What's going on in Israel is extremely alarming. The fact that they could have a constitutional crisis where the judiciary and the Knesset are staring each other down is unprecedented, with the judiciary threatening to strike down the law that's intended to neuter the judiciary. Mass protests, members of the government calling for the arrest of opposition leaders? Democracy there has never been more at risk. Of course it's easy for me to blame Bibi, and I do, for cozying up and elevating extreme elements. But honestly, one can blame the center opposition parties as well. Was it worth rejecting Netanyahu so utterly that you end up with a coalition like this? The only stable coalition that would govern from a normal center-right place, that would preserve democracy, is a national unity government with Likud, Yesh Atid, and a few others. That would be stable, would still lean to the right, as Likud voters obviously wished for. And you wouldn't have this moment of crisis. L...
It's a combination of the influence of the insular community, and the traditional Jewish teachings about the inferiority of the Other. I'm not sure why race has anything to do with it - in theory frum Jews should look down on all non-Jews equally.
ReplyDeleteIt might be an outgrowth of general xenophobia. In the case that prompted this short post, it certainly manifested as racism, by a formerly secular liberal friend who was commenting on Trayvon Martin.
DeletePart of the issue is the ba'al teshuva epiphany that "liberal-minded" = secular = not the "emes", that they've had the wool pulled over their eyes their entire lives and are now finally waking up, b"H.
ReplyDeleteThen put them in a community where the same people saying "eem yirtzeh Hashem" are also saying "shvartze" and the like, and voila - you have yourselves a transformation!