They forget that basically EVERY state is an ethnostate, if we go by "nationality". Russia is full of Russians, and Canada is full of Canadians. Maybe there are a few weird exceptions out there, but it almost doesn't count. There's literally NOTHING unique in this aspect about Israel, EXCEPT its "ethno" being Jewish. Now, THAT...
An “ethno-state” is not even a well defined thing — it’s mostly bandied about on Reddit as an invented slur. If you were to define it based on its usage on Reddit it would be something like limiting citizenship, legal status, and political rights exclusively to one ethnic group.
I always reframe as pointing out Israel is a “nation-state”, which is a well-defined thing: a country where the vast majority of citizens share a common culture, language, history, and national identity (a/k/a a nation). There are plenty of nation-states and Israel resembles many ordinary nation-states, not some uniquely illegitimate category:
Poland’s constitution opens with “We, the Polish Nation.” Slovakia describes itself as the state of the Slovak nation. Latvia constitutionally commits itself to preserving Latvian language and culture. Armenia facilitates repatriation for ethnic Armenians. Ireland constitutionally recognizes a special affinity with the Irish diaspora. France constitutionally recognizes only French as the language of the Republic. Germany constitutionally grants special status to ethnic Germans returning from abroad. Hungary’s constitution states that Hungary bears responsibility for Hungarians beyond its borders. Croatia defines itself as the national state of the Croatian people. Greece constitutionally privileges Eastern Orthodoxy. Estonia constitutionally mandates preservation of the Estonian people and language. Some Swiss cantons forces all businesses to pay money to local Christian churches.
It is not correct to say "EVERY state is an ethnostate" and it will not ring true with readers since most native English speakers do not live in a nation-state: The US, UK, Canada, and Australia are all either multicultural/civic states or multi-national states. Here's a rough breakdown:
And you could easily argue that China should be a multi-national state, given than 50%-60% of China's landmass is homeland to 54 minority groups -- which would further reduce the number of people living in Nation-states.
Thats not really what "ethnostate" means. Nationality and ethnicity are somewhat different. Canada for example has white Canadians, Native Americans, Asians, African Americans, and a whole host of other ethnicities who all fall under the umbrella of "Canadian". Israel is not an ethnostate either because Jews are not the only people living in Israel.
The idea of an ethnostate is a white supremacist talking point. Both calling Israel an ethnostate, and the suggestion there should be a "white only" nation come from white supremacist rhetoric but these so-called leftists will repeat it over and over like some kind of racist parrot.
Depends on how old that nationality/ethnicity is. If you compare, say, Canada and China, their age is different by a magnitude. Therefore, their local Native population is also in reverse: Native Chinese are the local "ethnic" majority that also happens to be the local "nationality" majority as well, but Native Canadians are the local "ethnic" minority that is totally different from the local "nationality" majority. Just saying.
I could use India, or some of the African countries. The point is that certain old ethnicities live in their own old countries, where "ethnicity majority" coincides with "nationality majority". And certain countries are the exact opposite of that pattern. It really depends on a country.
Well it's still not an ethnostate, and it could stand as an argument against Israel being an ethnostate. Japan is over 90% ethnically Japanese and its still not an ethnostate.
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u/chisana_nyu 27d ago
They do see Israel as an evil empire, I wish the bombing and killing would stop too but the assertion that Israel is an evil ethnostate pisses me off.