Is Israel a Jewish democracy? Is this really a question? Well for Antonio Delgado it certainly is. He even believes that the United States should be a neutral arbiter in the Middle East. Meaning, he doesn’t think the US should be on Israel’s side. He also claims that his wife and children are Jewish. Let’s analyze what he says and means.
Watch: Congressman @JohnFasoNy fires back after his Democratic opponent @DelgadoforNY19 claims at debate that “Israel is not a Jewish democracy.” #NY19 pic.twitter.com/7BbqyuXHOo
— The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) October 22, 2018
“Israel is not a Jewish Democracy”
What is the reason that Delgado gives? The settlements. The logic goes that since Israel is on land that is Arab land and places settlements there, so Israel is not a democratic country. This is a three-part lie. Let’s explain.
First of all, the weakest argument that any group has for land in the Land of Israel is the Arab argument. The “ancient” Arab argument has no basis in history. Whether Mark Twain’s testimony in the mid 1800’s of Israel as a wasteland is used, or more recent testimonies that clearly said that the Holy Land was largely empty till the Jewish return, it is clear that there are no ancient people that have inhabited the Holy Land for centuries. It was basically empty.
If any one people can claim to be indigenous to the Holy Land, it is only the Jewish people.
Israel Liberated the West Bank in a Defensive War
This is not a small detail. This is critical to understand. In 1967, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan joined together to attempt a 2nd Holocaust on the Jewish people on the 2.5 million Jews in the State of Israel. This is not speculation. Nasser, the dictator of Egypt, proudly declared this in front of tens of thousands of jubilant Egyptians. King Assad of Syria certainly had no problem killing tens of thousands of his own people. He was a full partner of Nasser when it came to killing Jews. King Hussein of Jordan was less radical, but he joined the attack.
There are ramifications to losing offensive wars. One of them, is that the country you attack has full ethical and international legal basis to take over the lands that were used as launch pads.
So, when Israel builds villages and cities in the liberated areas, they are both legal, democratic, and a positive thing.