The End of Democracy in the Jewish State of Zion , by the Bard of Bat Yam, Poet Laureate of Zion , Stephen Darori

Since its founding in 1948, Israel has grappled with the conundrum of being both a Jewish nation-state and a democracy. Is it even possible?

The Nation-State Law surely created varied reactions since last week. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan led the pack, calling Israel “the most Zionist, fascist and racist country in the world.”

“The Jewish Nation-State Law... legitimizes all unlawful actions and oppression. There is no difference between Hitler’s Aryan race obsession and Israel’s mentality.

Hitler’s spirit has re-emerged among administrators in Israel,” said Erdogan, who has not been exemplary in dealing with the Kurdish minority in his country.

Of course, that hyperbole goes way overboard in describing the effects of the law on Israel, but closer to home, there has also been more nuanced, but still barbed criticism. Ayman Odeh, chairman of the Joint List, said Israel “passed a law of Jewish supremacy and told us [Israel’s Arab citizens] that we will always be second-class citizens.”

Officially called the “Basic Law: Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People,” the legislation – which was passed by a vote of 62-55 – states that “Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people, and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it.”

It puts on paper some of the defining characterizations of Israel that have been part of the country’s fabric since 1948, many of which are already parts of laws that codify and express Israel’s Jewish identity. For example, the Law of Return, passed in 1950, automatically grants citizenship to any Jew immigrating to Israel.

But the law goes beyond previous declarations of Israel as a Jewish state by further marginalizing its minority citizens in stating that the state’s language is Hebrew and relegating Arabic – the language of 20% of the population – to “special status in the state.”

Another clause says, “The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment and consolidation,” wording that can be construed as supporting Jewish-only communities.

Kulanu MK Akram Hasson and other top Druze officials filed a petition on Sunday asking the High Court of Justice to strike down all or part of the law as unconstitutional.

Hasson said the law transforms the country’s Druze population and other minorities, including Arabs, into second-class citizens. The petition called the law “a terrible blow to the Druze sector, a terrible blow to democracy and a terrible blow to Zionism.

The Jewish Nation-State Law disproportionately and unreasonably harms [all minorities, turning them] into exiled people in their own homeland.”

As Prof. Dov Waxman of Northeastern University wrote, Israel has never been a truly liberal democracy that treats all its citizens equally regardless of their ethnicity or religion. “Instead, from the outset it has been an ‘ethnic democracy’ or ‘ethnocracy’ as scholars have labeled it, serving Jews first and foremost. While Arab living standards have certainly risen over the years, Israel has never fully lived up to the promise contained in its Declaration of Independence to ‘foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants,’ and ‘ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex,’” wrote Waxman.

Since its founding in 1948, Israel has grappled with the conundrum of being both a Jewish nation-state and a democracy. Is it even possible? Those tenets in the new law include many of the values that probably many people reading this right now share and weighed when deciding to pick up their lives and move to Israel – the symbols of the country like the flag, Hatikva, Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish people, and the Hebrew calendar as the guideline for the rhythm of the country.

But they were already well in place. Did we really need a new law that states the obvious, but also further erodes any sense of Israel’s minorities of belonging to the country? As we wrote last week when the bill passed, we agree with Likud MK Bennie Begin, who before abstaining on the vote for law, said it should have stated clearly that Israel, as a Jewish and democratic state, is committed to safeguarding the rights of its minorities. After all, isn’t that what being a Jewish state is all about?

10.2.2017 Saturday Morning Northern Flareup ....Iran playing poker with Israel and Russia

The penetration of Israeli air space by an Iranian drone was part of Iran's quest to change the military equation in the region.

As the hours tick by, the view is gaining ground that the today's penetration of Israeli air space by an Iranian drone aircraft was not by chance, and that the Iranians were out to test the strength of an Israeli response to such an incident, and, even more so, the response of Russia.

Israel responded with air strikes into Syria this morning after the Iranian drone was shot down. An Israeli F-16 was hit by Syrian anti-aircraft fire and its two crew bailed out over Israeli territory. One of them is seriously injured in hospital. Israel carried out further strikes against Syrian air defenses during the day. IDF sources say that the Iranians have been using the Tiyas Military Airbase, also known as the T-4 Airbase, near the Syrian city of Palmyra, freely.



The testing of Israel's defenses is the reason for the initial denial by official Iran that the UAV had entered Israeli airspace. A spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry said, "The claim that an unmanned aircraft penetrated into Israel is false. Iran's presence in Syria is for advisory purposes, and is with the consent of the Syrian government. The Syrian army and people are fully entitled to defend their homeland."

At the same time, however, a statement from the militant Iranian Revolutionary Guard said, "We have the capability of opening the gates of hell for Israel should we want to." Later, Iran's President Rouhani warned, "If certain countries think that by bombing neighboring countries they can reach a solution, they are making a grave mistake."

But the promised gates of hell did not open, even when Israel attacked Iranian targets on Syrian territory and, according to unverified reports, Iranian military personnel were killed. The lack of response indicates fear of a sharper and more painful Israeli response, since Israel has complete command of the air over all of southern Syria, and also a Russian demand from Teheran to exercise restraint and avoid escalation. The Iranians do not want to lose their bases in Syria, the anchors they have dropped there, whether through Israeli strikes or through a Russian ultimatum to leave the country or at least to avoid confrontation with Israel.

Another sign that today's incident was not happenstance is the statement by Hezbollah, Iran's Lebanese arm, which chose to respond with aggressive language: "The shooting down of the plane is the beginning of a new strategic stage that will restrict Israel's exploitation of Syrian airspace. The infringement of Syrian and Lebanese sovereignty will not be passed over in silence. The old formulae vis-a-vis Israel have been cancelled." In other words, the aim of the escalation is to limit Israeli air power in Syrian skies. Hezbollah media have been citing senior Syrian officials who have threatened that "the time of Israeli flights over Syria is over", but the official responses are much more muted, and even somewhat lachrymose, over the fact that Israel has disrupted media broadcasts in Syria.

And what of Putin, the main stakeholder in the region? Israel is aware of Russia's decisive influence in Syria, and America's absence, which is why Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, maintains close ties with Putin. Only ten days ago, the two men met, with Syria and Iran's infiltration into it at the top of their agenda. It is highly unlikely that Putin had advance information about Iran's intention of sending the drone, but it is almost certain that the Russian air defense officers who are training Syria's anti-aircraft forces knew about the firing of anti-aircraft missiles at the Israel Air Force plane. The Russian officers are stationed at most of Syria's anti-aircraft bases, where they are teaching the use of the air defense systems that Moscow has sold to Assad, and in some cases, in bases in the northwest of the country, they control these systems, for the defense of Russian forces stationed there. At one of these bases, Khmeimim Air Base, not far from the Mediterranean shore, is the Russian command bunker for its forces in Syria, which has a direct line of communication with the Israeli high command. This is necessary because of the activity of both the Israeli and Russian air forces over Syria. Israel has informed the Russians in advance of most of its strikes near Russian forces, and this presumably is what happened today, as most of the targets were Syrian air defense installations. It also appears that Russia did not warn Israel of the massive anti-aircraft fire that would be directed at its warplanes.

And so in this multi-sided game, the Iranian's set off the spark to try to change the equation; the Israelis responded once, and after that, following the downing of their aircraft, responded much more fiercely in order to retain control; the Syrians found themselves protecting Iranian interests and being hit by Israeli strikes; and everyone is waiting for the reaction of the Russians.

Zions Dawn Arises Again by the Bard of Bat Yam , Poet Laureate of Zion

Zion's Dawn Arises Again
Light peaks through the sky cracks.
Dawn along the Mediterranean paradise once more,
I lift my head, light rays softly caressing me.
Pleased that for a new day has begun,
but the soft graze of light on my cheeks nudge me forward.
Along southwards the desolate white umbrelled Bat Yam Beach

Count Rikkki de Riiik and Lady Merrry de la Grey ... The Naming of Cats

The Naming Of Cats by T. S. Eliot

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

Walking My Cat .... Yes, Yes, Yes Walking Merrry de la Grey by The Bard of Bat Yam, Poet Laureate of Zion

Merrry de la Grey is one of my cats who accompanies long walks in Bat Yam ,to 

Jaffa, Tel Aviv  and even to Rishon Le Zion 

Merrry and Steve two universes intersecting  mosey down the street

Connected by love, loyalty and trust and  nothing else.

Mostly I look at lamplight in the early morning light  through the leaves

While Merrry  mooches along with tail up and snoute down,

Getting a secret knowledge through the nose

Almost entirely hidden from my sight.

We stand while he's enraptured by a bush

Till I can't stand our standing any more

And tisk tisk her off; for our relationship

Is patience balancing to this side sound tug

And that side drag; a pair of symbionts

Contented not to think each other's thoughts.

What else we have in common's what she taught,

Our interest in poopaloos or in 4 letters.. shit in every state

From steaming fresh through stink to nature's way

Of sluicing it to dust that blows away.

We move along the street I avoiding tending on and she inspecting it.

Her  sense of it is keener far than avoiding it  mine,

And only when she  finds the place precise

She signifies by sniffing urgently

And circles thrice about,digs a whole and squats, and shits,

She diligently covers and whereupon  we both with dignity walk home

And just to show who's master of Chalet Darori  I write this poem.