Shared anonymously, this is my response to a member who had some - very good - questions about whether they could sign the declaration given the position they take on Israel.
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The Program isn’t meant to be a rigid ideological litmus test — it’s meant as a broad articulation of values to which a broad range of those who support the free and safe thriving of the Jewish State can stand behind.
Explicitly
– as can be seen by the slates standing for these elections across the world -
it doesn’t dictate how you relate to these broad articulations. It’s not a vote
of support of the current political leadership of Israel.
In
particular, for me, and I suspect you and I are in quite similar places on
this;
I’m
delighted to see the commitment to democracy so firmly entrenched in the
opening line.
It’s
noteworthy that there is no ‘bad-mouthing’ of the Diaspora in the programme.
As
for the plank, ‘Settling the country as an expression of practical Zionism,’ I
don’t read this as either justifying illegality or settling as Jews to the
exclusion of Palestinians and Arabs. I oppose illegal Jewish settlements in any
part of the West Bank and I have no concerns signing the Program feeling that.
For
me, and I don’t even think it’s a willfully generous read, I think the plank
means that it’s not enough to theoretically believe that there ought to be a
Jewish State. It means that someone needs to live there to make that desire so.
I haven’t made that decision. I don’t think I ever will. But I respect those
who have. Without them, there wouldn’t be a State.
Is
that clearer?
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I hope this is helpful to others.
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