At the center of the parliamentarians' attention were private bills ostensibly aimed at Judaizing the Jewish state. The buzz words of the Knesset during the past year included "loyalty," "boycott," "Nakba," "the New Israel Fund," and the like. I will not use this forum to discuss the Knesset's wisdom in engaging in such matters; it is very dubious. I will…

Professor Yedidia Z. Stern  is Vice President of IDI and former dean of the Law School at Bar Ilan University.

Political independence is not just measured quantitatively. It is made up of more than territory, a deterrent army, an impressive GNP, effective law enforcement, and representation in the United Nations. Independence also has important qualitative aspects. These are affected by psychological and cultural factors, and are reflected in the feelings and experiences of individual citizens and the nation as a…

Should clergy members be above the law when they express religious opinions? Imagine a Muslim imam in a mosque in New York giving a sermon in which he professes support for terrorism and calls for a jihad against Christians because he believes it to be a religious requirement of Islam. Imagine a priest with extremist views appearing on Austrian television…

Let's not fool ourselves. The Turkish firefighting planes did not douse the flames that continue to scorch Turkish-Israeli relations. Even if a formula is found that would satisfy Turkey's demand for both an apology from Israel and compensation for casualties of the Gaza flotilla incident, we will still be facing Turkish policy that is fundamentally problematic.

There are issues in the life of a nation and a country that must not be turned into pawns in an internal political game and must not be cashed into tactical coins. One of them, if not the foremost among them, is the foundational idea of the State of Israel, the unique nation-state of the Jewish people, which practices the…

What does "loyalty" mean? Loyalty to whom? The way in which these bills use this term implies that loyalty requires, as a necessary condition, the rejection of a concrete, identifiable alternative. Thus, for example, loyalty between two marriage partners requires the rejection of loyalty to other partners. In the realm of religion, loyalty to God is not compatible with loyalty…

The Left is not alone. The Right also imposes its own forms of cherem. The Im Tirtzu organization has threatened to pressure donors to boycott Israel's universities if the universities don't act according to the organization's wishes. Another form of cherem may be seen in the decision of some members of the Right to advocate refusal to serve in the…

The question of who should perform conversions in Israel is critical, both symbolically and practically. Symbolically, conversion is the only way to join the Jewish people; accordingly, whoever is authorized to convert people serves as a gatekeeper, with a monopoly on determining membership in an exclusive club. Practically, the gatekeeper's decisions have a profound impact on the identity of potential…