Underscoring Jack Ross's point below, here is the Independent reporting on tomorrow's mayoral election in Jerusalem:
Any last shred of pretence that the election is anything other than
tribal warfare between the ultra-Orthodox and secular collapsed when
the rabbi, Meir Porush, 53, suggested to supporters that a vote for him
would be part of an ongoing ultra-Orthodox takeover of all of Israel's
cities.
"Within 10 years there will not be a secular candidate
at all in any city, except maybe in an abandoned village," he said. The
father of 12 made the comment in Yiddish last week, but unbeknown to
him, the remarks were being recorded and were later aired on Israeli
television with Hebrew subtitles, harming his effort to win over
secular voters.
How soon before the secular Jews understand that they need modern democracy, they need Arabs, they need guarantees of minority rights and separation of church and state. They don't need Zionism…
