and you give away Israel...... Wasn't Gaza enough of a monumental failure?

All nations have religions and governments. Rome is Catholic yet starts no wars. Israel is Jewish and starts no wars. The obvious other, ( Muslims ) start wars so, separation of church and state is ideal however, not reality. Perhaps you could convince the Muslims first and end a massacre of 'biblical proportions'? Pardon the pun I just HAD to.

'great minds run in the same channels', I just posted something similar. Shalom.

Thanks for your kind comments. But I think Thomas has grasped hold of an "ideal" so strongly that he can't see reality.

The charedim have happily been in coalitions withe the left before without religious zionists. They always call religious zionists non religious Jews. They need to learn that if they want solidarity and respect with the Torah True Jews of the religious zionist world they need to show respect for them. If they want to go it alone when they have the power they can't expect anyone to run the help them when they are out of power

You miss the point. Israel is a democracy without quotation marks. They have just proved it in their elections, for those too blind to see it before. Israel's government provides protection for other religions. Israeli-arabs vote and are in the government. A country can be a Jewish state, but not be fanatical, as a country can be a Christian state and not be fanatical. (The few countries that are Muslim states and not fanatical are controlled by a king.) You might also read about Nazi Germany. State was separated from religion in a Christian country (much like the US in that regard). Didn’t work too well for Jews, did it? (Not to mention gypsies, etc.) History is not all black and white [with Nazi Germany being an exception]; it’s various shades of grey.