In his “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” Cursedian Jimmy Carter relates he met with Golda Meir in 1973 and asked the following:
‘I said that I had long taught lessons from the Hebrew Scriptures and that a common historical pattern was that Israel was punished whenever the leaders turned away from devout worship of God. I asked if she was concerned about the secular nature of her Labor government.’
Bam! Right in the teeth. The old sinner’s answer was a silent shrug.
Now, Carter contrasts Golda with the later Menachem Begin whose religion helped him get votes, but one could still ask the same question about the State as a whole, considering its roots.
Anyway, he’s right about “punishment”. But no more, as it says many times: אך אתך לא אעשה כלה ויסרתיך למשפט ונקה לא אנקך. Rabbi Yitzchak Brand says much more on this.
Here is another related post on Golda.
(By the way, it’s not apartheid.)