The Idea of Israel as a Jewish State
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Alan Patten
Abstract
Israel is often described as a Jewish state and as the locus of Jewish self-determination. How should these phrases be understood? How can they be squared with a commitment to equal citizenship for non-Jewish Israelis? This Article distinguishes between descriptive and normative answers to these questions. The descriptive answer interprets the phrases as referring to the fact that a majority of Israelis are Jewish. The normative answer reads into the phrases a special obligation to promote the common good of the Jewish people. The Article argues that the phrases are unobjectionable when taken in the descriptive sense, but problematic when understood in the normative sense. A state that is guided by the normative answer would offer inadequate protection to key interests of minorities. The critique of the normative answer also points to the more positive conclusion that Israel should foster an Israeli civic identity amongst all its citizens.
© 2020 by Theoretical Inquiries in Law
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- “Wretched Nurseries of Unceasing Discord”: Nationalism, War, and the Project of Peace
- Zionism and Political Liberalism: The Right of Scattered Nations to Self-Determination
- In Pursuit of Political Imagination: Reflections on Diasporic Jewish History
- Territorial Justice in Israel/Palestine
- Constructing “Private” Historical Justice in State-Building
- Inheriting the Right of Return
- Justifying the Right of Return
- Inclusion and Representation: The Settlement of Property Claims of the Dispossessed in the Aftermath of an Armed Conflict
- Disentangling Displacements: Historical Justice for Mizrahim and Palestinians in Israel
- How the Law of Return Creates One Legal Order in Palestine
- Historical Justice: On First-Order and Second-Order Arguments for Justice
- The Idea of Israel as a Jewish State
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- “Wretched Nurseries of Unceasing Discord”: Nationalism, War, and the Project of Peace
- Zionism and Political Liberalism: The Right of Scattered Nations to Self-Determination
- In Pursuit of Political Imagination: Reflections on Diasporic Jewish History
- Territorial Justice in Israel/Palestine
- Constructing “Private” Historical Justice in State-Building
- Inheriting the Right of Return
- Justifying the Right of Return
- Inclusion and Representation: The Settlement of Property Claims of the Dispossessed in the Aftermath of an Armed Conflict
- Disentangling Displacements: Historical Justice for Mizrahim and Palestinians in Israel
- How the Law of Return Creates One Legal Order in Palestine
- Historical Justice: On First-Order and Second-Order Arguments for Justice
- The Idea of Israel as a Jewish State
