… under the heading democracy (along with commentary about the burqa, you can, when you click on this category, read all of UD‘s posts about the subject at hand – violent fanatics, and their threat to Israeli democracy) has jumped to the mainstream American media.
All countries contain cults of demented and dangerous people. Some countries, with one thing and another, cultivate such cults. In the case of Israel, a vague sense of these people being authentic Jews is in play. (“Because Israel was conceived as a Jewish state, the Israeli citizen has been exceptionally compliant to the demands of groups claiming to champion the continuity of that people…”) Political expediency – coalition building – is also in play. In the Israeli population, fear is no doubt a factor. The lunatic haredi core is capable of enormous violence.
Whatever the toxic brew, Israel has ignored its fanatics to the point where it has created a threat to the nation. Now everyone is paying attention.