“Public atmosphere is approaching panic, breeding xenophobia and violence. A few African men barely escaped when their Ashdod apartment was torched recently. A group of teenage girls — Israeli-born with African parents — were beaten up on their way home from a Scouts activity.” [item 3]
“ Bat Yam rally: Death to Jewish women who date Arabs” [item 2]
Dear Friends,
Spouse and I returned from Vienna Monday. The trip was a family reunion in honor of a book that a cousin (my spouse’s side of the family) wrote about his mother, and which was published in Vienna. For those of you who read German and might be interested, it is called ‘Mignon.’ She sent her 4 year old son (the author) and 6 year old daughter to her sister in the U.S. but stayed behind to tend to her ill parents, and remained in Vienna the whole of the war working as a nurse in a Jewish hospital for children.
Her own children she did not see for 7 years. When, finally, she was reunited with them, she lived only 3 more years. The book consists mainly of letters, but ones that cover life in Vienna during that horrific period.
The family reunion was at one and the same time delightful and sad—so many memories. We spent one afternoon visiting the sites that were part of our cousin’s family background, and the next afternoon doing the same with my spouse’s side of the story. He, his parents, and younger brother escaped Vienna after Crystal Night, when the Nazi police came to take my mother-in-law to clean the glass from the shop windows of Jewish stores that the Nazis and others had broken.
My father-in-law swore that if she returned, they would leave. Fortunately, he had Hungarian citizenship, and so late in 1938 he was still able to take his wife and children away. They arrived in Palestine in 1939. The remainder of the extended family both on my mother-in-law’s and father-in-law’s side perished in the camps.
My spouse having left at the age of 10 has very clear memories of how life suddenly changed—the birthday party that all the children in the class were invited to, except the 4 Jewish ones; the day that his beloved teacher entered the class room wearing a swastika and telling the Jewish children that henceforth they would not be allowed to come to this school, and would have to go to a Jewish school instead; the day that he had to change his Austrian name to one of 4 Jewish ones that Jewish males were allowed to have, and became suddenly Israel instead of Eric, and so on. So, although there is much about Vienna that he enjoys, he never feels overly comfortable there, always carrying the weight of his past on his back.
We returned from cold Vienna and memories of racism to warm Israel and living racism. After hearing the news the morning that we arrived, I looked at my Israel and said—this is the way it begins. We both felt ill from the newspaper and radio reports. What was Israel (the country) coming to when someone would threaten to kill a woman for dating a non-Jew?
And yet, when I turn from my emotional reaction to rational analysis, then it is clear that the present situation was potentially there all the time. As I have said so often, there is no difference between a pure Aryan state from a pure Jewish one. When demography is the main criterion then anyone who is not of the tribe, is not of the leading demographic ethnicity, religion, or race is potentially a threat.
Israelis live in an insular society—a tribal society. They like to believe that all the world is anti-Semitic, that no place else is good for Jews except Israel, and that if Israel is racist, so what? Many countries are racist. Unfortunately this is just putting one’s head in the sand. What racism can lead to, the Nazis showed the world. More the pity that Israelis and their leaders did not learn the lesson. Xenophobia and racism are perilous ills—both for the victims and for the haters. Remember the condition in which the Nazis left Germany, not to mention a good part of the rest of Europe and Russia.
All the 6 items below deal with the issue of current increasing Israeli racism.
Item 1 reports the arrest of 9 Jewish youth who used a 14 year old girl to lure Palestinian men to a place where the other Jewish hoodlums would be waiting to beat the Palestinians up.
Item 2 reports the Bat Yam rally against renting and selling property to Palestinians, and against Jewish women dating Palestinians.
Item 3 is about African immigrants caught between the Israeli government and Israeli society.
Item 4 reports tonight’s rally in Jerusalem supporting banning rental and sale of property to Palestinians.
In item 5 Gideon Levy complains that racism has reared its head and the public is apathetic. Too true.
Item 6 is today’s Haaretz editorial calling on Shimon Peres to intervene, as if that would help.
One final item that is not current (from July) is a link to a 2 minute video about the demolitions of Bedouin homes in the Negev. That, too, results from racism. I recommend watching the video and doing some hard thinking about how to best pressure Israel’s leaders to change their and Israel’s course before it is too late.
Dorothy
==========================================
1. Ynet,
December 21, 2010
Arabs: Political environment to blame for attacks
Gang arrested on suspicion of attacking Arabs is yet another manifestation of increasing violence against east Jerusalem residents, say locals
The arrest of nine youths suspected of assaulting young Arab men in Jerusalem did not surprise residents of the capital’s eastern neighborhoods.
The Arab residents spoke of an every day reality that has become increasingly violent and the lenient attitude of the police, which was not doing enough to protect them from Jews, who they claimed were trying to instill fear in their communities.
“These acts are extraordinarily cruel,” said Shaker Abu Snini, an east Jerusalem resident. “It is the manifestation of increasing racism against Arabs – especially those living in east Jerusalem,” he noted.
The gang of teens was allegedly headed by a 14-year-old boy, and used a girl their age to seduce Arab youths.
The girl would then lead the young men to a meeting point in the city’s Independence Park, where they were allegedly brutally attacked by the teens with stones, glass bottles and tear gas. Police suspect the girl took part in three of the assaults.
Although the arrests were made possible due to a laborious police investigation following the victims’ complaints, Abu Snini blamed law enforcement agencies for discriminating against complaints filed by Arabs.
“I think there is police negligence, because they do not deal with Arab complaints promptly, and there is a feeling that we are being completely dismissed. Progress is only made after the issue reaches the hands of senior ranks,” he lamented.
Abu Snini called on the Arab public in Jerusalem to speak out against the phenomenon. “There is a threat on our families and we must launch a public campaign against those responsible. It is an infringement of our right.”
‘Settlers’ scheme’
Hussam Tamimi, also an east Jerusalem resident, claimed the violence is aimed at chasing Arab resident out of their houses.
“In my opinion it is a settlers’ scheme, because the objective is to create fear and danger, so that we leave our lands,” he said.
Tamimi also believes the violence toward Arabs has become a routine part of the city’s harsh reality. “This is not new to us. Almost everyday there’s an incident in which settlers attack Arabs.”
The local Arab leadership frowned upon the incident, and laid blame on the political reality.
“These are (Avigdor) Lieberman and Eli Yishai’s boys,” said Mossawa Center Director Jafar Farah, adding that it was “a result of the education and legal system, as well as the political environment that does nothing to stop the incitement across the country.”
Farah harshly criticized the decision to release three of the suspects to house arrest, and said that “if it were Arabs attacking Jews, no one would have been released. They would have faced charges and their arrest would have been extended until the completion of proceedings.”
Some 200 people held a demonstration in central Bat Yam Monday evening against relationships between local Jewish women and Arab men.
One of the protestors called out, “Any Jewish woman who goes with an Arab should be killed; any Jew who sells his home to an Arab should be killed.”
‘We will not allow it.’ Bat Yam rally (Photo: Ofer Amram)
During the rally, held under the banner, “We Want a Jewish Bat-Yam”, demonstrators also insulted the prophet Muhammad and made racist remarks against Arabs and their saints.
Police forces maintained order, but did not act when the demonstrators made racist remarks.
“We are not racist, we are just Jews. The Arabs are coming and taking our daughters. We will not allow it,” one of the speakers said.
Moshe Ben-Zikri of Eilat said the “struggle” began three years ago in Givat Ze’ev. “There were 330 Arab families there, and the Jewish women would walk around with them freely. We vowed this would not happen again.
“Just like we triumphed there, we will triumph in Bat Yam as well. We are not afraid of the police, the media or the Arabs – we only fear God,” he said.
Mayor: Climb on a different tree
Bat Yam Mayor Shlomo Lahyani strongly condemned the event and those who took part in it.
“The city of Bat Yam denounces any racist phenomenon. This is a democratic country with laws,” Lahyani told Ynet angrily. He denied claims made by extreme right-wing activists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel that this was a local initiative.
“I would like these honorable gentlemen to find a different tree to climb on, far from Bat Yam. I am certain and I know that most of the protestors are not Bat Yam residents. This is a foolish attempt to create a provocation, which has failed.”
Ben-Gvir and Marzel responded to the mayor’s accusations, saying that “Mr. Lahyani has failed in his attempt to ignore the harsh reality in Bat Yam, which has been taken over by hostile elements and is suffering from assimilation. The crowd which took part in the protest was furious at the failure to deal with this phenomenon. We suggest that Lahyani stop ignoring the danger.”
One of the event’s organizers, Bentzi Gupstein told Ynet Sunday night, “So many Arabs are dating Jewish women, and the public is fed up with it.
A short distance away, about 200 leftists and Arab residents of Bat Yam held a counter protest. They waved signs reading, “We’re fed up with racists” and “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies”.
Israeli officials frequently say Israel is the only First World economy that can be reached on foot from the Third World: You can walk from Africa straight to Tel Aviv. Tens of thousands have done just that — and if the country doesn’t do something about it, many more will, officials warn.
The large pockets of foreign communities grow in different ways. Foreign workers, like Filipino nursing professionals, come in the front door but stay through the window, overstaying their work permits and settling down.
Most Africans do it the other way around. They climb in through the window of the long, sprawling and largely open border with Egypt and then knock on the door for asylum. About 15,000 African hopefuls have entered the country this year, roughly double the amount of last year.
The government is determined to stop the influx. For starters, it is fencing off its 150-mile border with Egypt. Work began last month.
The border fence will cost about $370 million, but government indecision on immigration matters is costing dearly. Fear of the impact on politics, religion, demography, diplomacy and the economy has paralyzed decision-makers, negating a cohesive immigration policy. Years of Band-Aid solutions have produced a situation that is rapidly approaching a crisis.
All non-Jewish foreigners challenge Israel’s aspirations for a Jewish majority and character while treating others fairly. But the African issue offers a test of humanitarianism and international law — and social tolerance too.
Largely lumped together as “infiltrators,” many of the Africans come from war-torn regions. Most come from Eritrea; Sudan is a close second, with a number from Ivory Coast and other countries. All asylum seekers undergo a process of “refugee status determination, ” or RSD, except for Sudanese and Eritreans, who enjoy a temporary sweeping protection. Last year, the RSD process passed from the U.N. to Israeli government authorities. Since then, bureaucratic treatment of asylum seekers has deteriorated, Saed ed-din Ibrahim, a Sudanese living in Israel, told Israel Radio in impeccable Hebrew.
Out of 4,000 asylum seekers interviewed this past year, only two met the criteria, said Yossi Edelstein, who heads the immigration administration’s enforcement branch. Israeli authorities say most are impostors, using borrowed identities to qualify as asylum seekers.This distracts authorities’ resources from “helping the people who really do need protection,” Edelstein said.
In one case, a man’s request for protection was rejected by Interior Ministry officials, who did not believe he was a Borgo tribesman from Darfur. He wasn’t Sudanese, officials concluded, based in part on his poor knowledge of “elementary details about Sudan” and his meager Arabic.
But a district judge overturned the decision, which he called biased and arbitrary. Small wonder that the man doesn’t know Khartoum landmarks, the judge said of the petitioner who never left his village 300 miles away until escaping it at 24. And the Borgo tribe speak their own tongue, not Arabic, the judge noted, granting the petitioner the residential and working rights to which Sudanese are entitled.
The government is moving to bar employers from giving asylum seekers work. Some municipalities forbid renting to them, threatening eviction. Some Israelis complain they take jobs and housing; others say they spread crime, even disease. “This isn’t racism, it’s survival,” read banners in a demonstration held this week in southern Tel Aviv, where locals said they were now afraid to let their children out after dark. Politicians have entered the controversy, some jumping on the bandwagon with nationalist agendas.
Public atmosphere is approaching panic, breeding xenophobia and violence. A few African men barely escaped when their Ashdod apartment was torched recently. A group of teenage girls — Israeli-born with African parents — were beaten up on their way home from a Scouts activity.
“Citizens must not take the law into their own hands,” a stern Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned Israelis via Youtube Wednesday, amid concerns the heated debate would spur more hotheads into action.
Netanyahu listed a number of steps the government was taking to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, including returning them to their home countries. Last week, Israel returned a planeload of Sudanese to their own country, via a third one that wasn’t named.
Non-governmental organizations have quietly coordinated smaller returns before. This time, reportedly, the government was involved in providing travel documents and money, though other bodies — one believed to be the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem — helped. Government spokespeople did not want to talk about the operation, which leaked to the media. Too sensitive, too dangerous, sources said.
Sudan’s future is unclear, with a key referendum in January. So is the future of the returnees, who some fear could be endangered if their children let their native Hebrew slip. William Tall, a U.N. refugee official in Israel, told media last week that the organization was “satisfied” that the individuals had “made a voluntary choice” to return and were not “coerced to go back.”
================================================
4. Ynet,
December 23, 2010
Jerusalem Rally
Supporters of rabbis’ letter: We’re not racists
Rightists gather in Jerusalem’s Zion Square to express support for call to ban sale or rental of property to Arabs; organizers distribute religious edict banning negotiations on West Bank territories: ‘PM conducting talks with Hussein Obama’s emissaries’
Three days after an anti-Arab rally was held in Bat Yam, some 2,000 rightists gathered in Jerusalem’s Zion Square Thursday night to show their support for a letter signed by dozens of municipal rabbis forbidding the rental or sale of property to Arabs.
The demonstration, held under the banner “Yes to construction, no to concessions” was organized by the SOS Israel and Our Land of Israel organizations.
“The pathetic, dangerous left has launched an all-out attack,” Knesset Member Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) told the rally. “The people despise them (leftists) because they want to turn the only state the Jewish nation has into a land of all nations, except the Jewish nation.
‘Grave danger to Israel.’ Zion Square rally (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
“(The leftists) call us racists, but they say haredim should live separately. This is hypocrisy. They attack the rabbis (who signed the letter calling to ban the sale of apartments to non-Jews) who are fighting for this land’s identity,” he said.
‘People despise the left.’ Protestors in Jerusalem (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
The guest of honor at the rally was Safed chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, one of the initiators of the rabbis’ letter.
During the demonstration, organizers handed out flyers with a religious edict that prohibits negotiations on territories in the West Bank. “He (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) is conducting talks with Hussein Obama’s emissaries and is planning a mass expulsion that will make hundreds of thousands of settlers miserable, will allow Hamas to take control over the West Bank and endanger millions of Jews in the Holy Land.
“According to the Torah, the prime minister and defense minister (Ehud Barak) cannot remain in their posts, and the government which supports them is destined to be dissolved, because it poses a grave danger to the Israeli people and their land,” the flyer reads.
Addressing US President Barack Obama, the head of the Shomron Regional Council said, “You should know that the Land of Israel belongs to the Israeli people. We have the bible, and (in spite of your efforts) we’ll continue to thrive and Judea and Samaria.
During the rally in Bat Yam earlier this week, about 200 right-wing activists, headed by Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben-Gvir, chanted racist slogans against Arabs and Islam.
================================================
5. Haaretz,
December 23, 2010
Racism has reared its head, and the public is apathetic
Printing more sanctimonious articles won’t change the facts: Racism has reared its head, with the encouragement of our political leaders, and most of us are indifferent.
All this happens, and Israelis think we’re talking about rain. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai describes the xenophobia of his city’s residents as “understandable and just,” and the political savior to be, anchorman Yair Lapid, writes that if the Sudanese were Norwegians, nobody would be talking about racism.
The obsequious populism of Lapid, the conscientious patron of his city’s indigent residents, cannot cover up the disgrace: If the dark-skinned people were blue-eyed blonds, there would be no problem here. The proof? Israel absorbed hundreds of thousands of non-Jewish Russians, blue-eyed blonds, and nobody protested, nobody muttered a word of complaint. Ask the Ethiopians, ask Israeli Arabs, including Bedouin and Druze who serve in the Israel Defense Forces, and then decide whether we’re talking about pure, unadulterated racism, and not anything else.
People on the streets are ranting words of racism, and the pundits are sweeping this stinking trash under the rug. Our leaders are standing still, condoning what is happening by keeping silent or paying mere lip service. The public, as usual, is apathetic, and the fires rage, threatening to burn down the whole house and everybody inside.
Did you look at the demonstrators’ smiling faces in Tel Aviv’s Hatikva neighborhood on Tuesday, or listen to the words uttered when a Jewish Ethiopian stood up to speak, and to the calls to burn down the house of foreigners? Do you really think this isn’t racism? Listen to the talk about our “pure” society, about guarding the “character” of certain communities, and about the spread of diseases or threats to young women and ask yourself: Isn’t this xenophobia and racism?
It sounds like it, it looks like it, it acts like it. It is it. Printing more sanctimonious articles won’t change the facts: Racism has reared its head, with the encouragement of our political leaders, and most of us are indifferent. Few people ask themselves: Is this really a society we want to live in?
Suddenly, residents of Bat Yam and the Hatikva quarter are frightened and seek security. A city and a neighborhood formerly known for crime, and to some extent still known for it, deflect their fears and woes onto the foreigner, even though foreigners are less responsible for distress in these areas than the residents themselves. That’s how it was in Europe in the 1930s, and that’s how it is with us now. Such malicious demonstrations could be staged today in Europe only by neo-Nazi and similar groups; with us, a mayor praises them. In Europe there would be forceful counterdemonstrations. If the hatred were directed at Jews, leaders in Europe would mobilize strong counterdemonstrations. With us, there is virtually no response.
This is what happens when the political “center” is hollow and imaginary. Lapid and Huldai, Gideon Sa’ar and Tzipi Livni, and, as a matter of fact, most Israelis, are masters of the lie, denial and repression. The damage they do is no less serious than that wrought by the hatemongers; they are accomplices to a crime. There are societies worse than ours, but there is no society more self-satisfied, proud, condescending and blind to its ailments.
As usual, the problem is not the extremists. They exist everywhere. The problem is a political center rife with apathy and self-satisfaction. It lives with its lies and amusements, and isn’t worried about anything but getting its next thrill. The blacks can sweep the streets (and make themselves scarce when their work is done ), and the mendacious pundits can ease our conscience. Both of them clean the trash we leave behind.
We will build mass detention camps and call them “holding areas.” We will banish refugees and say this is “consensual.” We will continue to be racists and live amicably with that; after all, Lapid and Huldai said it’s all right. And if anyone dares say anything about humanism, human rights and compassion, he will be viewed as a bleeding heart in the best case and a traitor in the worst. Just ask Lapid, the rising star in our political heaven.
===================================
6. Haaretz Editorial,
December 23, 2010
Mr. President, you must fight Israel’s mounting racism
As head of state, Shimon Peres must express that which unites and consolidates us and loudly and clearly take a stand against hatred, racism and violence between ethnic groups and communities.
The fire of hatred and racism is ablaze in Israel. Signs of loathing toward Arab citizens and African migrants are cropping up every day; examples include the municipal rabbis’ letter that called for a ban on renting or selling homes to non-Jews, the protest rally for “Jewish Bat Yam” and the call to deport foreigners from neighborhoods in south Tel Aviv. Hatred leads to violence. A gang of teens was arrested in Jerusalem on suspicion of attacks on Arabs for nationalist reasons.
The people who preach hatred, first and foremost the municipal rabbis and the Kahanist MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union ), are openly leading the racist wave, and the political establishment is backing them by its actions and silence. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and the right-wing Knesset continue to advance laws and initiatives designed to discriminate against Arab citizens and lock up thousands of immigrants in a giant facility in the Negev. The message out of Jerusalem in the delicate language of legislation is translated into wild incitement in the offices of the rabbis.
The prime minister warned yesterday about incitement toward minorities and foreign workers that could lead to violence. But Netanyahu doesn’t visit the Arab neighborhoods and cities or conduct a dialogue with leaders of the Arab community. He prefers his coalition partnership with Yisrael Beiteinu’s Avigdor Lieberman and Shas’ Eli Yishai, who preach the ostracism of Arab citizens and the persecution of migrants.
Under such circumstances, the president must intervene. Shimon Peres has unique standing as the representative of the Israeli state, thanks to his public position and extensive experience. As head of state, he must express that which unites and consolidates us and loudly and clearly take a stand against hatred, racism and violence between ethnic groups and communities. Peres should be free of the political and coalition constraints that tie the prime minister’s hands.
Peres must visit the seam lines and friction zones and show the Arab inhabitants that they are equal citizens and Israel values them. He must meet with the victims of the gang violence in Jerusalem and show that victims of nationalistically motivated crimes should receive equal treatment regardless of their origin. Peres must show compassion for the migrants. That is his task in these dark days.
