Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is responding to pressure from the Obama administration by stating that any negotiations with the Palestinians must be predicated on the acceptance of the idea that Israel is "the Jewish state" or, as reported in other outlets, "the national home of the Jewish people."
Diaspora Jews sometimes take offense to such language. It's not that we deny that Israel is a Jewish state or even that we (or most of us) deny that Israel should be a state in which Judaism and people of Jewish ancestry have certain privileges.
But my issue here is the specific language that has been used. Granted, Bibi probably made his remarks in Hebrew, but Hebrew does have a definite article in the language. (There is no indefinite article in Hebrew.) I.e., when one says in Hebrew that Israel is "the" Jewish state or "the" Jewish national home or whatever, it's clear in the language that the definite article is being used.
And that's a problem.
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