Writes a friend: You will get a kick out of this. A very famous Israeli author, Yoram Kaniuk, 81, from the literary canon of 1948, is demanding to be ‘delisted’ as Jewish so that his religion/nationality will be changed from Jew to Israeli.
This request has been made in the past. A famous landmark case from decades ago was fought by Toma Shik, the new deceased former leader of the Israeli chapter of the War Resister’s League. Folks like Uri Avnery were once associated with the ‘Canaanite’ movement, which articulated a desire for a definition of Israeli-ness that included the Palestinian natives, while excluding Jews who would not make Aliya.
Anyway, the upcoming court case deserves attention. Will Israel affirm again that the is no such thing as an ‘Israeli’ nationality to which all Israelis may belong? Will it grant that Israeli nationality is an option for rare individuals who fight for it? Or will it offer ‘Israeliness’ as a post religious, post ethnic, post linguistic identity that places all Israelis (Jewish, Arab, foreign worker, non-Jewish Russian, foreign clergy, non-Jewish spouses of Israelis and so on) as equal?
From Haaretz:
The author Yoram Kaniuk is expected to ask the Tel Aviv District Court this morning to order the Interior Ministry to permit him to “leave the Jewish religion” by altering his entry under the heading “religion” in the Population Registry. Kaniuk wants any official state document on which he appears as “Jewish” to be changed to “Without Religion.”
…Kaniuk explains in his petition that he does not wish to be part of a “Jewish Iran” or belong to “what is today called the religion of Israel.”
Kaniuk, 81, would like to equate his standing to that of his 10-month-old grandchild, who is registered as “Without Religion” at the Population Registry.
…[When] he became a grandfather and learned that his grandchild is defined in the Population Registry as an “American Christian.” The child’s mother, Kaniuk’s daughter, who was born in Israel and served in the IDF is also defined this way because of the fact that her mother, Kaniuk’s wife Miranda, is American and a Christian.
