Israeli's xenophobic racists?

I stumbled across this opinion piece on Al Jazeera. I proceeded to complete a quick google search to find other instances of racism targeted towards non-Jewish members of the Israeli community and I was startled at what I discovered. Before you proceed to continue reading, keep in mind many of these sources may traditionally be biased against Israel or be leftists Jewish sources. This following extract is an extract from an article on Al Jazeera highlighting anti-African racism in Israel.

But many Eilatis do not want to help others. And some, like Simon Ben David - who is organizing a small grassroots organization called "The War against the Infiltrators from Africa" - simply deny that these African asylum seekers are indeed refugees.
Ben David added: "I believe, as I see in the newspaper, that some of them are from al Qaeda and they're from Hamas and Islamic Jihad," referring to several unsubstantiated reports that have appeared in the Israeli press.
Asked if he considers the city's campaign against Africans to be racist, Ben David simply answered, "Jews cannot be racist."

Al Jazeera

The thing which most startled me after reading this article is that paralels I drew from Israel and Nazi Germany. Many Israeli's have been subjected to a fierce but discreet propoganda campaign. The media highlights the Africans imigrants as terrorists and lawless savages, yet in reality the opposite seems to be true. As a matter of fact, crime amongst Africans is substantially lower than crime amongst Jewish-Israeli's.

Eilat's economy is dependent on tourism. While many African asylum seekers are employed in local hotels, the commonly held idea that they have "stolen" jobs is untrue. These are jobs that Israelis do not want - which is one reason why government initiatives encouraging Israelis to move to Eilat and work in this sector have failed.

Other interviewees repeated Hajiani's claim that African refugees are robbing Israelis and raping Jewish woman. But according to statistics compiled by the Knesset, asylum seekers have a lower crime rate than Israelis. And in fact, as the community of asylum seekers grows, their crime rate goes down.

Al Jazeera

The number of Jews expressing feelings of hatred toward Arabs has doubled, the report stated.

According to the June 2007 Democracy Index of the Israel Democracy Institute, for example, only half the public believes that Jews and Arabs must have full equal rights.

Haaretz
This is extremely alarming and may offer some insight as to how and why it has been so easy for the IDF to commit crimes against hummanity upon Palestinians withouth facing extreme public outrage.



The following is an extract from a leftist blog. The man(a American Jew) describes first hand the racism he expirienced when visiting Israel.

My semi-Farsi accent in Hebrew and the darkness of my skin made me lose all the Jewish privileges I previously held. If I had dirty-blond hair and fair skin, I would just be another lefty Tel Aviv Jew. But that was not the case. So I went about my day receiving one dirty look after another, getting my entire bag searched before I entered any building, etc. The worst came as I was taking the bus from Tel Aviv to Holon. As I was on the bus, an Israeli man who spoke no English grabbed my arm and accused me of being a suicide bomber. He said that I was wearing a terrorist flag on my T-Shirt, and that I need to be forced off the bus. I tried to explain to him in Hebrew that I was just an American Jew that supported the peace process, but it was worthless. As if I was a black man in Apartheid South Africa this man asked to see my Teudat Zehut (Israeli Identity card). For those of you who do not know, this card is extremely important in sustaining the Israeli system of apartheid because even if you are an Israeli citizen, it lists whether you are a Jew or an Arab. Obviously I do not have one because I reside in the States. So, I decided to give in. There was a busload of people giving me unusual looks, and I just wanted it to end. So I showed him my Israeli passport to calm him down. But that too did not help. He specifically wanted my ID card, so that if I’m Arab I could leave the bus. Luckily for me, the bus driver did not listen to him, but neither did anybody stop him. As the man left the bus, an Israeli women told me that although he was being too intense, I must understand that my shirt represents terrorism (apparently the flag of Palestine calling for freedom from occupation is terrorism). She told me that every time she sees an Arab woman in a headscarf or people speaking Arabic in the streets, she fears for her life. I don’t think she understands that what she said was racist.

Mondoweiss

I do not want to offer my personal opinion. I would rather the articles, videos and news extracts speak for themselves. What I would like to do is draw on the parralels between the governments propoganda campaign in Israel against non-Jews and the Nazi's propoganda campaign against the Jewish population. I am not comparing the two, I am only highlighting the paralels. it is my belief, that as(according to history) one of the most persesecuted people on this Earth, that they should also be the most tolerant people on Earth. Keep in mind however, there are many Israeli's who have spoken out against such racism. Do not generalize all Israeli's as racists just becuase of these new extracts. This is a prime example of divide and conquer. When will people join hands and end racism?

reply to post by SpeachM1litant


Most racist bigots in the 21st century don't know they are racist bigots. It is as if history is repeating itself. The racist calls others racist (anti-Semite), the terrorist calls others terrorists, the occupiers claims others want to occupy them, the aggressor calls others the aggressors, the oppressors calls others the oppressors...

It keeps going, this is the specific reason why I call todays age, "the age of lies, deception and ignorance".

reply to post by SpeachM1litant



I'm tired of the tired-old excuse being that of 'jews were abused which is why they abuse others '

Of course Israel (which has a jewish majority and is claimed by them as their homeland ) is xenophobic and racist. We see the proof every day, every hour

Describing jews who enter relationships and marriage with non-jews as ' Kidnapped' and 'Abducted', for example. That was an Israeli government initiative. The Israeli government put money (US money most likely) into that programme. And those posters were stuck up all over Israel

The protests which occur frequently, claiming 'good' jewish girls are being led to damnation by the non-jewish males with whom they consort

The roaming gangs of jewish males who creep around at night looking for jews consorting with non-jews and pack-attacking non-jewish males

The shrill cries of jews and their rabbis, insisting their culture 'must be protected, must be kept pure '

It is undeniable that jews/israelis are extreme in their xenophobia and racism, many of them

Most of us have watched the Youtube videos of packs of jews tormenting non-jews and tourists in the streets

We've seen videos of jews spitting on journalists and cameramen and having to be pulled away as they attempted to physically attack the non-jews

There's no debate about jewish/israeli xenophobia and racism

Dumping a reported 20,000 blood donations down the toilet because the donors had been black jews, for example

Remind me again please ---- how many non-jews do jews claim are worth one jewish fingernail ?

etc

reply to post by SpeachM1litant


Did they mention the anti racism protest that took place not long ago? Did they mention it was about ten times larger than all of these racist protests combined?

Did they mention most of these "riots" are orchestrated and executed by racist extreme right wing elements, and not by the actual residents of these places?

Did they show how the last racist protest that took place in Jaffa was encountered with disapproval and resistance of the actual Jewish and Arab residents of Jaffa, calling them to take their opinions elsewhere and that they're all doing just fine?

I really hope it did, otherwise Israelis might come off as xenophobic racists..

With respect,
Eliad.

reply to post by Dock9


The fact that you can watch some youtube videos of extremists spouting off hatred and claim that it represents a whole religious group is so pathetic I don't even know where to begin.

Every race, every religion, every group has their elements that are ignorant and hateful. Those with the necessary intelligence are able to look at that and draw the distinction between those groups and the vast majority who do not feel that way. Those lacking the intelligence to make that distinction... well, refer to some of the stuff written above.

Sad. Not surprising anymore, but sad.

reply to post by Djarums


If you read the post you would clearly see that I state not to generalize all Israeli's like this. Keep reading it is at the end of the posts. The title is just designed to be provacative.

reply to post by SpeachM1litant


At the top of my post it displays the username of the person my comments were directed towards. Your name is not the one displayed because you were not doing what I was complaining about in my post.

reply to post by Djarums

Woops, sorry I did not see that. My apologies.

reply to post by Djarums


Right you are, everyone has their "elements" of hateful actions. However, this is a Middle East forum so we are discussing actions in the Middle East. The OP chose to highlight racism in Israel. Everyone knows all Israeli citizens do not subscribe to these ideas. I call them " Jews of conscience" .However, no one with an ounce of sense would say there is no overt racism in Israel. The first step to eliminateing it is to recognize that it exists.

reply to post by gem_man


Yeah, but this isn't exactly inherit racism.. It would be like saying the South Koreans are racists for not liking the North Koreans...

reply to post by Eliad


North Koreans and South Koreans are both the same race. They may dislike eachothers countries but they are still the same race. The articles and videos I highlight are of Israeli's or jews being racist to Arabs or Africans. That is racism. I do not however claim that all Israeli's are racist.
Isn't this the same when someone shows a video of Americans being racist to Arabs or Mexicans. I don't understand why someone would scrutinize me for doing so with Israeli's? Am I being anti-semetic by highlighting that un-acceptable racism exists in Israel, even in city's such as Tel Aviv which are suppose to be more liberal? The first step to fixing a problem such as racism is admiting it exists.

reply to post by SpeachM1litant


Racism exists in any culture, it's only when you make it seem as though there's a majority of racists in Israel that I might take issue and offence with your assertions.

So you're saying the animosity between north and south Korean isn't racism simply because they're of the same race?

And if they weren't, would it automatically be labeled racism in your eyes?

With respect,
Eliad.

I congratulate you on enormous discovery worth of Nobel prize - there are racists in Israel. However - show me ONE (yes,only one) country on Earth where there are no racists.
Just so that you understand how rediculous your wild generalization sounds - demographics of Israel:

75.4% of them were Jewish (about 5,795,000 individuals), 20.4% were Arabs (About 1,571,000 inhabitants), while the remaining 4.3% (about 318,200 individuals) were defined as "others"

So there are 25% of ethnical minorities in "xenophobic racist Israel". Like - every forth is not a Jew. Very,very xenophobic. As opposed to world known multicultural and multinational Palestinian autonomy (how many Jews live there exactly?) that accepts billions of Sudanese refugees hourly.....
In US there are racists and you can hear about emigration problems.
In UK there are racists and you can hear about emigration problems.
In France there are racists and you can hear about emigration problems.
Dude, in Switzerland there are racists and you can hear about emigration problems.
In this thread there are racists.
So?
Again, point me to one country on this poor planet that people there cured them-self of racism.

Is not every nation xenophobic or racist to an extent? Go to any nation and expect to be stereotyped in one way or another, have someone talk about you behind your back about your appearence or your customs etc. The thing with Israel and Palestine is that given their recent history that feeling of conflict has been bitterly amplified.

reply to post by SpeachM1litant


I am afraid that you are combining two separate issues into one.

The first is illegal immigration into Israel by these "asylum seekers". Now, I don't doubt that some of them do seek asylum, but the vast majority of them are just people looking for work, who try to slip by the largely unfenced border with Egypt... these people are smuggled in by Bedouins (who also smuggle drugs, prostitutes, weapons etc). Now, while I'm for being nice and hospitable, these are illegal immigrants and should be treated as such (i.e. deported back to where they came from).

The second is Israel's treatment of it's Arabs (also dubbed "Israeli Arabs"), you need to remember that ever since 2000, Israel has been under attack, and in September 2000 those very same Israeli Arabs basically revolted, blocking off roads, endangering life, and even killing a person driving on one of Israel's main highways by throwing a rock at his car. So, naturally, there is still suspicion against local Arabs, more to the point, there have been several incidents over the years of Israeli Arabs helping terrorist attacks by either providing intelligence or by even driving the bomber to his target.

While I don't condone such treatment, I can certainly understand it... but as you could have seen from the examples you brought yourself, Israel also has a strong voice for these people, and for co-existence. But all you have to do is listen to what the Arab Parliament member speak over the podium to be skeptic of that, you also have to listen to what the Muslim movement (what is called the "Northern branch of the Islamic movement" which is headed by Sheikh Ra'ad Salah) says, these are not peaceful words. Quite the opposite.

In the interest of full disclosure, I live in Israel, I was born here, I am Jewish (although not religious), I have already been accused of being a "zionist propaganda distributor", and I am not. When my country does something bad, I don't like it, however, I do not believe that everything bad that is happening is my country's fault (as do some people here). Keep that in mind while reading.

reply to post by ZeroKnowledge


I have made it clear to anyone reading the thread(if you read the whole thing) to not generalize all Israeli's as such. It says that right as the end of my thread.

reply to post by Eliad

Defention of racism.

a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

If South Koreans and North Korean were from different races and were openly making "racist" claims then yes that would mean that their are racists in South Korea and North Korea.
People here a judging this thread unfairly. I understand the title is provocative and a conceed that this is my fault. However I clearly state to not generalise that all Israeli jews are racist becuase many/most of them are not. I am simply highlighting it(in a provocative manner) that the problem exists in Israel. I say the first step to fixing a problem is to admiting it is there.

It is true to say that racists and racism can be found anywhere. But there are very few places that have state sponsored racism as we see in Israel.

Those countries that used to do this have long since stopped doing it as they were an offense to normal people, just as the Israeli Government currently is.

reply to post by bigyin


First off, I believe we are all a little racist inside, it's a logical protective element...

But about Israel, you are right to assume that there are racists in Israel, there are also racists in the Israeli Parliament... but Israel does have Arab members in the Parliament... and they are the harshest critics of Israel... (except other Jews)... and some of them spew such hatred against the country whose laws the swear to uphold (a good example is MK Hanin Zouabi look her up - when an Arab-Israeli actor was murdered in Jenin by extreme muslims, she blamed Israel...) so racism goes both ways.

Now, in all arab countries (including the Palestinian authority) it is illegal for Jews to own land, isn't that racist and state mandated racism?

I mean, it's all nice and fine to criticize Israel, and some of it is true criticism, but Israel isn't at fault for everything... surely you can see that... look at what's happening in the middle east now (conspiracies aside), most of these people were told that Israel is at fault for their situation, but lo and behold it was their corrupt leaders... and not Israel...