@jenicewild I’m sure many #Israelis, both religious & secular, will have concerns about their futures in a unitary state!

I grew up in what was the #Apartheid state called #Rhodesia. I left as a teenager in 1971 just before the civil war started in earnest. The whites were fighting to maintain white-minority rule in large part because they were terrified by the prospect of being governed by the very same black people that they had been discriminating against & humiliating for almost a century! As it turned out, even though Robert Mugabe turned out to be a totally corrupt dictator, there was no mass slaughter of the small white population after the country became an independent Zimbabwe at the end of the 1970-1980 civil war!

The white minority-ruled #Apartheid government of South Africa was able to sustain itself for much longer by directing a fear-mongering campaign at whites which basically said that, if the black majority came to power, they would all be slaughtered! Many predicted a blood-bath when Apartheid ended & Mandela became President but, as we now know, through his amazing charisma & leadership he was able to prevent that from happening!

My point is: I ‘get’ that Israelis share all kinds of fears & anxieties! I also understand that there are complicated religious & (geo)political issues that would need to be resolved! But the #Genocidal policies being visited on the indigenous #Palestinian population by the increasingly #Fascist Netanyahu government will only prolong the country’s agony! Eventually, the #Zionist #SettlerColonial hegemony will come to an end.

PS: you mention Sharia. Let me ask you a question: in what material respects does strict Islamic Law in any way differ from the strict rabbinical law that the #UltraOrthodox #NeoNazi politicians like Bezalel #Smotritch & Itamar Ben Gvir (& others) want to impose on the largely secular Israeli population?

Full disclosure: I don’t know the answer but I can probably guarantee that there isn’t much difference - especially where eg womens’ rights are concerned

ISRAELI SOLDIERS TELL ULTRA ORTHODOX POLITICIANS WHO DODGE SERVICE BUT BURN VILLAGES TO FUCK OFF

Michaeli later also said it was “amusing to read criticism about the refusal to serve from members of the coalition,” a majority of which “sanctifies..the evasion of IDF service,” a reference to #ultraOrthodox parties whose communities do not serve in the Israeli military in large numbers.

#IDF chief warns #Netanyahu that reservist protest refusals could spread in military
https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-chief-warns-netanyahu-that-reservist-protest-refusals-could-spread-in-military/

ISRAELI SOLDIERS TELL ULTRA ORTHODOX POLITICIANS WHO DODGE SERVICE BUT BURN VILLAGES TO FUCK OFF

Michaeli later also said it was “amusing to read criticism about the refusal to serve from members of the coalition,” a majority of which “sanctifies..the evasion of IDF service,” a reference to #ultraOrthodox parties whose communities do not serve in the Israeli military in large numbers.

#IDF chief warns #Netanyahu that reservist protest refusals could spread in military
https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-chief-warns-netanyahu-that-reservist-protest-refusals-could-spread-in-military/

GIVEN THEIR ENGINEERED IGNORANCE AND COMMITTED BIGOTRY, THIS REALLY IS A CAUSE FOR FEAR

*According to the IDI-CBS report, the unemployment rate among #Haredi men was 49% and the poverty rate among ultra-Orthodox is twice as high — 44% — as among the general population, with nearly half falling below the poverty line.*

The Times of #Israel: #UltraOrthodox minister says public should ‘be afraid’ of growing community size
https://www.timesofisrael.com/ultra-orthodox-minister-says-public-should-be-afraid-of-growing-community-size/

In power from high
Ultra-Orthodox changing fate
Of Israel's future

#israel #ultraorthodox #politics #haiku #poetry

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/world/middleeast/israel-ultra-orthodox-parties.html