I AM LOOKING AT a Wikipedia page (https://tinyurl.com/zsts3qh) that is basically a five column table identifying Arabs — Christians, Druze, Muslims — who are serving, or served in, Israel’s Knesset (parliament) from the first Knesset until today.
The table is up to date as of 2019.
How can Israel be condemned as “apartheid” if it has Arabs in the government?
A FEW FACTS.
THERE ARE TWO ARAB judges sitting on Israel’s Supreme Court, one a Christian, the other a Muslim. (https://tinyurl.com/sva9g7p & https://tinyurl.com/qvfrnqa)
This is apartheid?
Muslim Jamal Hakrush is a deputy commissioner of the Israeli police. (https://tinyurl.com/sdhzy98)
In recent years there has been increased interest by both Muslim and Christian Arabs in joining the police force, but never more so than in the last 26 months since Jamal Hakroush of Kafr Kanna was appointed Deputy Police Commissioner, making him the highest ranking Muslim in the Israel Police Force. (https://tinyurl.com/vorra9u)
This is apartheid?
Israeli Arabs, including Muslims, are enlisting in the Israeli army. (https://tinyurl.com/yc2aeslc & https://tinyurl.com/rcrlzvm)
This may be unwise, a 5th column in the army, but
This is apartheid?
These Israeli Muslim volunteers are not Druze who have, from the beginning, been fully integrated into the army.
There are — were — Arab Knesset members who actively promoted hatred of Israel, who aided Israel’s enemies, but until recently none had been ejected from the government. Would any other country tolerate treason?
This is apartheid?
People who claim Israel is an apartheid state are at best delusional; at worst haters.
Israel is racist.
Admittedly, the Euro-Jews who came to Israel in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and those arriving even today, are typical Europeans — WASPs or Jews, it seems to make no difference.
When the Euro-Jews arrived in Israel they found Jewish families whose history in the land dated back not decades but centuries. These Israeli Jews were “beneath” the Euro-Jews.
Without a doubt, the Euro-Jews largely developed modern Israel. Credit where it is due.
When Israel declared statehood in 1948, Jews were forced from their homes in Muslim-dominated countries; they came to Israel where the Euro-Jews treated them badly, as little more than animals.
But the Jews from Muslim-dominated countries managed to integrate into Israeli society; to overcome the Euro-Jews’ apartheid and racism.
When Yemenite Jews of color came to Israel “on the wings of an eagle,” while the government officially welcomed them, the Euro-Jews did not. They were “different,” ”primitive.
The same thing when the Ethiopian Jews arrived; likewise people of color and “primitive.”
While many Euro-Jews still exhibit racism, the government does not.
Israel is no more a racist state than any other state.
There are racist Israelis. No question. But racism is not sanctioned by the government.
UNLIKE the racist governments of “Palestine” and Jordan and a number of other Muslim-dominated states, non-Jews — Christians, Muslims, others too many to list — may live and work anywhere in the country. They can worship, or not, as they please wherever they please.
This is apartheid?
This is racism?
Unlike almost every other country in the region, LGBTQ are allowed to “do their thing,” including parading through areas where the people find their lifestyle offensive. They are protected by law, just like any other Israeli citizen.
Does anyone hear of LGBTQ people openly practicing their lifestyle in ANY Muslim country sans threat of arrest, or worse?
This is apartheid?
This is racism?
Israel is not perfect. This scrivener holds an Israeli passport and lived in Israel. I know first hand that things could, should be better.
But, I also hold a U.S. passport and I live in the U.S. I know first hand that, like Israel, things could and should be better.
But to claim Israel is an apartheid state is ridiculous.
Likewise to claim Israel is a racist state is equally ridiculous.
If a person insists on such ridiculous claims, then I suggest this person is ridiculous.
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
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