Hamas attacks Israel

[Ron in Regina]

Lets rewind to weeks before Oct 7 2023

From July 2023

Israel on the Brink​

An extremist government’s assault on the courts has inflamed the country and invigorated its liberal camp.
By Ruth Margalit
July 30, 2023

And yet, the last I’ve heard (and I haven’t heard anything today in all honesty), out of that Israeli federal election, the only coalition that might come out out of this I’m assuming is between the Likud and Yashar, with each of their hanger-oner parties, or there’s gonna be another election in the new year.
Yashar's platform demands mandatory military or civil national service for all citizens—including Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Israelis. Netanyahu's closest allies, such as United Torah Judaism and Shas, adamantly oppose losing their community's draft exemptions, creating a severe policy clash.

During the 2026 campaign, Gadi Eisenkot and his key allies repeatedly pledged never to serve in a government led by Netanyahu. For a unity deal to work, leaders would have to break core campaign promises or negotiate a complex prime ministerial rotation agreement…& both leaders in the above blocs have stated to never for a coalition with the Arab parties.

Hamas (October 2023): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invoked the biblical command regarding Amalek ("Remember what Amalek did to you") to frame Israel's war against Hamas following the October 7, 2023 massacres. He stated the goal was to eliminate a ruthless enemy that targeted civilians.

And with the two largest political blocs in Israel since the selection, the leader of the Yashar’s Eisenkot believes Netanyahu didn’t go far enough with Hamas.

Eisenkot, 66, who lost a son and two nephews in the Gaza war entered politics only four years ago and joined Netanyahu's war cabinet after the 2023 Hamas attack, but quit eight months later, criticising the prime minister's leadership…’cuz Netanyahu didn’t go far enough with Gaza. Careful what you wish for.

Where could Eisenkot & Netanyahu find common ground here?

 

[petros]

No. Jew is not a race.

It largely has been corrected in mainstream usage. The remaining loose talk is ordinary language inertia, not a coordinated refusal to update.

What the record shows
After 1945, major Jewish organizations, Israeli official language, and most scholars deliberately dropped “race” in favor of people, nation, ethnicity, or ethno-religious group. That shift is documented and sustained.
When the word still appears, it is usually:
Casual or colloquial (the same way people still say “the Irish race” or “the French race” without meaning 19th-century biology).
Historical quotation.
Fringe or individual usage, not institutional doctrine.

Why it is not policed every time
Most groups do not issue constant public corrections every time someone uses an outdated or imprecise word about them. Jews are not uniquely obligated to do so.

The practical distinction (ethnicity/peoplehood versus biological race) is already the dominant framing in Jewish institutions, encyclopedias, genetic summaries, and Israeli discourse. Re-litigating every casual use is low priority.

Attention is higher when the word is weaponized—either by antisemites pushing racial conspiracy theories or by people denying any collective Jewish identity beyond private religion. Those are the cases that draw organized pushback.

The double standard question
If the complaint is that other groups get corrected more aggressively for outdated racial language while Jewish usage is treated more leniently, that is a fair observation about inconsistent cultural enforcement in general. It does not prove that Jews as a group are still asserting racial status as doctrine. The institutional correction already occurred; residual casual language is not the same thing as an uncorrected official claim.
In short: the conceptual correction happened decades ago. What remains is ordinary imprecise speech, not a living doctrine that Jews are a biological race.

Uh-oh!

 

[petros]

And yet, the last I’ve heard (and I haven’t heard anything today in all honesty), out of that Israeli federal election, the only coalition that might come out out of this I’m assuming is between the Likud and Yashar, with each of their hanger-oner parties, or there’s gonna be another election in the new year.
View attachment 36090Yashar's platform demands mandatory military or civil national service for all citizens—including Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Israelis. Netanyahu's closest allies, such as United Torah Judaism and Shas, adamantly oppose losing their community's draft exemptions, creating a severe policy clash.

During the 2026 campaign, Gadi Eisenkot and his key allies repeatedly pledged never to serve in a government led by Netanyahu. For a unity deal to work, leaders would have to break core campaign promises or negotiate a complex prime ministerial rotation agreement…& both leaders in the above blocs have stated to never for a coalition with the Arab parties.

And with the two largest political blocs in Israel since the selection, the leader of the Yashar’s Eisenkot believes Netanyahu didn’t go far enough with Hamas.

Where could Eisenkot & Netanyahu find common ground here?

Have you perused any of the Israeli news sources on this topic?

Its getting fucking nasty between real Jews and the Secular Israelis.

 

[Ron in Regina]

Have you perused any of the Israeli news sources on this topic?

Its getting fucking nasty between real Jews and the Secular Israelis.

Honestly, not much of anything for the last couple days because I’ve been busy. Monthly cycle and weekly cycle at work, and yesterday culminated with it being a Friday and the end of the month. I probably will dip my toe into that filthy pool this weekend though.

 

[petros]

Have you perused any of the Israeli news sources on this topic?

Its getting fucking nasty between real Jews and the Secular Israelis.

Like so.

Founding and character of Israeli secularism

Israel was established primarily by secular Zionists (Herzl, Ben-Gurion, the Labor movement, kibbutzim).

The early state was nationalist and modernizing, not theocratic. Most of the founding elite were non-observant or only culturally Jewish.

However, the 1947–48 “status quo” agreements with religious parties created lasting compromises:
The Orthodox rabbinate holds a legal monopoly on Jewish marriage, divorce, conversion, and burial.

Certain public aspects of Shabbat and kashrut are enforced.

Religious parties have often been coalition kingmakers.

The result is a hybrid: a largely secular society and culture in daily life (especially in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and the center), combined with significant religious authority over personal status and public symbols.

Many secular Israelis still observe some traditions (Passover Seder, Yom Kippur fasting, etc.) as cultural rather than religious practice.

Main tensions today
The sharpest divide is between the secular/traditional majority and the growing Haredi sector:
Military service: Most Haredi men have long been exempt from IDF service while studying in yeshivas.

After the October 7, 2023 attacks and subsequent wars, this became highly contentious. The High Court struck down the blanket exemption; enforcement remains limited; public support for equal conscription is very high (~70%+ among Jewish Israelis). It is a central issue in the 2026 election cycle.

Education, workforce participation, and subsidies for the Haredi sector.
Religion-and-state questions (public transport on Shabbat, gender-separated events, conversion standards, civil marriage).

Surveys consistently show that a large majority of Israeli Jews (including many traditional and some religious) support greater religious freedom and, in principle, more separation. Actual political change is slower because of coalition arithmetic and demographic trends.

Bottom line
Israel has a large, culturally dominant secular Jewish population that shaped the state’s founding ethos. At the same time, it is not a secular state in the strict sense, and the religious-secular balance is shifting demographically toward greater Haredi influence. The tension between these realities is one of the deepest structural issues in Israeli society.

 

[petros]

Honestly, not much of anything for the last couple days because I’ve been busy. Monthly cycle and weekly cycle at work, and yesterday culminated with it being a Friday and the end of the month. I probably will dip my toe into that filthy pool this weekend though.

You need to and relate to my above post.

 

[Ron in Regina]

You need to and relate to my above post.

Time permitting.