Social Affairs Minister: Israel today feels like Alabama in the 1940s
Isaac Herzog calls on President Shimon Peres to speak out and become a leader in the fight against increased incidents of racism and oppression.
By Haaretz ServiceSocial Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog [Labor] on Thursday compared the recent outbreak of racial tensions across Israel to Alabama in the 1940s and urged President Shimon Peres to intervene and prevent the deterioration of Israeli democracy.
"Shimon Peres must use his public consensus to be a leader in this struggle," Herzog told an annual conference for the Conservative Movement, citing the rise in anti-Arab and migrant demonstrations and oppression of human rights organizations.
Several incidents of discrimination in Israel have garnered worldwide attention as of late, among them rabbis outlawing the rental of homes to Arab citizens and a recent Knesset initiative supporting a panel of inquiry into organizations that purportedly delegitimize the Israel Defense Forces.
Herzog told members of the audience that believes a call against racism from Peres would inpire even the most disconnected of citizens, including in his words the ultraOrthodox, to "join together for the future of Israeli democracy, for pluralism, and for freedom of opinion."
Other incidents that have drawn widespread calls of discrimination in Israel in the past few months include protests in south Tel Aviv calling for the expulsion of foreign workers from the neighborhood and a letter signed by rabbis' wives urging Jewish women to refrain from dating non-Jews.
"For your sake, for the sake of future generations, and so you don't undergo horrible suffering, we turn to you with a request, a plea, a prayer. Don't date non-Jews, don't work at places that non-Jews frequent, and don't do national service with non-Jews," that letter read.
The letter was organized by the organization Lehava, which claims to "save daughters of Israel" from what it calls assimilation. Lehava also took part in the recent demonstrations against selling or renting homes to non-Jews.
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Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog at a Jerusalem meeting in July 2009 |
| Photo by: Tess Scheflan |
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There are many more Palestinian-Israelis working throughout Tel Aviv these days than there ever were and in more senior positions than ever (pharmacies, hi tech, waiters, etc.). I know of a few Arab owned businesses throughout Tel Aviv. I know that the political culture has become more extreme but socially, it doesn't look as dark as the media claims.
...HE SAID WHAT!!!! ….ADD HIM TO THE LIST!!!!
But no one ther to pull the handle. It's too late. Where has Peres been all this time? Have any of these rabbis shown an examople by publically renting their property to an Arab citizen of Israel? The rhetoric from those in power, both secularr and religious is all in one direction and that is toward the cesspool.
Israel needs a strong grassroot reform party based on its Jewish and Arab constituency and a democratic reform agenda. Arabs who suffer the most from the right wing racist agenda should be educated to come out by its masses and work with the better and democratic forces among the Jewish Israelis to bring this reform about.
You have iran, sadr in iraq, syria, hezbollah, hamas, islamic jihad. Iran works with the likes of sudan's leader when it comes to weapons smuggling. Netanyahu is a statesman that wants a peace agreement but the radical actors in the region make it impossible. Dealing with these radicals takes a strong leader like netanyahu and likud.
We don't like being told. We don't want outsiders telling us how wrong or mistaken we are even if they are right about it. It's a natural reaction. No one likes to be told they are wrong. EU ministers telling us, and foreign film directors telling us, and Turkish and Iranian and Palestinian and Jordanian and Egyptian and American and British and French and S American leaders telling us - all this intensifies our paranoia, permits our reactionaries to cry "you see - they didn't speak out when we were going to the gas chambers", enables our armchair psychologists to talk about us slipping back into the "nation alone" syndrome. Who doesn't speak up? Who doesn't help but rather encourages this atmosphere? Why our current crop of leaders that's who. So if it's the President, why will we listen to him instead of closing our ears to everyone else? And if we listen will we act? I hope so, but I'm not optimistic. The Hardal and their nationalist partners have got hold of the levers of political power and the public soap box. They appeal to our baser instincts and we seem ready to embrace them.
Well said sir!
were in the forefront of the Civil Rights movement. However, when it comes to Israel, it seems to be hear no evil, see no evil...hypocracy would be a polite description.
Due to Israel's move to the racial right,my family as Jews, we can no longer support Israel.