About the Israeli society
Committed to our Zionist and social-liberal conception, we take clear positions on important areas of the Israeli reality:
Our liberal approach places us within the movements that fight to safeguard the democratic character of the State, strongly opposing attempts to superimpose – over democratic institutions such as the Knesset, the Government and the Supreme Court – criteria from halachic regulation. The struggle against religious coercion and the urgent need to provide up-to-date answers to the growing needs of the Israeli citizenry do not impinge on our stated desire for Israel to be a country with Jewish characteristics. Like many others who opt for a Jewish and democratic state, we believe that the two terms are not incompatible. At the same time, we believe that the young Israeli democracy, obliged to take responsibility for its future, must guard against the fanatical extremism of those who accept only one truth: their own.
Israeli society must keep its doors open to aliyah and devote economic, social and logistical efforts to absorb every Jew who wishes to become part of Israeli citizenship.
The State must assume responsibilities so that Jewish-owned lands remain in the hands of Zionist factors, taking into account the needs of national development and avoiding falling into ethnic segregationism that is not consistent with the democratic character of the country.
With regard to settlement and development, while we attach paramount importance to the care of agricultural settlement, it is equally important to continue with the establishment of settlements in the Negev and the Galil, ignoring the pressures of political factors that insist on continuing to establish “ghost towns” in regions destined to become part of the future Palestinian state entity.
While being in favor of a liberal-social economic policy, we believe that state institutions must maintain a very high social sensitivity to prevent the development of poverty and promote a fair distribution of national wealth. This is what we call the Social Welfare State.