Re: What makes Israel Jewish (March 28)

I found Rabbi Rosenberg’s article, “What makes Israel Jewish” interesting – and faulty on several counts.

First, we have his statement that it is “disingenuous of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a “Jewish state.” The “Jewish state” preceded Netanyahu’s demand by at least 65 years. The U.N. partition resolution of 1947 calls for an Arab state and a “Jewish state.” In fact, it refers to the “Jewish state” at least 30 times! I’m confident people were debating then – and maybe forever – “who is a Jew.” Nevertheless, the U.N. saw fit to call Israel a “Jewish state” at its creation.

Secondly, Israel – while a thoroughly democratic state – is not the U.S. How Jim feels about the U.S. requiring him to declare allegiance to a Christian state has nothing whatever to do with what Israel demands of its citizens. The U.S. has its own unique set of protections that Israel  which in fact shares very little of a cultural/historical heritage with the U.S. of course has no obligation to follow. Therefore, how Israel’s citizens may react to such a demand (allegiance to a Jewish state) has no relation in how an American reacts to such a demand (allegiance to a Christian state) in the U.S.

Jerry Weinstein

Rumford, R.I.

I read with interest the article “What Makes Israel Jewish” published on March 28.

The author of the article quotes the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel and then accuses the Prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, of being “ disingenuous” in demanding “that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish State.”

The author further states: “[It] is a non-starter to demand that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declare Israel a Jewish state… History is NOT a wonderful tool  if it is forgotten.

United Nations resolution 181, adopted on Nov. 29, 1947, partitioned Palestine.  The specific language stated in part:

Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem, set forth in Part III of this Plan, shall come into existence in Palestine two months after the evacuation of the armed forces of the mandatory power has been completed but in any case not later then 1 October 1948.

It is hardly “disingenuous of the Prime Minister of Israel to ask his “negotiating partner” to specifically acknowledge UN Resolution 181  the very Resolution that the Palestinians rely on for a “Palestinian State.

Thank you for your attention.

Howard I. Lipsey,

Associate Justice (ret.)

Lincoln, R.I.

I am writing to correct a significant misconception as promulgated by J Street. Rabbi Rosenberg writes, “...it is a non-starter to demand that President Mahmoud Abbas declare Israel a Jewish state...”

While it may be considered a non-starter by J Street, and while it’s correct that Israel doesn’t need Palestinian permission to be the nation-state of the Jewish people, the demand for recognition of a Jewish state is aimed at ending the fantasy of the “right of return” and bringing an end to the conflict. If it is truly a non-starter, then the two-state solution is a non-starter.

Yehuda Ben-Meir, former member of the Knesset, recently wrote in Ha’aretz, “I understand that our right to the entire Land of Israel has to be adapted to the reality of a Palestinian nation living in this country. If the Palestinians want peace, they must adapt their narrative of Greater Palestine to the historical truth of the existence of a Jewish people with a profound connection to this country, and a solidly-grounded right to establish its state on at least part of it.”

At the end of the year 2000, it was Bill Clinton who presented parameters for a peace plan that included the words: “Palestine as the homeland of the Palestinian people and the State of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.” This basic demand can’t just be dismissed as politically impractical, as J Street has attempted to do.

Howard Brown

Wickford, R.I.