Israel Politics Quotes
The “radicals” refer to the extremely conservative, religiously-oriented Israelis. To them the only real and important element is the land that God gave to the Jewish people. They see the State as artificial and whose only legitimate role is to protect and defend the land of Israel. God has ordained the laws in the Talmud—the first 5 Books of the Old Testament. They do not believe in democracy but seek a Hebrew Theocracy of the Ancient Jews before they made the error of having kings. Some of them opposed the civil government of Israel when the country was founded via a UN resolution and a few would not even defend the new country under a civil government. The relative moderates see Israel as a nation state where the land of Israel can be changed, negotiated, traded as other nations do with their borders. One irony is no one knows exactly the borders of the land which God gave to the Jews and this is why archeology is so politically important in Israel compared to other countries.
Like Protestantism, there are different sects of Judaism but not so many. The Reform Jews are the most modern Jewish religious group. Reform Judaism originated in France and developed in America in the 19th century, and most American Jews belong to this branch of Judaism. In Israel, the Reform Jews are a minority like the ultra-Orthodox of which this Rabbi was a leader. He was the head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas political party which often has substantial political power when the two major parties do not have enough votes to make a majority and they need Shas as a coalition partner. This minor party often has a great deal of political influence. Religiously however, Shas speaks for a small minority of Israelis. However, they and some other ultra-Orthodox have been able to control or be very influential with the Israeli Ministry of Religion and they have used this power to not give Reform Judaism any official recognition. Reform Rabbis—which include women—are not officially recognized in Israel and so far as this Rabbi and many of his followers are concerned, Reform Judaism is a great danger to Jews and Israel. The hatred, as in this quotation, for the Reform Jews, is greater than any animosity for the Arabs. In actuality, this rabbi and his followers, are culturally and religiously very much like the Muslims. As Sephardic Jews, they have grown up in the Middle East and before Israel’s founding, they lived in Islamic counties and absorbed much of their culture. Like ultra-orthodox Muslims, they believe in theocracy and oppose democracy. They oppose religious freedom, and oppose civil law and civil courts in favor of religious law and Rabbinical courts. See {637098} for their hostility to the Supreme Court. The friction between the secular, Reform and most Jews in Israel and the ultra-Orthodox simmers just below the surface and breaks out every so often, but the pressure to refrain from major political strife is great lest there not be enough of a united front to protect the Jewish people from the extremists in the Middle East who want to nullify the Israeli state by force and would threaten the very lives of Jewish people.
When asked if his government's policy was "hawk" or "dove":
