Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party is moving closer to fulfilling one of its campaign promises, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to bring part of the controversial “loyalty oath” proposal before the cabinet on Sunday.
The proposal, which is widely expected to pass, would demand any prospective non-Jewish citizen swear an oath not just to the Israeli government as such, but to the notion of the Israeli state as a “Jewish state.” The demand would not apply to people under the “Law of Return,” so new Jewish immigrants would not be affected by the requirement.
This is only a small part of what Foreign Minister Lieberman envisioned, which was to require all non-Jewish citizens to take such an oath or have their citizenship stripped from them. The current proposal would only apply to new citizens and not to those already in Israel.
Still the matter is controversial, if only for the precedent it sets toward the demand for similar oaths of other citizens further down the road. Roughly 20% of Israel’s population is not Jewish, and a number of opposition parties catering to them have sought to guarantee equality for all citizens. Yisrael Beiteinu and other more hawkish parties have attempted to ban such parties for “disloyalty.”
Maybe the US should also introduce this, with the US being Christian rather than Jewish, and with the unconditional loyalty to the US and no other country.
“loyalty oath” was taken by every zionist from 1880 to WWII when they arrived in the Ottoman empire. The Ottoman empire accepted the refugees from the problems and oppression that they faced in Europe. Everyone of those taking the oath came to destroy the Ottoman empire and replace it with a religious empire. The major problem I have with a “loyalty oath” is the arab citizens of Israel will not be accepted as Jewish people if they converted to the religion. That means it really is just a method to insure as Animal farm showed all animals are equal but some are more equal than others. The “loyalty oath” is just a hidden way of saying we are bigots but we have this “loyalty oath” to show that is is the other guy who do not accept us but we make it impossible for them to accept us. This is also an update of catch 22. You have to be jewish to be loyal but you cannot be jewish because our god does not like you. Why would an almighty pick bigots as his/her chosen people?
Maybe all the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza should voluntarily take the loyalty oath and then demand Israeli citizenship. Jews would be outnumbered. With citizenship would come representation in the Likud and eventual equality..
All citizens are not equal. Even if the West Bank and Gaza Arabs were made into Israeli citizens they still would not have equality. In order to have equal rights in terms of land ownership you must be not only an Israeli citizen but also a "Jewish National." Israeli Arabs are Israeli Citizens but are not Jewish Nationals. To be a Jewish National you must have Jewish ancestry. The government agencies that control decision making on land, and building permits discriminate in favor of Jewish Nationals over Arab citizens.
Ironic but true. But as someone once said, "If voting changed anything they'd make it illegal".
By enforcing the taking of such an oath does not Israel open up the possibility of interested groups in the US to question the "constitutionalaty" of the USA extending aid to a state that advvocates its existance as a "religious" state?