Simon, I have often thought of the moment when Enda Kenney stood before the Dail and established clearly the divide between Ireland and the Catholic Church, an act that anyone old enough to understand deValera would have found inconceivable. But religion and nationality and political leadership are three different things. One is based in faith, one should be based in consensus, and the third - well - people make choices (here's looking at you, United States) and those choices have consequences.

It is long past time for Judaism to separate itself clearly from Zionism. In fact it is essential. Yes, that can be difficult and yet, here again, 21st century Ireland is instructive. Like Israel, the contemporary nation of Ireland's birth was defined as a reaction to religious bigotry. And like Israel, the combination of religion and nationalism was so destructive, because faith often demands the rejection of rationality.

But if any religion is capable of making this split it should be Judaism. Raised in a mixed environment - a classic Jewish Catholic family - Judaism (at least "Reform" Judaism) always seemed the far more rational belief system. That rationality should enable people to understand that messianic beliefs in conquest are just as bad as imperial or capitalist beliefs in conquest.