I chanced upon this article dated 16.12.11 in the EU Observer. I was shocked by it but shouldn’t have been. It is one thing for the EU to tell Turkey what it must do to gain membership in the EU. It is another thing to try to force Israel to be like them when we are not applying for membership. Besides who would want to be like the European countries.
BY ANDREW RETTMAN
BRUSSELS – EU countries have raised a red flag on Israel’s treatment of its Arab minority in a complaint that touches the heart of its identity as a “Jewish state.”
The deputy heads of EU embassies in Tel Aviv put forward their concerns in a 27-page-long internal report sent to the European Exernal Action Service (EEAS) earlier this month.
Israel links EU support for Palestinians to anti-Semitism
25.05.11 @ 09:32BY ANDREW RETTMAN
BRUSSELS – Israeli finance minister Yuval Steinitz has said that select EU countries’ support for Palestine’s plan to seek full UN membership is linked to ancient anti-Semitism.
The contents were first revealed by Israeli daily Haaretz on Friday (16 December) morning. EUobserver has also seen the “Conclusions” and the “Recommendations” parts of the paper.
The Conclusions were endorsed by all 27 member states. The Recommendations were cut from the final draft because some EU countries objected to the content.
“We should see Israel’s treatment of its minorities as a core issue, not second tier to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We should support the vision for Israel of its founders: Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people, in which all its citizens have equal opportunities and are treated equally under law,” the Conclusions say.
“In our dialogue with the government of Israel … we should emphasise that addressing inequality within Israel is integral to Israel’s long-term stability,” they add.
“We should make the following points clear … that we do not believe that recognition of Israel as a Jewish state should detract in any way from the vision of equality for all its citizens enshrined in its founding documents; that it is in the interests of all Israelis to demonstrate that Israel is not only Jewish and democratic, but tolerant and inclusive.”
The controversial Recommendations made 16 points.
One idea was to nominate a “lead EU country” to monitor “potentially discriminatory draft legislation” and to “agree that approval at the second reading of such legislation [in the Knesset] should trigger an EU demarche.”
They also suggested “high-level EU visitors see the Israeli Arab community and its leadership when they visit.” They added that EU countries should “lobby” the Israeli government to employ at least 10 percent Israeli Arabs in its civil service and to promote Arabic teaching in schools.
‘Shared values’
EU foreign relations spokeswoman Maja Kocjanic confirmed the text is authentic.
“It was prepared for us in order to reflect how we might engage constructively with government and non-government interlocutors in Israel when dealing with an issue identified in the EU-Israeli Action Plan [a 2005 bilateral treaty] as a shared value – the rights of minorities,” she said.
Arab Israelis make up 1.5 million of the country’s 7.8 million population but have a higher birth rate than Jews. Another 4.4 million Arabs live in Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Mohammad Darawshe, an Arab Israeli activist for the Jersualem-and-New-York-based NGO the Abraham Fund, told EUobserver Israeli laws give “some level of de jure protection” to Arab citizens. But he said “de facto” discrimination is widening the economic gap between Arabs and Jews.
He added that right-wing Jewish groups are steering the country “downhill” in terms of civil liberties: “Israel’s charter says it is ‘Jewish’ and ‘democratic’ but some Jews are trying to change the defintion to make Jewishness the dominant factor.”
Darawshe described a new law passed in March – the Selection Committee Bill, which bans Arabs from buying or renting land in some 500 municipalities – as “ethnic cleansing.”
“My family has lived in the same small town [Iksal] for 28 generations and I am never going to leave it for the sake of giving the Jews a ‘pure’ homeland,” he said.
‘Irresponsible language’
For his part, Mark Regev, the spokesman of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said any talk of “ethnic cleansing” is “rubbish, rubbish … no one is being thrown out of their homes, so to use this kind of language is irresponsible.”
“Israeli Arabs enjoy full rights within a multi-party democracy with full separation of powers. Where else in the Middle East do Arabs have full freedom of speech, freedom of association?” he added.
Asked by EUobserver about the rights of Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank, Regev said “that is a whole different issue.”
watsa46 Said:
De Gaul was speaking of the French, their stature and bathroom habits
The “Pal” the last weapon against the Jews!!!
For the West, The Jews are the problem.
As de Gaul said: “this small shitty people”!
@ yamit82:
Anytime,and a Happy New Year to you and yours.
@ honeybee:
Brought back memories long past. Thanks
jlevyellow Said:
It’s not about some few good Arabs and there are but as a collective. We can’t know in advance who are or will be good Arabs who side with and help the Jews in the their hours of need and who won’t. We can’t take the chance on any of them either although some would act in positive ways towards the Jews and Israel. Just can’t be helped. Ethically we should not ask or expect any Arab to risk their lives for Jews. That’s self-serving cynicism.
Tanchuma, Shoftim 15: “‘When you go forth to battle against your enemies’ (Deut. 20:1)… What is meant by ‘against your enemies‘? G-d said, ‘Confront them as enemies. Just as they show you no mercy, so should you not show them mercy.’”
If someone renders a halachic ruling that there is no state of war between us and the Arabs in our midst, that we are obligated to treat them with mercy, and that it is forbidden to kill one of them even after he tries to attack and kill a Jew, that person is nothing but a rodef [one who attacks with intent to kill], who collaborates with gentiles in the killing of Jews. The Torah spoke of such persons in addressing the unsolved murder:
Our sages comment (Sotah 46b), “Would we ever think that the city’s elders were murderers? Yet, perhaps he approached them and they sent him off without feeding him, or they saw him and let him go without escorting him.”
Our sages teach us a great lesson here regarding love for one’s fellow Jew and the duty one bears to him: it is not enough for a Jew not to murder. Surely, “Turn away from evil” (Ps. 34:15) applies here, but a much weightier duty applies too: he must do all he can to save his fellow Jew from danger, to eradicate every danger and mishap, to defeat every foe who imperils the Jewish people before he can harm them.
WAR AND PEACE (Excerpts) http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/DanielPinner/conversations/topics/1281
@ yamit82:
In your honor, from the Bee cult: http://youtu.be/dp0bmfTAHgo http://youtu.be/TTONBjpj3-Y
yamit82 Said:
take the Bull by the horns,cowboy. Demostrate to the {entire Jewish Womanhood} what you have been bragging about.
NormanF Said:
Apostate and heretical Jews can do whatever they want. Won’t make them kosher Jews.
We need a Sanhedrin to decide such matters and cannot be made on an ad-hoc basis.
No secular or individual clerical body has the authority to change the status-quot of Jewish orthodoxy.
Certainly no authority in the exile has such authority.
Making lots of Jewish babies can go a long way in making the demographics more Jewish positive
jlevyellow Said:
You might be interested also,the area is “over run” with crpto-Jews. Ortegas,Segueros,Achuletas,Chavez, Sanchez,Perez, Trujillos,Giron,Bacas et al..
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
Dear friend, do you have several milion dollar lying about that you don’t know how to spend. Otto Mears [ The German Jew who brought the narrow gage railroad to the mining country] town he built for his workers is for sale. It is between Tellluride and Ouray Colorado. Just thought you might be interested.
Regev, PM Office. “No one is being thrown out of their homes”… In what he considers Israel.
About the real Eretz Israel? Now there is a whole different story, says Regev.
But only for Jews. His leader has participated in throwing out and destroying of thousands of Jews out of Jewish homes, farms, businesses, Synagogues, Schools and even cemeteries.
And.. And he is planning to destroy 9 more villages. Jewish that is.
So I assume that the Regev was talking about his islamic partners not being thrown out. Chas v’chalilah!. To ethnic cleanse Jews is OK then for the PM Office, is it?
Salomon Benzimra Said:
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE.
Several years ago I wrote a piece on this very subject.
It is still posted online at the Think-Israel website.
There is no way of escaping Judaism from religion – even though as Jews some of us understand the difference. Whenever G-d is attached to anything it is viewed as a religion. G-d gave the Torah to us which is the first 5 books of the bible. To most people that is religious. To be a Jew is a way of life. When we strive to follow what G-d laid out for us it enhances our lives, spirit and will…..since the holocaust there are still too many unanswered questions that have separated us once again from G-d. It is up to G-d to reach out to us and assure us….not the other way around. It is not easy being made out to be the evil doers of the world when in fact we are a light unto the nations.
@ yamit82:
I see things differently, but in the end you may be right. But only in the end. When forced to make a choice, I agree. The Arabs will always choose the Arabs. But there is a world between here and “the end.” Some Arabs, for money and for safety, will help Israel against their own people in terms of information gathering. Others will live without accessing their religion and its associated politics.
Also, as I am sure you are aware, some of these long-term Arabs in Judea and Samaria are of Jewish origin. While Jewish roots play no part in their lives, they could be important in the future. The conversos of New Mexico or the Peruvian hill country are coming home by the ones and twos. Given the cloudy nature of the future, we can never tell who will bring our redemption or by what path. I remember the film, The Whisperers, about American citizens of Navajo origin helping to communicate on open lines during World War II. They saved many lives, though their ancestors had been abused by the US government. Quite unexpected!
As you, I expect little to nothing from practicing Muslims and take my precautions according to those expectations, but I will not spit on those that suddenly have found Rachmanut (in the Hebrew sense, not the Arabic sexual sense) or those who move past primitive tribal loyalties that prevent their search for the abstract God of the universe.
I remember an event that could have ended in total disaster. A class of children accidentally entered an Arab village where they were surrounded and threatened with violence. Some of the Arab women took the children into their homes and kept them safe until Tzahal arrived to extricate them. Those women might have been afraid of repercussions if the children were harmed or they could have been Jews married to Muslims or they could have had feelings of Rachmanut overwhelm them and they acted upon those feelings. Who knows! What I know is that no Jewish children died that day. We accept our blessings from wherever they come.
yamit82 Said:
That’s true! I wrote the other day if the Arabs are not going to be expelled, aggressively assimilating them into the Jewish nation and Hebrew Israeli culture is vital for Israel’s survival. A country cannot have two loyalties. That’s politically incorrect to entertain today. Israel can be a Jewish State or something else – not possible if it is one-third Arab. Something has to give.
yamit82 Said:
Depending on whether you accept the patrilineal definition of the Karaites and the matrilineal definition of mainstream Judaism – you could have several million more Jews depending on the parent. I suspect that when the world runs out of Jews, the definition will be expanded.
yamit82 Said:
I am not fond of rites or elaborate rituals, I’am loyal to the Jewish Nation [as you discribe it] and a fierce supporter of Isreal. To be honest they have been welcoming to me. I have learned much from you and other on the pundit.
honeybee Said:
Parashat Vezot HaBrachah – Judaism: Religion or Nation?
yamit82 Said:
In you opinion “Who is a Jew”.
NormanF Said:
The debate here over who and what is a Jew influences the debate over what is a Jewish State…
The debate here over who is a Jew is reflective of the conflict on the same issue as the one going on in America….
What is apparent is that the debate is becoming default in that as American Jewry self destructs so the definition of who is Jewish becomes broader and more inclusive but by all traditional definitions it’s become something other than Judaism and only Jewish except in name.
I say good riddance to them and strengthen the barriers against their corrupted definitions and identification as Jews. So we won’t have 5 million American Jews but only a million or half million. A half million committed and zealous Jews are equal to 4-5 million Jews who are Jews in name only if that.
We have had this debate and conflict in our past and most notably 2300 years ago, we had along and bloody civil war to decide the matter. Then the Maccabees won the secularist Hellenists lost and Judaism survived. We might need another civil war again to decide the issue once again. it’s like a form of spring cleaning every so often you have to throw the accumulated junk out and do a thorough cleaning.
@ jlevyellow:
No Arab is or can be a loyal citizen to a Jewish State. That is the only truism that matters or counts. They all know their conditions are better in Israel than in any Muslim State and would not willingly transfer out to any of the 22 or 23 Arabs states, but they still hate us and will always side with our enemies against us even to the point of aiding or committing terror acts against Jews in Israel.
Years ago some naive Israeli Zionists were pridefully boasting to some local Arabs how much the Zionist s and Jewish state has done to improve the living conditions of the Arabs and showing them how we converted a desert into a garden. An Arab replied: “But it’s our desert”
No country democratic or other can accept or live with a filth column Trojan horse especially if they are a large and growing minority.
Our choices come down to two. Transfer them or kill them maybe a combination of the two. Transfer them today so we won’t have to kill them in the future. I would ship them off to Europe. That’s a match made in Hell!!
I do not like to argue from the negative, but these worried Europeans have no problem with apartheid in Gaza or Judea and Samaria.
Now to argue from the positive: Arabs are best off living in a Jewish State, not merely because they have rights, but because it gives them a model of thinking and behavior that is different from their own provincial rigid ways. It is not that they can now understand and appreciate the value of Judaism or Zionism, but that they have a larger world view where they must integrate their internal image of their comfortable lives in Israel with the internal image of hatred that they would have been required to assume due to political goals of other Arabs not living in Israel. The Big Lie will be less likely to take hold when Arabs can walk the streets without experiencing the Dhimmitude they would be required to force upon the Jews had their roles been reversed. In short, they learn tolerance for the other by seeing in how others treat them.
It is well understood by Arab politicians that the Arabs of Judea and Samaria, and even Gaza, are less like their brothers in Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Arabia. Once they have lived in Israel, Arabs must be considered traitors or prove their loyalty to the Muslim cause by becoming uber-Muslims. Thus, it is Israel as a model to the Arabs in their midst that is the best hope of the Western world to aid those regimes who need to enter the 21st Century.
These are truisms! The only reason for their non-acceptance is the latent or active anti-Semitism of Europeans that says that Jews are too this or too that to be tolerated or trusted with their own country. Europeans so much do not wish to be beholden to the Jews for anything, even if it benefits them, that they are willing to screw with the Jews until they fit their own model of nihilism or they disappear. Frankly, Jewish noblesse oblige is better than European noblesse oblige and infinitely superior to Arab noblesse oblige (except for their personal hospitality mores)! So not PC!
The problem is Israeli leaders seem embarrassed by Israel being a Jewish State.
They cannot even agree to entrench the Jewish identity of Israel into a Basic Law.
Its hypocritical for them to criticize the Europeans. After all, Europe won’t be more Zionist than Israel!