Your tax Shekels at work: Hebrew University paying NIS 4,000 per student for Jews and 'Palestinians' to meet in 'warming' sessions
A couple of days ago, I was sent a link to this Facebook page, which invites Jewish and Arab students at Hebrew University to meet socially at the Athens Bar, underneath the Frank Sinatra cafeteria (the site of a 'Palestinian' terror attack in ). The meeting is to take place on November 11 (next Wednesday) and is described as the first in a series of meetings of a group called "As One" which was founded at Tel Aviv University two years ago (the group's full Facebook page is here).
The group was founded to 'break down barriers' between Jews and Arabs, and is described as a forum for Jews and Arabs to meet and discuss their world views. The goal is to create a 'pluralistic, equal and inclusive' student body.
The first meeting will include a 'warming' session in which the group will break off into pairs so that a Jew and an Arab can get to know each other better. The group describes itself as non-political, and is sponsored in cooperation with the Student Union.
But there's more to this than meetings. The notice I pasted above, in Hebrew and Arabic, informs the students that those who attend these 'warming' sessions will each receive a NIS 4,000 (a bit more than $1,000) grant in exchange for attending 84 academic hours' worth of sessions (one three-hour weekly meeting on 28 Tuesdays during the course of the year. The group is limited to 14 students - seven Jews and seven Arabs - and is moderated by a Jewish woman and an Arab woman.
Hebrew University is a public institution, which means that this program is being paid for by the Israeli government, and by you, the Israeli taxpayer (and overseas donor).
For those of you who wonder why this kind of program is problematic, please consider this article published in the New York Daily News by Dr. Daniel Gordis three weeks ago:
We have a young language instructor at Shalem College in Jerusalem,
where I work. She's a religious Muslim who wears a hijab, lives in one
of the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem and is a graduate student at
Hebrew University. She's fun and warm, and a great teacher — the
students like her a lot.
Late last spring, when things here were quiet, some of the students
mentioned to the department chair that as much as they'd spoken with her
over the past couple of years, they'd never discussed politics. They
were curious what someone like her thought about the conflict in this
region, especially now that she was teaching at an unabashedly Zionist
college, had come to know so many Jewish students and had developed such
warm relationships with them. How does someone like her see things here? How did she think we would one day be able to settle this conflict?
"So ask her," the department chair said. "As long as you speak to her
in Arabic (she's on staff to help our students master the language), you
can talk about anything you want."
They did. They told her that since they'd never discussed the
"situation" (as we metaphorically call it here in Israel), they were
curious how she thought we might someday resolve it.
...
"It's our land," she responded rather matter-of-factly. Stunned, they
weren't sure that they'd heard her correctly. So they waited. But that
was all she had to say. "It's our land. You're just here for now."
What upset those students more than anything was not that a Palestinian
might believe that the Jews are simply the latest wave of Crusaders in
this region, and that we, like the Crusaders of old, will one day be
forced out. We all know that there are many Palestinians who believe
that.
What upset them was that she — an educated woman, getting a graduate
degree (which would never happen in a Muslim country) at a world class
university (only Israel has those — none of Israel's neighbors has a
single highly rated university) and working at a college filled with
Jews who admire her, like her and treat her as they would any other
colleague — still believes that when it's all over, the situation will
get resolved by our being tossed out of here once again.
Even she , who lives a life filled with opportunities that she
would never have in an Arab country, still thinks at the end of the day
the Jews are nothing but colonialists. And colonialists, she believes,
don't last here. The British got rid of the Ottomans, the Jews got rid
of the British — and one day, she believes, the Arabs will get rid of
the Jews.
I have three children who have gone or are going through the Israeli university system. I would not be happy about them having 'warming' sessions with Arab students - certainly not in pairs. Yet my government is paying students to do just that.
In
practice, though, [Education Minister Shai Piron] doesn't want us to learn Arabic. He wants Arabic
studies to last no longer than three years so that he could slash the
budgets allocated to teaching the language.
Could this reform be
part of the new policy introduced recently by the Education Ministry,
which seems to be encouraging kids towards ignorance while teaching them
a whole lot of nothing? At the same time, it is worth wondering whether
there is anything special about learning Arabic.
It appears that there
is. Whoever knows Arabic is likely to listen to Arab news media, surf
Palestinian websites, and read Arabic newspapers. Then they are likely
to discover the truth: the other side is awash with such a virulent
stream of anti-Semitic racism that all talk of peace here is delusional.
The party to which the
education minister belongs is entrenched firmly in what is inexplicably
referred to as "the peace camp." Knowing the Arabic language is anathema
to this camp. The more Arab-language speakers there are, the less
supporters.
Abu Mazen condemns murder of soldiers... but only in English and not in Arabic
Continuing the pattern of his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, 'Moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen has condemned the murders of two IDF soldiers over the weekend. But only in English, only to a group of New York Jews, and he demanded that Israel similarly condemn the deaths of rioting 'Palestinians.'
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority (PA) reacted for the first time, Monday evening, to the weekend murders of two Israeli soldiers, according to Kol Yisrael government radio.
Abbas was quoted as telling representatives of the Jewish community in New York that he condemned the killing and all other acts of violence against civilians. At the same time, he added that he expected Israel to condemn the last deaths of four Arab youths from Israeli gunfire in recent weeks, apparently referring to an incident in the western Samarian (Shomron) PA town of Kalkilye.
And how do I know that Abu Bluff's condemnation was only meant for Western consumption? From Khaled Abu Toameh, whose Arabic is far better than mine.
PA's Wafa agency has Abbas remarks to Jewish community with no reference to condemnation of killings of IDF soldiers. http://t.co/jJUdNy7Yfn
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) September 24, 2013
Remember when George W. Bush demanded a 'new Palestinian leadership' that was not infected by terror? Eleven years later, we're still waiting for it.
The apology says "We are whole-heartedly committed to fighting racism,
hatemongering, discrimination and persecution of any kind wherever it
should exist, and especially in our own society."
Yet the original offensive article was written and published in Arabic.Two days later, Miftah's Arabic website shows no indication of regret, apology or condemnation of the classic blood libel against Jews that it published. Readers of the Arabic website have only been exposed to the original blood libel article and to Miftah's justification for it
but they have not been informed by NGO that claims to "fight
hatemongering" that there was anything wrong about the original article.
(In fact, their attack against me and original justification for the
blood libel article as part of "its mandate for open dialogue" remains on its website as well. Was that also written by a "junior staff member"?)
As we saw back in the days of Yasir Arafat, saying one thing in English
and another in Arabic is a classic way to appease the West while keeping
the status quo to the intended audience.
Here's LATMA's song of the week - the Language of the Arab Man. I had to watch this with the sound off so you can all let me know how the music is. Aren't subtitles great?
Israel to drop Arabic and English as official languages?
Shaviua tov, a good week to everyone.
This post is being written on Friday afternoon. Posting may be sporadic again tonight as I am spending the night as the companion to my friend's son and son-in-law (two different friends have a son and a daughter who married each other), who is in isolation in Hadassah Hospital after having a bone marrow transplant this past week.
Please pray for Moshe Aharon ben Leah Tzipora.
Please pray also for Feige Reizel bat Sara, another friend's mother who had an appendicitis attack on Thursday and is now unconscious and on a respirator.
A bill has been introduced in the Knesset to remove Arabic's status as an official language of Israel. And that's the least significant part of the bill.
Forty lawmakers from both the coalition and opposition Wednesday submitted a proposal to the Knesset for a new Basic Law that would change the accepted definition of Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state."
The bill, initiated by MKs Avi Dichter (Kadima ), Zeev Elkin (Likud ) and David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu ), and supported by 20 of the 28 Kadima MKs, would make democratic rule subservient to the state's definition as "the national home for the Jewish people." [Keep in mind that this is Haaretz and they likely make the bill sound as ominous as possible. CiJ].
The legislation, a private member's bill, won support from Labor, Atzamaut, Yisrael Beiteinu and National Union lawmakers.
Sources at the Knesset say the law currently has broad support, and they believe it will be passed during the Knesset's winter session.
According to Elkin, the law is intended to give the courts reasoning that supports "the state as the Jewish nation state in ruling in situations in which the Jewish character of the state clashes with its democratic character."
Elkin said: "The courts deal with this issue quite a lot, such as with the Law of Return as a discriminatory law."
The bill redefines basic consensus regarding the character of the state. For example, it also proposes that Hebrew would be the only official language in Israel, as opposed to the present situation - based on current mandatory law, Arabic and English are also recognized as official languages.
The bill accords Arabic "special status," and states that Arabic speakers "have the right to linguistic access to the services of the state, as determined by law."
Read the whole thing. I look at this as a reaction to the overreaching by our uber-Leftist Supreme Court. All in all, I think it's a good thing - it's long since time for Israel to promote its Jewish character. By the way, most Western countries have only one official language.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
