Inching towards ethnocracy

Inchworm

Slowly, methodically, step-by-step, just like an inchworm, the State of Israel will reach its destination in 2018, on its 70th birthday.

The State of Israel will officially discard its trappings as a western democracy, and cloak itself proudly as the newest Ethnocracy in the Middle East.

A political regime that facilitates expansion and control by a dominant ethnicity in contested lands. It is neither democratic nor authoritarian, with rights and capabilities depending primarily on ethnic origin and geographic location.

The biggest lie — repeated so often that few question it — is the statement that “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East.” It’s a necessary lie from Israel’s perspective to gain legitimacy and support from its #1 fan club in the United States, the Congress.

In recent years, Israeli leaders have not been shy about proclaiming their true intention. The contradictions between being a Jewish state and a democratic state are now resolved —- dropping any pretense of democratic values in favor of a Jewish-only state that favors Jews, claiming all of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, giving only the Jewish people the right of self-determination, allowing Jewish legislators to throw out Palestinian legislators from the Knesset, removing Arabic as an official language of the State along with Hebrew, and neutering the Israeli judiciary from overturning any laws passed by the Knesset regardless if they violate international human rights norms or not. (Israeli Parliament Endorses ‘nation-state bill’ for first reading – by Jonathan Cook – April 9, 2018 – AlJazeera)

Even scholars in Israel, such as Alexander Kedar, Shlomo Sand, Asaad Ghanem, Haim Yakobi, Nur Masalha and Hannah Naveh, have recognized Israel as an ethnocracy. 

What does this mean for the 20% of Israeli citizens who are not Jewish, but Palestinians?  What about the Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and occupied Gaza Strip?

The only conclusion:

• They will live and die as second-class citizens, non-citizens and refugees with no hope of helping Israel to become a “consensual democracy” as envisioned by Palestinian leaders in 2006 in “Future Vision.”
• They and their children will live in an apartheid state. “If being an apartheid state means committing inhumane acts, systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over another, then Israel is guilty, a United Nations panel has determined in a new report.” Washington Post, March 16, 2017
• The U.S. Congress must recognize that their alliance with the State of Israel contravenes our country’s democratic values, and we must distance ourselves from this undemocratic State.
• Someone needs to make a new YouTube video repeating the following mantra over and over again so that the new reality and truth finally sink in.

Israel is an Ethnocracy and Apartheid State in the Middle East. <repeat>

Israel is an Ethnocracy and Apartheid State in the Middle East. <repeat>

Israel is an Ethnocracy and Apartheid State in the Middle East. <repeat>