A recent article in the German leftist magazine taz discusses the cancellation of Israeli-German “philosopher” Omri Boehm’s speech at the Buchenwald memorial, following pressure from Israeli government representatives and the Jewish community in Germany, who accused him of “instrumentalizing” the Holocaust.
The basic equation of Israel's constitution - Jewish and democratic (the only part which is written down) - can feel contradictory. In fact it's mostly presented as such at institutions like Tel-Aviv University where I did my MA. But when you then consider a country like the UK, where the Church of England and Church of Scotland are established, (meaning that the head of the church is also the head of state - currently the king - and that bishops sit in parliament, in the House of Lords and officiate at national occasions such as those of remembrance or a coronation), that the flags of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the UK include crosses, Christmas is a huge cultural event and Christianity in interwoven into the culture and history of the country which is still felt today both internally (especially in Scotland and Northern Ireland) but also externally in relations with the mainland Europe...
Yet as a Jew and a migrant I still felt and feel completely English and British. I had and have no problem with all of the above. Israel's Arab/Palestinian/Bedouin/Druze minorities are clearly different in that they are from here. Perhaps a better example would be a Catholic in Northern Ireland or Scotland, a subject of His Majesty (the UK's national anthem still, officially, contains the line, "... Rebellious Scots to crush, God save the King"). What is needed then is a shared sovereignty, a federal devolution of sovereignty including some communal autonomy and mechanisms which build and ingrain respect and trust. It took a long time to get there in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and it remains far from perfect. We have something of that with the Druze... and to some extent to Bedouin too.
Beyond symbols and respect though, important though they are, society l sovereignty is axiomatically the monopoly on the legitimate use of force. Given the history of the Jews, both in our deep connection to and origin in this place and our experience abroad over the centuries, Zionism developed as an answer to what was termed "The Jewish Question". That history and those factors have not changed. Nor have the fears and, in places, the faits of minorities from Bosnia to Rwanda, Syria to Manmi (Burma), etc. We need the IDF. Just as the State of Israel the answer to The Jewish Question, a State of Palestine should be there answer to The Palestinian Question. We are both of this Land. One way or another we will have to share it. Neither the Scottish nor the Welsh have full sovereignty; the Nationalists/Catholics in Northern Ireland have had to accept their separation from the Irish Republic (in most matters), at least for now. I do not, however, think that citizens of the UK (subjects of His Majesty, I should say) are unfree.
I do think that changes need to be made, starting with better communication and consideration. But federal devolution and mutual respect do not mean that the Jews should not be free in our homeland; it means that the Palestinians should have that too... and that the Druze and Bedouin should be free and safe in both.
I write all this as if it's some kind of revelation. But if you talk to Arabs/Palestinians who work in my local hospitals and pharmacies, or who teach my kids or teach alongside me at my school, then I think they'd think it common sense.
Substitute Danish for Jewish and you instantly see the absurdity of Boehm’s ideas.
Danke Maral. Ich wünschte, deine Stimme würde in der taz auch Gehör finden.
They will come for him too.
A deep essay on how the German philosophical trends of the 19th century made Jews an ideological enemy because of their refusal to conform
https://critiqueanddigest.substack.com/p/antisemitsm-as-humanism
The basic equation of Israel's constitution - Jewish and democratic (the only part which is written down) - can feel contradictory. In fact it's mostly presented as such at institutions like Tel-Aviv University where I did my MA. But when you then consider a country like the UK, where the Church of England and Church of Scotland are established, (meaning that the head of the church is also the head of state - currently the king - and that bishops sit in parliament, in the House of Lords and officiate at national occasions such as those of remembrance or a coronation), that the flags of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the UK include crosses, Christmas is a huge cultural event and Christianity in interwoven into the culture and history of the country which is still felt today both internally (especially in Scotland and Northern Ireland) but also externally in relations with the mainland Europe...
Yet as a Jew and a migrant I still felt and feel completely English and British. I had and have no problem with all of the above. Israel's Arab/Palestinian/Bedouin/Druze minorities are clearly different in that they are from here. Perhaps a better example would be a Catholic in Northern Ireland or Scotland, a subject of His Majesty (the UK's national anthem still, officially, contains the line, "... Rebellious Scots to crush, God save the King"). What is needed then is a shared sovereignty, a federal devolution of sovereignty including some communal autonomy and mechanisms which build and ingrain respect and trust. It took a long time to get there in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and it remains far from perfect. We have something of that with the Druze... and to some extent to Bedouin too.
Beyond symbols and respect though, important though they are, society l sovereignty is axiomatically the monopoly on the legitimate use of force. Given the history of the Jews, both in our deep connection to and origin in this place and our experience abroad over the centuries, Zionism developed as an answer to what was termed "The Jewish Question". That history and those factors have not changed. Nor have the fears and, in places, the faits of minorities from Bosnia to Rwanda, Syria to Manmi (Burma), etc. We need the IDF. Just as the State of Israel the answer to The Jewish Question, a State of Palestine should be there answer to The Palestinian Question. We are both of this Land. One way or another we will have to share it. Neither the Scottish nor the Welsh have full sovereignty; the Nationalists/Catholics in Northern Ireland have had to accept their separation from the Irish Republic (in most matters), at least for now. I do not, however, think that citizens of the UK (subjects of His Majesty, I should say) are unfree.
I do think that changes need to be made, starting with better communication and consideration. But federal devolution and mutual respect do not mean that the Jews should not be free in our homeland; it means that the Palestinians should have that too... and that the Druze and Bedouin should be free and safe in both.
I write all this as if it's some kind of revelation. But if you talk to Arabs/Palestinians who work in my local hospitals and pharmacies, or who teach my kids or teach alongside me at my school, then I think they'd think it common sense.