Friday, December 07, 2007

A second Jewish state?

This idea doesn’t surprise me and I think this idea was a given, considering the demonization of both the religious and the settler movement since the Oslo process. Couple that with the dereliction of duty shown by the Israel government towards cities under siege in Israel and it was only a matter of time before someone stood up and said – we will found our own state. The Jerusalem Post reports:
The time has come to prepare to secede from the State of Israel and to present initial steps for the creation of an autonomous state in Judea and Samaria, should the government move forward with plans to withdraw from those areas, Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

"If the government withdraws from Judea and Samaria, then we will start a new state," said Wolpe.

He plans to publish his views in an article that will appear this Shabbat in a weekly pamphlet called Our Land of Israel that is distributed to synagogues. Wolpe is the founder of Ha'Matteh L'Hatzolat Ha'Am V'Ha'Aretz - SOS Israel, a grassroots umbrella organization of right-wing groups who believe that Judea and Samaria belong to Jews and should remain in Jewish hands. SOS has joined Wolpe in this initiative and, as an initial step, SOS has organized a contest to choose a flag and a national anthem for the autonomous state.

Following the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza and four communities in Samaria, Wolpe concluded that it would be best to organize early, and to take more dramatic steps. "Why should we wait until soldiers come to people's homes," said Wolpe.


What does surprise me is how long it has taken for someone to come to this point and publicly announce it. Will the movement grow? In fits and starts. Will a second Jewish state be feasibly established? Maybe, maybe not. And if not today, maybe tomorrow, or the day after. Once the dream of statehood is shared it becomes almost impossible to kill the concept. Besides, there is already is a historical precedent for a second Jewish state to be established, and sadly, it would be for much the same reasons today as it was millenniums ago.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Please see this Link and comment thread: http://deanesmay.com/posts/1197590741.shtml

Naftali said...

"You Jewish Supremacists disgust me!"

What are you gonna to do about it.

K. Shoshana said...

Anon,

I have been called many things in my days, but a Jewish Supremacist is a kind of a first -even for me. And to credit me with the rise of anti-Semitism, oy vey, if this doesn’t get me a seat on the Elder’s Council, nothing will.

Do you cook Anon? If you did do, you would realize that scum always rises to the top.

But I will give you credit for making me think today. Here’s a thought; if one is an American and very pro-American one is known as a patriot, and if one is pro pan-Arabism, one is considered an Arab nationalist, but a Jewish nationalist or patriot always becomes a “supremacist”. Just why is that?

Naftali, Shalom Shabbat!