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The secret of the Israeli mosaic By Alexander Yakobson Tags: Israel Fadela Amara, the French minister for urban affairs, was asked by Haaretz Magazine in an interview, "What did you think of Israel?" Amara, the daughter of Berber immigrants from Algeria and a well-known advocate of women's and Muslim immigrants' rights who has come out against radical Islam, said: "I felt very comfortable [in Israel]. I wasn't the object of special stares, as often happens toward foreigners. I didn't feel any racism, though I'm certain it exists. You have all the colors there so it's become almost natural to see white, yellow, brown. ... Here in France, I get looks. To the French, I'm not very 'French.' We're living here under a dominant culture. When your name is Francois and you're white with blue eyes, it's one thing. But when your name is Fatima and you've got a little color, the look you get is different. In Israel, because of the variety of people, I didn't feel that." Of course, there has to be a "but" after such a flattering description of Israeli society. There's always a "but" - especially when it comes to a society immersed in a serious national conflict. But the guest from France grasped something fundamental about Israeli society and the Zionist enterprise: the astounding ethnic diversity involved in the concept of the Jewish state. In a certain sense, Jewish nationality in Israel is indeed ethnic, as people tend to say (in a reproachful tone): It is not identical to Israeli citizenship. In a country with two peoples, as the Jews and Arabs see themselves, the national identity of each is necessarily ethnic in that it represents only part of the country's residents (in contrast to what is accepted in France). But there is a fairly significant paradox involved in defining the Jewish people as an ethnic group. The Zionist view of a people that includes all Jewish communities around the world (an outlook that merits trendy opposition from the left) is certainly one of the most multiethnic and multicultural national attitudes in history. When you see the Jews of Poland and the Jews of Yemen, the Jews of Germany and the Jews of Morocco as members of one people, and establish a country based on this national view, that is essentially a multiethnic and multicultural enterprise, whether or not the participants think in those terms. Advertisement Theodor Herzl was well aware of this aspect of the national enterprise he initiated, as seen when he declined to call the Jews a race and defined them instead as a nation - a historic unit comprised, as is the way of nations, of various ethnic blocks. The ethno-cultural differences between the various groups that came together to form Jewish Israeli society were quite large. But these groups shared the belief that they belonged to the same people, whether they subscribed to the modern Zionist version of this outlook, the traditional Jewish one or some combination thereof. They therefore had a shared cultural basis and consciousness - a recipe for successful multiculturalism, even if the feeling of belonging to one people does not preclude arrogance or prejudice. This feeling of belonging is the primary reason that the State of Israel is the most successful example of integration between people from Europe and the Muslim Middle East - in an approximately 50-50 ratio - in all of modern history. From a Zionist perspective, this success should not be surprising; after all, this is not about the integration of immigrants from 70 countries, but the absorption of newcomers from 70 diasporas who were members of the same people from the beginning. Those who reject this ideological approach or at least refuse to accept it as self-evident, those who categorize Jews' arrival to Israel as immigration rather than as aliyah, should be even more impressed by the Israeli enterprise's success at building a nation, despite all its well-known difficulties. No matter what ideological definitions are used, the extent of integration of those from Europe and the Middle East is an extremely notable achievement in our world. During her visit to Israel, Fadela Amara sensed the fruit of this accomplishment - a society where people take ethnic differences for granted more so than in many societies that take pride in their openness and acceptance of the other. One may presume that many of the people she saw here are not of Jewish origin, but have either close or distant relatives who are Jewish, and moved to Israel and became citizens in accordance with the Law of Return - and became part of Hebrew-speaking Jewish Israeli society. They, too, are today part of the Israeli mosaic that so impressed the visitor from France. The fact that Israeli eyes are used to seeing different colors and faces and Israeli ears are used to hearing different accents benefits them as well. If Amara consulted with experts on nationalism, they no doubt told her that one may join the Jewish people only through religious ritual. Israeli reality, however, tells a different story. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Carter's contacts Report: Ex-U.S. president Carter to meet with Hamas leader in Syria. Warning shouts Officer: Palestinians warned Israelis of terrorist infiltration.   1.   What could Israel be without the ongoing WB "occupation"....???? 11:07  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/04/08   2.   How about Israeli Arabs 11:57  |  Raffaele Ladu 09/04/08   3.   The secret is very simple 12:09  |  Shlomo from Tel-Aviv 09/04/08   4.   integration of whom? 12:19  |  ben 09/04/08   5.   Excellent Article 12:57  |  Roi 09/04/08   6.   #1 How about trying to live in peace? 13:01  |  petra 09/04/08   7.   #2 AMEN!!!!! 13:02  |  petra 09/04/08   8.   FOR ANYONE WHO HASNT LIVED IN ISRAEL 13:53  |  Nicole 09/04/08   9.   israel is an ethnocracy,not a modern secular democracy.Its legal 14:16  |  lakshmi 09/04/08   10.   #2 Raffaele Ladu 14:21  |  Yonatan 09/04/08   11.   To lakshmi - # 9 14:51  |  some1 09/04/08   12.   OF COURSE FATIMA... BECAUSE EASTERN JEWS LOOK LIKE ARABS !! 14:52  |  TripleJump 09/04/08   13.   Lakshmi the naysayer 15:50  |  Leo the oeL 09/04/08   14.   what about interwar Poland ??? 15:50  |  Rob of Melbourne 09/04/08   15.   Talking through your prejudices Lakshmi 15:52  |  x-ray 09/04/08   16.   # 6 petra 16:50  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/04/08   17.   Fadela Amara, a French Minister, gets looks in France! 16:58  |  zmogus 09/04/08   18.   Israel cannot claim to not be racist against sefardim 18:40  |  Yechiel 09/04/08   19.   Anyone can visit a country and get............ 18:50  |  Deborah 09/04/08   20.   Outstanding article makes important neglected point 21:06  |  Shalom Freedman 09/04/08   21.   If Eli Yishai becomes Prime Minister than I`ll believe it 21:35  |  Simeon ben Jacob 09/04/08   22.   Deborah 21:46  |  marbpl 09/04/08   23.   #22. marbpl 23:15  |  Deborah 09/04/08   24.   Hate in Israel 01:17  |  marbpl 10/04/08   25.   Lakshmi 01:20  |  Oleg 10/04/08   26.   #9: Poor lakshmi! 01:27  |  Catholic Israeli 10/04/08   27.   "But", indeed 01:37  |  Aaron Levitt 10/04/08   28.   #3 It`s No Secret; You Are Wrong 01:54  |  Arab DRUZE Muslim 10/04/08   29.   #26 Catholic Israeli 02:01  |  Arab DRUZE Muslim 10/04/08   30.   25Oleg,26 Catholic israeli,both don`t quite understand my post! 04:40  |  lakshmi 10/04/08   31.   without the Arabs and on their Land.Idiot. 10:12  |  American 10/04/08   32.   `American` 15:23  |  mixi 10/04/08   33.   Yishai is a fool 15:24  |  x-ray 10/04/08   34.   poor lakshmi 15:45  |  get a life, kid! 10/04/08

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