Assaf Wohl
צילום: שי וקנין
Jewish version of Islam
Op-ed: Assaf Wohl says State of Israel currently home to two distinct Jewish civilizations
I’m one of many people who read Samuel Huntington’s book The Clash of Civilizations. If I understood his argument correctly, he identified seven or eight civilizations that populate the planet we barely inhabit. As to the Jewish people, he only dedicated a footnote to us on page 48, which raised a few questions.
Huntington wrote that ever since the State of Israel’s establishment, we can consider Judaism too as a “civilization.” However, as result of some events that have taken place in the Jewish state as of late, it turns out that Israel is home to two Jewish civilizations, rather than one.
The first, familiar one is associated with democratic Western culture. However, if we examine the second one, we shall discover that it adheres to all the hallmarks of the Muslim civilization. I am referring to the haredi community, known as “ultra-Orthodox” in English. Huntington must have noticed that the word “ultra,” when not attributed to diapers but rather to religious elements, usually leads to fire and smoke.
While spokesmen for the abovementioned civilization reject any connection to Islam, we would nonetheless find amazing similarities should we examine developments objectively. For example, the hostility and provocation in the face of democratic values is the cornerstone in the essence of both civilizations. And there’s more on the menu: Oppression of women, persecution of homosexuals, and preventing freedom of religion from others.
“Should this rally be held, all hell would break loose and the city would burn,” said the spokesman of Bnei Brak city hall in respect to the intention to hold a student protest in town against the yeshiva supplement law. A similar response was uttered by senior officials in the Arab town of Umm al-Fahm ahead of the rightist demonstration there.
Monopoly over truth
Other issues have to do with lack of integration, sense of victimization, and the rejection of criticism of any kind. This was further validated just recently with the High Court’s intention to permit gender-based segregation on buses.
Similarly to the Muslims in Europe, the haredim too have no interest in integrating into the society around them. Both these groups, with their actions, work towards eliminating the welfare state that bears them on its back. Their contribution to the economy and to defense is very low. Nonetheless, they view themselves as “victims” discriminated against by the establishment.
The most radical characteristic of this civilization is religion. As we know, Judaism is not a missionary religion in respect to the outside world. The opposite is true. However, this is not the case domestically. Similarly to the Muslims, all these “ultras” wish to subject everyone around them to their own rules. And so they force the entire public to adopt their customs in respect to marriage, divorce, conversion, and so on.
Both these groups also aspire to establish a kingdom which the Muslims refer to as “Dar al-Islam” and the haredim call “halacha state.” In these utopias, everyone will follow the “path of truth,” with these groups of course being truth’s patrons. The way to achieve this objective is simple: Cynically using democracy in order to eradicate it. Accumulating electoral power via persuasion, coercion, and accelerated birthrates supported by welfare entitlements, just like in London and Paris.
And so, reality proves that the Jews in Israel do not constitute one civilization. In fact, Israel is yet another theater where Western and Islamic civilizations clash. It would have been nice if Huntington could correct that footnote in page 48.
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