Politics
Israeli and American politics are different. Israel has a parliamentary system of government. Their citizens vote for Knesset members (the legislature); choosing from various political factions. Then those factions join with each other to find a majority. The process is dominated by one of the two major movements. Either it’s the religious, conservative and militant Likud Party, or the more secular, moderate, and willing to negotiate “centrists” Parties (Yesh Atid, National Unity, Labor). A government is formed, and the senior members of the “executive” are chosen. Elections in Israel are narrowly decided, with splits among progressives, moderates and conservatives, and secular versus religious. The citizens of Israel are divided as well, with strong factions on both sides.
Israel is like the United States, which, since the 2016 Presidential election, is also closely divided. Currently, we are a nation that’s 40-40-20. Forty percent of Americans are going to vote for a MAGA candidate. Forty percent would literally vote for anyone else but the MAGA candidate. And a slim twenty percent determine the outcome, time and time again. And it’s not only in Presidential elections. The US Congress is just as evenly split. The Senate Democrats control by only a couple of votes. And the House of Representatives Republicans have power by a narrow seven vote majority (out of 428 filled seats).
Zionists
Israel is a homeland for Jewish people. It is essential to their national being: a country founded by Zionists who believe that Israel is the holy land given to the Jews by God. It was ratified by the United Nations, as a sanctuary for European Jews who survived the Holocaust. But even then, the founders of Israel created a secular government. It was not a theocracy, but a democracy that recognized its religious origins.
There is a strong movement in Israel to give more power to the religious fundamentalists, the Ultra- Orthodox Jews. Their views are already influencing the government to increase Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Palestinian territory. Building settlements “plants the flag” in land that would be a part of a new Palestinian state, if the “two-state solution” were ever implemented. Almost half a million Jews are living in the West Bank now, with an additional 220,000 living around East Jerusalem. Those half-million are intentionally “putting down roots”, in order to make a full separation into two different nations more difficult.
And Israel has a full “religious court” system, operated by Orthodox rabbis. It determine’s civil issues such as marriage, divorce, and child custody. There is no such thing as a “civil” marriage in Israel, (though there are Islamic, Christian, and Druze Courts). The fundamental issue of the Israeli democracy is religious. If there is a “one state” solution, then mostly Islamic Palestinians are equal in number to mostly Jewish Israelis. There is an inherent conflict in a nation founded in secular Judaism, and still governed in part by religious law. Either Israel is a democracy with a “two state” solution, or a nation where a “democratic minority” rules over an occupied majority in one state.
Christian Nationalism
There is a rising Christian Nationalist movement in the United States, encroaching on the secular philosophy of the US Constitution. (In contradiction of the Christian Nationalist claim that the United States is founded on Judeo-Christian principles, in fact, the founding fathers specifically kept religion out of the Constitution and its Amendments.)
The most recent example of this is the Alabama State Supreme Court determination that fertilized eggs for Invitro-Fertilization are human beings. The Court opinion directly invoked the deity in its opinion: “All human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory,” (WAPO). Religious justification for civil law rulings is not common in the United States, and the Alabama Supreme Court opinion demonstrates its rising power (as does the current makeup of the US Supreme Court).
Christian Nationalists see the “establishment clause” of the First Amendment (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishing religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”) as not applying to their version of Christianity. They see the United States as a “Christian Country” (their “Christianity”) that tolerates other religions, rather than a secular nation that treats all religions dispassionately.
Revolution
Politics is often polarizing. Passionate political views, whether they are about the economy, foreign policy, or the so-called “wedge” issues that are used to drive voter turnout, is the nature of democracies. And religion has always been a driving influence to conflict. The seeming inability of humans to believe in a deity, and allow others to believe in a different deity or none at all, drives us to conflict all of the time.
And now we see the worst of it all; politics and religion mixing to create a “devil’s brew” of conflict. It’s a foundational issue of Israel, and it’s a growing problem in American life as well. What once were political issues, like education, immigration, and medical care; are now phrased in religious terms. Even some speak in terms of “the end of American democracy”; to be replaced by a Christian Nationalist philosophy.
“Welcome to the end of democracy,” Posobiec said, also referring to the Capitol riots. “We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here.” Posobiec then held up his fist, and added: “All glory is not to government. All glory to God.” Some people in the crowd responded with applause. (Newsweek).
To quote Maya Angelou – When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
