Of the 7.9 million Israelis only 14% consider themselves secular, whereas 5o% say they are traditional, orthodox or ultra-orthodox, according to a poll conducted by Rafi Smith.  Of the latter the most are right wing (in the case of the ultra- orthodox, 79% voted for increasingly right-wing parties, such as Jewish Home). This new parliament was projected to be the first without a single member from a kibbutz.

Much is made of Islamic extremism, but here you have a secular state that is becoming (has already become?) a religious one, and, stoked up with fear by their politicians, is becoming as extreme as any Islamist Regime.  Only people who live in Israel are allowed to mention the word “apartheid” without being accused of ant-semitism,  but it is mentioned there frequently by the dwindling number of moderates.  So defensive have the right-wingers become that Israel is the  only country in the world that refuses to attend a country by country United Nations review of human rights that everyone else has to attend.  The UN is still free to describe things as they really are, that is pretty bad for Arabs in Israel. The old Israel we knew of West European, educated and moderate Jews who made the dessert bloom, is vanishing, and with it the sympathy of thoughtful people in the West.

Epicurus would heartily dislike all religious states, whether Christian, Jewish or Moslem or Hindu.    Catholic intolerance of homosexuals, Hindu violence, Wahabi repression of women – you can continue a long litany of the abuses perpetrated in the name of religion.   At least, I call them abuses, tribal/group-think abuses.

The answer is Epicureanism:  moderate, humanistic, sensible and without superstition or control freaks in charge; espousing a quiet, calm life without fear.   Epicureanism doesn’t despise science, brush aside global climate change or propagate bogus science like so-called  creationism.  It is the philosophy of moderation and getting on with your neighbours and the world.