NationStates Jolt Archive

Jerusalem had been a sacred city to Judaism for thousands of years. The Jews in the land had always had a government to turn to. In one era there were the Judges. Then came the Kings. From Saul to Solomon, they reigned fairly over their subjects. The Talmudic Era was famous for its Sanhedrin. Just under 2,000 years following the fall of the Sanhedrin, the Knesset existed as a democratically elected house for the new State of Israel.

It was in his Knesset office that Benjamin Netanyahu was reading over his proposed bill he would read before the Knesset. As Prime Minister, Netanyahu was fairly certain that his bill would easily pass. His coalition had a stable majority. He could thank Shas, National Union, and Beitenu for helping give his Likud party the seats necessary to control the Knesset. Labor, Meretz, and a few other parties stood in opposition, but they did not have the votes to disturb his coalition.

Bibi was satisfied with his speech as he departed out of his office and down the corridor which led from the new 2007 completed wing of the building towards the original 1966 structure. He went up three levels of stairs into the Knesset's meeting chamber. He strode in from the right side of the room towards the wooden podium. The podium was the same one installed in the building in 1966 when the building opened for the Sixth Knesset.

Bibi stood at the podium for a few minutes as other Knesset members shuffled in. As he faced the 120 seats, he looked to his left where he saw his Likud MKs situated next to members of his coalition. The opposite side of the room housed the leftist opposition within Israel's politics. The center of the room contained members of the religious parties, some of which had formed a part of the coalition with Likud. Their desks were easy to spot as each member of Shas and NU kept a copy of the Tanakh at their desk.

The press was above him in the press gallery. Many Israeli citizens exercised their right to show up uninvited and witness the speech behind the bulletproof glass in the peanut gallery. Everyone was ready for Bibi to deliver his speech in support of his new bill.

Netanyahu began his speech exactly at 1000. "Sixty years ago, the great David Ben Gurion joined with 8 other Jews to announce the independent Jewish State of Israel. The celebration of establishing Israel was short lived as our fathers had to pick up rifles to go and fight invading Arabs who sought to finish the job that Hitler had failed to complete just three years before.

This building contains so much beautiful artwork. While most of the artwork displays our rich and proud heritage. Many pieces show the sorrows we have suffered in the past. Joseph Kuzkovsky's "The Last Way - Babi Yar" is among those pieces of work.

It was hoped by Ben Gurion and others that the establishment of our nation as a Jewish State would halt Antisemitism around the world. History has shown us that this was just wishful thinking as Antisemitism has flourished among the nations of our world today. Just this last year, there was a massacre which was far deadlier than Babi Yar was 67 years ago. The IDF government has a moral obligation to protect all Jews around the world.

It is for this reason I am proposing the Jewish Defense Law to this, the 17th Knesset of the State of Israel. This law will make it a matter of Israeli Law that we are obligated to go through whatever means necessary to protect Jews who are oppressed around the world. If our state had existed in the 1930s and had a similar mindset, millions of Jews would have been spared death.

This law is in regards to a serious and grave issue. While we will save millions in the long run, it means we may have to pay a dear price in the next few years. The State of IDF will use whatever means necessary to preserve Jewish life around the world. That means this nation may even choose to go to war to protect our brothers.

I am asking each one of you to throw your support for the law to protect our mishpokha abroad."

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Bibi departed the podium and returned to his seat. The debate ravaged on for three days, before a motion was made to vote. With a vote of 79-41, the Knesset approved the law. Even some members of the opposition Labor Party came forward to vote for the new law. No members of Gil or Meretz crossed lines though.

OOC: sorry for posting here, but would you mind if neo-crusaders attempted to reclaim Jerusalem? I just had a massive force of crusaders assemble, and since you own Jerusalem...well what do ya say?

Although Kiravians are mostly Christians, Coscivian Theists, Deists, Unitarians or Pagans, we do have a Jewish population of around 100,000. We acknowledge the need for a force to protect the followers of Judaism throughout the world, and we believe your cause to be a noble one. However, we warn the IDF that other nations may not think similarly, and to be on their guard.

OOC: sorry for posting here, but would you mind if neo-crusaders attempted to reclaim Jerusalem? I just had a massive force of crusaders assemble, and since you own Jerusalem...well what do ya say?

OOC: Well he has A Jersusalem so you would also need to sort out which europe, nortern africa and middle east it fits in alongside and that is without taking into multiple earth.

You have to love the transdimentional nature of NS.

OOC: sorry for posting here, but would you mind if neo-crusaders attempted to reclaim Jerusalem? I just had a massive force of crusaders assemble, and since you own Jerusalem...well what do ya say?

OOC: That sounds like an interesting idea, just realize my IDF is somewhat different from the RL Israel. I RP on the same land, but some things like demographics and population are of course different.

OOC: Well he has A Jersusalem so you would also need to sort out which europe, nortern africa and middle east it fits in alongside and that is without taking into multiple earth.

You have to love the transdimentional nature of NS.
OOC: On top of that, each landmass is much larger than it's RL counterpart as our populations are larger.

OOC: That sounds like an interesting idea, just realize my IDF is somewhat different from the RL Israel. I RP on the same land, but some things like demographics and population are of course different.

Should I begin the thread?

Should I begin the thread?

OOC: Sure, I won't respond til later tonight, but you might as well start it

General Diplomatic Communiqué to IDF Government

On behalf of his highness, Emperor Ivan Semyonovich Sviatov, we of the Kilrany Empire must inform you of our objection to the passing of this new law within the Israeli Government. As well meaning as the intent behind this may be, it pains us to see such a law passed that could be so easily and terribly abused within a democracy, or any nation.

While we recognize that at this time there are no trade agreements between our nation and your own, and the following will likely be of limited concern to you, it is however the only manner of protest we a willing to bring to bear. From this moment forward, no Kilrany private business or government owned corporation will be permitted to do business with any private business or government owned corporation of the IDF or any associated foreign entities in league with the IDF until such time as this highly interventionist law is repealed.

Kilrany foreign affairs minister
Pavel Kasatikin
Kilrany Minister of Finance
Yuliya Katinya

Ivan Slushbayetov had been in the upper echelons of government for nearly a decade. Originally brought in as a Minister for the Transitionary Government's politburo, the end of that era had seen the restoration of the traditional Skolchoi. Exceptionally good at his job, they'd requested that he stay on. His full title, on the business cards tucked securely into the thin metal of the case he carried, now read: Mineral Resources & Agricultural Advisor (Ministerial Post).

The samovar that sat atop a insulating pad on a small table, offset to the left of center, so he and his guest could sit across from one another and still talk. It was a side room in what had been the old Politburo Buildings, leather chairs recently re-upholstered and just as comfortable as before. Slushbayetov recharged his ceramic mug with zavarka, the powerful tea concentrate kept warm in the teapot that sat atop the silver plated bulk of this particular samovar. The room was ornate, dark wood bookcases filled with a variety of reading material, chairs scattered about small tables spread around the carpeted floor. A chess game was in progress between a keen eyed aide and a weatherbeaten secretary, whose overcoat was steaming gently from its place on the back of a wooden chair pulled up close to the fire behind a mail curtain built of black iron.

This room was intentionally decorated as if it were still 1805, in the inviting and relaxing "Russkyan Countryside" fashion. It was generally utilized as a waiting room or even a informal meeting place with foreign politicians who expected to see Russkya's quainter side. Often, when not used for that purpose, it was a relaxing spot for ministers and staff of all ranks to meet and talk informally. Slushbayetov's companion, the Industrial Advisor Oleg Raminski, whose post was also designated as a Ministerial one, was also of the old guard, an expert in his field. They were joined by the Parlimentary Representative Vika Mikhailovna, whose teacup contained a much less powerful tea blend than even the most diluted zavarka. The atmosphere was hushed as a clock quietly ticked away the time. An announcement was expected at twenty hundred hours, with a televised version following at twenty thirty hours. Local time, of course.

The radio was tuned to Radio Russkya, a station with access to transmitters that could reach the entirety of the region. It also featured on the BBC World Service, although condensed by their reporting staff. The Rachmaninov piece Sonata in G Minor for Cello and Piano, Opus 19; Andante was interrupted near its end with the cultured baritone of the announcer on duty this particular night: "My audience tonight, we interrupt your listening pleasures to bring you important notice from the Russkyan government."

Then he silenced himself as Vasily Andreyevich Berko, the new Prime Minister, addressed the nation directly.

"Countrymen, as you remember we have had dealings in the past with the nation of Israel, relating to the same subject. Earlier, they had threatened the world with their hyperinterventionist policies intended to protect the Jewish people. Today, they do the same again.

Your Skolchoi met earlier this day to determine our course of action. Were it not for the possible repercussions from the international community, you would instead hear of this in the morning newspaper. Along with our strong ally, the Kilrany Empire, we have enacted legislation, ratified by your parliament, which effectively bars Russkyan businesses, especially those of our powerful defence sector, from conducting trade with the nation of Israel, her representatives, or indigenous businesses.

The recent approval of the Jewish Defence Law by the seventeenth Knesset enables the Israelis, under their law but notably not international law, to interfere with the domestic policies of soveriegn nations should they percieve the Semites therein, presumably citizens of the nation in question, to be threatened. While admirable in its own way, Israel has no right to interfere with the domestic actions of any government.

Arrogantly, the nation of Israel presumes to place itself between a presumably elected and representative government and the rule of that nation's citizens. True, that as Benjamin Netanyahu said, if the a policy such as this had been followed in the nineteen thirties by other nations, it is possible that millions of lives could have been saved. But at the sacrifice of millions of other lives, as it is absurd to think that any moderately capable nation would bend to a foreigner's demands. What makes a Jewish life worth anything more than a "Gentile's" life?

As I argued earlier with Rinat Valeriievich, nothing does. If all men are equal, the basis of respectable dealings in the modern world, then there is no room for a religiously or ethnically motivated law to be passed that would clearly affect sovereign nations, perhaps on the other side of the world from Israel.

In recent history, we will note that the Jews have been the primary victims of the Holocaust, as conducted by Nazi Germany. The intent would be to prevent this atrocity, and even more severe atrocities, if such a thing is possible, from being conducted. However, sheer death toll means nothing. Our fellow Slavs in Russia, in Ukraine, in the Baltic States suffered as much for being untermensch in Nazi eyes. Were we to pass such legislation protecting the Slavs, or those of the Russian Orthodox faith, I have no doubt that the wrath of the international community would crash down upon our collective heads. And rightly so.

I would propose that many of their troubles are caused by the sheer arrogance required to call themselves God's Chosen People. While theology is completely outside the reasoning that motivated our prevention of trade with Israel, it would seem prudent for the nation of Israel to seek to correct many problems through internal reform rather than presuming to threaten the genuine right of all governments to govern.

Should Benjamin Netanyahu's government wish to protect the Semites, the Jews, the people of Israel, it should encourage those same people to immigrate to Israel, where they may be protected by the powerful Israeli Defence Force, which does not violate recognized international law or the sovereignity of multiple nations. The People's Socialist Republic of Russkya would be more than willing to resume trade with the nation of Israel if such action was taken.

We look to see what the future brings as one, my fellow Russkyans. Take care, and goodnight."

Ramenski leaned back in his chair, exhaling thoughtfully from between pursed lips. His eyes met Slushbayetov's.

"Now, old comrade, we wait to see what the reaction is."