Opinion
How to change a preset future
Yaron London
Published: 09.12.11, 14:05
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33 Talkbacks for this article
1. Vote when there are elections
Ronfeld ,   Israel   (12.09.11)
In Israel the radical left or right vote, but the people in the middle don't bother to get to the poling stations. If the turnout is very low we will never see good government.
2. How to define democracy?
Golan ,   modiin   (12.09.11)
In Arab lands democracy is defined when people vote in Islamist radicals like Hamad and the Muslim Brotherhood In Israel it is when the Lefter parties controls every aspect of its citizens' lives. However a law which taxes 45% of foreign financed political organizations is not anti-democratic it is pro-democratic since those financing these groups do so in order to weaken Israel through their twisted logic and less than honest approach. I personally believe that taxes should be caped at 20% and everyone should pay the same amount... but that is "anti-democratic" for Marxist Leninists, but not for hard working entrepreneurs.
3. Israeli democracy can be its own democracy! It doesn't have
Sam ,   Costa Rica   (12.09.11)
to copy Europe or America.
4. Its better to be poor and free then to be a slave!
Frank ,   Florida   (12.09.11)
5. Is this writer very lucid ?
Moshe ,   Usa   (12.09.11)
6. Fire this Guy
Joe Tango ,   USA   (12.09.11)
How can Ynet allow editorial writers advocate draft dodging.
7. Here's a solution...
Jake Stone ,   USA   (12.09.11)
...get rid-of all leftist liberals (godless heathens);and, only then, will Israel have a true democracy free of traitorous leaches that feed-on the very tenets of that democracy that keeps their insidous activities afloat! God bless the Nationalists and all those who love His holy land. God bless Israel!
8. Israel will remain democratic
Zev ,   Israel   (12.09.11)
only if the left will protect the democratic rights of the right as much as they try to protect their own rights.
9. What does "enlightened" even mean?
ZionistBecky ,   Israel   (12.09.11)
I'd like to have that defined for me, please. Does it mean we follow G-d's dictates? To me and most Israelis that is what "enlightened" means! Who are we to think and decide how to live our lives when G-d has already TOLD us how to do it? I'm glad to see more and more Israelis following the words of G-d instead of trying to think their way through life.
10. Democracy: an empty catchphrase
Tom ,   USA   (12.09.11)
The word "Democracy" is an empty and overused noun in the West like "Allah Akbar" in the Islamic world. Viewing from a "sterile" stand point it leads to societal disintegration and anarchy which ensue millions of newly enacted "laws" to control "democracy" in order to "protect" democracy. In the name of "democracy" the "the power that be" can punish you for using an improper adjective, a noun or a verb. Or they can limit as to what can you do with your life. Democracy - in its Ancient Greek philosophical sense - doesn't exist in real life, only as a nicely sounding catchphrase.
11. Which nation is fit to cast the first stone?
C McCoy ,   Canada   (12.09.11)
Name even one so called democratic nation which has not seen greatly increased Big Brotherdom and reduced freedoms since 9/11? Why would Israel be any different in that regard?
12. The day democracy died, and #9
israel israeli ,   tel aviv   (12.09.11)
Israel is not a democracy. To pass Oslo I, the extreme Left bought Shas with money. When Shas raised the price for Oslo II, the extreme Left bought MK (later drug dealer) Goldfarb for cash, The list of illegal and corrupt acts required to ethnically cleanse Gush Katif of Jews would fill an article. The way to change the preset future? Change the corrupt oligarchs that rule Israel. #9: Former High Court Barak defined what "enlightened" means: Meretz voters like himself and Yaron London, no one else.
13. merd. israeli democracy is being saved from leftist
ralph   (12.09.11)
anti-democratic authoritarian self righteous naive rule.
14. fair media gives more democracy - not less
Lemmings Hotline ,   sd usa   (12.09.11)
The leftist laws are designed to keep media and protest groups constituent based, rather than controlled by European or even Arab influences. This increases democratic freedom. You just dont like losing your unfair advantage.
15. #6 read more carefully
Mr. Reasonable   (12.09.11)
he doesn't advocate draft dodging at all, quite the opposite
16. Propaganda and incitement to criminal activity, eh?
Roman ,   Lod, Israel   (12.09.11)
Since draft dodging via non-legitimate means *is* a crime, last I checked. This is the face of Israeli journalism? Really? This is what's left when you disagree, even vehemently, with the current establishment and some opinions within other segments of the populace? Congratulations, Yaron. You're now an extremist. In the full sense of the word. When others encouraged and committed illegal activity in the name of their ideals, so long as those ideas were alien to you and bad in your eyes, you decried them. Now you support the same approach, and by doing so encourage yet more extreme acts and more partisan lines being drawn in the Israeli public. Biased much?
17. #9 zionistbecky
solomon ,   bklyn   (12.09.11)
And so everyone should follow YOUR interpretation of HaShem's words, right? No thank you.
18. security state
zichron   (12.09.11)
isreal to exist needs a full fledged security state the Haredim are not warriors now but will be soon .They will mix Torah with self defence against the tsunami of islamic fundementalism with the wahabi and shia maniacs driving a catastrophic confrontation. Talmud to Thermonuclear is the history so far can it be continued .
19. The real doom
graczek ,   Maryland, USA   (12.09.11)
The real doom of Israel has naught to do with its internal politics. It is, rather, Zionism's eventual disappearance from the world map, and the transformation of the Holy Land to Muslim, Christian, and UN administration.
20. Israel must be freed of undemocratic leftist control.
Chaim ,   Israel   (12.09.11)
London almost never has anything positive to offer, but this is one of the worst pieces of rubbish I've ever read on Ynet. As other posters noted, London advocates draft dodging. That alone is enough to justify his dismissal. Not surprisingly, London completely misunderstands what is going on in Israel. The vast majority of Israeli are tried of being controlled by a tiny but powerful leftist minority - which is wreaking havoc. Freeing Israel of undemocratic leftist control is necessary to allow true democracy in Israel.
21. #9 Enlightenment = Reason
Locke,Voltaire,Kant   (12.09.11)
It has nothing to do with "God".
22. You're a despicable apparatchik that never learned a thing!
tom ,   tel aviv   (12.10.11)
23. A voice of sanity
k. ,   Israel   (12.10.11)
Yaron London's words are unfortunately true. It's sad that even Israeli liberals feel the need to use fearmongering tactics to warn citizens of Israel's "impending doom". It needs to be done, of course, but then again - it just proves that all Israelis have to be soldiers even against their will. It's a fight against an implosion, not the constant threat of external forces. The urgency of that alone should be something for the rightists to think about...
24. #19. graczek: they tried and failed
Tom ,   USA   (12.10.11)
Your beloved Christians and Islamists desperately try to exterminate the Jews for over 2000 years and they failed. All you can do is to vomit your bestial hatred of the Jews in these forums. Nobody cares. And now go home and kiss the feet of the Jewish Jesus. Why don't you strap a bomb on yourself and fly up to your paradise: you can have 72 virgins or pedophile priests for your twisted pleasure.
25. Democracy must be increased.
Luiz F Haddad ,   Niteroi, Brazil   (12.10.11)
As a friend, I think Israelian Democracy must be increased and protected against all kinds of radicalism and fundamentalism. For me, and also here in my country, "ultrarightism" is so harmful as "ultraleftism". Moderate positions come from silent majority. A written Constitution in Israel,with a directed chosen President, and more separated and balanced Powers, would be better.
26. Relatives
Sigmund   (12.10.11)
The salafi are really close to the haredim making thhe conflict ludicrous a human nature defect vast and catastrophic and a one hundred year truce is imperitive
27. I disagree with the last point
a secular Israeli   (12.10.11)
You play exactly into the hands of the religious if you advise women not to draft to the IDF. that's what they want - IIDF "free of women", and you'll be giving in to them. Women were part of the IDF ever since the state was established in since 1948, and much earlier that in organizations such as NILI, Palmach etc. We women mustn't do what the religious would like us to do, i.e. stay at home in the kitchen and take care of the children
28. to #1: it's a matter of birthrate. future looks grim
(12.10.11)
What can one do? When an average ultra-orthodox family has 10 children, national religious family has perhaps 5 children and a secular family has less than 2 children - the future looks clear and dark. They are going to be the majority in Israel in a few years. As a secular Israeli I'm really worried. I don't want to live in a primitive backward fanatic Halacha country.
29. #3: a Jewish democracy - what is it?
(12.10.11)
The new "rules" enforced by us everyday by the ultra-orthodox show quite clearly that when they become a majority what we'll have here is a backward undemocratic Jewish THEOCRACY, not democracy..
30. leftist monopoly over medias and justice reflects author's
Trumpeldor   (12.10.11)
ideas over democracy...........
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