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Israel’s loyalty oath

via The Real News Network

As the Israeli elections demonstrated a clear move to the right within the Israeli political sphere, Paul Jay speaks to Daniel Levy of the New America Foundation to understand the impact this will have on the ground. Avigdor Liberman, leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel our Homeland) Party, has come in third in the elections. His campaign largely revolved around advocating that Israelis should be forced to swear a loyalty oath to the Jewish Israeli state, a policy many say discriminates against the large Israeli Arab population and hints on ethnic cleansing. Levy says, “Israel has to come to terms with what it means to have a large non-Jewish minority in a democratic state.” He continues to say that, “we’re approaching a moment of truth of whether Israel can prove itself, that it can live up to democratic ideals.” Levy argues that if, what he calls “The Lieberman Phenomenon,” takes sway of Israeli society, it will at least be brought to the surface where it can be openly opposed.

February 22, 2009, 12:57pm