Avraham Burg on Israel as a Jewish state, Zionism

Avraham Burg, is an Israeli politician who was the former speaker of the Knesset from 1999 to 2003. He was also the chairman for the Jewish Agency for Israel, and the World Zionist Organization. In 2003, he wrote an article for The Yediot Aharonot (translated for the Guardian) titled: The End of Zionism. In that article he says that "... Israel must shed its illusions and choose between racist oppression and democracy".In an interview with Haaretz, (also in the Herald Sun) Burg said that defining Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its end. The interview was in the wake of the book Burg wrote: Defeating Hitler. In that book he describes Israel as a Zionist ghetto, and compares its behavior in the occupied Palestinian territories with Nazi Germany's. He also criticizes the Law of Return, where any Jew anywhere can immigrate to Israel and become an instant citizen. He says it is a "mirror image of Hitler. I don't want Hitler to define my identity." He also describes the separation wall as "xenophobic".