Adalah center issues report on Israel's treatment of Arab minority

News Alert: The US is now going to be a homeland for Christians. All the religious symbols that are being forceably removed from government buildings will be replaced. A new flag with a cross on it will be raised from coast to coast. People of other religions will be allowed to stay but will be removed from the best land (especially in Florida, California and New York ), and will have to attend different schools, etc. Any Christian that wishes to come to the US will be welcome with open arms and be granted automatic citizenship (new settlements will be built for those in Fla, Cal. and NY, see above), but not spouses of the "other" religions. The US will still be a "democracy" but only an extreme Christian mentality will be tolerated and any dissent will be silenced or labeled as "anti-christinic". Russia has agreed to give many billions in foreign aid, the best weapons, and veto any UN resolutions that go against it, etc,etc,etc.

Because you know you have it so much better here... Why can't we talk about the treatment of Arabs in Arab countries? Arabs living in Israel have it soooo much better than Arabs living in, say, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, etc. The Income, life expectancy, education, political freedom, etc. are much higher for Arabs living in ISRAEL than Arabs living in Arab countries. Why can't the Jews ever be able to have something for themselves? Why can't they live in the land that they have a HISTORICAL, ETHNIC, and religious tie to? Why are Jews and Israel always held to a higher standard? The answer: Because they are Jews.

Israel did, doing and will do its best to be as fair and equal to all of its citizens, regardless. But it cant change centuries old mentality,envious impolses,tribal loyalties,religious brainwash..... And all of those are very prevailent among Arabs.Still, Israeli Arabs are the most welloff of all other Arabs. Am I clear?

You are right in general but just two important remarks: 1. if you are living in Israel you will not argue that our country is extremely politically incorrect. I can readily understand how people of different race or origin feel here. Just consider yourself being stopped on the street or coffee shop or anywhere else and asked if you are Jewish and if not the next question why did you come/live here? 2. after all horrible experience of Jewish history I would expect this country to be different, more special than let say Switzerland or Slovenia, I guess you know what I am talking about.

it's interesting to read the racist remarks of the anti-zionists on this forum. actually they should be those who should be talked about at the un committee on the elimination of racial discrimination!...

After reading post after post denying that Israel's policies result in Arabs being mistreated, it's heartening to know that there is an Israeli Jew who concedes and laments that situation. Please accept my kindest regards for taking this enlightened position when you must have known that extreme vituperation would result.

Skandar if you think that it is only Israel that has laws that suppress a minority I have news for you. Take my home country because I know it well. Do you realise that the province of Quebec suppresses the use of English on public signs? Yesiree, No english on a sign it is illegal subject to fines and imprisonment. You're a Canadian but an immigrant and want to send your kid to an English school next door? Tough luck buddy you have to send them to French School. Well you say your an immigrant and it is justifiable, well even if you were born in Canada if your parents didn't go an English school then tough luck once again. You think this happens only in Canada well try again it happens in Estonia and Slovenia (I think). What to become a citizen of Switzerland, well you need the approval of your neighbours. The point is that it happens everywhere just dig enough and you will see that every single country including now France has laws which are enacted for majority.

Obviously Tommy I was not able to explain myself clearly, so let me tray again. Any citizen of any country expects to enjoy equal rights in his home land. Isreali Arabs are no different in expecting the rights of full citizinship in their country. I said in my last post ''It is difficult to demand total loyalty form an ever growing ,resentful section of the Israeli population,who feel that they area second class citizen in their own country .'' Which part of this do you disagree with ? Ofcourse there are those in the world who are jealous,envious and perhaps resentfull of success,but that is not Israel's pressing problem though, Its immediate problem is the growing resentment of an ever growing section of its citizens the Israeli Arabs. How best can this be addressed ?

Skandar, etc. A democracy is a state in which everyone is entitled to vote. Democracy is not defined as everyone being entitled to what others have or being treated in exactly the same way. Consider this: the head of England is always the head of the official church of England: the Anglican Church. Greeks, including descendants of Greek citizens who have never before lived in Greece, are per se entitled to Greek citizenship in the same way that Jews have the Law of Return in Israel. The JNF explanation has already been provided by another talkerback. Apartheid state? Arab Israelis not only vote, they serve in every branch of the Israeli government. If you think that is possible in an apartheid state, please check your dictionary. One way in which Israel is also quite free, in contradistinction to many other countries you may find more appealing, is that anyone can leave. Those who don't like Israel's policies can always do just that.

Question: Do you mean that between 1933 to 1945, those "bellicose" Jews collaborated with the Nazis to dismember Poland and Romania and exterminate their "peaceful" Christian citizenry? I was not aware of that. Thank you very much for enlightening me as I now will also begin to weep over my loss of humanity.

Well, It's not apartheid ?? maybe you should ask the Arabs how they feel.. Or may be you should live as an arab for a short while and make that comment... It appears that Israeli Jews Have picked the worst laws and behavior from all the countries and incorporated them into their society.. there is discrimination in israel-look at blacks in america, There is housing discrimination in israel-look at italy there is religious bias in israel- look at catholics in canada there is unwarranted shooting in israel - look at the brazilian shot in UK so you are the gist of all the evil in all the countries ?? How about laws against housing discrimination or the unlimted racial and religious diversity and mixing in US .... Is not hat an example to follow ??? You only need the bad exmples??? As for being the light ot the world, you must be seriously joking.. a religious nation built on intolerance and persecution of the original inhabitants.. you can be a beacon only to the devil...

or was it between the sea and Tel Aviv? Autism at its best. But, I suppose when the wardens of these nice little refuge for lunatics return in some hundred years the inhabitants will be still be singing "I am so great, so depressingly great, and so moral I could throw up all day" (Maybe a favorite for the next Eurovision contest?)

Israel shouldnt even try to be a light to the world when you want to be seen as the good guy all the time you make mistakes politicly and millitarilit for the sake of keeping up your good guy image so I think ... do whats good for the country dont make sacrifices so people can look up and say I wish my country had the same values as Israel. The problems with the arabs is not a a matter for the UN its an internal one the arabs feel they dont get treated as well as the jewish majority fine the solution is to try and change that but not by going to the UN or demanding national symbols change or for Israel to become a binational state these things create resentment of arabs by jews because they are seen as trying to make trouble. One of the first things the arabs need to start by standing up for Israel when their palestian brothers carry out terror attacks dont call them resistance hold inteligent debates on arab issues earn respect of the jewish majority and respect brings results.

with this report of so called "discrimination". Resentment has to do with envy toward Israeli sucsess. Immagine, an Arab looks around and compares Arab/Moslem achivements to Israeli. In such a short time, Israel became a world class country,a brain engine to the world, while the Arab/moslem world stuck in middle ages, at least in their mentality.And we all know, they are suffering from humiliation syndrom.I would call it LOOSERS syndrom .Sucsess, is difficult to forgive.This is the reason for all this empty noise.

During the Cartoon Riots you tried to burn our Embassy in Damaskus. Pal stormtroopers chased away Swedish NGOs and "Observers" from Hebron too. Inside of Sweden your Muslim organisations have tried to force establishment of Muslim Divorce Courts and demanded Fridays free of work . Yes Skander,you'tre unbsatisfied with everything you come into contact with.

Why do you suggest to compare Israel with Sweden? Why not with Great Britain? Is GB not longer a democracy? Has it become a muslim dictatorship, meanwhile??

Arab/moslems. Did you, "human right group" chacked the conditions there??? I am eagerly weiting for for it.

including Sweden. And this is the real reason for all the dowble standard against Israel,and singeling out Israel. If Swiden would be in place of Israel, two thing could happen. #1 Or Swiden would dessapear. #2 Or the Arabs would dessapear. Both would not exist any more. So stop paroting democracy,democracy....You sound like a brocken reccord.Think, then talk.

I hear you loud and clear. The changes in Israel have been going on for a long time, and in recent years even I have had to admit to them. The desire to be a light to the world of how things could be better has gone out.

every neghbuour wants to destroy.Israel is at war for its very existance ageins murderous Arabs. and in their own country they deal with a very hostile minority.Minwile that hostile minority would never like to live under any Arab/Moslem roole.They have a very good life in Israel. So stop screeming nonsence.

Sure -- but you would leap from that observation to the conclusion that Israel need do nothing. I may drink a quart of vodka daily and beat my wife every night -- but hey, my neighbor drinks two quarts and beats the kids as well. I'm just fine.

"We won`t let them impose THEIR 1920s Alabama or PRESENT-DAY Arab world discrimination against us." No -- you'll impose YOUR '1920s Alabama or PRESENT-DAY Arab world discrimination' against THEM. Actually, let me introduce you to a really sophisticated moral concept: two wrongs don't make a right. Furthermore, Israel is a democracy, part of the West, an enlightened, modern state -- remember? If you want to be admitted to the club, you have to wear the tie.

answer WHO ARE THE JUDGES??. But lets get serious. The Israeli Arabs are the welthiest,the best educated,The longest life expectancy,the lowest infant mortality rait Arabs of all the Arabs and moslems in this whole world!!In USA,France, England every minority has grivencies, this is a nature of being a minority. Not a single Israeli Arab wants to emigrate to an other Arab/Moslem country. Again singeling Israel out by a bunch of real loosers.Haaretz jumps on a bandwagon.Real scum.

Such measures as those detailed in the article Will definitely cause resentment but will not force the Israeli Arabs to leave their homes or their country These measures will not therefore solve The? demographic problem? They simply will exasperate it, by creating an ever growing ,resentful section of the Israeli population. It is difficult to demand total loyalty form a citizen, who feels that his/her race or faith places them in the category of a second class citizen in their own country .

This Adalah center,have they checked the human rights in the Palestinians territories? Have they checked the human rights in the Arab world and muslim world? I know for a fact that the Arabs in Israel enjoy more human rights than they could have in any Arab or muslim country. An Arab in Israel,just like any other citizen is innocent until proven guilty,here in Italy you are guilty until you prove you are innocent. So who has the greater human rights?

why dont people who complain about Israels treatment not be just as vocal about the hatred and mistreatment of jews in arab countries. Israel is not perfect and arabs in Israel do have it rougher i do agree. But, their life by any other standards are amoung the best in the world. Israel is a refugee for 14 million jews world wide....it is the only place that we can truely call home!...and have the ancestry to prove it was OUR home....if u live their understand those facts...

There you go blaming the victim - palestinians don't like to "play" the victim - they dont like to play... they're not children, certaintly not your children... If we had our way, there would be no games to play - just life as it has been for thousands of years... Only you, sitting in your ivory tower, sound like your playing the victim... Casinoes - thats what were good for, just like the indians right? To bad we're sober, too bad the majority of us are incorruptable, too bad we still have souls, that we breath, that we are alive... And too bad, we strain against the yolk on our necks instead of dying in these ghastly chains... We are your worst nightmare... The product of your selfish dream. Your not doing gods work, only your own. This dog, this dog that we are, you put it in a cage...and now your scared that it will get out and eat you... So dont be surprised if we spit all over your doggy treats - they are so rancid not even a real dog would eat them.

#3 Dani, Pls do not cry... The oppression during world wars has really rubbed off on the Israeli Jews.. they have learnt it quite well from their oppressors. It's like child molestors excuse that they were abused when they were kids.. Now the Israeli Jews should be proud they too have a strong nation now, and they have their own little minority to mistreat.. isnt't that one thing historically they were missing....

Does this make Ontario, Canada an Apartheid country/province? How is this any different than what is happening in Israel? To: The Premier and Government of Ontario We, the undersigned, hereby petition Premier McGuinty and the Government of Ontario to cease the discriminatory funding of education in the Province of Ontario. In Ontario, outside of the secular public school system, public funding of education is only made available to the schools of adherents of one religion, namely the Roman Catholic faith, to the exclusion of all other religious denominations. Roman Catholic schools receive full and direct public funding, while schools of Protestant Christians, Jews, Muslims and members of other faiths must be funded through private sources, at great expense and sacrifice to non-Catholic families, who must also pay for the public and Catholic school systems through their own tax dollars. We believe that it is unconscionable that this discriminatory treatment by government is permitted to stand in Ontario in the 21st century and call upon the Honourable Premier and members of the provincial government to immediately rectify this discrimination, as required by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, by extending equal funding to all faith-based schools in Ontario.

My personal experiences from Israel are that Israel is NOT a racist NOR an apartheid society. Arab Israelis did -at least as I was there- well econmically and were treated equally next to the Israelis. All the Arab Israelis, I knew at the time, were fine people. It was easy to like them. The Israeli society made efforts to act as a democratic and tolerant society to all, back then, which also the Arabs appreciated. The violence escalated in the mid 90's and since the second intifada in 2000, the fraction has become practically beyond repair. Naturally the Pal-violence has affected the Jews' thinking, behaviour and attitudes...they are but humans,too with a human psyche. This report, in my opinion, should stress the necessity of creating a non-violent environment, where Jews feel safe to encounter Arabs in order to grow out of their paranoid fears and the report could come up with some constructive ideas of how to re-establish the lost, mutual confidence; advice for both!

As an English born Quebecer I have less rights than the "pur laine" 100% full fledged French born Quebecer. I choose to live here because I was born here. I choose to live here because I know the world is not a perfect "Garden of Eden"

Well, in Sweden all are equal and all love their country. Would you say the same about Arabs? Why they don't serve in army and don't defend their country from mortal enemies? I don'y see any Arabs saying that they are Israelies. They call themself Palestinians, so that where they should go, West Bank and Gaza.

Change the flag and all national symbols because they are jewish and dont represent the arabs Change the national anthem arabs dont want to sing about a return to zion. Give up the law of return .. arabs dont like jews being given a right to come to a jewish country. Become a binational state which will exist next door to an arab state .. arabs dont want a jewish state. They are not getting anywhere with all these demands so go to the UN complain about the JNF, the fact the millitary get financial benefits arabs dont because its not compulsory for arabs to join, complain about security issues because arabs are the number 1 security threat which is a fact. The arabs are unhappy about the budget allowances for their towns then why is it that after the Lebanon war some arab towns refused money to rebuild because it was being given by the zionist jewish agency. The arabs in Israel as well as the palestians love playing the unloved victim sympathy its their weapon against the jews.

Israels arab minority are of course not treated quite as equaly as the jews true but this is the case in most of the world where you have an ethnic minority, they generaly dont benefit as much as the majority but half the things arabs mention here there is no justifiation for. Entering into agreements with the JNF .. as a charity the JNF are entitled to say who can or cannt live on lands they own and didnt the Sharon government say that if the JNF wanted to sell lands then they couldnt say that arabs were not permited to buy that land if they wanted. Social and financial benefits on a millitary service .. there are a small number of arabs who choose to join the millitary but its not compulsory for them if they sign up they get the benefits also. Interogation methods used on detainees suspected of security as most threats are arabs naturaly there will be more arab detainees but jews can be interogated the same way if they are suspected.

Very well George but that is not the issue here, is it? It is about those other Israeli's not getting their rights because they are not Jews. Now try to have a statement on that and not on your own rights.

The Arabs demand of us but don't give us the same; either in their land OR in ours. If they want rights, then they need responsibility too (besides not supporting our enemies)- and they need to respect our rights. Right now, neither is the case. They can't have ot both ways. We won't let them impose THEIR 1920s Alabama or PRESENT-DAY Arab world discrimination against us.

Same with Shilo, Beit El, Kedumim, etc... It is funny when some Arabs talk about the Jews from Israel as if we were settlers coming from Egypt or elsewhere- like Arafat, Edward Said, etc., while in fact this has been our land for thousands of years- even for those Jews in exile. We are not asking for charitative rights. We want our human and national rights, and will not let what happens in the Arab world happen here.

Israel unfortunately is still in a state of war with almost all its arab nieghbors and so does not have the luxury of having a completely balanced approach to all its citizens. Under the circumstances, Israel must find a balance between security and civil rights. It is a unique and very difficult task and one that is not always successful. It is hoped that Israel will correct past mistakes, but also that the rest of the world should understand Israel's predicament and her desire for normalcy.

#5: So, we're no better than they. Why do the likes of you insist they should change, then? We are turning into those we despise the most (or those we USED TO despise the most, I should say), and it ain't a pretty picture. How my only Moledet condone and indeed institute practices, which would not have been out of place in the 1920s Alabama or Medieval Europe? What are we doing?? mls.lists@btinternet.com

So I wonder what so many Israelis compare their democratic actions to those of dictatorships? Why don't Israelis measure their actions against say, Sweden? After all that is a democracy last I checked!

It is funny when some zionists talk about the palestinians from Israel as if we were settlers coming from Russia, the US, Argentine, Ethipia or elsewhere, while in fact we have been living here for generations... we are not asking for charitative rights... we want our human and national rights, as every jewish deserves anywhere else, including the arab world.

But it goes with being labled a dictatorship not a democracy. But Israel does seem most preoccupied with a Democratic label, and that's at the heart of the issue. The world is telling Israel do what you will we can't help it, just don't expect us to buy that you are a democracy.

That Israel is a democracy based on equality and Justice for all. This is not about protecting the ways of the Majority, you are correct all majorities all over the world do, the democracies are tose that enshrine into law the protection of minorities and, there my dear, is where Israel falls on its face. I suspect that Israel would have a much easier time internationally if it drops the world acknowledged charade of being a true democracy.

Then the only question is whether is's the rights they give themselves or the rights they give Jews. I would opt for the latter.

people should at least complain

It is unfortunate that these claims have to be brought before an international body. It is unfortunate that these claims have to be made at all. When I hear of this injustice, well known in Israel for many years, I feel ashamed as a Jew, as a Zionist, as a citizen of the state. And it all reminds me painfully of Jewish experience in the not-so-distant past. In Poland and Romania between the world wars, in Russia for most of the Communist period. How can we be so sensitive to our own suffering and inflict the same on others "whenever it's convenient"? What lesson in humanity have we learned from our own history? Only the "lessons" that brought the goyim to grief?

Why is it that a country that tries to protect it's culture and history is called bigoted. I don't know where you are from but I bet you that there are laws that you think are just fine but in reality are empirically racist. Does your country have only one official language where you may have a significant minorities language that is overlooked? Does your government promote certain cultural agendas while curtailing others? Does your people hold racist agenda against minorities in your country? No matter where you come from I bet your own country protects it's "identity" in a very special way. Let me know what country you come from and I will prove it to you. Don't single out Israel, because then you prove to all of us that you are the bigot.

about its intentions of desiring and suporting a jewish state............Israel isn't about human rights.............it exists solely for jewish people. To appease the Us and keep the welfare checks coming they pretend and talk about 'human rights' for all.......but it's empty rhetoric. How they think they're any better than extremist Muslim terrorists I do not know. Both sides seem to have it in their minds that their way is better, their religion rules, and someone needs to step ina nd end the ridiculous religious war. It is costing lives, money and time that could be spent building a better world for all.but hell no..........religious peopel ..again..........hold the planet hostage to medieval philosphies that seem more the root of al evila nd the poison, more than the cure, or salvation of a people.