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What on Earth Is the Problem with a Jewish Majority in Israel?
(Ha'aretz) Eric H. Yoffie - Why should the Jewish state not do what it can legally do to maintain a Jewish majority? Why do so many of its champions find it difficult to affirm what is so clearly sensible and right? Students of Israel and Zionism know that demography is destiny. Zionism has always been about creating a democratic state with a Jewish majority. The State of Israel can, and must, take appropriate steps to assure that a stable Jewish majority is maintained. Taking such steps, and being honest about your intentions, need not be inconsistent with democratic principles or with the ideals of Israel's Declaration of Independence. The loss of a Jewish majority means the end of Zionism and the disappearance of the State of Israel. The premise of Zionism is that there are many Jews who desperately want to live in a majority-Jewish state. Their eagerness is understandable, and they make no apologies for this fact. They are grateful that the State of Israel, after millennia of Jewish exile, finally enables them to do so. Israel, they remind us, was created to promote the religion, civilization and culture of the Jewish people and its dominant Jewish majority. To forcibly transfer Arab citizens out of the country would be a violation of democratic norms and international law, not to mention Jewish values and tradition. But assuring a Jewish majority by adopting laws and policies that are consistent with democratic governance is an altogether different matter. It is both acceptable and desirable. Absent a Jewish majority, would Israel continue to provide no-questions-asked refuge to Jews facing danger and distress in countries around the globe? Almost certainly not. We Jews want a state of our own, where the Jews, a secure and confident majority, will call the shots, govern democratically, and live in peace with our neighbors. That is what Zionism is. The writer is a former president of the Union for Reform Judaism.