The deputy defense minister is not impressed with the demographic data presented by the COGAT*: We will apply sovereignty and prove that the true situation is otherwise. Sovereignty does not necessarily mean granting the right to vote.
Deputy Defense Minister MK Rav Eli Ben Dahan is adhering to the vision of the application of sovereignty, despite the grim demographic predictions that were made lately by the Civil Administration, which were based on data provided by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
In an interview that he granted to Arutz 7 after the meeting of the Knesset where the demographic data were presented by the representative of the Coordinator of Government Activities in Judea and Samaria, Rav Ben Dahan mentioned that “demographic predictions were made several years ago that the State of Israel itself would not have a Jewish majority, and it turns out that these predictions were wrong. The dispute between the demographers is an argument about numbers and each one builds a prediction according to the sources of his information, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics or other sources”, he said, recalling previous demographic predictions that did not take into account the large aliyah from the former Soviet Union and the increase in Jewish birthrate, which resulted in those predictions being radically incorrect.
Beyond the argument over the numbers, Rav Ben Dahan states that we must make it absolutely clear that “We are here in the Land of Israel and are not impressed by the attempts to frighten us. There is a desire to frighten us with the possibility that perhaps shortly there will not be a (Jewish) majority, therefore we must abandon Judea and Samara. This is a severe mistake”.
“We must continue to focus on the most important thing. We are in Judea and Samaria because this is our Land and we are there so that we will not lose it forever. We must apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria as quickly as possible and when that happens we will see just how incorrect the numbers are”. Regarding the claims that the application of sovereignty will mean a large Palestinian sector in the Knesset, thus leading to the loss of the State of Israel’s Jewish character, Rav Ben Dahan responds that in his view, the application of sovereignty does not obligate Israel to grant the residents of these areas automatic citizenship.
“Israel unified all the parts of Jerusalem, but the residents of east Jerusalem cannot vote for Knesset, they can only vote in municipal elections. Here is my proposal – If we apply Israeli law in Judea and Samaria, full civil rights will not be given, certainly not on day one. We will have to wait a number of years, as is customary in any other state”.
Ben Dahan says that there is no basis to the claims that if there is no right to vote for Knesset, this harms Israel’s status as a democratic state. “Is Israel less democratic because of the status given to the residents of east Jerusalem? Is this status not enough for them? The truth is that these are not citizens who go to the polls every four years. The last time there were elections in the Palestinian Authority was 13 years ago. They are far from a democracy of the sort that we are familiar with. There are many examples of citizenship that is granted in steps, even in the U.S. there is a large territory called Guam and the people there do not have full citizenship. This is also the case for the residents of Puerto Rico, who do not vote for the presidency. The examples exist”.
*Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories