‘A Jewish and Democratic state is a zombie idea’

Israeli novelist Nir Baram, on his Facebook page:

Arafat Jaradat died because “he ate too much.” Issawi was arrested for eight months for traveling in the West Bank. Hassan Usruf was viciously attacked because he met the wrong youngsters. Many more Arabs are held without trial because they are Arabs. One and a half million Palestinian Israelis are separated and humiliated in the airport because they are Arabs. The settlers who shoot and burn are protected because they are Jews. The IDF serves them like a slave because the IDF is Jewish too. Just like them. And it all goes back to the same thing: Jewish dominance everywhere. Some dreamed of a different state. Some claim (of course) that once it was different, and some still have the “Jewish and Democratic” notion in their consciousness as a dream or a memory or a memory within a dream. But maybe there is value in looking at things as they are: A Jewish and Democratic state is a zombie idea. It is still used in the media, in Peace Now events, in the Likud and Labor party conventions, in academia, in festivals, in “the discourse,” but on the street, in daily life, it doesn’t exist.

 

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