Index 
To: letters@suntimes.com From: Scott Sinnock ssinnock@netzero.com, 3:21pm, August 10, 2012 Subject: American and Israel Shared Values An open letter to Mitt Romney, mainly, but Barack Obama too, Mitt, you proudly declared your support of Israel as a special ally because of our shared values, mentioning democratic values among those we share. But I must point out there are formal, legal, even constitutional values of Israel that we here in America generally find to be quite an anathema; namely religious preference under the law. Through a series of carefully worded statements, all crafted after long, serious and even ongoing deliberations, Israel is to be known, at least wherever Israeli law applies, as a “Jewish and Democratic State”. Imagine for a moment America claiming in our Constitution to be a “Christian and Democratic State”. The roof would come down all over the current European world of the 18th century Enlightenment*. Yet 20% of Israeli citizens are Arab, mostly, Muslim, some Christian, but not Jewish. There are many non-practicing Jews in Israel, so the formal, legal classification of a Jewish citizen in Israel is based on one’s “heritage” and “tradition”. By that measure, America i s 95% Christian. I suspect like most of us, you can’t even imagine saying America should be called a “Christian State”. But even more upsetting would be if you could not run for office if you said America is NOT a Christian state. That is the case in Israel. If you “deny” Israel is a “Jewish” state, you are disqualified, as an Arab or any other citizen, from running for or holding a seat in the Knesset. I find that abhorrent by the measure of our first amendment -- our values, don’t you? *the rest of the world would just say, “so what, that’s obvious" that the US, if fact all the Americas are Christian nations. |