The September 1 opening of Israel’s new school year was fairly uneventful as Israeli school years go: no nationwide teachers’ strike over salaries, no student protests against tuition hikes, hardly any violent opening-day riots. Compared to the storms of recent years, the back-to-school flare-ups this fall seemed at first glance to be little more than — well, child’s play.
On closer examination, though, this year’s disruptions are worrying. They could be the harbingers of something far more serious than traditional salary and tuition disputes — namely, a mounting reluctance among various groups of Israelis to live and learn alongside one another.
That, at least, was how most Israelis interpreted a late-summer drama in Petah Tikva, Tel Aviv’s largest satellite suburb. In mid-August, a handful of privately run Orthodox schools refused to enroll several dozen Ethiopian immigrant children assigned to them, despite government threats to cut funding and revoke their licenses. The showdown ended when the schools yielded, hours before school opened, but not before parents threatened to shut down the entire city school system if state-run schools were forced to absorb the extra Ethiopians. Compromise has not ended bitterness and suspicion on both sides.
Further south, in the western foothills of Jerusalem, parents and educators in the town of Beit Shemesh were at loggerheads over a different group of newcomers, namely Orthodox Jews. Faced with a steady influx of Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, families fleeing overcrowding in Jerusalem, the mayor decided in August to assign four classrooms for Haredi use in the city’s most prestigious secular school, the School for Languages and Cultures. Parents responded by picketing city hall, demanding that the mayor resign and carrying signs that read “Beit Shemesh is not a Haredi city” and “This is not Bnei Brak,” referring to a mostly Haredi suburb of Tel Aviv. The mayor replied that if the school refused to house the Haredi classes, this would be its last year.
Opening-day tensions ran high in Israeli Arab schools, too. Community leaders were up in arms over a decision by the education minister, Gideon Sa’ar of Likud, to ban the use in Arab schools of the word “Nakba,” Arabic for “catastrophe,” to describe the creation of Israel and the mass dislocation of Arabs that followed. Arab Israeli educators said their curriculum included both the Arab and Jewish “narratives” of Israel’s birth, but that removing the Arab version would deny their community its identity. Sa’ar, for his part, declared to the Cabinet on August 30 that “the creation of the state of Israel cannot be referred to as a tragedy.” He vowed that Israel’s Arab school system “will revise its studies.”
Tensions began last spring when Sa’ar introduced a new Israeli heritage program for use in all public schools, both Jewish and Arab, teaching about Israel’s anthem, its flag and the Jewish religious calendar. Arab educators said they would consider civil disobedience if their curriculum is forcibly “Judaized,” in the words of one Arab community official. This dispute, unlike the others, had not been resolved by opening day.
Whatever the immediate issues, though, the underlying cause of conflict is the same: demographic change. A study of Israel’s school population, released August 30 by the respected Taub Center for Social Policy Studies, showed that of the country’s 1.6 million schoolchildren, fully 48% attend schools that do not embrace or teach the state’s founding Zionist ethos, including 28% in Arab schools and 20% in Haredi schools. The combined total was 39% back in the year 2000. The Haredi schools do not even teach basic skills for employment in a modern economy, the study noted.
By contrast, the state’s mainstream secular schools account for only 39% of students, down from 46% in 2000. Enrollment in state religious schools, which follow a Modern Orthodox curriculum, has remained steady at roughly 15%.
In absolute numbers, the secular student population has dropped 3% over the past decade, while Haredi students have increased by 51%. The study was based on Education Ministry figures.
Demographic shifts are clearly behind the trouble in Beit Shemesh. Secular facilities there, like the School for Languages and Cultures, are languishing — the school was built for 450 students but enrolled only 185 this year — while Haredi classes meet in trailers and rented apartments. In Beit Shemesh and elsewhere, secular, mainstream Israelis are awaking to find they’re no longer the mainstream.
Haredi families say they only want to be left alone to live by their own rules in their own neighborhoods. But as their numbers grow, those rules become the norm in more and more neighborhoods, putting secular Jews on the defensive.
The dispute in Petah Tikva reflects a different problem, at least superficially. Integration of Ethiopian immigrants, always a challenge due to cultural and racial differences, has become far more complicated in recent years. The current wave of Ethiopian newcomers consists almost entirely of Falash Mura, descendants of Jews converted to Christianity in the past century who now want to return to Judaism. Unlike the earlier immigrants, this group comes with little or no grasp of Jewish culture and tradition. Because of their history, the new arrivals are required to undergo an expedited conversion to Judaism as a condition of their airlift and welcome. As part of the process, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate requires the children to attend Orthodox schools for at least two years.
School officials in Petah Tikva and elsewhere say that while immigrant children entering first grade acclimate quickly, those entering in higher grades face daunting challenges. Most know little or no Hebrew, and many are illiterate. Parachuted into advanced Talmud and rabbinic philosophy classes, most fall quickly behind. The problem is particularly acute in private Orthodox schools like those in Petah Tikva, which were created by highly observant families seeking accelerated religious studies. Enrolling the newest immigrants is unfair to immigrants and schools alike, administrators say. In several cases older immigrant children were placed in special classes, but parents and government officials have rejected those as a form of segregation.
Whatever the challenges, Education Ministry officials charge that the recalcitrant schools have balked repeatedly in the past on various pretexts. The real reason, the officials say, is simple racism.
Disputes in Arab schools are different in nature, mainly because neither side even pretends to seek a melding of values and identities. The question those schools pose to the society is how to imagine coexistence without integration.
For all their differences, though, the September brush fires are all reflections of a single, stark crisis: The Jewish state is inexorably turning into something its founders never intended, something that may not even be sustainable, and nobody has a clue what to do about it.
Contact J.J. Goldberg at goldberg@forward.com
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"...and nobody has a clue what to do about it". Well, I thought that the final line of this article was rather amusing. Obviously, hundreds of thousands of committed and talented Diaspora Jews could make their homes in Israel. Substantial numbers of newcomers - for example, the million immigrants from the former USSR - can shape society for generations to come. Mr Goldberg's "concern" for the future is quite typical of American Jews (most of whom have never even visited Israel): one seems to be worried, but it's really someone else's problem. "Lo ha-midrash iqqar, ella ha-ma'aseh", according to Pirkei Avot. In modern terms, one could say "actions speak louder than words". Since Israel's problems are presented as "someone else's", I would imagine that the "concern" for the future should be taken with a grain of salt.
Frank - I don't think that this article was an attack on Israel. The crisis in Petah-Tikva was the top news item in Israel, so obviously the Forward should comment on the topic as well. I interpret the article as an expression of worry (that Israel has turned into "something that may not even be sustainable"). Here, the article is worthy of criticism. I find all these expressions of gloom as total nonsense. Every national project turns out differently than what the founders intended ("the Jewish state is inexorably turning into something its founders never intended"). The era of prophecy, so the Talmud tells us, has ended - and so it is even silly that Mr Goldberg would even raise the issue of how things turned out in reality. Moreover, the hint is that "turning out differently" is bad news, whereas it's actually good news. You can just read the editorials of the Forward from one hundred years ago to see how they belittled the very idea of the return to the Land of Israel and the renewal of Jewish sovereignty. Things turned out very differently, indeed. And the term "sustainable"? Is he kidding us? Every Jewish community in the world should be in the midst of intense debate over Jewish identity and education and community life as Israel is. Every Jewish community should have its own Jewish language and Jewish cultural expressiveness just like Israel. Sustainable? I'd be worried about another very large Jewish community that used to read its Jewish Forward in its own Jewish language.
Discrimination has no place in the land of Isreal or it's current Jewish state. The Torah teaches against it! Just why are the ultra-Orthodox Pharasees "in charge" anyway in Isreal? There are certainly other sects of Judaism that don't follow their views and oral traditions. Yahudah was originally "many colors and ethnic groups" of that region. It was not only European looking. Those guys have no right say who is a Yahudah or not. There are 10 Tribes who are still in diaspera. Even Messianics have a hard time trying to make alliyah there.
Where is the commandment of Love from the Torah for our people and the strangers returning to Covenant Land of their forefathers. Whether they are Christian, Messianic, Jewish and dark skinned, "they have rights endowed by the Creator's covenants". The Holy One frowns on that kind of treatment of Isrealites by their own.
The Zionist can of worms has been opened. Now you have some guilt because its inherent racism is becoming more apparent. You wanted segregation and you got it. Israel attracts people who want segregation. Wanting it for yourself is one step away from forcing it upon others. That step has already been taken. Don't try to spin the ideology to be something it isn't.
What in god's name is Frank talking about? He compares racial tensions in Israel to the US, where he claims "racial and ethnic tensions abound, and even now where segration [sic] is the rule, and inner cities remain hell-holes which are dangerous for most Americans to visit."
Just how and where is segregation the rule in the US? Inner-cities as hell-holes where most Americans can't even visit? What nonsense.
Segregation is illegal in the US and has been for decades. There may be some remaining pockets of de facto segregation, through income disparity, but to call it "the rule" is just out and out dishonest. Nor are our inner-cities "hell-holes." There are areas of poverty in a number of cities, but hell-holes damn few are, if any. Not even the South Bronx.
Does Frank even live in the US? If so, just where? I suspect this gross exaggeration and outright falsehood is merely another way for Frank to wave the Israeli flag, but it is certainly a disturbing one.
If the percentage of students receiving an education unfit to gain them access to the modern workforce, then Israel really doesn't stand a chance of survival. But maybe that's how the Haredim/Orthodox want things. Israel can degenerate into a theocracy very much like the ones that surround the country. They'll certainly keep the demographics up in the country, but how they'll defend themselves God only knows.
Grif - You comment on Frank's arguments, noting that his view of Israeli Arabs seems to be that they "cannot, should not, be Israeli citizens". Indeed, that may be Frank's opinion - but you add another comment: "the usual Zionist exclusionary rule"! But the Israeli Arabs are Israeli citizens, period - not "can be" or "should be" - despite Frank's opinions. "The usual Zionist exclusionary rule", amazingly, hasn't excluded them from Israeli citizenship. And, please, who is the European colonist who is turning up his nose? If Frank is your European colonist, well, he's an European colonist whose family has settled in North America - just like your family. I know, Grif, that you're an anti-Zionist, but come on - be a little serious. Have you appointed Frank to be the spokesman for Israeli society? If so, it's because you wish to find for yourself an easy rival in the debate about Israel.
Frank - You might find it interesting to read the Forward (in Yiddish) from the day that the State of Israel was founded. A brief English version was published at http://www.forward.com/articles/10462/ . Of course, the Forward's report is quite strange. This was a dramatic moment in the long history of the Jewish people, and the event deserved to be presented from a Jewish perspective. You would have imagined that the headline would have said: "The Dream Has Come True - the State of Israel Has Been Established" (that, more or less, was the headline of Ha-Aretz). Instead, the Forward stated: "America Recognizes the New Jewish State of Israel", as if a major event of Jewish history must be presented to a Jewish audience from an American political point of view. Also, the picture of President Truman on the front page is larger than the picture of Ben-Gurion. Obviously, the Forward had an assimilationist agenda, and it wished to present an American image, even as it reported events in the Yiddish language. Still, you cannot help but notice the excitement. The Declaration of Independence was presented in Yiddish translation even though its content presents Jewish history from the Zionist perspective. The Forward, just like the majority of the Jewish world, was swept off its feet by the drama of modern Israel. This is true also today. It is not a Zionist newspaper, obviously. It is an American Jewish newspaper, and the American identity remains its core identity. Yet, the tremendous importance of Israel as the center of Jewish history and concern is obvious, even as Israel is always presented in the third person.
Frank speaks of white cities and black cities in the United States. I know of no such entities. I wish he would name a few.
He, of course, is backing off his earlier claim rapidly: "where racial and ethnic tensions abound, and even now where segration is the rule, and inner cities remain hell-holes which are dangerous for most Americans to visit."
The vision he first proclaimed was a gross exaggeration and as such, a falsehood. Now it's racial "themes" and redrawn voting districts, as if gerrymandering is only about racism, and the few school districts still subject to desegregation orders. All a far cry from "segregation is the rule" and "inner cities as hell-holes dangerous even to visit."
And what about Hispanic communities?
But his underlying purpose was to use all this as cat's paw to support Israel, so accuracy was not his objective. "The point is, bashing Israel, of all places, as an imperfect "melting pot" is ridiculous, and just more gratuitous extreme anti-Israel propaganda from the anti-Israel "Jewish" Forward."
Frank is right on one point. To bash Israel, of all places, as an imperfect melting pot is indeed ridiculous. Israel is not any sort of melting pot, imperfect or otherwise, it is the self-proclaimed Jewish State, which precludes any notion of a melting pot. It exists for Jews and for Jews alone.
Yehuda chides me for not being serious, claiming that Israeli Arabs are indeed citizens of Israel and then adds a "period" to enforce the finality of it all.
He is right, to a rather small degree. Nominally Israeli Arabs are citizens of Israel, but one would barely know it. They are distinctly 2nd class citizens at best, in law and custom. Housing, schools, jobs are for the most part segregated. They are regularly referred to in the press and in the halls of government as the "demographic threat." As I write they are being pushed from their homes in the Negev and upper Galilee. They are systematically denied the full benefits of citizenship that Jewish Israelis take for granted. If any one doubts this then just spend some time reading the Israeli press or the findings of any human rights organization. Theirs is a citizenship that no Jew, or anyone else, in the United States or Israel would wish for their own, so why pretend it to be otherwise?
Yehuda states: "And, please, who is the European colonist who is turning up his nose? If Frank is your European colonist, well, he's an European colonist whose family has settled in North America - just like your family."
Frank's attitude is indeed that of the jolly colonialist, much in the British tradition. "Arabs need to be civilized"?! That's straight out of the Raj's book. The wogs begin at at Calais, and the white man's burden, the great civilizing mission of the British Empire. Come on, Yehuda, you're the one who needs to get serious.
"Have you appointed Frank to be the spokesman for Israeli society? If so, it's because you wish to find for yourself an easy rival in the debate about Israel."
Frank may not be the spokesman for Israel, but his attitudes are hardly his alone. I have read and heard them repeated many times in various forms by Zionists of many stripes. And while he may be an easy target, I must say that Zionism is a fairly large and easy one all by itself.
Yes, Grif, Israel is a self-proclaimed Jewish state. What is the problem with that? Generally states come into existence as self-proclaimed political entities. Recently, Kosova proclaimed itself to be an independent Kosovan (Albanian-speaking) state. It has a Serbian minority, and it declared its independence despite the non-agreement and hostility of Serbia - and yet the USA and 60 other countries recognized this self-proclaimed entity. Estonia is a self-proclaimed Estonian state (with a very large non-Estonian population). Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Finland - and many more - are nation-states set up as self-proclaimed entities. Finland has a law of return, allowing for people of Finnish descent to receive citizenship. There is a Swedish-speaking national minority in Finland (and they are citizens of Finland), and yet the law of return is for the Finnish (the national group for whom the state was founded).
I know from past discussions that you don't see the Jews as a national community, parallel to the French or Germans or Russians. Fortunately, such definitions of peoplehood or nationhood or legitimacy do not have to meet your approval. Israel was born as a self-proclaimed Jewish state, and as such she was admitted to the UN. Apparently, self-proclamation and ethnic particularism are normal attributes in the modern community of nations.
The USA is not a nation-state, so it doesn't fit into the category of France or Italy or Latvia or Israel or Greece. However, it is also a self-proclaimed political entity. Its declaration of independence was not coordinated with the British crown or with the native Indians. It was founded by the unilateral will of a particular community. There is nothing wrong with that either.
Author avoids the issue of discrimination and racism toward the xUSSR émigrés children’s. They face the discriminatory attitude in the Israeli public schools too. The Soviet Jewry was an educated elite in their countries. Now only 60% make to the regency exams, and those who take the exams only about half pass.
The President of Israeli Children Defense Council Dr. Itzhak Kadman: ‘80% of severe cases is based on racism and ethnic hatred’. I witnessed the Russian panthers phenomena 10 years ego. Now the situation is worsened.
http://www.russiandenver.50megs.com/panthers/english.htm http://www.russiandenver.50megs.com/panthers/capital_of%20racism_eng.htm http://www.russiandenver.50megs.com/panthers/statistics_will.htm
Grif - Yes, there are separate schools systems in Israel for Hebrew speakers and for Arabic speakers. For a person with an anti-Israel agenda, that would be an issue to complain about, I suppose. You should note that there isn't an Arab citizen in Israel who is demanding a single school system. If on the other hand, someone in Israel would heed your advice and make a single school system, then probably you would still be complaining. That single system would probably be a reflection of the majority language (Hebrew). Suddenly, there would be Arab children who would hardly be literate in their own language - and that would be oppression, indeed. The American experience is that separation is an expression of racism. However, "American" is not "universal". Race is not an issue in the Jewish-Palestinian context. However, both sides see it as their right to educate their children in their own language, and to teach their own traditions. The separate school systems is designed to promise cultural continuity.
While there are mixed towns in Israel, generally Jews and Arabs live in their own villages and cities. One doesn't have to. Arabs buy or rent flats in Tel-Aviv, and Jews rent houses in Arab villages. But, by and large, we speak different languages and have our own societies. Generally, a distinct language is an indication of a distinct society and culture. Moreover, the Arabs are a traditional village society in which an extended family (the "hamula") lives together. Who would dream of changing such a way of life? A single society with a single school system would be an assault on Arabic society and culture.
Separate jobs? That's not true at all. We, Jews and Arabs, work together.
You didn't mention that the Arabs are not drafted into the army with the Jews. I'd be curious to know if that is seen as discrimination against the Jews or against the Arabs. In any case, since you don't really understand the reality of life in Israel, you might find it interesting to hear that the Arabs generally do not wish to be drafted into Israel's army. There is a certain context to our lives known as the Arab-Israeli conflict. Perhaps you have heard about it. Although we are all citizens of the same state, and we all participate in the political and social and economic life of the state - still, there is a conflict which is the source of a certain amount of friction and dissatisfaction.
Tarshisha - The story of Soviet Jewry in Israel is a tremendous success story from every imaginable aspect. It's really "wow", and I couldn't imagine what more you would expect from mere mortals.
The problem with Israel's segregated school system is exactly the same problem we had with ours - the quality of the minority schools fall far below that of the Jewish majority schools in every way. Israel supports the Palestinian schools with only a small fraction of what they spend on the Jewish schools, so they suffer from inferior educational materials, overcrowded classrooms, decrepit physical plants, and the like. The reason Israel segregates their schools is NOT "to promise cultural continuity" but exactly the same reason many of our schools were segregated - to ensure continued segregation in the future for the sake of the majority. Once kids start going to school together they soon realize there is no difference between the two groups. Then they start hanging out together and becoming friends, then - god help us - they may even start dating. And if that happens then there goes the Jewish State down the drain.
Israel segregates its neighborhoods for the same reason and they are quite open about it. In addition, the ability of an Arab to move into a Jewish neighborhood or community is very very limited. One such fellow attempted to do so some 8 or so years ago and was refused. He took the case to the Supreme Court and lo and behold the High Court ruled that it was illegal to keep him from buying a house there. The Catch 22 was of course that no one - not the police, not the courts, high or low - would enforce the decision, so he still does not have his house. No Arab village or community has been allowed to expand beyond its 1949 boundary, nor has any new Arab village or community been built since 1949, despite the regularly announced plans to do. So they can only build within their existing areas, and, since they rarely are allowed building permits, much of what they do build is subject to demolition orders. The families all live together NOT because of their traditional culture but because they have no other choice. Your logic is the same old game seen in all racist societies. Force the minority to live in a substandard manner then proclaim, "See, they like it that way! It is their culture! What can we do?"
And again, NO, Arabs and Jews do not regularly work side by side. In fact a poll taken a few years back of Israel Jews showed that an overwhelming majority would rather quit their job than work with an Arab. The same percentage stated they'd rather move than live next door to an Arab.
And yes I do know that Arabs, but not Druse and Bedouin, generally do not serve in the army. What is most interesting about that is the many state benefits one receives from serving that are then withheld from the Palestinian Israelis. The usual response is that they could enjoy them if they served. But yeshiva students, who also do not serve, receive all those same benefits merely because they are Jewish. So the racism and discrimination continues.
Yehuda,
My response to your post concerning "Israel is a self-proclaimed Jewish state. What is the problem with that?" was removed for some reason, so I'll try another tack and see if it slips past the censor.
Here is a quote from National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1112932.html):
"This land is ours and ours alone," [Landau] said."It is the Arabs who are occupiers."
This is the problem, an open exclusionary statement by a gov't official that goes unchallenged for it is a commonly accepted, matter-of-fact statement. A like statement would never go unchallenged if made by any of Landau's counterparts in any of the countries listed by you above, for they are all pluralistic democracies, states which include all their citizens, which Israel does not. In fact, the very phrase, "a state of all its citizens," is seen as code for the destruction of the Jewish state. That is the difference.
And FYI, Israel was not admitted into the UN as "a self-proclaimed Jewish state." The resolution of admittance makes no mention of any word alluding to either Jews or Jewish. Look it up.
You also claim "Finland has a law of return, allowing for people of Finnish descent to receive citizenship." There is no such law on the books. The closest Finland comes is the Finnish Aliens Act which grants "Certain aliens, who have Finnish ancestry or otherwise a close connection with Finland, a residence permit on this basis. No other reason, such as work or study, is required in order to receive the permit. Receiving a residence permit depends on the directness and closeness of Finnish ancestry. If the ancestry dates back several generations, a residence permit cannot be granted on this basis."
This is residence permit only - not citizenship. Israel of all the nations of the world stands alone in insisting upon a particular ancestry in its citizenship laws, notwithstanding the present Palestinian population of Israel, who would not be eligible for citizenship outside of their current circumstances.
Grif - Israel's Declaration of Independence in 1948 speaks of the establishment of a Jewish state to be called Israel. That state was accepted to the UN. It was by no means an unusual situation, since the nation-state is quite common in the world. "Nation" in this term means ethnicity (people of a shared descent, from the Latin word for "birth"), so a nation-state is a state that was established for a particular nation. As far as laws of return are concerned, Finland and Germany and Ireland and Bulgaria all have such laws. Germans who had settled on the Volga River centuries ago, for example, were repatriated into Germany recently based on this law. But even if Israel were unique in her Law of Return - so be it.
The two school systems in Israel are based on the fact that there are two language groups in the country. Your interpretation that this is for racial reasons (that children shouldn't meet the other) is nonsense. Other countries in the world have parallel school systems for their different language groups (Flemish and French in Belgium, for one of many, many examples). Race is not an issue in the Middle East. You always assume that everything is just like in the USA where indeed separation was an expression of racism. Don't be so provincial. Other places in the world are different than the USA. But again, even if Israel is unique in her handling of educational issues of two language groups that have different histories, calendars, narratives, holidays and aspirations - so be it.
Finally, your claim that Arabs and Jews do not work together is simply wrong. You spend your time reading articles in the internet, accepting as fact that which fits your world picture. I'm sorry to confuse you with the facts: in Israel, Jews and Arabs work together everywhere.
There are TWO sides to this conflict. I never have understood the reason that intellectuals like yourself only have good hearing and good sight about one side. Within the framework of this ideological conflict, Landau has made a very unimpressive and unconvincing statement. So what? If the other side in this conflict would make a very bad statement ("we'll throw them into the sea", "we'll turn Palestine into the graveyard of the Jewish people"), you'll regard it as mere "rhetoric". If you wish to take statements seriously, if the language of politicians is important - perhaps you should adopt a policy of human equality. Your giving credit just to Landau but not to an Arab politician is a kind of haughtiness towards the Arabs. It's as if they are not really serious people in your eyes. I, for one, think that Uzi Landau is a very unimpressive man. I wouldn't even have bothered with him.
Most problems in Israel, especially those regarding interaction between its peoples are exacerbated by the unyielding pressure of the Arab and Muslim tourniquet which tightens in varying degrees on the State of Israel and the Jews of the world. How is it possible to live comfortably with the bombs, gas, and katyushkas of the Arabs? Why shouldn't Jews feel tremendous antipathy towards Arabs? In the time surrounding the War of Independence 800,000.00 Jews of Arab countries were either thrown out or motivated by Arab hostility to flee from their homes. They were absorbed by the Jewish State. Thrown out the homes that their families had lived in far longer than most of the Arabs who lived in Israel. These Jewish refugee's plight has all but been ignored by the world. The same world that ignored and continues to ignore the duty of the Arab states to absorb the "Palestinian" (sic)refguees. The present Jewish inhabitants of Israel have endured wars, pogroms,terrorist attacks foisted by the Arabs on the Jews (as well as on Christians, Buddhists, Astro-zoastrians, Animists...you name it the Muslims will attack it). These pressures create tremendous tension on the people who live inside Israel. Combined with the stress of army duty, reserve duty, high taxes, the cheap labor of the Arab creating massive unemployement, terrorism, the wealthy gulf states buying land, politicians, the press,the airwaves, as well as Israeli businesses and the upshot is a very unhealthy psychological and emotional atmosphere. People ask why the Israelis constantly take foolish chances for peace. I think it is a miracle that they don't abandon the country at all. JJ Goldberg is just a smart-assed, immature baby who makes smug remarks to salve the hurt of not being man enough to stand up for his people and reminds me of the black American "doughboy" soldiers of WWI who pinned on tails and mimmicked chimpanzees for the entertainment of White troops during WWI. "Hilarious" but pathetic. But not as sad as JJ.
Yehuda,
Again you play fast and loose with facts and logic. You first claim, "Israel was born as a self-proclaimed Jewish state, and as such she was admitted to the UN. Apparently, self-proclamation and ethnic particularism are normal attributes in the modern community of nations," thus implying Israel self-proclaimed status was vouchsafed by the UN. When I point out that the UN resolution admitting Israel took no such stand whatsoever, you then argue that well, since Israel proclaimed itself a Jewish State and was then admitted to the UN it amounts to the same thing. It does not at all.
You then state: "As far as laws of return are concerned, Finland and Germany and Ireland and Bulgaria all have such laws. Germans who had settled on the Volga River centuries ago, for example, were repatriated into Germany recently based on this law."
I've already pointed out to you that Finland has no such law. If you had checked what I wrote you would see that to be true.
With Ireland you are wrong as well:
"In practice, anyone with an Irish citizen grandparent born in the island of Ireland, can easily claim Irish citizenship. His or her parent would have automatically been an Irish citizen and their own citizenship can be secured by registering themselves as in the Foreign Births Register. In contrast, those wishing to claim citizenship through an Irish citizen great-grandparent may be easily frustrated if their parents were not registered in the Foreign Births Register. Their parents can only transmit Irish citizenship to children born after they themselves were registered and not to any children born before registration."
Note that with Ireland the previous generation must be registered in the Foreign Births Register as a citizen. Note also that there is no religious or ethnic requirement. One need only a parent or grandparent who was an Irish CITIZEN. An Irish-American whose ancestors came over during the famine would have no more of a leg-up on Irish citizenship than you or I.
Bulgaria only gives those of Bulgarian origins an expedited naturalization process.
Germany had a program during the Cold War that allowed those ethnic Germans living under Soviet rule the right to claim citizenship (note they were not considered already citizens). This right extended solely to those living under Soviet rule and no others. This was rescinded with the fall of the USSR.
Israel claims that all Jews are already citizens of Israel, not that they have a right to claim citizenship or a right to an expedited naturalization process. Nor does Israel extend this right to anyone other than Jews. It is not based on origin or citizenship of a grandparent, but solely if one is Jewish. Thus if I were of Palestinian descent living in the US with Grandparents or even parents who were Israeli citizens I would not be treated equally to any random Jew off the street whose ancestors had not seen Israel in 2,000 years.
But as you say, "But even if Israel were unique in her Law of Return - so be it." Which means you don't really give a damn one way or the other. So why did you bother to make the argument in the first place?
As far as schools go, I don't know where you live or how familiar you are with the United States, but I might point out that we have been a polyglot nation since our founding. Not with merely two languages but a multitude. Here in San Francisco, for example, one can find some 30 to 40 different languages and dialects spoken. So we do have some experience with cultural differences, in schools and without. We do not however discriminate in funding and materiel based on language differences. In fact, it is against the law to do so.
Here is a link to a interesting report,"From ethnic segregation to bilingual education: What can bilingual education do for the future of the Israeli Society?" You might find it of interest.
http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:zm1Yv6FahqoJ:www.jceps.com/PDFs/6-2-08.pdf+why+are+israeli+schools+segregated%3F&cd=26&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
Belgium does indeed have conflicts in culture and language between the Waloons and the Flemish, even with accusations on unequal funding in the schools. But why you would point to this dysfunction as an example for Israel to follow is puzzling.
But you claim Israel's schools are segregated merely for reasons of language and respect for culture. This is outright nonsense. Just last week Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar stated in reference to Arab schools, "I mean to start a new program in grades 4-9 called Heritage and Israeli Culture, in which students will study the Hebrew calendar, the flag, and the national anthem." This after just banning any discussion of the Nakba in Arab schools. Damn little respect for culture there. And need I point out to you that the word of Israel's national anthem refers solely to Jewish attachment to Zion and recent attempts to include all of Israel's citizens in the lyrics have met with a stone wall?
There is also a major problem in funding and already prevailing bias in the curriculum.
Increasing weight placed on Jewish heritage and Judaism lessons put Arab pupils at a severe disadvantage, the state still refuses to allow the Arab education system any autonomy in selecting its own curriculum.
A report published in March showed an investment of $1,100 in each Jewish pupil’s education compared to $190 for each Arab pupil. There was also a shortfall of more than 1,000 classrooms for Arab students.
But all this information and more is readily available to you as well. Israel makes no bones about the discrimination in funding Arab schools and many Israeli studies have discussed the bias in the curriculum as well. The New Israel Fund's 2009 Follow-Up Committee for Arab Education stated said that "the discrimination against Ethiopian Israelis highlights the need for equality and pluralism in Israel's education system. Last year’s matriculation results further demonstrated this need with 60 percent of Jewish Israelis graduating 12th grade compared to only 32 percent in the Arab sector." and specifically,"Change requires an end to the continuing discrimination in budgets and resources, which has existed since the founding of the State."
From another NIF report,"There are no municipal school facilities for nearly half of the more than 80,000 Arab schoolchildren in East Jerusalem. Despite the high cost, 30,000 students are enrolled in private schools while 5,500 students will not be attending any school whatsoever. East Jerusalem needs 1,500 new classrooms by 2011."
The problem here is not that I am too provincial, but that Israel's segregated school system is rife with long-standing issues of inequality and discrimination evidence not only in funding and curriculum but hostility towards the very notion of integrated (Arab Jewish) schools. Just recently Haaretz reported the case of an Arab preschooler sent home on her first day of class when the centre’s owner told them that six Jewish parents had demanded their daughter’s removal because she is an Arab: “slurs and efforts aimed at having [Dana] removed from the day-care centre, making it clear that [her] children would not be in the same centre as an Arab girl”.
"In previous cases when Arab children have been excluded from schools, the parents have launched a legal action for discrimination against the education authorities or the school itself.
"Lawyers are doubtful that the couple can win given the law’s lack of reference to the principles of equality or equal opportunities.
"One lawyer, who wished not to be named, said: “Instances like this are not covered by laws against discrimination. Anti-discrimination legislation in Israel is very specific, covering mainly examples of discrimination in employment and access to public places like pubs and clubs.”
This sort of reaction is not an isolated case, nor is it the rule as you claim that Arabs and Jews "work together everywhere." This is just an outright falsehood.
And you are right there are TWO sides to every story, but that does not mean they are equal. The reason I brought up Landau has nothing to do with whether he is "a serious person" or not or whether he is impressive or not. It is that he, a gov't minister, made the statement as part of his duties on a rostrum with other gov't officials and no one blinked an eye. Which would indicate to any normally discerning person that such a statement is not out of the ordinary and that there is wide support for the sentiment, which was the claim I made.
Who is this "Frank" that everyone, including the anti-Semites are talking about? Where are his comments? LOL!
So, what did the anti-Israel "Jewish" Forward DELETE?
......
What a dramatic headline. What does it mean?
1. The "Jewish" Forward has found another way to attack Israel in America (just the latest sniping in the far-left extremist anti-Israel propaganda war against Israel).
2. It seems that a dozen Ethiopian immigrant children pose a local political problem? Some secular students, and a few parents do not want Haredi students in their school? Is that really the "Zionist Melting Pot Boiling Over"? No. Well, maybe to an anti-Israel propagandist seeking to make hay over some local tensions. (There have always been tensions in Israel as utterly divergent communities learned to live in close quarters - these tensions are not major issues, and pale in comparison to the U.S. "melting pot" where racial and ethnic tensions abound, and even now where segration is the rule, and inner cities remain hell-holes which are dangerous for most Americans to visit.)
3. The "Israeli" arabs need to be civilized. The idea that they should continue to teach their children that the Country in which they presume to be citizens is a "disaster", is itself a disaster. Perhaps they need to decide if they truly wish to be part of Israel, or if they would be better served by integrating into the "palestinian" state a few kilometers away, which may yet exist if the arabs learn to live with the idea that it their evil "culture", and not Israel, which is the real "disaster". In the U.S., all children need to learn the "Pledge of Allegiance." It is has always been a very good idea.
As to the use of the term "wog": it actually originated as a condescending complement meant to prevent bukllying or racist statements by English soldiers stationed in Egypt: the soldiers were insturcted to refer to the Egyptians as Worthy Oriental gentlemen.
P.S. I thought the column excellent and I don't believe the modern day Forward needs to spend time proving its Zionist creddentials. Is it a newspaper that preaches aliya? No, but it is the newspaper that best describes the American Jewish experience in all its breath which includes a heavy dose of evrything Israeli. It may not use "we" but it assumes ownership of Jewish, Zionist and Israel issues.
J’accuse!
I accuse the Forward of being a virulent extreme left anti-Israel propagandist, allied with the enemies of the Jewish State of Israel and the Jewish people, like George Soros funded J Street.
I accuse the Forward of seeking to weaken American Jewish support for the Jewish State of Israel, and to weaken American support for Israel.
I accuse the Forward of playing leftist parochial "progressive" political games with Israel's safety.
I accuse the Forward of refusing to decry the most anti-Israel president in history, of refusing to stand up for Israel when it is attacked and demonized, of refusing to stand up for Israel when Iran is on the verge of obtaining a nuclear weapon with which to incinerate Israel and cause a second Holocaust.
I accuse the Forward of publishing every virulent anti-Israel crackpot, of repeating every anti-Israel libel, of being Israel's enemy in America.
Aliyah, is not the same to me as it is to you David. Aliyah is the progress and advance in my life to turn, to the True Israel, my G-D.
In our history ...the first Aliyah the second Aliyah, after World War2 the third Aliyah, the fourth Aliyah, the fifth Aliyah and the Aliyah continues....here on earth, but few continue went all the way and as it is written.....Psalm 57....I cry out to G-D Most High, to G-D, who fulfills His purpose for me.
David, what is G-D'S purpose for you? Read below, could this be it?? Psalm 101,,,,I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing. I will behave mayself wisely in a perfect way.
O when wilt thou come unto me?
I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. A forward heart shall depart form me: I will not know a wicked person. Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. Mine eyes hall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He that worketh deceit shll not dwell within my housee: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.
This is my road map, I took from this David, the one who heart belonged to the Most High. The one who was brought forth into the family of G-D. For it is written in Psalm 2...I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I brought you forth. * or begotten you)
I would care more about this Aliyah and the kingdom and family you could be brought forth into. David, if G-D Declares something, It's big, and if it is a decree that is to be obeyed by all, is it not?
And if it is written......'I am the LORD, the G-D of all mankind. Is anything too hard for Me?" Why the big to-do over other children that our G-D created to be mixed in school?
Israel were to be a nation of holy priest, who should of illumines his generation and all gernerations up to now. They have failed!! Yew a righteous person who illumines their generation as the Living Deity above illumines the universe. For it is written,,,Psalm 84...My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the LIVING G-D.
Isaiah 54...For your Mker is your husband the LORD Almighty is his name the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the G-D of All The Earth.