Why it is okay for Israel to be a Jewish State

And it was IPMN who helped me find the article:

I do have something good to write about the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and their Facebook page.  They linked to a very interesting article and that lead me to a very good article entitled, Can Israel Be A “Jewish State?”. The original article they linked to at The Counsel on Foreign Relations is Will The Arab League Pay For Palestine? by Elliott Abrams. Evidently the Palestine government is running out of money and it isn't the fault of the United States or Israel, but of the Arab League.

But the excellent article I want to point to is the first, Can Israel Be A “Jewish State?”. The author, also Elliott Abrams, lists all of the states that are religiously based including a few Christian ones. After writing about several Arab States that insist on Islam as their official religion Abrams also writes:

There are many similar examples. The religion of the state is Islam in Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait (where there are estimates that fifteen percent of the population is non-Muslim)—and one could lengthen the list. In Afghanistan, the constitution holds that “The sacred religion of Islam is the religion of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan” and “No law shall contravene the tenets and provisions of the holy religion of Islam in Afghanistan.” The president must be a Muslim. The Saudis go one further, refusing even to have a constitution: “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a sovereign Arab Islamic state with Islam as its religion; God’s Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet, God’s prayers and peace be upon him, are its constitution….”

Abrams also points out that "The whole idea behind the partition of the Palestine Mandate in 1947 was, in the words of U.N. General Assembly resolution 181, the creation of an “Arab state” and a “Jewish state.” The Arab rejection of Israel as a Jewish state is in fact at the heart of the Middle East conflict.

Please read the whole article.