Quite the contrary, they pathetically tried to outdo their neighbors in patriotism. Jews often saluted flags with crosses on them, but never clamored for their removal. Barakei, however, wants the Star of David off our flag and the menora off our national emblem. He also wants Zionist institutions like the Jewish Agency and JNF dismantled. To appease him, Ben-Porat may one day suggest a companion flag with a crescent instead of the Magen David.
Appeasement knows no bounds.
They 'll soon have two Arab states in what was original Mandatory Palestine - Jordan and Arafat's fiefdom, which are culturally and ethnically indistinguishable. The irredentist Arab aim is now to take another bite of the little still left to the Jews of the territory once set aside for our national home. Ben-Porat is naive to identify the problem as the Jewishness of Israel's anthem. She no doubt knows that other anthems of other ethnocentric democracies are also national in nature. Israel isn't unique, though perhaps we're not entitled to what's acceptable elsewhere.