In various places in the national territory or in foreign lands,, in diverse circumstances and in different periods of time, we called ourselves or were called by others Judeans, Hebrews, Israelites and other names, including pejoratives (like Jew, Juif, Jid, etc.). Within our people’s right to self-determination, it is our right to choose, from all the legitimate names, the identity definition that suits the national, civil and statehood needs of our people – the other names remaining as additional legitimate denominations that bind us to our cultural and background diversity; All the nations that succeeded in their process of self-determination underwent this necessary phase. We have to undergo it, too.
“The Hebrew Identity Doctrine” presents the only way of implementing the ideals of a stable civil state, and of putting an end to the fundamentalist religious hegemony. Till now, all the attempts to realize these ideals have failed, precisely because of the inexistence of such a doctrine.
The Hebrew identity exists, it is historically based, natural, inborn and self-explanatory, and it will succeed, just like the French identity, the Dutch identity, and the Japanese identity, etc.
What needs to be done in order to ensure the success of the Hebrew identity?
- To sustain and promote the Hebrew identity.
- To differentiate between the national identity, which is the basic asset conferred by a state to all its citizens, the ethnic identity and the religious identity. This differentiation is essential and decisive: A. It annuls the basic discrimination of the denial of national identity from “non-Jewish” citizens and their consideration as minorities or as “goyim”, thus preventing the kinds of discrimination and segregation that evolve from such a consideration. B. It limits “Judaism” to its religious dimension as a Mosaic religion, and puts an end to the fundamentalist religious hegemony.
We shall act – we shall be. We shall not act – we shall not be.
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