Countless layers of Jewish-Israeli existence accumulated during the seventy-five years of the state's independence, and in fact began to form years before its establishment. Every moment of Israel's happening contains all the DNA of the twisted, vibrant and turbulent expression of the Jewish state known as the State of Israel.

I believe that the time has come within Israeli internal politics for every sector and tribe to set aside the inter-sectoral conflicts of the past and to think about how we – together – can ensure the future of all Israeli citizens and the state’s continued connection with Diaspora Jewry.

Of all Zionism’s attainments, and of all that Israel has accomplished on the political, military, technological, and economic planes, history will remember, above all, the state’s cultural achievement: the creation of a climate that enabled the Jewish people to write a continuing chapter to the Jewish story.

While I deeply believe that Israel should be a Jewish as well as democratic state, there are many ways to be a Jewish state without elevating one expression of Judaism over the others and denying the fundamental rights of so many Jewish citizens, and without denying non-Jewish citizens equal rights.

The phrase “Israel’s values as a Jewish and democratic state” reflects the uniqueness of the State of Israel and of Israeli society. We are not like all the nations; we are not like other states. We are a democracy, and our values are those of any democratic country. However, we are also a Jewish state, and are values are therefore the values of a Jewish state. Israeli society must contend with this duality.

I am a concerned Israeli. I’m afraid that when the dispute over the values embodied in a Jewish state dissipates, we will end up with something much simpler, much cruder: Jewish supremacy; a supremacy based not on values or heritage, but on ethnicity. White supremacy in the United States, Jewish supremacy in Israel.

The “Jewish state” definition means a Jewish collective conducting its affairs in accordance with Jewish values and actualizing through the state the model of a people living in the public realm as a Jewish people.

what is Israel’s mission as a Jewish state? To provide Jews with security in their national home, to strengthen Jewish existence around the world while aspiring to bring Jews abroad to Israel, and to set an example for other nations by demonstrating how a moral Jewish state takes an intelligent and inventive approach to the challenges posed by the complex world in which we all live.