Don't sign this oath

You can demand that a driving student stay under the speed limit. Yet a veteran driver has his own habits. The rookie driver is obligated to follow strict rules, but with the passage of time discipline becomes laxer. This logic is so clear that we naturally adopt it elsewhere. Hence, the modified pledge of allegiance would only apply to new naturalized citizens – naïve weirdoes who decided to join the ranks of the world's most avant-garde, unwanted and threatened nation.

Old customers are not included in this attractive deal. Why? Well, come on. Try to convince a veteran Israeli driver to signal when he turns. After all, he still wonders about the purpose of that handle to the right of the wheel. So you want such veteran citizen to pledge allegiance to a "Jewish-democratic state?"

It would be proper not to ask the veteran citizens to sign. I indeed believe that Israel is still democratic, yet I do not believe that it is in fact a "state." To me it appears more like a "Mideastern Jewish community," as former Air Force Commander Benny Peled, may he rest in peace, once proposed.

In my view, the demand to make this pledge borders on fascism. Yet as opposed to leftist propagandists, who make use of this word as readily as haredim protestors resort to "Nazi" curses, I shall attempt to explain.

Fascism is an ideology that positions the welfare of the State, which is merely an apparatus, over the individual and his freedom. The abovementioned loyalty oath demands that individuals recognize a super-apparatus whose nature isn't clear. For example, the interior minister may bend the apparatus and declare winter in the middle of summer and night in the middle of the day. Is this democracy? In short, the State of Israel has no constitution. So which democratic state am I signing on to?

What kind of Judaism?

The problem becomes more acute with the definition of "Jewish" coming even before "democratic." Again, which Judaism are we talking about? Distorted Judaism that separates Ashkenazim and Sephardim? Or the kind of Judaism that views the State's bureaucracy as the "beginning of our salvation," with the Messiah expected to arrive at the end?

As long as we do not have a constitution that makes it clear which State we are talking about, how its democratic institutions are being managed, and what kind of Jewish attachment it holds – this pledge

should not be signed. As this is a theoretical argument, as I personally am not required to make this pledge, I advise those who do need to do it to avoid signing on to such dubious requirement.

And I shall end with a sad joke. A leftist, an Arab, a haredi, and a religious-Zionist were asked to sign a pledge of allegiance to a "Jewish-democratic state." It's already funny, isn't it? But hold on for a moment. The leftist didn't sign because he did not agree to the part about "state." The Arab did not want the part about "Jewish," and the haredi rejected the part about "democratic." They asked the religious Zionist, why aren't you signing? He responded: I object to the hyphen between "Jewish" and "democratic."

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