I don't blame the Palestinians who won't recognize Israel as a Jewish state. It is nobody's best interest (Jew, Christian, Muslim, or otherwise) to pretend along with the Zionists that Israel ought to be an intrinsically Jewish state more than any other kind of state. If Saudi Arabia is forever to be the world's boogieman because, oh my gosh, look at how oppressive and Islamic it is, then how can you seriously turn around and claim that Israel has some sort of God-given right to its essential 'Jewish' character? Both are the foundation for inherently unequal laws by virtue of law codes that favor one religion (or even one strain of one religion -- in KSA, Wahhabi Islam, and in Israel, Orthodox Judaism) over all others, thereby setting up an inherently unequal and undemocratic society. The thing is, Israel knows it's in trouble if it has to treat the Palestinians as equals (like an actual democracy would), because demographic trends do not favor it retaining its "Jewish identity" long into the future in that case,
since the Muslim population is overall much younger than the non-Muslim population there. This is why Israel sets recognition of its Jewish identity as a precondition to dealing with the Palestinians: It has to enshrine it in law somehow, because it cannot maintain it naturally. It never could, hence the liquidation of Arab villages, building of settlements,
official support of Orthodox Judaism over other kinds (NB: according to some estimates, the Haredi -- the most "ultra-Orthodox" of the Orthodox Jews -- in Israel reproduce at a rate that is
at least two and a half times that of the local Arabs), etc. In America, we would call that "stacking the deck", and it is actually the cause of much concern among some in the Western world regarding the growing Muslim population (e.g., "population Jihad", "Eurabia", etc).
I hope the irony of that isn't lost on Israel's most strident supporters in this thread. You bring up Saudi Arabia, and how terrible the Muslim-by-law states are and all this, and I agree, but I also maintain that Israel has a lot more in common with them than you're probably comfortable with. To me opposing Israel and Saudi Arabia are two sides of the same fight for human rights. I stand with Palestine not because I hate Jews (I love Jews! My God was incarnate as a Jew, and He's the reason why we're all here), or because I'm a "leftist" (I think my many disagreements with Ebia on issues other than this one would bear that out, as well as my voting record), but because I can't support a discriminatory state like Israel just because it portrays itself as Jewish instead of Islamic. They're both false faiths, so choosing one over the other is pointless. The only
religion I'll stand with is my own, and my religion teaches me that whatever I do to the least of the King's brethren, that I have done unto Him.