Israel's Arabs and what to do about them
Moshe Arens raises an unpleasant topic for Israelis: The 'Israeli Arab' population and what to do about them. The topic is particularly prescient because on Tuesday, an 'Israeli Arab' was sentenced to nearly six years in jail for taking advantage of the fact that he belonged to the same gym as IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi in order to commit espionage on Hezbullah's behalf. Here's Arens: All evidence points to the fact that the Islamic Movement's northern branch is a subversive movement whose aim is the destruction of the State of Israel. Yet it has been permitted to spread its poisonous propaganda, exploiting Israel's democracy, which it vilifies and seeks to destroy. The government's neglect of the Arab sector leaves fertile ground for those dedicated to preaching hostility toward Israel. So far no measures have been taken to restrain the northern branch's dangerous activity, even though there seems to be full justification to declare its activities illegal. What is the reason for the seeming impotence of the Israeli legal system in this matter?Arens doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the problem. I am currently reading (nearly finished) Daniel Gordis' Saving Israel, and he spends an entire chapter (Chapter 9, beginning on page 148) on the 'Israeli Arab' problem. Here's some of what he says.
One should not underestimate the negative effect that such inaction is having on Israel's Arab citizens. Many interpret it as a sign that anyone can feel free to engage in anti-Israeli activity and that the state finds no reason to actively discourage it, or is incapable of doing so. Arab citizens who have moderate views and do not identify with Israel's enemies feel increasingly isolated, as the Islamic extremists seem to be capturing the mainstream of Israeli Arab society. This is happening while the Bedouin in the south, for years neglected by the government, easily fall prey to the preaching of radical Islam.
The government seems to show little interest in Israel's Arab citizens, who represent nearly one-fifth of the country's population. Rarely does a cabinet member or the prime minister visit Arab towns and villages. Minority Affairs Minister Avishay Braverman's proposal to grant financial assistance to some Arab municipalities represents a modest beginning in dealing with the challenge of integrating Israel's Arab citizens into society.
But this only scratches the surface. Should the government seriously consider the subject, it must adopt a two-pronged policy. It needs a long-term program that will benefit Israel's Arab citizens, one that would include improving Arab schools, affirmative action for the Arab community in employment, incentives for doing military and national service, and an emergency program to deal with the Negev Bedouin, the most disadvantaged sector of Israeli society. At the same time, legal measures need to be taken against seditious and subversive organizations preaching violence and support for Israel's enemies. It is late, but not too late.
The continuation of the chapter is not online. In the continuation, Gordis argues that the notion of 'mass aliya' is unrealistic. He demonstrates that - to the disappointment of Israel's founders - most Jews who make aliya do so out of compulsion. Thus we have lots of Russians and recently many French Jews but very few (percentage wise) Americans or Brits. At this point, the bulk of diaspora Jewry is in the United States. Sadly, most of those people are not going to pick themselves up and make aliya in the foreseeable future (although another Obama term might convince some of them).Gordis goes on to argue that under any 'settlement' with the 'Palestinians' it is likely that Jews will be transferred from their homes back to within green line Israel. He argues that if it's okay to transfer Jews, it ought to be okay to transfer Arabs too. He discusses two types of transfer - one is the actual transfer of 'Palestinians' to Arab countries and the other is the transfer of territory (specifically the triangle area, which is the Wadi Arab Valley) to a 'Palestinian' entity.
The main reason that a resolution of the 'Israeli Arab issue is almost never seriously discussed in this country is that there is a double standard with respect to transfer - it's considered okay to transfer Jews but anathema (even among Jews) to discuss transferring Arabs as Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D (may God avenge his blood) discovered in the mid and late 1980's.
For those of you who are interested in the topic, I urge you to buy the book (it's excellent anyway and discusses a lot of other hard questions that the country confronts in a balanced manner).
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:56 AM
5 Comments:
Moshe Arens, whom I normally agree with - is wrong on this issue. The Arabs will never become Jews, will never become good Zionists and they will never love Israel. To pretend otherwise is to live a lie and Israel's elites have forced the country to live a lie for decades. That our Arabs are good Arabs. This is all nonsense. An intelligent Israeli government policy would do either of two things: compel the Arabs to convert to Judaism or pay them to leave the country. There is no third option if Israel wants to remain the Jewish State.
An organization in America guilty of much Taqqiya/Kitman is CAIR. Not only do they put forth false, inaccurate statements about Islam, but they also demonize anyone who is scholarly about Islam without debate. Men like Robert Spencer, Daniel Pipes, Ibn Warraq, Walid Shoebat [the last two men are former Muslims], and women like Wafa Sultan [a former Muslim]and Bat Ye'or are labeled "Islamophobic" without any chance to defend themselves. - Most damagingly CAIR uses "Lawfare" [war like use of the courts] to silence and prevent American law enforcement from studying Islam from any of the people mentioned above, and instead insists the American government us CAIR's own radical Islamist educators [teachers who use Taqqiya/Kitman to "explain" Islam in a way which is inaccurate, disingenuous and misleading].
CAIR is a documented supporter of Hamas financially, they are associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, and their founder proclaims Islam is here to dominate all other religions in America. They could not be more blatant. Yet they have so much financial backing they go unreported in the mainstream media.
By not addressing Islam, and its Taqqiya/Kitman, Israel is pressured in to negotiating with "religious Nazis", whose ideology is off limits for discussion.
Joseph Goebbels knew the power of disinformation. He was one man, working only in his own lifetime.
Islam has had 1,400 years to temper its true ideology with public disinformation. In these many years many men, as opposed to just Goebbels, have had entire lifetimes to tinker away at the science of lies.
Add to this all the money from Islamic countries with oil to be used as bribes... which is a whole other can of worms.
No progress will be made until more people are familiar with what Islam truly is. It takes more than a few evenings of surfing the internet to really understand the crux of the matter. I am pessimistic that most people are willing to invest such an effort.
Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaeda... none of these groups speaks about Arab supremacy - they all speak of Islamic supremacy. - Iran, the source of so much terrorism and jihad, isn't even an Arab country. - The problem is Islam itself, not "the Arabs".
The high percentage of Muslims in the Arab community will always make it impossible for Jews to live in harmony with Arabs. It's not an "Arab-Israeli" issue, it is a "Muslim-Jewish" issue. Anyone who sits down and makes an honest study of Islam, and its texts, the Koran, Hadith and Sira, will find anti-Semitic doctrine is part of the core of Islam. - Yes, there is praise to the "Children of Israel" is Islam, but Islam does not equate the "Jews" being the "Children of Islam". - For certain, religion does not guide the life of every Muslim, and we may find many good hearted Muslims in our world who are as secular as can be, but Islam itself is not a moderate religion.
With Hitler, Nazism was the problem, not people with German blood.
With Islam it's a religion, and many people feel religions are off limits to criticism. - Such was not the case with Nazism and Communism. Also, with Islam being a religion, it is harder to ask a people to give it up, and expect it to be done.
Another difficulty in dealing with Islam is "Taqqiya", and "Kitman", or "Ketman". - One may discover many ugly nasty things in the three main texts of Islam [Koran, Hadith, Sira], and when one brings these up for discussion, "Taqqiya" is used to "disguise" the religion of Islam. Yes, Islam has sanctioned, praiseworthy, lying built into its framework.
If one has difficulty in accepting what their own eyes study and read, one only need confirm their studies by looking into what the "Islamic Schools of Jurisprudence" have to say about Islamic Sharia Law. - These schools do not speak for all Muslims, but they do speak for the overwhelming majority of what Islam officially says.
Oops.
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Yes, there is praise to the "Children of Israel" is Islam, but Islam does not equate the "Jews" being the "Children of Islam"
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I did not mean to say "Children of Islam", I meant to repeat, "Children of Israel."
Sorry! ;)
Out they must go.
All of them.
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