (long overdue) demand of the same loyalty?
The issue is complex, but in the main, many so called enlightened folks have never come to grips with Israel being the Jewish homeland, preferring to concentrate on its underpinnings of democracy. And herein lies the crux of the matter.
Israel is NOT like any other western democracy because without its Jewish essence it will cease to exist.This is precisely why the Arabs, and their assorted champions, refuse to ‘recognize’ Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people.Thus, an oath of loyalty from them, to respect Israel’s reason for being, is a non starter, to be fought to the death.
Moreover, no one dares to question the 23 assorted Muslim nations, many of which do NOT tolerate any other religion, other than Islam.The fact that mosques are part and parcel of the Israeli landscape, and Churches are given the same protections as synagogues-in some cases both are given preferred treatment, I can’t recall Israeli authorities destroying them, but synagogues have been-is totally ignored.Hypocrisy, anyone?
Besides, those who are uncomfortable recognizing Israel’s Jewish essence, are not forced to come or to remain.Furthermore, no one is demanding they convert, only that they do nothing to undermine Israel’s security as a haven for world Jewry.
So, at the end of the day, those who don’t want to swear allegiance to Israel, as a Jewish and democratic state, can live elsewhere.People move all the time when they are uncomfortable where they are.
At the VERY least this oath is merely a start towards remedying the sedition in our midst.
Huh? 23 mohammedan nations?
Isn’t it 57???
Jewish is both being a member of a religious community AND a nationality. Jews are a people, a nation. You can be completely secular & be a Jew. So, Israel is the State of the Jewish People. The oath of loyalty is to the State, not to the religion. It is not any different than reciting the pledge of allegiance or swearing to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
By the way, I saw your article in American Thinker, good for you, keep up the good work.
Thanks, Terry.
As you know, living close enough to the jihad, that one can smell their barbaric breath, leaves us both with little appetite for nonsense.
Further, having a brother who traveled the world,(currently using his hard fought expertise to help secure others through his ‘lessons learned’) risking life and limb to thwart their attacks, gives one additional perspective.It gets personal!!
Besides, living in a fantasy land is for (dead)losers.
It is intrinsic to emphasize that bandying about the canard of fascism, in relation to those who support an oath of loyalty, is a familiar bugaboo of the left.
Whereas the left brooks NO dissent when it comes to their leftist dogma/orthodoxy, they have NO problem calling the conservative right wing fascist.(paradoxically,as we witness the silencing of ANYONE who dares to criticize Islam as a war-like political/religious doctrine, the leftist paragons of democracy hurl epitaphs at Lieberman et al)
It is as if requiring the nominal facet of loyalty which ALL western nations demand, is something bordering on fascist.Orwell, anyone?
Well,in reality, the actual fascists are the ones clamoring for Israel to remain vulnerable,while they are FULLY cognizant that it is the only nation in the world whose VERY legitimacy is called into question, and whose annihilation is a topic for ‘polite’ discourse!
Most disturbingly, many Jews are more uncomfortable demanding equal status among nations for the only Jewish homeland, than they are calling the protectors of Israel fascists.
Well, make my day and color me a fascist for wanting to protect my Jewish homeland!
Avigdor lieberman, like Ariel Sharon in the past, has become a fascist poster boy of the left. Meir Kahane is a name unmentionable. All three are Jewish patriots whose greatest sin is or was speaking inconvenient truths about Arabs and Muslims. Their detestation by Jews is a shameful expression of Jewish cowardice.
Imposing loyalty oaths, like erecting walls, is understandably offensive to decent and civilized people everywhere. When Israel began building the wall there was great hue and outcry. The word Fascist was hurled then about the wall as it is now about the loyalty oath. But the wall proved effective and saves lives every day and has been emulated by other countries, not least the United States.
There is a great deal of hubris in the Americans belief that, unlike the Muslims in Europe, the Muslims in our more pluralistic society are assimilating. Anyone living in urban America knows otherwise. The Muslims are no more assimilating here than they are they are anywhere else.
I predict that as we Americans came around to the idea of an Israeli style border fence, we will, in time, come around to the idea of a loyalty oath.
Islam and democracy are fundamentally incompatible.
Oversight. Left out name above. Don’t believe in anonymity
The oath is not a right-wing insult to Arabs but gets to a fundamental issue that needs to be brought into the open and discussed. The idea of nationalism is a Western idea brought to the Middle East by the West. Islam recognized just the lands of Islam and everyone else. If a person regards the mandates of the Koran as trumping the democratically paased laws of their nation, then that person cannot be a true citizen of the state. Permitting such people to become a citizen and entitled to all the benefits of citizenship while that person does not share the fundamental idels and principles of the state and, indeed, permitting such people use the freedoms of the state to undermine the state is perverse. In a world turned upside down, some sanity must be preserved.
Protests, discussion and argument…sounds like at least they got the democracy part of the oath right. Most organizations have nothing to say about the oath because in reality the Arabs will not recognize that Israel is a Jewish State and quite frankly they know that this is all about the negotiation process. Only those who are ignorant of what is going on between Israel, the Palestinians, and the Obama administration sees this as anything more than part of this process. Even though he chocked on the statement, the US Statement spokesperson had to admit that Israel was a Jewish nation.
When someone becomes a naturalized citizen of any country you swear allegiance to the character of the new nation you are joining. Oaths of citizenship are nothing out of the ordinary. That Israel assumes that all Jews recognize Israel’s Jewish nature is also short sighted on their part as well. However, they probably assume you wouldn’t be returning to Israel on aliyah if you didn’t have an allegiance to the Jewish State.What the world doesn’t like is that Israel is expressing its Jewish nature.That it was Lieberman who started the furor…what else is new. However just because you don’t like someone doesn’t mean they are wrong in their assertions. Insisting that the world recognize Israel’s Jewish nature is very straight forward.
Israel is a Jewish nation, its enemies refuse to recognize that because they refuse to accept the Jewish people’s attachment to and historical association with the Land of Israel. The Muslim leader of the Palestinian Authority has even issued a statement saying that the Holy Temple never existed.The PA media also dismisses Jewish history and the importance of Israel to the Jewish people. They even dismiss the Holocaust and promote some of the most vile antisemitism since Nazi Europe.
The absurdity of the situation is that Israel has to negotiate this at all. When have the winners of any war been the ones suing for recognition? Did the US beg the Japanese or the Germans to recognize our nature at the end of WW2? The Wars that Israel has fought were wars of annihilation. Israel won. It is the Arabs who need to beg for recognition not Israel. It is time actually that Israel changed the discourse.Jews don’t have to beg for their existence anymore. If the Arabs don’t like it then let them have nothing. There have been three attempts to create a Palestinian state. They have rejected each and everyone of them. Why do we even bother? They do not want a state they want an end to Israel, these two issues are mutually exclusive.
I fail to see how anyone in these times could object to an oath of loyalty. In the case of Israel, it is extremely important. Though I would also think it is just as important for all western countries.
I would be happy so swear an oath of loyalty to my country, even if I had to do it more than once. It is a priviledge to do so. I am proud to do so.
Those who hold a different idea about the country they reside in, do the county no favors by objecting to an oath of loyalty. If they feel they can not muster up the necessary, it may be there are other places their loyalty lies. And in the ME that is no small matter.
I hope Israel will lead the way in this effort. Maybe the west could consider asking ALL of its citizens to honor a pledge of loyalty to their country.
Why support a fifth column? It can be a matter of life and death.
Its funny how Israelis allow any Jew to automatically get citizen ship under the so called right of return, but yet millions of Palestinian refuges are bot allowed to come back to their land.
How about the Christians and Jews ejected from Arab lands, Bobbo? Two dozen Muslim lands or so and tens of millions of Christians and Jews. Why no right of return? The Levant where Christianity was founded and Paul preached and the greatest Christian intellectual ferment took place is solidly Muslim. Church or synagogue construction possible? Christian or Jewish teaching or schools?
Segregation for me, integration for thee. That’s the Muslim policy toward Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists.
You need to clear the gunk out of your head, Bobbo.
Bob #8: I’ll try to educate you on this matter. The reasons for the exodus of so many Palestinians were varied. To some extent, they panicked (see Howard Sachar) after their leaders (politicians, professional class and business people) stampeded, fearful that victorious Israeli troops would do to them what Arab troops would have done to Jews had they won, i.e., pillage, rape, torture and murder. They were also told to flee by dignataries in the Arab world and return after the Jewish nation was demolished. In some cases, however, Palestinians fled because they were forced out, an exigency of war, as well as being frightened by Jewish atrocities (see Benny Morris). Jewish officials as well as Arab ones also tried to keep Palestinians from fleeing so it was a confusing and stressful situation.
Please keep in mind the following: Jewish refugees numbered about 900,000 were exiled (in poverty) from the Arab lands where they were residents for many generations. Israel accomplished an enormous feat by establishing a home for these emigrees although it took a long long time (ten years or more). In general, there has been a refusal by Arab nations to do the same for Palestinians.
Also keep in mind that many of these refugees were in Palestinian lands for a short time (two years or less) but have still been considered refugees. The nature of the people who resided in Palestinian lands were not of one ethnic group but many (see Benny Morris) including Kurds, Syrians, Egyptians, Greeks and Turks.
It is, of course, a tragedy that so many Palestinians had to flee but it was a war which, had the Jewish people lost, they would have been exterminated. Please note that the Arabs who remained (20% of the population) are all citizens and receive all the benefits of any other citizen. Arabic is one of the two official languages. However, because Israel is a Jewish state, it is untenable that the population become overridden by Arabs, especially since they have proved effective at saboutaging the Jewish nation. I hope my explanation helps you understand the situation in its complexity, Bob.
If you want the benefits of citizenship, then the door has to be closed for the free-loaders who want the benefits, but don’t want anything to do with the responsibilities.
For, the responsibilities that citizens have, are at odds with the over-weaning ambitions of draconian tyrants. For the tryant has
to be the head 24/7/365 instead of appreciating the wisdom of conciliarity.
Bob
[......Its funny how Israelis allow any Jew to automatically get citizen ship under the so called right of return, but yet millions of Palestinian refuges are bot allowed to come back to their land.......]
Only natural, considering all the Jews who were expelled from Muslim countries with just the shirts on their backs…if they were lucky.
What I find funny (haha not queer) are the useful idiots who are impressed by some Pali—producing the key to a house in Isreal…that they rented….before they fled on orders of the invading Arab armies……
American Immigrants must swear an oath to support the Constitution. Supporting shariah law and overthrow of the US Government violates the Constitution, and should lead to revocation of citizenship and deportation.
I see no problem with Israel’s loyalty oath requirement. It’s *their* country. May God bless Israel.
I don’t see the problem. The oath does not require Muslims to pledge allegiance to Judaism – but rather to pledge their allegiance to Israel AS IT STANDS TODAY, as a Jewish state. Not to the religion, but rather to the state. Kind of the way we pledge allegiance to the FOTUS – as a representation of one nation under God – we do not pledge to God, but to the nation, acknowledged in the Pledge to be subservient only to God.
Man, people need to study language more carefully if such nuances carried in subjunctive clauses cause such confusion and conflict.
jamie w, exactly.Well said.
I would only add, they should NOT study language from Noam Chomsky-the purveyor of language bastardization!
Sorry MIT, you placed a halo on a propagandist, a prof who used language as a distorted tool, all in the service of bludgeoning another people. I say this with a heavy heart, as a proud parent of a graduate.
Misleading article:
1. The oath will be required of Jews making Aliyah also
2. Israel was defined as a Jewish state by the UN itself in 1947. In 1992, the left-wing Israeli government voted the “Fundamental Laws” that serve as constitution and Israel is described as “a Jewish and Democratic State”.
In Israel, Jew is not (only) a religion, this is a nationality. Israel is the State of the Jewish people – this has nothing to do with religion.
There is absolutely nothing new in the oath demand. What is new is the reaction of the far-left, proving how extreme it has become. And of course the usual hypocrisy of the Arabs (most Arabs states describe themselves as “Arab and/or Muslim”).
Most Israelis support the new oath.
Why should this be an issue for anyone who desires to become a citizen of the JEWISH state of Israel unless they do not intend loyalty to their nation of choice?
This is another case of multiculturalism run amok similar to what is happening throughout the West. Anyone requesting citizenship in any country should be required to take an oath of allegiance which, if refused or violated, as proven in a court of law, results in immediate and unconditional deportation with absolutely no right of return, for any reason.
This goes right to the heart of the amnesty, illegal immigration, open border issues in the United States, the refusal of the Federal Government to enforce its own laws, the reluctance to make reading, writing, speaking and understanding English a requirement for citizenship and the growing contempt around the world for a once great nation mired in self criticism, self condemnation and eager to refute any expression of national respect or pride or so it would seem from the writhing and moaning of it’s recent leadership and their entrenched sycophants on the Left ever apologetic for America’s shortcomings and “mistakes of the past,” the past defined as B.O., before Obama.
Why should anyone requesting citizenship in America swear allegiance to a country wallowing in self loathing? Why indeed and if America doesn’t figure out the answer to that question it will soon cease to exist.
Two pictures: One of Sderot, and the rocket attacks it endures. Those who endure the attacks, they exhibit what the oath strengthens. When it comes to the other side, the oath gets in the way of what they want to accomplish via the rocket attacks.
Is this clearer than my earlier comment?
I don’t have a problem with it. As long as folks know that it’s now a religion they are enforcing. Near as I know, the Jewish teaching is that they recognize the need and establishment for a secular state. Enforcing or coercing people to become their religion is not a tenet and is rather against their teachings. The problem I have is that even if they did enact it, it won’t mean squat. You’ll just wind up with a false sense of security. Remember the fall of Acre any one?