Atta Farhat – A Druze hero

I trust that by now, many have heard about the New “Basic Law,” recently passed by the Yisraeli Knesset. The law which is based on the essence of Medinat Yisrael, as stated in our Declaration of Independence, changes nothing on the ground. It merely anchors and reaffirms the essence of the Jewish state.

Members of some minorities are up in arms protesting it. Thankfully, not all. Some, like my dear friend, Atta Farhat, head of the Druze Zionist Council, a proud and loyal Yisraeli Druz, supports and endorses it.

I spoke to him yesterday afternoon. The following are his words.

“Yisrael is the National Home of the Jewish People. This basic principle appears in all basic national and international documents pertaining to the State of Yisrael, starting with the Balfour Declaration, through the British Mandate, UN Resolution 181 and culminating in our Declaration of Independence.

Up until now, this  principle was not anchored in the Law. At the same time, Yisrael has always been committed to provide, equal rights to all its citizens, regardless of race, religious creed, race or  gender.

The State of Yisrael is a Jewish and Democratic state. Its Democratic nature is expressed in a variety of laws and rulings of its Supreme Court. The basic laws including the basic law honouring the dignity of Man and his freedom, stressed it. This law merely focuses on the Jewish identity aspect of the Jewish state and defines the need for self determination of the Jewish People in Eretz Yisrael.

The new law, completes the basic law calling to honour Man and his freedom and does not contradict it. It is nothing but another effort to cement those laws of the State of Yisrael . It adds and will also include an identity clause.

The law also anchors existing values and symbols which determine the nature of Medinat Yisrael, its Holy Days as has been the practice from its inception. It reaffirms the Law of Return, which reflects Yisrael as the National Homeland of the Jewish People and which was recognized by the Supreme Court as an important basic law. It gave these laws a constitutional status.

This Law also states that Yisrael will open and strengthen Jewish settlements. This springs out of the understanding that this is a National value towards fulfilling the Zionist dream, a principle that has guided previous Yisraeli governments. Similarly, and parallel to this, present and previous governments have worked towards providing solutions in the non-Jewish sectors of the Yisraeli population. The law does not aim at creating separate communities in Yisrael based on religion and nationality.

Additionally, the law sets practical objectives which express the core of Yisrael as the National Home of the Jewish People: its emblem, its flag, its language and the right of return, among others. It provides a guarantee by the state of Yisrael to work and strengthen the connection between the Jewish People in Yisrael and the Diaspora.

According to this law, the Arabic language will receive a special status. Its inclusion in state institutions will be stated in law. There is a clause in this new law that ensures that the status of the Arabic language will not be hurt.

This law is necessary, especially these days, when many try to shake the foundations of the rights of the Jewish People to Medinat Yisrael to settle and live in its ancestral and historical Homeland yet toil ceaselessly to recognize a Palestinian state. This is hypocrisy and double standard and double moral.

Finally, many of the clauses that appear in this Law appear in many other Western Democracies.

Those I represent, myself included, oppose turning Yisrael into a “state of all of its citizens,” its infiltrators as it poses a threat to the continued existence of the Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael.

Finally, the Left and the NIF have joined hands to create a rift between the Jewish People and our Fellow Druze.”

Friends, it is people like Fatta that Yisrael needs more of. Let us all join hands and support him and the uphill battle that he is currently facing.

Am Yisrael Chai

A Conflict of Loyalty

Years ago, when I first became an American citizen, I had to take the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. I remember how disturbed I was then when the thought of “What if the U.S. and Yisrael ever enter a political conflict,” occurred to me. I decided to push that thought away as far as possible into the creases of my sub consciousness.

Fortunately, it laid dormant for a long time until several years ago.

Comically enough, though, it was not so much the actions of America or the U.S.  government and its policies vis-a-vis Israel, Medinat Yisrael that served as the catalyst or the wake-up element for its disturbing resurgence. Rather, it is the American Jewish community that has brought that troubling thought of conflict of loyalty back into life.

As many here know, I care about my fellow Jews, first and foremost, wherever they are but I can only speak about those who live in the US. I have been following the American Jewish community for many years, first as one of its members and later as an outsider who had strong connections to it through family and friends. I was unhappy with the way those ties unfolded themselves to me.

I initially saw some cracks in Jewish unity and loyalty to our Jewish culture and heritage when I worked as a Hebrew and Sunday School teacher at one of the northern California synagogues. As part of my duties, I instructed a course entitled “Jewish customs and traditions.”

One day, I decided to dedicate the lesson to “Jewish Contributions to World Civilization.” Listing all the achievements and major contributions of Jews to the world was a good way, I felt, to start as I was hoping to instill great pride in young American Jews. “So, you see,” I concluded, “Jews have given many gifts to the world.”

“And so have Catholics,” answered one very outspoken student.

I was taken back by that response. “That is true,” I did not hesitate to say. I chose my words very carefully as I was trying to decipher the reason behind this unexpected comeback. “Of course, Catholics have contributed much to world civilization,” I continued, “but this is a Jewish class in a synagogue. “ I could feel my blood temperature rising. “Let Catholics discuss and teach their contributions to the world in their churches, in their Sunday schools. Do you think they bother to discuss the gifts of the Jews in their Sunday schools?” I calmly said, still trying to control myself.

I was proud. I was even more proud when I walked uprightly into the Rabbi’s office to meet with some angry parents.  Though I knew I had a job to keep, I was ready to face them and defend my position.

“We teach our children to be universal,” the head of the PTA started.”

I did not linger with my response. “How can we and our children be supporting the contributions of others if we are ignorant of our own?” I challenged them. “Dear Rabbi,” I said as I turned to face him, “you lost your eye as you were walking alongside Dr. Martin Luther King in Montgomery Alabama when you joined their fight for civil rights. Where are you and your loyalty to our people when they need the support for their rights to educate their youth to be proud of their heritage? How can we support the good fight of others when ours is still raging?” He smiled and ,lowered his eyes.

That was forty years ago. Little seems to have changed.  Now, as then, some of our Jews feel the need to fight the battles of others while neglecting the future of their own. Moreover, that support, on more than one occasion, is done while sacrificing our own on the altars of justice and universality.  

Why are Jews so keen to be like everyone? When will our fellow Jews realize that their loyalty should be primarily to Jews and Judaism, our heritage and our essence? After all, are not these values the ones that have kept us going for over two millennia? So why are we struggling so hard to, seek approval and recognition? Should the world not love us and be grateful to us for some of our gifts, ones that we shared so readily with it?  Why are Jews so eagerly  willing to give slices of our own in return for that approval, for that love, for being accepted and supported? Why are some of us so ready to betray the memory of those who died while protecting those values? What will it take for our fellow Jews to understand that we are not like everyone else, that we cannot be like other nations?  

We cannot, not because we are better, not because we are worse but because we are different.

A free People is a People free of conflict. As long as the internal conflict of loyalty in Judaism continues, we will never be free. We may well have physically left the Diaspora but the Diaspora, as it seems, has not yet left our souls.

Shabbat Shalom.