February 5, 2007
SHARON'S FINAL FIGHT:
Ynet poll: Judaism or democracy?: Over half of Israeli Jews regard Judaism equal to democracy, survey conducted for Judaism channel shows; one third of participants believe Iran threat to Israel's survival (Kobi Nahshoni, 02.04.07, YNet)
Fifty-two percent of the Jewish population in Israel feel that Judaism and democracy are equally important, a poll published Sunday by Ynet's Judaism channel revealed. [...]
Over half of Israel's secular Jewish community said that Judaism and democracy were equally important. The opinion was shared by 53 percent of traditional Jews in the country, 39 percent of religious Jews, and 23 percent of Ultra-Orthodox Jews. [...]
According to the poll, the majority of Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel do not share his feeling, as 72 percent feel the country should be Jewish first, and democratic second.
Ariel Sharon decided to ditch Palestine as fast as he could when he realized you couldn't have both. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 5, 2007 1:11 PM
I'm wondering why this article veers from the "religious Jews" all the way to the "ultra-Orthodox."
Perhaps some of the Jewish folks here can enlighten me: Is there a Jewish religious group known as ultra-Orthodox and, if so, is there a conceivable reason why the just plain Orthodox are excluded from the poll? Or is this similar to the "ultra-conservative" label the New York Times regularly throws at readers?
Posted by: Matt Murphy at February 5, 2007 2:50 PMOJ:
Why are Judaism and democracy incompatible? Israel is obviously both Jewish and a democracy. Maybe some of the strict Orthodox think that is impossible, but I'm not sure why you think so.
Posted by: Matt Murphy at February 5, 2007 2:52 PMMatt, OJ means that a democratic Israel-West Bank state would not be Jewish because of the large numbers of Arabs. Sharon needed to decide whether he wanted an enlarged Israel or a Jewish one.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at February 5, 2007 4:40 PMIt makes sense for all the ME to have secular governments, so yes Israel should step back from being a religious state.
Posted by: erp at February 7, 2007 2:50 PM