One Quick Blog About Israel

I know this is supposed to be a travel blog now, but I can't resist talking about Israeli politics a little bit.

Here are two really interesting articles about Arab Israelis protesting against anti-Arab politics in the Knesset (specifically Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Yisrael Beitenu). The first is here on Ynet and the other is a video from the Guardian.

It is disturbing for me when I see people who hold racist policies in high regard in Israeli politics (or any politics for that matter). Lieberman has shamelessly said on many occasions that he wants to forcefully transfer all Arabs outside of Israel. He is also trying to get all Arab political parties banned from running in the upcoming elections on accounts that they are racist. This is pure Kahanism at its best, and that scares me. It's that type of anger that fuels violence and close-mindedness.

If Baruch Goldstein were still alive, he would vote for Yisrael Beitenu, and wherever Baruch Goldstein's politics lie, I stay far far away. How about instead of ousting an entire ethnicity from your country, warmongering in the process, why don't you actually address the issues and figure out how to improve your current situation? How about working with Israeli Arabs instead of ostracizing them? Seeing how much media attention Lieberman's been getting, I'm a bit nervous about the upcoming Israeli elections.

But I am excited to see how the Holocaust Survivors & Grown Up Green Leaf Party does. Yeah, that's right, its the name of a coalition formed by two parties that could not be any more different from each other. If they get even one seat, I will be the happiest man alive. Their platform is so random that I first thought it was a joke. Why don't all parties start combining in order to get more seats? How about the Communist party and the National Religious party? Or Shas and the environmentalist Party?


UPDATE: I spoke too soon... click here.

Antisemitism in the Arab World

I found this picture in an article on the ADL website about antisemitism in the Arab World in regards to the presidential elections. This one on top was from Al Bayan, a newspaper from the United Arab Emirates.
I understand the criticism over Obama and McCain's relationship to the Jewish lobby: they both made trips to Israel and they are both targeting Jews for their campaigns. Considering the small size of the Jewish population in America, it is a bit striking how much attention we get (and how much pull we have). But to characterize the stereotypical Jew as a haredi shtetl Jew is not only extremely offensive and demeaning, it's also completely untrue, historically inaccurate, and shows the ignorance, hatred, and antisemitism behind the cartoons. The vast majority of Jews are not ultra-orthodox, or even outwardly religious at all, and only a couple of the cartoons in the article depicted Jews as normal looking Americans (possibly because the ones that did were not deemed antisemitic, if they even exist).
I don't understand the reasoning for using such an outdated and ignorant stereotype except for baseless hatred. When American political cartoonists represent the Chinese, for example, they definitely don't show them with buck teeth, wearing a coolie hat, doing dry cleaning, and building a railroad.
Here's another one from Bahrain:
They remind me of when I went to Egypt last summer and had a long conversation with my tour guide about world politics. He explained to me that he liked Americans but he didn't like American foreign policy because it was controlled by the Jews. I couldn't believe that those words actually came out of his mouth and for a second I tried to convince myself that I heard him wrong. I knew that ideas like that existed but I didn't realize they were so widespread that I would encounter them from the only Egyptian I would meet in my week in an Arab country. I told him that I couldn't believe that he believed that and he replied that he couldn't believe that I didn't believe it. I've tried to contact him a couple times through email to hear more about his perspective but he never responds. I think once he realized that I was going back to Tabah to cross the Israeli border he put two and two together and didn't feel like communicating with the enemy.
It's also interesting how this cartoon is of the exact same caliber but comes from a totally different source: American white supremacy.

Bishara Act: Racist or Precautious?

Ynet reports on the controversial bill that the Knesset passed yesterday:

The Knesset passed a bill on Monday determining that any Israeli citizen who visits enemy territory without a proper permit will not be able to serve in the Knesset for seven years.
The bill was initiated by MKs Zevulun Orlev (National Union-NRP) and Esterina Tartman (Yisrael Beiteinu), following the affair of MK Azmi Bishara (National Democratic Assembly). The bill was approved by a majority of 52 to 24 MKs. Among those opposed were Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz and Education Minister Yuli Tamir.

This was put into action after the situation with Azmi Bishara who was a Knesset member who frequently visited Syria and openly supported Hizbollah. After a police investigation, he was charged with high treason and forced to resign from the government. This gave the Arab Israeli party he represented, Balad, a bad name, and many people on the right started blacklisting them and saying that they couldn't be trusted.
I don't think that just because one man was trying to play both hands it means that the whole party is corrupt. The right is being reactionary, as they always are, and when it comes to making life harder for Israeli Arabs they jump on the ball.
So now we come to this very fishy bill. Why is it that the two MKs that initiated this bill about Israeli Arabs both come from the far right of Israeli politics? The NRP openly supports forced transfer of Palestinians into Jordan and Avigdor Lieberman, head of Yisrael Beitenu, was quoted advocating for the execution of any Arab MKs who meet with Hamas leaders. I have my doubts trusting the legitimacy of a bill affecting Israeli Arabs by right wingers who have extremely negative attitudes towards them. Yet I'm sure they used their scare tactics to convince the rest of the Knesset (who isn't that far from the views of the right) that without this bill the evil enemy will take over the Israeli government and push all the Jews to the sea. As Tartman exemplifies in the standard right wing language of us versus them:

The Bishara affair and the defiance carried out by many of the Arab MKs, such as their visits to Syria and their meetings with Hamas leaders, are not within the scope of freedom of speech, but rather a blatant encouragement of the armed struggle in Israel and the encouragement of terror against its civilians.
From now on the citizens of Israel can relax – enemies will no longer sit in the house of legislation.

If she considers "enemies" as "Arabs and peacemakers" then I'm sure she's right. I believe this bill is going to make it much harder for there to be negotiations with Hamas and other terrorist organizations (note that these right wingers consider any form of negotiations an act of treason) and if they get their way by making a couple more similar bills, it will rid the Knesset of anyone who shows dissent from their worldview. Luckily, the Arab Knesset members are protesting this bill and urging for reconsideration because of its infringement on minority rights and it's disregard for normal people who have family in the "enemy" countries. Let's hope that the right wing's scare tactics don't overrule the Arab parties' appeals as well.