A Looming Threat to Israel's Democracy

To the Editor:

Re "As Gaza Pullout Vote Nears, Tension Among Israelis Rises" (news article, Oct. 21):

The dirty little secret of Israel's settler movement is that it is filled with people who elevate the immutability of their religious convictions above the well-being of the state.

For many settlers, as long as Israeli policy furthers their own religious convictions, they will present themselves as loyal citizens of the state. But if the policy deviates from their religious truth, they will turn on Israeli democracy with a vengeance.

Rabbinic rulings compelling soldiers to disobey orders and the increasing threats against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon are daggers aimed at the heart of Israeli democracy.

After Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, we in the American Jewish community swore never again to keep silent in the face of Jewish religious fanaticism. Now is the time for us to proclaim loudly, clearly and with one voice that while democratic dissent is legitimate, we will not tolerate the hijacking of our faith or the destruction of Israel's democracy.

Ammiel Hirsch
New York, Oct. 21, 2004

The writer is senior rabbi, Stephen Wise Free Synagogue

visitors since July 13, 2003

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