Abonneren
Likoed Nederland
  • Home
  • Publicaties
    • Artikelen
    • Brieven
    • Persberichten
    • Acties
  • Achtergronden
  • Geselecteerd
    • Clips Palestijnse televisie
    • Video’s
    • Uit de pers
    • Historische documenten
    • Nederlandse links
  • De Nederlandse media
    • Ongehoord Palestijns nieuws
    • Dossier: media leugens
    • De Nederlandse media: niet evenwichtig
    • Kennisquiz Midden-Oosten
  • English
    • Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
    • Clips of Palestinian television
    • Video’s
    • Arab Extremism
    • From the Press
    • Historic documents
    • Israeli Government Points of View
    • Likud Policy Statements
    • English links
    • About Likud
  • Over ons
    • Contact
    • Steun ons – support
    • Over Likoed
Geen resultaat
Toon alle resultaten
Likoed Nederland
Geen resultaat
Toon alle resultaten
Likoed Nederland
Geen resultaat
Toon alle resultaten
Home English From the Press

Does Japan have a right to exist as a Japanese state?

24 augustus 2006
in From the Press
Reading Time: 4 mins read
Tweet
Share
Pin
Share

By David E. Bernstein, professor at the George Mason University School of Law.

August 24, 2006.

A reader, sympathetic to Israel but troubled by its existence as “Jewish state,”
asks: “Can you point me to any case in any example where you would say
‘ has the right to exist as a or state?’ I can
think of numerous claims like this by societies in the past, which are now
widely condemned.”

Actually, many, many countries have an official religion, including not only
“backward” countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia that enforce religious law,
but “progressive” liberal bastions such as Norway, Denmark, and Iceland (all
Lutheran).

By contrast, Judaism is not the official religion of Israel. Jewish holidays
are government holidays, but that’s like Christmas in the U.S. (Family law is
controlled by religious bodies, but that’s true for Muslims, Christians, et al., as
well as Jews, and is an artifact of Ottoman and British rule. My understanding
is that most Jews in Israel are against the religious monopoly on family law, but
it survives because the religious parties have disproportionate power.

The Arab community, which is far more traditional in its religious
practices than is the Jewish community, almost certainly is more supportive of
this arrangement than the Jews are, so this has really nothing to do with Israel
being a “Jewish state,” as such.)

As for the question of “race,” the problem can’t be “self-determination” of a
group, because the propriety of that principle seems rather well-accepted.
“Jewishness” is not a racial identity, but complaints about Israel being a
“Jewish state” are often put in terms of the Law of Return being “racist.”

The Law of Return is based on ethnic (not racial) heritage and grants
anyone with a Jewish grandparent automatic citizenship (the Israeli Supreme
Court has held that one is not eligible for the Law of Return if one has adopted
the Christian religion, because in the complex area of Jewish identity, Jews
who become Christians have left the Jewish people). Non-Jewish immigrants
with no ethnic Jewish background can become citizens, with some difficulty, as
can, automatically, non-Jewish immigrants closely related to Jews (e.g.,
spouses), many of whom have recently arrived from the former Soviet Union.

Arabs who lived in Israel during the War of Independence (and thus
presumptively accepted the existence of Israel and were not engaged in warfare
against Israel) and their descendants have full citizenship rights, but they are
relieved of one of the major obligations of Israeli citizenship, military or other
national service (I think this is a big mistake, but that is a topic for a separate
post).

One’s liberal, progressive or libertarian hackles can easily be raised at Israel’s
citizenship policies. Why should ethnic background entitle one to citizenship?
On the other hand, Israel’s defenders would argue that given that the Jews
have been the subject of massive state and private violence over the past few
centuries, including one attempted genocide (by Hitler) and another one that
was averted only by Stalin’s timely death, Jews need a homeland/refuge where
they can go with automatic citizenship rights.

Whatever side you take on that debate, the more interesting question is
why the question of basing citizenship (in part) of ethnic descent only calls the
right of Israel to exist into question.

My correspondent was unaware of any other countries that have an overt
ethnic identity, but, judging by immigration laws, there are quite a few, and
with a few exceptions (Armenia and Germany), their discriminatory immigration
policies exist, unlike Israel’s, without any justification resulting from persecution
of that group.

For example, according to Wikipedia: “Japanese citizenship is conferred jus
sanguinis, and monolingual Japanese-speaking minorities often reside in Japan
for generations under permanent residency status without acquiring citizenship
in their country of birth.”

Why does Japan have the right to exist as a Japanese state? Has this
question ever been asked?

An Irish government Web site states: “If you are of the third or subsequent
generation born abroad to an Irish citizen (in other words, one of your
grandparents is an Irish citizen but none of your parents was born in Ireland),
you may be entitled to become an Irish citizen” — if, as I understand it, you
register properly. Does Ireland have the right to exist as an Irish state?

Several other countries recognize a “right of return” similar, but often broader,
than Israel’s (via Wikipedia):

  • Armenia. “Individuals of Armenian
    origin shall acquire citizenship of the Republic of Armenia through a simplified
    procedure.”
  • Bulgaria. “Any person . . . whose descent from a Bulgarian
    citizen has been established by way of a court ruling shall be a Bulgarian citizen
    by origin.”
  • Finland. “The Finnish Aliens Act provides for persons who are
    of Finnish origin to receive permanent residence. This generally means Karelians
    and Ingrian Finns from the former Soviet Union, but United States, Canadian or
    Swedish nationals with Finnish ancestry can also apply.”
  • Germany.
    “German law allows persons of German descent living in Eastern Europe to
    return to Germany and acquire German citizenship.” My understanding is that
    this German descent may go back many generations. (Note that until recently,
    Germany’s citizenship law was less liberal than Israel’s, in that it did not allow
    people who were not ethnic Germans, including Turks who had lived in
    Germany for generations, to be become citizens.)
  • Greece. ” ‘Foreign
    persons of Greek origin’ who neither live in Greece nor hold Greek citizenship
    nor were necessarily born there, may become Greek citizens by enlisting in
    Greece’s military forces.” Wikipedia provides a several other examples, none of
    which seem to ever raise the same questions about the legitimacy of the states
    involved as the Law of Return does for Israel.

Of course, Israel has the added burden that the Palestinians claiming that they
are the true “owners” of the relevant land, or that at least the Palestinians who
fled in 1948 and their descendants should have their own “right to return”.

But I think that issue exists quite apart from whether Israel’s Law of
Return is objectionable, and indeed must, given that the Palestinian side is
calling for even fourth-generation descendants of residents of what is now
Israel, who never set foot there, to be allowed based on their ancestry to
return.

In short, the perception my correspondent had, which in my experience is
shared by many, that Israel is a uniquely “religious state” is not only wrong; it’s
backwards — Israel has less of an explicit religious identity than many countries
(complicated, I admit, by the fact that one can in an odd way assume a Jewish
ethnic identity by converting religiously).

And Israel is hardly unique in basing immigration and citizenship policy at
least partly on ethnic heritage (the thought that Israel is unique in this regard
seems bound up with the confused notion that it must have something to do
with Jews thinking they are God’s “Chosen People”).

The big difference is that unlike, say, Japan, Israel actually has especially
strong, though I wouldn’t say completely unassailable, reasons for doing so.

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share

Gerelateerd Artikelen

arab rights
Persberichten

Terreur en antisemitisme onderbelicht in klachten over Op1

by Awi
30 januari 2023
0

Persbericht van Likoed Nederland, 31 januari 2023.   Likoed Nederland heeft een klacht ingediend tegen de uitzending van Op1 waarin...

Lees meer
apartheid islamitische majoor Ella Waweya (foto IDF)

NPO-Ombudsman bekritiseerde Apartheid beschuldiging al eerder

11 januari 2023
Hamas planet Earth

Actiesucces: Nu.nl rectificeert de doelstelling van Hamas

10 januari 2023
Buitenhof apartheid

VPRO-Buitenhof had kritisch moeten zijn tegen Israël-hater

21 december 2022
Israel babies

Israël: veilig, gezond en gelukkig

13 december 2022
Wereldheerschappij

Wereldheerschappij: Joden of reptielen?

13 november 2022
Volgend Artikel

Jihad summer camp

Terrorist theater tricks

  • Over Likoed
  • Steun ons
  • Contact

© 1997 - 2022 Overname van artikelen is toegestaan en wordt zelfs zeer op prijs gesteld, onder voorwaarde van bronvermelding en een link naar het originele artikel op likoed.nl.

Geen resultaat
Toon alle resultaten
  • Home
  • Publicaties
    • Artikelen
    • Brieven
    • Persberichten
    • Acties
  • Achtergronden
  • Geselecteerd
    • Clips Palestijnse televisie
    • Video’s
    • Uit de pers
    • Historische documenten
    • Nederlandse links
  • De Nederlandse media
    • Ongehoord Palestijns nieuws
    • Dossier: media leugens
    • De Nederlandse media: niet evenwichtig
    • Kennisquiz Midden-Oosten
  • English
    • Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
    • Clips of Palestinian television
    • Video’s
    • Arab Extremism
    • From the Press
    • Historic documents
    • Israeli Government Points of View
    • Likud Policy Statements
    • English links
    • About Likud
  • Over ons
    • Contact
    • Steun ons – support
    • Over Likoed

© 1997 - 2022 Overname van artikelen is toegestaan en wordt zelfs zeer op prijs gesteld, onder voorwaarde van bronvermelding en een link naar het originele artikel op likoed.nl.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In