The Only Democracy? » Discrimination
Quarreling Lovers Make Up Over Missiles
The United States and Israel may be fighting, but fear not. These BAF (Best Allies Forever) have the equivalent of a bunch of roses to reconcile over, a sweetheart deal to buy fighter jets. The US supplies the cash, and Israel buys the weapons. It’s like a gift certificate! For your own store. That sells guns to a domestic (and foreign) violence offender, Israel, who America refuses to cut off no matter how badly they … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination, Featured
Gaza Students Can’t Study in Gaza, Can’t Leave
From Gisha’s Gaza Gateway Between March 1 and March 5, 2010, the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was open, and 4427 people passed through the crossing, including 461 students. Of these students, 100 were returned to Gaza by the Egyptians either because Egypt believed that they would seek to remain in Egypt, or because they were missing the requisite exit documents. According to the latest information, 502 students are presently seeking to leave the Gaza Strip in order to realize their dreams and study in universities abroad. Yet why do students in Gaza aspire to study outside the Strip? Among the reasons is the fact that in Gaza it is not possible to study certain fields, such as dentistry, occupational … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Shedding Light on Discrimination Against Arab Citizens of Israel
Some of you may remember the relentless attacks on Jimmy Carter after publication of his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. To deflect some of the criticism, Carter was at pains to distinguish the situation between Arabs in the Occupied Territories and Arab-Israeli citizens. Regarding the latter, he assured his audiences that within Israel proper “democracy prevails and citizens live together and are guaranteed equal status.” Like Carter, many of us are ill-informed or confused about … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Haaretz Condemns Nakba Ban as “Mocking Democracy”
On May 15th, the day marking Independence Day for Israel, many Arabs within Israel and throughout the world commemorate the Nakba (the “catastrophe” in Arabic) when most of the Arab population living within the new-born state were forced to flee in 1948. Much of this population continues to live as refugees to this day, or as internally displaced persons within Israel. But public commemoration of Israel’s independence as a day of mourning could be penalized should a bill approved on Sunday by a ministerial panel be brought to the Knesset and cabinet for vote. In a scathing editorial, Haaretz laments this latest manifestation of the undemocratic agenda of the Netanyahu-Lieberman cabinet. The Knesset yesterday put Israeli democracy to shame when it passed the “Nakba Law” at first reading with a majority of 15 against … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Israeli Schoolchildren Learn to Count with Tanks
By Sergeiy Sandler In January 2010, an official UN body determined for the first time that the militarization of Israel’s government-run school system was in violation of the International Convention of the Rights of the Child and, in particular, of Israel’s implementation of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC), to which it is a signatory. Unprecedented … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Biden’s “Insulted,” What About Palestinians?
By Jesse Bacon The United States and Israel are having a lovers’ quarrel, between grotesquely overprivileged and dysfunctional lovers at that. The decision of Israel to announce new construction in Occupied East Jerusalem during the visit of Vice President Joe Biden was met with disbelief and rueful humor. For most of us who are critical of US policy, the gesture was mere truth in advertising about the nature of the relationship between the United States and Israel. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Levy: Palestinian Citizens of Israel “Misbehaving”
By Jesse Bacon In a tongue in cheek article, Gideon Levy accuses the Palestinian Citizens of Israel of such “misbehaviors” as stating they do not feel they belong in Israel (Ajami director Tony Copti) or asking if Israeli Jews who killed civilians were terrorists (Member of the Israeli Parliament Ahmed Tibi, who is one of the reasons Israel can brag about its Palestinian legislators.) He then fakes outrage over these affronts before getting down to the point, of what will be truly required to build democracy inside Israel. If the so-called demographic problem can’t be solved by driving Arabs out, we’ll try to get rid of them another way: destroy their identity, cloud their national memory and turn them into Israelis, not to mention Zionists. It won’t work. We … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Ms. and Mr. Israeli New Right
By Eitan Isaacson After the alarming poll among high school students, where 56% of Jewish students said Arabs should be denied the right to run for office in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, it is only fitting to highlight some of the figureheads of this popular racism, and get a small peek into their way of thought. Anastacia Michaeli is a Knesset member who belongs to the Yisrael Beitenu party. Her … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Secular, Religious Israeli Students Hold Different Views on Equal Rights and Military Service
Last month we posted an article about Israel’s increasing rejection of democracy as a preferred form of government. On the question of equal rights for Arab citizens, about half of those surveyed opposed such equality. A new poll of Israeli high-school students reveals that nearly half of them also do not believe that Arabs citizens are entitled to the same rights as Jews in Israel. That view was held by 82 percent of religious students, and 39 percent of secular students. Some 91 percent of secular high school students said they want to enlist in the IDF, versus 77 percent of religious students. Eighty-one percent of the religious students said they would refuse orders to evacuate outposts and settlements in the West Bank, versus 36 percent of secular students. Nearly a third of the students said they … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination, Featured
Fear makes us hypocrites: Israel’s new conversion law
By Jesse Bacon Israel’s new proposed conversion law provides a nice insight into the state of Israeli politics, 2010. It has drawn outrage, even among my right wing friends who would not ordinarily criticize the Israeli government, or support others right to do so. “The bill proposes that the Law of Return only be applicable to Jews or their offspring, and not to non-Jews who opted to convert – even if the conversion follows Orthodox … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Interactive Video
“You have a choice! Israeli Anti-Militarists Speak”
Four Israelis—Dorothy Naor, Sergeiy Sander and Eli Fabrikant, and Ofer Golani—talking about their personal histories, political views and activism in 132 short films.