Backing up the argument: Israel is more accepting of religious pluralism than any other country in the Middle East, as well as other Muslim states in the world. Every other state in the area, and the Palestinian Authority, which has been extremely critical of Israel as a Jewish state, keeps Islam as the officially established religion, and discriminates both in law and in actions against non-Muslims, especially Jews. The Arab and Muslim nations are completely responsible for the second-class status that their religious and political leaders had imposed on their Jewish minorities (dhimmi) over centuries. The wrongs imposed on them demonstrated to the world that the Jewish people had the right to self-determination in a place in which Jews were a majority. Israel can exist as a Jewish and democratic state. Israel does have an obligation to protect the rights of all its citizens, to treat them fairly and with respect, and to provide equally for the security and welfare of its non-Jewish minorities. Yet these demands do not require a negation of the state’s Jewish character. Nor does that character pose an inherent threat to the state’s democratic nature. On the contrary, it is the duty of every democracy to reflect the basic preferences of the majority, so long as they do not infringe on the rights of others. In Israel’s case, this means preserving the Jewish character of the state. The Israeli law of return is a humanitarian law. It followed the immigration waves during Israel’s first years that brought Holocaust survivors, along with refugees forced out of Arab countries, to Israel. Israel is in practice a secular state that is religiously and racially pluralistic, and guarantees freedom of religion to Muslims, Christians, and other religious groups. Israel’s citizens include Jews from more than 100 countries, including from Ethiopia, Yemen and India. Muslim and Christian Arabs, Druze, Baha’is, Circassians and other ethnic groups represent more than 20% of Israel’s population. Although Jews are automatically entitled to citizenship, non-Jews may also seek citizenship, and many have been welcomed by Israel as citizens of equal status and rights. Israel is making considerable progress in eliminating the vestiges of anti-Arab discrimination that were largely a product of the refusal of the Arab world to accept the Jewish state. Despite some lingering inequalities, there is far less discrimination in Israel than in any Arab or Muslim nation, and Israel has made it a national priority to eliminate prejudice and intolerance. Jordan has a law of return that denies citizenship only to Jews; Saudi Arabia bases eligibility on religious affiliation; Germany had a law of return, as do many other European countries. Yet, only Israel, which has citizens of virtually every religion, ethnicity, race, and national origin, is characterized by its enemies as racist and apartheid. A country does not need to be culturally neutral in order to be democratic. All members of the European Union are nation-states in which minorities do not belong to the national ethos, yet enjoy equal civil rights. Israel is no exception in that regard. To single out Israel for criticism because it is a Jewish state is hypocritical, especially when the criticism is not coupled with comparable, or more severe, criticism of Muslim states that practice a far more discriminatory form of state sponsored religion. ( See background )