Imagine a different state of Israel, one very much like our own: This other Israel would also be sunny, with golden beaches, roadblocks in the territories, targeted killings, and rockets hitting the southern towns. The only difference between this new Israel and the current one would be that in the new Hebrew language that would be spoken there, you could say anything except “Nazi,” “fascist” and “anti-democratic.” Wouldn’t that be a better place to live than our current Israel?

And now that we’re exercising our imaginations, let’s picture yet another new Israel — one where the word “Nazi” is permitted but the government genuinely wants a peace accord and its members do not treat the Palestinians like “shrapnel in your butt” — as our economy minister, Naftali Bennett, recently put it — but rather as neighbors seeking freedom and self-determination.

Let’s go one step further: Imagine that in this second new Israel, the government gives serious consideration to African refugees’ appeals rather than locking them up in camps while Knesset members like Danny Danon and Miri Regev call them “a cancer,” or “infiltrators,” and use racial epithets not unlike those my parents were subjected to in that miserable war in which my grandparents were murdered by you-know-who.

Now, hand to heart, which of these alternative Israels would you prefer to live in?

Aha! I knew you’d choose the one that strives for peace and defends human rights regardless of religion, race or gender. How unfortunate, then, that our elected government wants the other one. Its ministers know, of course, that criminalizing the word “Nazi” will require painful sacrifices, such as banning reruns of the Soup Nazi episodes of “Seinfeld.” But they are willing to pay this heavy price.

Many years ago, my father, who had to hide in a damp pit for roughly 600 days during World War II, told me that there were only two lessons to be learned from that war. The first was that the Jewish people, who have suffered so much, must do whatever it takes to be strong so that they never again find themselves at the mercy of others.