What is Israeli nationalism? My understanding is that people who have wanted to put down "Israel" as their nationality on identity cards have problems doing so. What other country is so concerned, in such a respectable way, with the "demographic problem"? It's just another way of saying that a certain segment of the population breeds too fast, as Edward Said once characterized Peace Now's position.
I spent many years in New Jewish Agenda in the 80s, in which friends who were active in the Middle East work repeated slogans about wanting a "democratic Jewish state". I look back in some kind of amazement at how long it took before it dawned on me that that made no sense at all. Or about as much as a "democratic white/black/Christian/Islamic/whatever" state.
Anyway, I don't think it's been mentioned here, but yesterday and today there have been very long and informative articles in The Guardian by Chris McBeal on issues very much related to this topic (well, not "Iran and the Left in a Moral Snare", but regarding Israel)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1703244,00.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1704036,00.html
Worlds apart
Israelis have always been horrified at the idea of parallels between their country, a democracy risen from the ashes of genocide, and the racist system that ruled the old South Africa. Yet even within Israel itself, accusations persist that the web of controls affecting every aspect of Palestinian life bears a disturbing resemblance to apartheid. After four years reporting from Jerusalem and more than a decade from Johannesburg before that, the Guardian's award-winning Middle East correspondent Chris McGreal is exceptionally well placed to assess this explosive comparison. Here we publish the first part of his two-day special report [...]