Israel Matzav

Haifa University poll: Why do they act surprised?

Al-AP is reporting on a poll from Haifa University that shows that 28% of 'Israeli Arabs' believe that the Holocaust never happened and 63% of Israeli Jews avoid entering 'Israeli Arab' towns. Why should that surprise anyone? There's more in that poll too, most of which probably will not surprise most of you:

In its most dramatic finding, the poll showed that 28 percent of Israeli Arabs did not believe the Holocaust happened, and that among high school and college graduates the figure was even higher - 33 percent.

According to Smoocha's analysis, radicals in the Arab world believe the Holocaust to be a political event, and many feel that by denying it they are expressing opposition to Israel.

Among Israeli Jews, 63 percent said they avoid entering Arab towns and cities, and 68 percent fear the possibility of civil unrest among Israeli Arabs.

...

Asked about the war with Hizbullah guerrillas in Lebanon last summer, nearly half of the Israeli Arabs polled - 48 percent - said they believed that Hizbullah's rocket attacks on northern Israel during that war were justified, even though numerous Arabs were killed and wounded in those attacks.

While 89 percent said they viewed the IDF's bombing of Lebanon as a war crime, only 44 percent said they saw Hizbullah's attacks on Israel as such. Hizbullah pelted northern Israel with nearly 4,000 rockets.

Half of Israeli Arab respondents said Hizbullah's capture of IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in a cross-border raid was justified. That incident sparked the 34-day conflict.

In a press release accompanying the poll's publication, Smoocha expressed surprise at the results.

"One would have expected more pro-Israeli results among Israeli Arabs due to the uniqueness of the most recent war: a war with no involvement of the Palestinians, a war in which the lives and belongings of Israelis were endangered, a war against an Islamic fundamentalist group that most of them don't support," Smoocha said.

Who says they don't support Hezbullah? Smoocha forgot the first principle of conduct in the Middle East: My enemy's enemy - no matter how heinous - is my friend.

Here's the part I found mildly surprising:

The poll also found that Israeli Arabs had fears about their future in Israel: 62 percent worry that Israel could transfer their communities to the jurisdiction of a future Palestinian state, an idea supported by one of the parties in Israel's current governing coalition. [If they hate Israel so much, why would they be opposed to being under the jurisdiction of a 'Palestinian' state? Obviously because they aren't completely stupid and realize that Israel gives them more rights than their 'brothers' ever will. CiJ] Sixty percent said they are concerned about a possible mass expulsion.

Among the Arab respondents, 76 percent described Zionism as racist. [If they're so unhappy here, let them leave! CiJ]

But more than two thirds said they would be content to live in the Jewish state, if it existed alongside a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. [If they don't want to live in it, why do they care whether there is a 'Palestinian' state reichlet? CiJ]

If only these people could be taught to look after their own narrow self-interest instead of trying to change the world, we might actually be able to make peace with them.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:17 PM