Racism in Israel
Encyclopedia
Racism in Israel has been experienced by both Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews. Israel has broad anti-discrimination laws, which prohibit discrimination by both government and nongovernment entities on the basis of race, religion, and political beliefs, and prohibits incitement to racism. The Israeli government and many groups within Israel have undertaken efforts to combat racism. Israel is a state-party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
, and is a signatory of the Convention against Discrimination in Education
.
Some elements of the Israeli society have been described as holding discriminatory attitudes towards Mizrahi Jews. Intermarriage between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim is increasingly common in Israel, and social integration is constantly improving, though disparities persist.
While some Ethiopian Jews have faced discrimination, overall their absorption into Israeli society has also been cited as a unique attempt to incorporate a nonwhite group as equal citizens with full rights as part of a Western predominantly white country. Scholars suggested that the situation of the Ethiopian Jews as 'becoming white' and similar to that of European immigrants who arrived in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Racism against Arabs in Israel has also been claimed in personal attitudes, the media, education, immigration rights, housing, and social life.
's view is adopted, that the term racism must be restricted to beliefs that a given biological race is superior, then ethnocentrism
can be found in Israel, but not racism. According to other definitions, racism is a belief that membership in a certain group, not necessarily genetic or biological, determines the qualities of individuals. By this definition, racist views are present in portions of the Israeli population. Smooha adds that some Arab and Jewish writers make accusations of racism, but they use the term in a very loose way.
Racism against Arabs on the part of the Israeli state and some Israeli Jews has been identified by critics in personal attitudes, the media, education, immigration rights, housing segregation, and social life. Nearly all such characterizations have been denied by the state of Israel. The Or Commission
, set up to explain the October 2000 unrest in many Israeli Arab communities
found,
According to the 2004 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for Israel and the Occupied Territories, the Israeli government had done "little to reduce institutional, legal, and societal discrimination
against the country's Arab citizens." The 2005 US Department of State report on Israel wrote: "[T]he government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas, including... institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against the country’s Arab citizens." The 2010 U.S. State Department Country Report stated that Israeli law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, and that government effectively enforced these prohibitions. Former Likud
MK and Minister of Defense Moshe Arens
has criticized the treatment of minorities in Israel, saying that they did not bear the full obligation of Israeli citizenship, nor were they extended the full privileges of citizenship.
Israel is a state-party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
. According to the 1998 Report of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination found that the Convention "is far from fully implemented in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and that the shortfall contributes very significantly to the dangerous escalation of tension in the region.". The report positively noted the measures taken by Israel to prohibit the activities of racist political parties, the amendment of the Equal Opportunity in Employment Law, prohibiting discrimination in the labour sphere on the grounds of national ethnic origin, country of origin, beliefs, political views, political party, affiliation or age, and the Israeli efforts to reduce and eventually eradicate the economic and educational gap between the Jewish majority and the Arab minority.
(ACRI) published reports documenting racism in Israel, and the 2007 report suggested that anti-Arab racism in the country was increasing. One analysis of the report summarized it thus: "Over two-thirds Israeli teens believe Arabs to be less intelligent, uncultured and violent. Over a third of Israeli teens fear Arabs all together....The report becomes even grimmer, citing the ACRI's racism poll, taken in March of 2007, in which 50% of Israelis taking part said they would not live in the same building as Arabs, will not befriend, or let their children befriend Arabs and would not let Arabs into their homes." The 2008 report from ACRI says the trend of increasing racism is continuing. An Israeli minister charged the poll as biased and not credible. The Israeli government spokesman responded that the Israeli government was "committed to fighting racism whenever it raises it ugly head and is committed to full equality to all Israeli citizens, irrespective of ethnicity, creed or background, as defined by our declaration of independence". Isi Leibler of the Jerusalem Center for Public affairs argues that Israeli Jews are troubled by "increasingly hostile, even treasonable outbursts by Israeli Arabs against the state" while it is at war with neighboring countries, and therefore have grounds for their racism.
Another 2007 report, by the Center Against Racism, also found hostility against Arabs was on the rise. Among its findings it reported that 75%of Israeli Jews don't approve of Arabs and Jews sharing apartment buildings; that over half of Jews wouldn't want to have an Arab boss and that marrying an Arab amounts to "national treason"; and that 55% of the sample thought Arabs should be kept separate from Jews in entertainment sites. Half wanted the Israeli government to encourage Israeli Arabs to immigrate. About 40% believed Arab citizens should have their voting rights removed.
A March 2010 poll by Tel Aviv University found that 49.5% of Israeli Jewish high school students believe Israeli Arabs should not be entitled to the same rights as Jews in Israel. 56% believe Arabs should not be eligible to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.
An October 2010 poll by the Dahaf polling agency found that 36% of Israeli Jews favor eliminating voting rights for non-Jews. In recent polling (2003–2009) between 42% and 56% of Israelis agreed that "Israeli Arabs suffer from discrimination as opposed to Jewish citizens;" 80% of Israeli Arabs agreed with that statement in 2009.
Israel is a signatory of the Convention against Discrimination in Education
, and ratified it in 1961. The convention has the status of law in Israeli courts. Israeli Pupils’ Rights Law of 2000 prohibits discrimination of students for sectarian reasons in admission to or expulsion from educational institutions, in establishment of separate educational curricula or holding of separate classes in the same educational institution.
According to a 2001 report by Human Rights Watch
, Israel's school systems for Arab and Jewish children are separate and have unequal conditions to the disadvantage of the Arab children who make up one quarter of all students. Israeli law does not prohibit Palestinian Arab parents from enrolling their children in Jewish schools, but in practice, very few Palestinian Arab parents do so. The report stated that "Government-run Arab schools are a world apart from government-run Jewish schools. In virtually every respect, Palestinian Arab children get an education inferior to that of Jewish children, and their relatively poor performance in school reflects this." In 1999, in an attempt to close the gap between Arab and Jewish education sectors, the Education Minister of Israel announced an affirmative action
policy which promised that Arabs would be granted 25% of the education budget, proportionally more funding than their 18% of the population, and supported the creation of an Arab academic college.
A 2009 study from the Hebrew University's School of Education demonstrated that the Israeli Education Ministry's budget for special assistance to students from low socioeconomic backgrounds "severely" discriminated against Arabs. The study found that because there were more needy Arab students, but fewer Arab students overall, educationally needy Jewish students receive anywhere from 3.8 to 6.9 times as much funding as equally needy Arab students. The Education Ministry said in response to the report that a decision has already been made to abandon this allocation method. The Follow-Up Committee for Arab Education notes that the Israeli government spends an average of $192 per year on each Arab student compared to $1,100 per Jewish student. The drop-out rate for Arab citizens of Israel is twice as high as that of their Jewish counterparts (12 percent versus 6 percent). The same group also notes that there is a 5,000-classroom shortage in the Arab sector.
A 2007 report of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination noted that separate sectors are maintained for Jewish and Arab education. It recommended that Israel should assess the extent to which maintenance of separate Arab and Jewish sectors "may amount to racial segregation", and that mixed Arab-Jewish communities and schools, and intercultural education should be promoted. In a 2008 report, Israel responded that parents are entitled to enroll their children in the educational institution of their choice, whether the spoken language is Hebrew, Arabic or bilingual. It also noted that Israel promotes a variety of programs that promote intercultural cooperation, tolerance and understanding
In Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, Nurit Peled-Elhanan
, a professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
, describes the depiction of Arabs in Israeli schoolbooks as racist. She states that their only representation is as ‘refugees, primitive farmers and terrorists’, claiming that in "hundreds and hundreds" of books, not one photograph depicted an Arab as a "normal person". Arnon Groiss of the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace criticized these findings. After reviewing the same books examined by Peled-Ehanan, Groiss concluded that "Peled-Ehanan's claim regarding this point is clearly false ... This heavily politicized and thus biased approach distorts the material to produce a picture to her liking." Groiss further criticized the work of Peled-Elhanan for stretching the definition of racism to include cases that researchers would normally categorize as ethnocentrism
.
is a private organization established in 1901 to buy and develop land in the Land of Israel
for Jewish settlement; land purchases were funded by donations from world Jewry exclusively for that purpose.
Discrimination has been claimed regarding ownership and leasing of land in Israel, because approximately 13% of Israel's land, owned by the Jewish National Fund
, is restricted to Jewish ownership and tenancy, and Arabs are prevented from buying or leasing that land.
with racism, or describe Zionism itself as racist or discriminatory. In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly
passed Resolution 3379, which concluded that "Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination." During debate on the resolution, U.S. ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan
argued that Zionism "clearly is not a form of racism," defining racism as "an ideology... which favors discrimination on the grounds of alleged biological differences." The resolution was revoked by Resolution 46/86 on December 16, 1991. Speaking to the General Assembly, George H. W. Bush
said "...to equate Zionism
with the intolerable sin of racism
is to twist history and forget the terrible plight of Jews in World War II and indeed throughout history."
Supporters of Zionism, such as Chaim Herzog
, argue that the movement is non-discriminatory and contains no racist aspects.
, which allows all Jews and persons of some Jewish descent to immigrate to Israel as racist, as Palestinian refugee
s are not eligible for citizenship. Palestinians and advocates for Palestinian refugee rights criticize the Law of Return, which they compare to the Palestinian claim to a right of return
. These critics consider the Law, as contrasted against the denial of the right of Palestinian refugees to return, as offensive and as institutionalized ethnic discrimination.
Supporters of the Law argue that it is consistent with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
Article I(3) which allows for preferential treatments of some groups for purpose of immigration, provided there is no discrimination against a specific nationality.
In addition, proponents of the law point out that in addition to Israel, several other countries provide immigration privileges to individuals with ethnic ties to these countries. Examples include Germany
, Serbia
, Greece
, Japan
, Turkey
, Ireland
, Russia
, Italy
, Spain
, Chile
, Poland
and Finland
(See Right of return
and Repatriation laws
.) Some supporters noted that the decision by the Venice Commission
recognized the relationship between
ethnic minorities and their kin-states as legitimate and even desirable, and preference in immigration and naturalization is mentioned as an example of legitimate preference.
In response to Arab criticism of Israel's Law of Return as discriminatory in a 1975 United Nations resolution debate, Israelis argued that Palestinian Israelis were not subject to any legal discrimination.
applying for Israeli citizenship to swear loyalty to Israel
as a Jewish and democratic state. The bill must still pass a vote in the Knesset
in order to become law.
Opinions of the proposed amendment in Israel were divided. Some commentators defended it because it reinforces Israel's aspirations as a Jewish and democratic state, as expressed in its declaration of independence, and as a part of a larger campaign to secure recognition for Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people. Other commentators condemned the proposal as "racist", since Jews were exempt from the oath.
In October 2010, over 100 Israeli artists, writers and intellectuals, demonstrated in Tel-Aviv against the loyalty oath, among them Hanna Maron
, a famous Israeli actress and theatre personality. During the demonstration, Israeli author Sefi Rachlevsky said "a country that invades the sacred space of the citizen's conscience, and punishes him for opinions and beliefs that are not in line with the authorities ... ceases to be a democracy and becomes a fascist state." Gavriel Solomon, a Israeli educational psychologist, has compared the law with 1935 Nuremberg racist laws
that targeted German Jews.
On October 18, following pressure from his cabinet and the public, Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered Justice Minister Ya'akov Ne'eman to make amendments which make the loyalty oath universal to both Jewish and non-Jewish naturalized citizens. This inclusion of Jewish immigrants was supported by the Anti-Defamation League
.
bars immigration by family reunification
to couples of an Israeli citizen and a Palestinian resident of the Israeli-occupied territories
. Amnesty International
says this mostly affects Arabs. The law has been condemned by Amnesty International
as "racial discrimination". The government says the law say it is aimed at preventing terrorist attacks. Some leaders of the Kadima
party support the law in order to preserve the state's Jewish character. Mishael Cheshin
, one of supreme court judges who upheld the law, wrote that "at a time of war the state could prevent the entry of enemy subjects to its territory even if they were married to citizens of the state".
Dov Lior
, Chief Rabbi
of Hebron
and Kiryat Arba
in the southern West Bank
and head of the "Council of Rabbis of Judea and Samaria
" issued a religious edict saying "a thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew's fingernail" and stated that captured Arab terrorists could be used to conduct medical experiments, and also ruled that Jewish Law forbids employing Arabs or renting homes to them. Lior denied holding racist views. In June 2011 the Rabbi was arrested by Israeli police and questioned on suspicion of inciting violence. Both opposition leader Tzipi Livni
and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
called for a full judicial investigation of Lior's remarks and said that rabbis were not above the law.
In October 2010, Ovadia Yosef
, a former Sephardi chief rabbi
, stated that the sole purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews".
On 7 Dec 2010, a group of 50 state-paid rabbis signed a letter instructing Orthodox Jews not to rent or sell houses to non-Jews. The letter was later endorsed by some 250 other Jewish religious figures. A hotline was opened for denouncing those Jews who did intend to rent out to Arabs. On 12 Dec 2010, the rabbis of the Israeli Jewish city of Rosh HaAyin, including the chief rabbi, declared a ban on hiring Arabs at stores which employ Jewish girls.
On 19 Dec 2010, a attended by 200 people was held in Bat Yam against the "assimilation
" of young Jewish women with Arabs. One of the organizers, Bentzi Gopstein, said that the motives are not racist: "It is important to explain that the problem is religious, not racist. If my son were to decide to marry an Arab woman who converted, I wouldn't have a problem with that. My problem is the assimilation that the phenomenon causes." One of the protestors called out, "Any Jewish woman who goes with an Arab should be killed; any Jew who sells his home to an Arab should be killed." Bat Yam Mayor Shlomo Lahyani condemned the event, saying "The city of Bat Yam denounces any racist phenomenon. This is a democratic country,". Nearby, about 200 residents of Bat Yam held a counter protest, waving signs reading, "We're fed up with racists" and "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies". Later that month, the wives of 27 rabbis signed a letter calling on Jewish girls to stay away from Arab men. The document stated: "Don't date them, don't work where they work and don't perform National Service with them."
Some critics assert that racism against non-Jewish ethnicities in Israel is rationalized by the religious precept that Jews are the chosen people. The Anti-Defamation League
and other authorities assert that the concept of chosen people within Judaism has nothing to do with racial superiority, but rather is a description of the special relationship between God and Jews.
bing incident took place when a gang of Russian immigrants chanting racist slogans stabbed and lightly injured Arab Knesset member Abbas Zakour
, which was part of a "stabbing rampage" and was described as a "hate crime
".
The Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel reported a tenfold increase in racist incidents against Arabs in 2008. Jerusalem reported the highest number of racist incidents against Arabs. The report blamed Israeli leaders for the violence, saying "These attacks are not the hand of fate, but a direct result of incitement against the Arab citizens of this country by religious, public, and elected officials."
The Bedouin
claim they face systemic discrimination and have submitted a counter-report to the United Nations
that disputes the Israeli government's official state report. They claim they are not treated as equal citizens in Israel and that Bedouin towns are not provided the same level of services or land that Jewish towns of the same size are, and that they are not given fair access to water. The city of Beersheba
refused to recognize a Bedouin holy site, despite a High Court recommendation.
In late 2010, the number of racist incidents against Arabs increased. The events were described by the Defense Minister of Israel, Ehud Barak
, as a "wave of racism." The most notable ones took place on 20 December 2010, when a group of five Arabs were driven from an apartment in Tel Aviv after their landlady was threatened with the torching of her home if she continued to rent out to Arabs, and on 21 December 2010, when a gang of Jewish youths was arrested in Jerusalem after carrying out a large number of attacks on Arabs. A girl aged 14 would lure Arab men to the Independence Park, where they were attacked with stones and bottles and severely beaten. The teens confessed to nationalistic motives. On 31 Oct 2010, a Jewish mob gathered outside of an Arab students' residence in Safed, chanted "death to the Arabs," hurled rocks and bottles at the building, shattering glass, and fired a shot at the building before dissassembling.
On May 2011, two Israeli border patrolmen were charged with physical abuse against an Arab minor who was carrying firecrackers. The incident took place in March 2010. The youth was punched, knocked to the floor, kicked, and had death threats thrown against him by the officers. At a police station, the 17-years-old male was tricked by a female cop into believing he was going to die. After making the prisoner go down on his knees, she allegedly pointed her pistol at him at point-blank range. It was not loaded, but the minor did not know this because his eyes were covered. According to the charges, she counted to 10, with the teen begging her not to kill him. She allegedly pulled the trigger, saying "Death to Arabs."
was confronted once with a sign reading "Abbas Suan, you don't represent us". Under Israeli law, soccer fans can be prosecuted for incitement of racial hatred. The "New Voices from the Stadium" program, run by the New Israel Fund
(NIF) amasses a "racism index" that is reported to the media on a weekly basis, and teams have been fined and punished for the conduct of their fans. According to Steve Rothman
, the NIF San Francisco director, "Things have definitely improved, particularly in sensitizing people to the existence of racism in Israeli society." In 2006, Israel joined Football Against Racism in Europe
(FARE), network set up to counter racism in soccer.
poll, which included 527 Israeli Arab respondents, showed that 35% of Israeli Arabs said their opinion of Jews was unfavorable, while 56% said their opinion was favorable (the figures amongst Israeli Jews on their attitude to themselves were 94% favorable; 6% unfavorable).
A 2009 poll found that 40.5% of the Arab citizens of Israel denied the Holocaust
, up from 28% in 2006.
and in Arab areas of Jerusalem, including murders. Among the people killed in such attacks was Kristine Luken, an American tourist stabbed in a forest near Jerusalem after being seen wearing a Star of David
necklace. In Jerusalem, Jews driving through Al-Issawiya
have been subjected to ambushes by crowds, as was a repairman who had been hired by a resident. Emergency services vehicles have also been attacked while passing through the neighborhood. Jews who travel to the Mount of Olives
also risk violence. Jews who enter or buy property in Arab areas face harassment, and Arabs who have sold property to Jews have been murdered. In 2010, an Israeli-Jewish security guard, Kochav Segal Halevi, was forced from his home in the Arab town of I'billin
after a racist crowd gathered at his house, and he received death threats.
In 2008, the slogan "Death to the Jews" was found spray-painted in Arabic on the cargo hold of an El Al
plane.
In 2010, the wall of a synagogue and a Jewish residence in the mixed Jewish-Arab Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa
were spray-painted with swastikas and Palestinian flags.
is racist because he "turned away from integration" and "wants to build an Arab university in Nazareth, as well as an Arab hospital in the Galilee." Tibi had been previously accused of racism: in 1997, he said "whoever sells his house to the Jews has sold his soul to Satan and done a despicable act".
The head of the Islamic movement in Israel's Northern Branch, was charged with incitement to racism and to violence. During legal proceedings, the prosecution said that Sheikh Raed Salah made his inflammatory remarks "with the objective of inciting racism." he also accused Jews of using children's blood to bake bread. He said, ""We have never allowed ourselves to knead [the dough for] the bread that breaks the fast in the holy month of Ramadan with children's blood," he said. "Whoever wants a more thorough explanation, let him ask what used to happen to some children in Europe, whose blood was mixed in with the dough of the [Jewish] holy bread."
, Arab-Israelis rioted while protesting Israeli actions in the early stages of the Second Intifada, attacking Jewish civilians and Israeli police with live gunfire, molotov cocktails, stones, and vandalism of Jewish property. One Egged bus torched on the first day. Arab rioting took place in Umm al-Fahm
, Baqa-Jatt, Sakhnin
, Nazareth
, Lod
, Kafar Kanna
, Mashhad
, Arraba
, Ramla
, Or Akiva and Nazareth Illit
. A Jewish citizen was killed when his car was stoned, and a synagogue was torched. Hundreds of Arab residents of Jaffa
burned tires, threw rocks, and beat reporters.
Thousands of Jews counter-rioted against Arabs in Nazareth
, Bat Yam, Petah Tikva
, Tiberias, Tel Aviv
, Acre
, Nazareth Illit
, Lod
, Rosh HaAyin
, Or Akiva and Jerusalem, throwing stones at and beating Arabs, vandalizing and torching Arab homes and property, attacking Arab traffic, and chanting "Death to the Arabs!". An Arab worker was stabbed on his way to work in Rosh HaAyin
. In Jaffa
, a mosque was vandalized, and another was torched in Tiberias. In Tel Aviv
, Arab restaurant workers were chased from a restaurant, and their cars set alight.
Throughout the course of the riots, Israeli Police shot and killed twelve Israeli-Arab rioters and a Palestinian demonstrator from Gaza. Sam Lehman-Wilzig, Political Communications Professor at Bar-Ilan University, said that rioting is rare and alien to Jewish political society. "The numbers (of riots) are so low because of our Jewish political culture which encourages protesting, but seriously discourages violent protest," he said. He argues that the riots were caused since Israelis felt threatened by the "pressure cooker syndrome" of fighting not just the Palestinians and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas, but also the Israeli Arab population.
In 2008, a series of riots broke out in Acre
, after an Arab motorist and his teenage son drove into a predominantly Jewish neighborhood during Yom Kippur
, the holiest day in the Jewish religion, to visit relatives. According to police, their car's windows were down and music was blaring. Police spokesperson Eran Shaked said that "this was a provocation... we believe he was intoxicated. This was a deliberate act". Their vehicle was pelted with stones, and they sought refuge in a relative's home. A Jewish mob chased them, then gathered around the building chanting "Death to the Arabs!", and attacked police who tried to intervene. An incorrect rumor spread among the Arab residents that the driver had been killed, prompting calls from local mosques to avenge his death. Arabs rioted in the city center, smashing shop windows, vandalizing vehicles, and throwing rocks at people going to or from Yom Kippur
prayers, chanting Death to the Jews" and "If you come out of your homes, you will die". Israeli Police forcibly dispersed the rioters with tear gas and stun grenades. As soon as the Yom Kippur fast ended, about 200 Jewish residents rioted in Acre's Arab neighborhoods, torching homes, vandalizing property, and forcing dozens of families to flee. Riots and retaliations by both sides continued for four days. Haaretz
editorialized that that year's "Yom Kippur
will be infamous for the violent, racist outburst by Jews against Arabs within Israel".
During the course of monitoring elections in 2009, a Member of the Knesset (MK) replaced another Jewish election monitor at the Israeli-Arab town of Umm al-Fahm
, who was prevented by police from entering the city because of threats by local Arabs on his life. As soon as the MK began to perform his duties, an Israeli-Arab mob rioted outside attacking the guards and shouts of “Death to the Jews” could be heard. Israeli Police arrested five rioters.
Other authorities describe the discrimination by Ashkenazi as class-based, not race-based. For example, the differences between (Mizrahi) Sephardic Jews (N. Africans, Middle Easterners, Yemenites, etc.) are referred to as Adatiyut community-differences (resulting also in some traditional customary gaps).
Some sources claim that reports of inter-Jewish discrimination in Israel arise from propaganda published by Arab sources which ignores the normality and harmony between the communities.
made a high-profile apology to Oriental Jews in Netivot
stating:
Barak's address also said that during the 1950s, Mizrahi immigrants were "made to feel that their own traditions were inferior to those of the dominant Ashkenazi [European-origin] Israelis [Alex Weingrod's paraphrase]." Several prominent Labor party figures, including Teddy Kollek
and Shimon Peres
, distanced themselves from the apology while agreeing that mistakes were made during the immigration period.
The cultural differences between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews impacted the degree and rate of assimilation into Israeli society, and sometimes the divide between Eastern European and Middle Eastern Jews was quite sharp. Segregation, especially in the area of housing, limited integration possibilities over the years. Intermarriage between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim is increasingly common in Israel, and by the late 1990s 28% of all Israeli children had multi-ethnic parents (up from 14% in the 1950s). A 1983 research found that children of inter-ethnic marriages in Israel enjoyed improved socio-economic status.
Although social integration is constantly improving, disparities persist. A study conducted by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS), Mizrahi Jews are less likely to pursue academic studies than Ashkenazi Jews. Israeli-born Ashkenazi are up to twice more likely to study in a university than Israeli-born Mizrahim. Furthermore, the percentage of Mizrahim who seek a university education remains low compared to second-generation immigrant groups of Ashkenazi origin, such as Russians. According to a survey by the Adva Center, the average income of Ashkenazim was 36 percent higher than that of Mizrahim in 2004.
Some claim that the education system discriminates against Jewish minorities from North Africa and the Middle East, and one source suggests that "ethnic prejudice against Mizrahi Jews is a relatively general phenomenon, not limited to the schooling process".
There was a case in 2010, when a Haredi school system, where Sephardi and Mizrahi students were sometimes excluded or segregated. In 2010, the Israeli supreme court sent a strong message against discrimination in a case involving the Slonim
Hassidic sect of the Ashkenazi, ruling that segregation between Ashkenazi and Sephardi students in a school is illegal. They argue that they seek "to maintain an equal level of religiosity, not from racism." Responding to the charges, the Slonim Haredim invited Sephardi girls to school, and added in a statement: “All along, we said it's not about race, but the High Court went out against our rabbis, and therefore we went to prison."
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In 1950s, 1,033 children of Yemenite immigrant families disappeared. In most instances, the parents claim that they were told their children were ill and required hospitalization. Upon later visiting the hospital, it is claimed that the parents were told that their children had died though no bodies were presented or graves which have later proven to be empty in many cases were shown to the parents. Those who believe the theory contend that the Israeli government as well as other organizations in Israel kidnapped the children and gave them for adoption. Secular Israeli Jews of European descent were accused of collaborating in the disappearance of babies of Yemeni Jews and anti religious motives and Anti-religious coercion were alleged, Some went further to accuse the Israeli authorities of conspiring to kidnap the Yemeni children due to "racist" motives.
In 2001 a seven-year public inquiry commission concluded that the accusations that Yemenite children were kidnapped are not true. The commission has unequivocally rejected claims of a plot to take children away from Yemenite immigrants. The report determined that documentation exists for 972 of the 1,033 missing children. Five additional missing babies were found to be alive. The commission was unable to discover what happened in another 56 cases. With regard to these unresolved 56 cases, the commission deemed it "possible" that the children were handed over for adoption following decisions made by individual local social workers, but not as part of an official policy.
). In the case that caused the controversy, the Chief Rabbi of Israel ruled that before registering a marriage between Indian Jews and Jews not belonging to that community, the registering rabbi should investigate the lineage of the Indian applicant for possible non-Jewish descent, and in case of doubt, require the applicant to perform conversion or immersion. The alleged discrimination may actually be related to the fact that some religious authorities believe that the Bene Israel
are not fully Jewish because of inter-marriage during their long separation.
In 1964 the government of Israel led by Levi Eshkol
declared that it regards Bene Israel of India as Jews without exception, who are equal to other Jews in respect of all matters.
Nearly all of the Ethiopian Beta Israel
community, a community of Black Jews, resides in Israel. The Israeli government has mounted rescue operations, most notably during Operation Moses
(1984) and Operation Solomon
(1991), for their migration when civil war and famine threatened populations within Ethiopia. Today 81,000 Israelis were born in Ethiopia, while 38,500 or 32% of the community are native born Israelis.
The absorption of the Ethiopians into Israeli society marks a unique attempt to incorporate a nonwhite group as equal citizens with full rights as part of a Western predominantly white country. As such, according to the sociologist Prof. Uzi Rebhun, it represents an ambitious attempt to deny the significance of race Israeli authorities, aware of the situation of most African diaspora communities in other Western countries, hosted programs to avoid setting in patterns of discrimination. The Ethiopian Jewish community's internal challenges have been complicated by limited but real racist attitudes on the part of some elements of Israeli society and the official establishment. Nevertheless racism was commonly cited as explanation for policies and programs who failed to meet expectations. Racism was alleged regarding delays in admitting black Ethiopian Jews to Israel under the Law of return
. The delays in admitting Ethiopians may be attributed to religious motivations rather than racism, since there was debate whether or not Falasha Jews' (Beta Israel
) were Jewish.
Racism was also alleged in 2009, in a case where school children of Ethiopian ancestry were denied admission into three semi-private religious schools in the town of Petah Tikva
. An Israeli government official criticised the Petah Tikva Municipality and the semi-private Haredi schools, saying "This concerns not only the three schools that have, for a long time, been deceiving the entire educational system. For years, racism has developed here undeterred". Shas
spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef
threatened to fire any school principal from Shas's school system who refused to receive Ethiopian students. The Israeli Education Ministry decided to pull the funding from the Lamerhav, Da'at Mevinim and Darkei Noam schools, the three semi-private institutions that refused to accept the students. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
spoke out against the rejection of Ethiopian children, calling it "a moral terror attack."
The ADL
also states that Ethiopian Jews are not experiencing racism: "Whatever Israel's mistakes towards its Ethiopian Jewish community, the cause is not racism." It explains that "what causes the distress is bureaucratic ineptitude and a cultural gap between a traditional community and a modern, technologically-advanced, highly-competitive nation."
Prof. Sadredin Moosavi of UMass Dartmouth criticized the allegations, and said that Depo Provera remains sanctioned by the World Health Organization
. He said that the allegations were spread by The National
, an Arab newspaper based in the United Arab Emirates
which he claimed is biased against Israel. He added, "Why would a racist Israeli state go the effort to airlift Ethiopian Jews, clearly black and unable to stroll across the border without help, to Israel in the 1990s and only THEN attempt to exterminate them with Depo Provera?"
Black Hebrew Israelites
are groups of people mostly of Black African
ancestry who believe they are descendants of the ancient Israelite
s. They are generally not accepted as Jews by the greater Jewish community. Many choose to self-identify as Hebrew Israelites or Black Hebrews rather than as Jews.
When the first Black Hebrews arrived in Israel in 1969, they claimed citizenship under the Law of Return
, which gives eligible Jews immediate citizenship. The Israeli government ruled in 1973 that the group did not qualify for automatic citizenship, and the Black Hebrews were denied work permit
s and state benefits. The group responded by accusing the Israeli government of racist discrimination
.
In 1981, a group of American civil rights activist led by Bayard Rustin
investigated and concluded that racism was not the cause of Black Hebrews' situation. In 1990, Illinois legislators helped negotiate an agreement that resolved the Black Hebrews' legal status in Israel. Members of the group are permitted to work and have access to housing and social services. In 2003 the agreement was revised, and the Black Hebrews were granted permanent resident
status.
In his 1992 essay "Blacks and Jews: The Uncivil War", historian Taylor Branch
wrote that Black Hebrews were initially denied citizenship due to anti-black sentiment among Israeli Jews (according to mainstream Jewish religious authorities, members of the Black Hebrew Israelite group are not Jewish). According to historian Dr. Seth Forman the claims that the Black Hebrew Israelites were denied citizenship because they were black seem baseless, particularly in light of Israel's airlift of thousands of black Ethiopian Jews in the early 1990s.
According to the State Department, Israel's anti-discrimination law "prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, marital status, or sexual orientation. The law also prohibits discrimination by both government and nongovernment entities on the basis of race, religion, political beliefs, and age."
Israel is a signatory of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination treaty since 1966, and has ratified the treaty in 1979. The treaty forbids any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic
origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.
The Anti Defamation League states: "There is no Israeli ideology, policy or plan to segregate, persecute or mistreat its Israeli Arab citizens, nor Palestinian Arabs," it goes on in saying that Israel is a democracy which encourages vibrant debate, which has a flourishing free press and which shares with other liberal democracies a core value: the equality of all its citizens before the law.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that "Arab Israelis are citizens of Israel with equal rights" and states that "The only legal distinction between Arab and Jewish citizens is not one of rights, but rather of civic duty. Since Israel's establishment, Arab citizens have been exempted from compulsory service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)."
for housing Arab citizens. According to Israel advocacy group, Stand With Us, the city of Jerusalem gives Arab residents free professional advice to assist with the housing permit process and structural regulations, advice which is not available to Jewish residents on the same terms.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is a United Nations convention. A second-generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of understanding among all races...
, and is a signatory of the Convention against Discrimination in Education
Convention against Discrimination in Education
Convention against Discrimination in Education is a convention adopted by UNESCO in 1960 aiming to combat segregation and discrimination in the field of education. It has entered into force in 1962. There is an additional Protocol Instituting a Conciliation and Good offices Commission, adopted in...
.
Some elements of the Israeli society have been described as holding discriminatory attitudes towards Mizrahi Jews. Intermarriage between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim is increasingly common in Israel, and social integration is constantly improving, though disparities persist.
While some Ethiopian Jews have faced discrimination, overall their absorption into Israeli society has also been cited as a unique attempt to incorporate a nonwhite group as equal citizens with full rights as part of a Western predominantly white country. Scholars suggested that the situation of the Ethiopian Jews as 'becoming white' and similar to that of European immigrants who arrived in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Racism against Arabs in Israel has also been claimed in personal attitudes, the media, education, immigration rights, housing, and social life.
Existence of racism in Israel
According to Sammy Smooha, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Haifa, the answer to the question of whether racism exists in Israel depends on the definition of racism adopted. If Pierre L. van den BerghePierre L. van den Berghe
Pierre L. van den Berghe is professor emeritus of sociology and anthropology at the University of Washington, where he has worked since 1965. Born in the Congo to Belgian parents, and spending World War II in occupied Belgium, he was an early witness to ethnic conflict and racism, which eventually...
's view is adopted, that the term racism must be restricted to beliefs that a given biological race is superior, then ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own. The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with...
can be found in Israel, but not racism. According to other definitions, racism is a belief that membership in a certain group, not necessarily genetic or biological, determines the qualities of individuals. By this definition, racist views are present in portions of the Israeli population. Smooha adds that some Arab and Jewish writers make accusations of racism, but they use the term in a very loose way.
Racism against Arabs
Or Commission
The Or Commission was a panel of inquiry appointed by the Israeli government to investigate the events of October 2000 at the beginning of the Second Intifada in which 12 Arab citizens of Israel and one Palestinian were killed by Israeli police amidst several demonstrations...
, set up to explain the October 2000 unrest in many Israeli Arab communities
October 2000 events
The October 2000 events were a series of protests in Arab villages in northern Israel in October 2000 that turned violent, escalating into clashes between Israeli Arabs and the Israel Police and ending in the deaths of demonstrators.The Or Commission was established to investigate the police...
found,
"The state and generations of its government failed in a lack of comprehensive and deep handling of the serious problems created by the existence of a large Arab minority inside the Jewish state. Government handling of the Arab sector has been primarily neglectful and discriminatory. The establishment did not show sufficient sensitivity to the needs of the Arab population, and did not take enough action in order to allocate state resources in an equal manner. The state did not do enough or try hard enough to create equality for its Arab citizens or to uproot discriminatory or unjust phenomenon."
According to the 2004 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for Israel and the Occupied Territories, the Israeli government had done "little to reduce institutional, legal, and societal discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
against the country's Arab citizens." The 2005 US Department of State report on Israel wrote: "[T]he government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas, including... institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against the country’s Arab citizens." The 2010 U.S. State Department Country Report stated that Israeli law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, and that government effectively enforced these prohibitions. Former Likud
Likud
Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
MK and Minister of Defense Moshe Arens
Moshe Arens
Moshe Arens is an Israeli aeronautical engineer, researcher and former diplomat and politician. A member of the Knesset between 1973 and 1992 and again from 1999 until 2003, he served as Minister of Defense three times and once as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Arens has also served as the Israeli...
has criticized the treatment of minorities in Israel, saying that they did not bear the full obligation of Israeli citizenship, nor were they extended the full privileges of citizenship.
Israel is a state-party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is a United Nations convention. A second-generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of understanding among all races...
. According to the 1998 Report of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination found that the Convention "is far from fully implemented in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and that the shortfall contributes very significantly to the dangerous escalation of tension in the region.". The report positively noted the measures taken by Israel to prohibit the activities of racist political parties, the amendment of the Equal Opportunity in Employment Law, prohibiting discrimination in the labour sphere on the grounds of national ethnic origin, country of origin, beliefs, political views, political party, affiliation or age, and the Israeli efforts to reduce and eventually eradicate the economic and educational gap between the Jewish majority and the Arab minority.
Polls
The Association for Civil Rights in IsraelAssociation for Civil Rights in Israel
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel was created as an independent non-partisan organization to protect human rights and civil rights in Israel and the territories under its control....
(ACRI) published reports documenting racism in Israel, and the 2007 report suggested that anti-Arab racism in the country was increasing. One analysis of the report summarized it thus: "Over two-thirds Israeli teens believe Arabs to be less intelligent, uncultured and violent. Over a third of Israeli teens fear Arabs all together....The report becomes even grimmer, citing the ACRI's racism poll, taken in March of 2007, in which 50% of Israelis taking part said they would not live in the same building as Arabs, will not befriend, or let their children befriend Arabs and would not let Arabs into their homes." The 2008 report from ACRI says the trend of increasing racism is continuing. An Israeli minister charged the poll as biased and not credible. The Israeli government spokesman responded that the Israeli government was "committed to fighting racism whenever it raises it ugly head and is committed to full equality to all Israeli citizens, irrespective of ethnicity, creed or background, as defined by our declaration of independence". Isi Leibler of the Jerusalem Center for Public affairs argues that Israeli Jews are troubled by "increasingly hostile, even treasonable outbursts by Israeli Arabs against the state" while it is at war with neighboring countries, and therefore have grounds for their racism.
Another 2007 report, by the Center Against Racism, also found hostility against Arabs was on the rise. Among its findings it reported that 75%of Israeli Jews don't approve of Arabs and Jews sharing apartment buildings; that over half of Jews wouldn't want to have an Arab boss and that marrying an Arab amounts to "national treason"; and that 55% of the sample thought Arabs should be kept separate from Jews in entertainment sites. Half wanted the Israeli government to encourage Israeli Arabs to immigrate. About 40% believed Arab citizens should have their voting rights removed.
A March 2010 poll by Tel Aviv University found that 49.5% of Israeli Jewish high school students believe Israeli Arabs should not be entitled to the same rights as Jews in Israel. 56% believe Arabs should not be eligible to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.
An October 2010 poll by the Dahaf polling agency found that 36% of Israeli Jews favor eliminating voting rights for non-Jews. In recent polling (2003–2009) between 42% and 56% of Israelis agreed that "Israeli Arabs suffer from discrimination as opposed to Jewish citizens;" 80% of Israeli Arabs agreed with that statement in 2009.
In the media
Some authors, such as David Hirsi and Ayala Emmet, have criticized the Israeli media for portraying Arabs negatively. The Israeli media has been described as "racist" in its portrayals of Israeli-Arabs and Palestinians by Israeli-Arab Nabilia EspaniolyEducation system
Israel is a signatory of the Convention against Discrimination in Education
Convention against Discrimination in Education
Convention against Discrimination in Education is a convention adopted by UNESCO in 1960 aiming to combat segregation and discrimination in the field of education. It has entered into force in 1962. There is an additional Protocol Instituting a Conciliation and Good offices Commission, adopted in...
, and ratified it in 1961. The convention has the status of law in Israeli courts. Israeli Pupils’ Rights Law of 2000 prohibits discrimination of students for sectarian reasons in admission to or expulsion from educational institutions, in establishment of separate educational curricula or holding of separate classes in the same educational institution.
According to a 2001 report by Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, Israel's school systems for Arab and Jewish children are separate and have unequal conditions to the disadvantage of the Arab children who make up one quarter of all students. Israeli law does not prohibit Palestinian Arab parents from enrolling their children in Jewish schools, but in practice, very few Palestinian Arab parents do so. The report stated that "Government-run Arab schools are a world apart from government-run Jewish schools. In virtually every respect, Palestinian Arab children get an education inferior to that of Jewish children, and their relatively poor performance in school reflects this." In 1999, in an attempt to close the gap between Arab and Jewish education sectors, the Education Minister of Israel announced an affirmative action
Affirmative action
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
policy which promised that Arabs would be granted 25% of the education budget, proportionally more funding than their 18% of the population, and supported the creation of an Arab academic college.
A 2009 study from the Hebrew University's School of Education demonstrated that the Israeli Education Ministry's budget for special assistance to students from low socioeconomic backgrounds "severely" discriminated against Arabs. The study found that because there were more needy Arab students, but fewer Arab students overall, educationally needy Jewish students receive anywhere from 3.8 to 6.9 times as much funding as equally needy Arab students. The Education Ministry said in response to the report that a decision has already been made to abandon this allocation method. The Follow-Up Committee for Arab Education notes that the Israeli government spends an average of $192 per year on each Arab student compared to $1,100 per Jewish student. The drop-out rate for Arab citizens of Israel is twice as high as that of their Jewish counterparts (12 percent versus 6 percent). The same group also notes that there is a 5,000-classroom shortage in the Arab sector.
A 2007 report of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination noted that separate sectors are maintained for Jewish and Arab education. It recommended that Israel should assess the extent to which maintenance of separate Arab and Jewish sectors "may amount to racial segregation", and that mixed Arab-Jewish communities and schools, and intercultural education should be promoted. In a 2008 report, Israel responded that parents are entitled to enroll their children in the educational institution of their choice, whether the spoken language is Hebrew, Arabic or bilingual. It also noted that Israel promotes a variety of programs that promote intercultural cooperation, tolerance and understanding
In Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, Nurit Peled-Elhanan
Nurit Peled-Elhanan
Nurit Peled-Elhanan is a Professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, an Israeli peace activist, and one of the founders of the Bereaved Families for Peace...
, a professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
, describes the depiction of Arabs in Israeli schoolbooks as racist. She states that their only representation is as ‘refugees, primitive farmers and terrorists’, claiming that in "hundreds and hundreds" of books, not one photograph depicted an Arab as a "normal person". Arnon Groiss of the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace criticized these findings. After reviewing the same books examined by Peled-Ehanan, Groiss concluded that "Peled-Ehanan's claim regarding this point is clearly false ... This heavily politicized and thus biased approach distorts the material to produce a picture to her liking." Groiss further criticized the work of Peled-Elhanan for stretching the definition of racism to include cases that researchers would normally categorize as ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own. The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with...
.
Land ownership
The Jewish National FundJewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
is a private organization established in 1901 to buy and develop land in the Land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
for Jewish settlement; land purchases were funded by donations from world Jewry exclusively for that purpose.
Discrimination has been claimed regarding ownership and leasing of land in Israel, because approximately 13% of Israel's land, owned by the Jewish National Fund
Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
, is restricted to Jewish ownership and tenancy, and Arabs are prevented from buying or leasing that land.
Zionism
Some critics of Israel equate ZionismZionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
with racism, or describe Zionism itself as racist or discriminatory. In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
passed Resolution 3379, which concluded that "Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination." During debate on the resolution, U.S. ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick "Pat" Moynihan was an American politician and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the United States Senate for New York in 1976, and was re-elected three times . He declined to run for re-election in 2000...
argued that Zionism "clearly is not a form of racism," defining racism as "an ideology... which favors discrimination on the grounds of alleged biological differences." The resolution was revoked by Resolution 46/86 on December 16, 1991. Speaking to the General Assembly, George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
said "...to equate Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
with the intolerable sin of racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
is to twist history and forget the terrible plight of Jews in World War II and indeed throughout history."
Supporters of Zionism, such as Chaim Herzog
Chaim Herzog
Chaim Herzog served as the sixth President of Israel , following a distinguished career in both the British Army and the Israel Defense Forces .-Early life:...
, argue that the movement is non-discriminatory and contains no racist aspects.
Law of return controversy
Some critics of Israel have described the Law of ReturnLaw of Return
The Law of Return is Israeli legislation, passed on 5 July 1950, that gives Jews the right of return and settlement in Israel and gain citizenship...
, which allows all Jews and persons of some Jewish descent to immigrate to Israel as racist, as Palestinian refugee
Palestinian refugee
Palestinian refugees or Palestine refugees are the people and their descendants, predominantly Palestinian Arabic-speakers, who fled or were expelled from their homes during and after the 1948 Palestine War, within that part of the British Mandate of Palestine, that after that war became the...
s are not eligible for citizenship. Palestinians and advocates for Palestinian refugee rights criticize the Law of Return, which they compare to the Palestinian claim to a right of return
Right of return
The term right of return refers to a principle of international law, codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, giving any person the right to return to, and re-enter, his or her country of origin...
. These critics consider the Law, as contrasted against the denial of the right of Palestinian refugees to return, as offensive and as institutionalized ethnic discrimination.
Supporters of the Law argue that it is consistent with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is a United Nations convention. A second-generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of understanding among all races...
Article I(3) which allows for preferential treatments of some groups for purpose of immigration, provided there is no discrimination against a specific nationality.
In addition, proponents of the law point out that in addition to Israel, several other countries provide immigration privileges to individuals with ethnic ties to these countries. Examples include Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
(See Right of return
Right of return
The term right of return refers to a principle of international law, codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, giving any person the right to return to, and re-enter, his or her country of origin...
and Repatriation laws
Repatriation laws
Repatriation laws have been created in many countries to enable diasporas to immigrate to their "kin-state". This is sometimes known as the exercise of the right of return. Repatriation laws give members of the diaspora the right to immigrate to their kinstate...
.) Some supporters noted that the decision by the Venice Commission
Venice Commission
The Venice Commission is an advisory body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law. It was created in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin wall, at a time of urgent need for constitutional assistance in Central and Eastern Europe...
recognized the relationship between
ethnic minorities and their kin-states as legitimate and even desirable, and preference in immigration and naturalization is mentioned as an example of legitimate preference.
In response to Arab criticism of Israel's Law of Return as discriminatory in a 1975 United Nations resolution debate, Israelis argued that Palestinian Israelis were not subject to any legal discrimination.
Proposed oath of allegiance
On 10 October 2010 the Israeli cabinet voted in favor of an amendment to the Citizenship Act requiring all future non-JewsJews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
applying for Israeli citizenship to swear loyalty to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
as a Jewish and democratic state. The bill must still pass a vote in the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
in order to become law.
Opinions of the proposed amendment in Israel were divided. Some commentators defended it because it reinforces Israel's aspirations as a Jewish and democratic state, as expressed in its declaration of independence, and as a part of a larger campaign to secure recognition for Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people. Other commentators condemned the proposal as "racist", since Jews were exempt from the oath.
In October 2010, over 100 Israeli artists, writers and intellectuals, demonstrated in Tel-Aviv against the loyalty oath, among them Hanna Maron
Hanna Maron
- See also :* List of Israel Prize recipients...
, a famous Israeli actress and theatre personality. During the demonstration, Israeli author Sefi Rachlevsky said "a country that invades the sacred space of the citizen's conscience, and punishes him for opinions and beliefs that are not in line with the authorities ... ceases to be a democracy and becomes a fascist state." Gavriel Solomon, a Israeli educational psychologist, has compared the law with 1935 Nuremberg racist laws
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were antisemitic laws in Nazi Germany introduced at the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. After the takeover of power in 1933 by Hitler, Nazism became an official ideology incorporating scientific racism and antisemitism...
that targeted German Jews.
On October 18, following pressure from his cabinet and the public, Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered Justice Minister Ya'akov Ne'eman to make amendments which make the loyalty oath universal to both Jewish and non-Jewish naturalized citizens. This inclusion of Jewish immigrants was supported by the Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
.
Marriage
Israel's Citizenship and Entry into Israel LawCitizenship and Entry into Israel Law
The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law 5763 is an Israeli law first passed on 31 July, 2003 and most recently extended in June 2008...
bars immigration by family reunification
Family reunification
Family reunification is a recognized reason for immigration in many countries. The presence of one or more family members in a certain country, therefore, enables the rest of the family to immigrate to that country as well....
to couples of an Israeli citizen and a Palestinian resident of the Israeli-occupied territories
Israeli-occupied territories
The Israeli-occupied territories are the territories which have been designated as occupied territory by the United Nations and other international organizations, governments and others to refer to the territory seized by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria...
. Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
says this mostly affects Arabs. The law has been condemned by Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
as "racial discrimination". The government says the law say it is aimed at preventing terrorist attacks. Some leaders of the Kadima
Kadima
Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...
party support the law in order to preserve the state's Jewish character. Mishael Cheshin
Mishael Cheshin
Mishael Cheshin was an Israeli judge who served in the Supreme Court of Israel from 1992 to 2006.Mishael Cheshin is the son of Shneor Cheshin, who served on the Israeli Supreme Court in the early days of the state. He is married to Ruth Cheshin, president of the Jerusalem Foundation.They have...
, one of supreme court judges who upheld the law, wrote that "at a time of war the state could prevent the entry of enemy subjects to its territory even if they were married to citizens of the state".
Religious racism
Rabbi David Batzri and his son Yitzhak were investigated by Police after they made racist remarks against Arabs and protested against a mixed Arab-Jewish school in Jerusalem. As part of a 2008 plea bargain, Yitzhak Batzri was sentenced to community service, and his father, David, issued a declaration saying he was opposed to any racist incitement and said that he calls for love, brotherhood and friendship.Dov Lior
Dov Lior
Dov Lior is an Israeli rabbi, who currently serves as the Chief Rabbi of Hebron and Kiryat Arba in the southern West Bank. He is also the rosh yeshiva Kiryat Arba Hesder Yeshiva, and also heads the "Council of Rabbis of Judea and Samaria".-Biography:...
, Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
of Hebron
Committee of The Jewish Community of Hebron
The Committee of the Jewish Community of Hebron is the municipal body of the Israeli settlers of the city of Hebron, on the West Bank. The community constitutes a Regional Committee, included the Har Hebron Regional Council. The mayor/spokesman of the community is David Wilder. Beit HaShalom, , was...
and Kiryat Arba
Kiryat Arba
Kiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba , lit. "Town of the Four," is an Israeli settlement in the Judean Mountains region of the West Bank on the edge of Hebron. Its settlers consist of a mix of Russian immigrants, American immigrants, and native-born Israelis numbering close to 10,000...
in the southern West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
and head of the "Council of Rabbis of Judea and Samaria
Yesha
Yesha is a Hebrew acronym for "Judea, Samaria Gaza" , and is one of a number of terms used to describe the areas military occupied by Israel after the Six-Day War of June 1967...
" issued a religious edict saying "a thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew's fingernail" and stated that captured Arab terrorists could be used to conduct medical experiments, and also ruled that Jewish Law forbids employing Arabs or renting homes to them. Lior denied holding racist views. In June 2011 the Rabbi was arrested by Israeli police and questioned on suspicion of inciting violence. Both opposition leader Tzipi Livni
Tzipi Livni
Tzipporah Malkah "Tzipi" Livni is an Israeli lawyer and politician. She is the current Israeli Opposition Leader and leader of Kadima, the largest party in the Knesset. Raised an ardent nationalist, Livni has become one of her nation's leading voices for the two-state solution. In Israel she has...
and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
called for a full judicial investigation of Lior's remarks and said that rabbis were not above the law.
In October 2010, Ovadia Yosef
Ovadia Yosef
Ovadia Yosef is the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, a recognised Talmudic scholar and foremost halakhic authority.He currently serves as the spiritual leader of the Shas political party in the Israeli parliament...
, a former Sephardi chief rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
, stated that the sole purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews".
On 7 Dec 2010, a group of 50 state-paid rabbis signed a letter instructing Orthodox Jews not to rent or sell houses to non-Jews. The letter was later endorsed by some 250 other Jewish religious figures. A hotline was opened for denouncing those Jews who did intend to rent out to Arabs. On 12 Dec 2010, the rabbis of the Israeli Jewish city of Rosh HaAyin, including the chief rabbi, declared a ban on hiring Arabs at stores which employ Jewish girls.
On 19 Dec 2010, a attended by 200 people was held in Bat Yam against the "assimilation
Jewish assimilation
Jewish assimilation refers to the cultural assimilation and social integration of Jews in their surrounding culture. Assimilation became legally possible in Europe during the Age of Enlightenment.-Background:Judaism forbids the worship of other gods...
" of young Jewish women with Arabs. One of the organizers, Bentzi Gopstein, said that the motives are not racist: "It is important to explain that the problem is religious, not racist. If my son were to decide to marry an Arab woman who converted, I wouldn't have a problem with that. My problem is the assimilation that the phenomenon causes." One of the protestors called out, "Any Jewish woman who goes with an Arab should be killed; any Jew who sells his home to an Arab should be killed." Bat Yam Mayor Shlomo Lahyani condemned the event, saying "The city of Bat Yam denounces any racist phenomenon. This is a democratic country,". Nearby, about 200 residents of Bat Yam held a counter protest, waving signs reading, "We're fed up with racists" and "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies". Later that month, the wives of 27 rabbis signed a letter calling on Jewish girls to stay away from Arab men. The document stated: "Don't date them, don't work where they work and don't perform National Service with them."
Some critics assert that racism against non-Jewish ethnicities in Israel is rationalized by the religious precept that Jews are the chosen people. The Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
and other authorities assert that the concept of chosen people within Judaism has nothing to do with racial superiority, but rather is a description of the special relationship between God and Jews.
Incidents
In 2006, a stabStab
STAB or stab can mean:*The act of stabbing with a sharp instrument*Stab, a short form of stab jacket, another word for buoyancy compensator*Stab vest, a type of armour designed to resist knife attacks...
bing incident took place when a gang of Russian immigrants chanting racist slogans stabbed and lightly injured Arab Knesset member Abbas Zakour
Abbas Zakour
Abbas Zakour is an Israeli Arab politician and a former member of the Knesset for the United Arab List.-Biography:Born in Acre, Zakour gained a BA in Islamic Sciences at the Al-Quds University in 1990...
, which was part of a "stabbing rampage" and was described as a "hate crime
Hate crime
In crime and law, hate crimes occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, social status or...
".
The Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel reported a tenfold increase in racist incidents against Arabs in 2008. Jerusalem reported the highest number of racist incidents against Arabs. The report blamed Israeli leaders for the violence, saying "These attacks are not the hand of fate, but a direct result of incitement against the Arab citizens of this country by religious, public, and elected officials."
The Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
claim they face systemic discrimination and have submitted a counter-report to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
that disputes the Israeli government's official state report. They claim they are not treated as equal citizens in Israel and that Bedouin towns are not provided the same level of services or land that Jewish towns of the same size are, and that they are not given fair access to water. The city of Beersheba
Beersheba
Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
refused to recognize a Bedouin holy site, despite a High Court recommendation.
In late 2010, the number of racist incidents against Arabs increased. The events were described by the Defense Minister of Israel, Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government....
, as a "wave of racism." The most notable ones took place on 20 December 2010, when a group of five Arabs were driven from an apartment in Tel Aviv after their landlady was threatened with the torching of her home if she continued to rent out to Arabs, and on 21 December 2010, when a gang of Jewish youths was arrested in Jerusalem after carrying out a large number of attacks on Arabs. A girl aged 14 would lure Arab men to the Independence Park, where they were attacked with stones and bottles and severely beaten. The teens confessed to nationalistic motives. On 31 Oct 2010, a Jewish mob gathered outside of an Arab students' residence in Safed, chanted "death to the Arabs," hurled rocks and bottles at the building, shattering glass, and fired a shot at the building before dissassembling.
On May 2011, two Israeli border patrolmen were charged with physical abuse against an Arab minor who was carrying firecrackers. The incident took place in March 2010. The youth was punched, knocked to the floor, kicked, and had death threats thrown against him by the officers. At a police station, the 17-years-old male was tricked by a female cop into believing he was going to die. After making the prisoner go down on his knees, she allegedly pointed her pistol at him at point-blank range. It was not loaded, but the minor did not know this because his eyes were covered. According to the charges, she counted to 10, with the teen begging her not to kill him. She allegedly pulled the trigger, saying "Death to Arabs."
Racism in Sports
Racism in soccer stadiums is a worldwide problem, and Israeli stadiums are not free from racism. The first racist incidents took place in the 1970s, when the Arab player Jimmy Turk joined Hapoel Tel Aviv. Turk was subjected to anti-Arab abuse during nearly every game he played. Arab soccer player Abbas SuanAbbas Suan
Abbas Suan is an Arab-Israeli footballer from Sakhnin in the Galilee. As a footballer he was considered by many as one of the best Arab-Israeli players....
was confronted once with a sign reading "Abbas Suan, you don't represent us". Under Israeli law, soccer fans can be prosecuted for incitement of racial hatred. The "New Voices from the Stadium" program, run by the New Israel Fund
New Israel Fund
The New Israel Fund is a U.S. based non-profit organization established in 1979, and describes its objective as social justice and equality for all Israelis.-Ideology:...
(NIF) amasses a "racism index" that is reported to the media on a weekly basis, and teams have been fined and punished for the conduct of their fans. According to Steve Rothman
Steve Rothman
Steven R. "Steve" Rothman is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:Rothman attended Washington University Law School...
, the NIF San Francisco director, "Things have definitely improved, particularly in sensitizing people to the existence of racism in Israeli society." In 2006, Israel joined Football Against Racism in Europe
Football Against Racism in Europe
Football Against Racism in Europe is a network set up to counter "racism and xenophobia" in European Football. The network was set up in Vienna, Austria, in February 1999 after a meeting of football supporters' groups, football players' unions and football associations...
(FARE), network set up to counter racism in soccer.
Polls
A 2009 PEWPew
A pew is a long bench seat or enclosed box used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, or sometimes in a courtroom.-Overview:Churches were not commonly furnished with permanent pews before the Protestant Reformation...
poll, which included 527 Israeli Arab respondents, showed that 35% of Israeli Arabs said their opinion of Jews was unfavorable, while 56% said their opinion was favorable (the figures amongst Israeli Jews on their attitude to themselves were 94% favorable; 6% unfavorable).
A 2009 poll found that 40.5% of the Arab citizens of Israel denied the Holocaust
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
, up from 28% in 2006.
Incidents
Numerous racist attacks against Jews have taken place throughout Arab localities in the GalileeGalilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
and in Arab areas of Jerusalem, including murders. Among the people killed in such attacks was Kristine Luken, an American tourist stabbed in a forest near Jerusalem after being seen wearing a Star of David
Star of David
The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...
necklace. In Jerusalem, Jews driving through Al-Issawiya
Al-Issawiya
Al-Issawiya is an Arab village and neighborhood in Jerusalem, Israel. Located on Mount Scopus near Hadassah Hospital, it formed part of an Israeli enclave between 1949-1967.-History:In 1964, Issawiya had a population of 1,300...
have been subjected to ambushes by crowds, as was a repairman who had been hired by a resident. Emergency services vehicles have also been attacked while passing through the neighborhood. Jews who travel to the Mount of Olives
Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives is a mountain ridge in East Jerusalem with three peaks running from north to south. The highest, at-Tur, rises to 818 meters . It is named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes...
also risk violence. Jews who enter or buy property in Arab areas face harassment, and Arabs who have sold property to Jews have been murdered. In 2010, an Israeli-Jewish security guard, Kochav Segal Halevi, was forced from his home in the Arab town of I'billin
I'billin
I'billin is an Arab local council in the Northern District of Israel. In December 2006, the population was 11,000.- History :The village existed in ancient times. It is mentioned in the Talmud and the Mishna under the name "Avlayim"...
after a racist crowd gathered at his house, and he received death threats.
In 2008, the slogan "Death to the Jews" was found spray-painted in Arabic on the cargo hold of an El Al
El Al
El Al Israel Airlines Ltd , trading as El Al , is the flag carrier of Israel. It operates scheduled domestic and international services and cargo flights to Europe, North America, Africa and the Far East from its main base in Ben Gurion International Airport...
plane.
In 2010, the wall of a synagogue and a Jewish residence in the mixed Jewish-Arab Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
were spray-painted with swastikas and Palestinian flags.
Leaders
Journalist Ben-Meir described Arab Knesset members who "talk incessantly about the Palestinian people's rights, including their own state" but who "refuse to acknowledge Israel as the state of the Jewish people and deny the very existence of a Jewish people as a nation with national rights" as racist. Ariel Natan Pasko, a policy analyst, suggested that prominent Arab leaders such as Arab member of Knesset Ahmad TibiAhmad Tibi
Ahmad Tibi is an Arab-Israeli politician and leader of Ta'al , an Arab party in Israel. He currently serves as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. He was elected on a joint ticket with the United Arab List to serve in Israel's parliament, the Knesset...
is racist because he "turned away from integration" and "wants to build an Arab university in Nazareth, as well as an Arab hospital in the Galilee." Tibi had been previously accused of racism: in 1997, he said "whoever sells his house to the Jews has sold his soul to Satan and done a despicable act".
The head of the Islamic movement in Israel's Northern Branch, was charged with incitement to racism and to violence. During legal proceedings, the prosecution said that Sheikh Raed Salah made his inflammatory remarks "with the objective of inciting racism." he also accused Jews of using children's blood to bake bread. He said, ""We have never allowed ourselves to knead [the dough for] the bread that breaks the fast in the holy month of Ramadan with children's blood," he said. "Whoever wants a more thorough explanation, let him ask what used to happen to some children in Europe, whose blood was mixed in with the dough of the [Jewish] holy bread."
Arab-Jewish riots
In what became known as the October 2000 eventsOctober 2000 events
The October 2000 events were a series of protests in Arab villages in northern Israel in October 2000 that turned violent, escalating into clashes between Israeli Arabs and the Israel Police and ending in the deaths of demonstrators.The Or Commission was established to investigate the police...
, Arab-Israelis rioted while protesting Israeli actions in the early stages of the Second Intifada, attacking Jewish civilians and Israeli police with live gunfire, molotov cocktails, stones, and vandalism of Jewish property. One Egged bus torched on the first day. Arab rioting took place in Umm al-Fahm
Umm al-Fahm
Umm al-Fahm is a city in the Haifa District of Israel with a population of 43,300, nearly all of whom are Arab citizens of Israel. The city is situated on the Umm al-Fahm mountain ridge, the highest point of which is Mt. Iskander , overlooking Wadi Ara...
, Baqa-Jatt, Sakhnin
Sakhnin
Sakhnin is a city in Israel's North District. It is located in the Lower Galilee, about east of Acre. Sakhnin was declared a city in 1995. Its population of 25,100 is Arab, mostly Muslim with a sizable Christian minority. It is located on the site of the ancient Jewish town Sikhnin, which...
, Nazareth
Nazareth
Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
, Lod
Lod
Lod is a city located on the Sharon Plain southeast of Tel Aviv in the Center District of Israel. At the end of 2010, it had a population of 70,000, roughly 75 percent Jewish and 25 percent Arab.The name is derived from the Biblical city of Lod...
, Kafar Kanna
Kafar Kanna
Kafr Kanna is an Arab town in the Galilee region of Israel that is associated with the New Testament village of Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine.-History:...
, Mashhad
Mashhad, Israel
Mashhad is an Arab town located northeast of Nazareth in Israel's North District. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 6,700 mostly Muslim inhabitants.Mashhad became a local council in 1960...
, Arraba
Arraba
Arraba is Israel's fourth largest local council and largest Israeli Arab local council. It is located in the Lower Galilee in the North District, to the north of Nazareth and adjacent to Sakhnin and Deir Hanna...
, Ramla
Ramla
Ramla , is a city in central Israel. The city is predominantly Jewish with a significant Arab minority. Ramla was founded circa 705–715 AD by the Umayyad Caliph Suleiman ibn Abed al-Malik after the Arab conquest of the region...
, Or Akiva and Nazareth Illit
Nazareth Illit
Nazareth Illit is a city in the North District of Israel. At the end of 2007 it had a population of 40,800.Nazareth Illit was founded in the 1950s. Foundations were laid in 1954 and first residents moved in two years later...
. A Jewish citizen was killed when his car was stoned, and a synagogue was torched. Hundreds of Arab residents of Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
burned tires, threw rocks, and beat reporters.
Thousands of Jews counter-rioted against Arabs in Nazareth
Nazareth
Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
, Bat Yam, Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv.According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2009, the city's population stood at 209,600. The population density is approximately...
, Tiberias, Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Acre
Acre, Israel
Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
, Nazareth Illit
Nazareth Illit
Nazareth Illit is a city in the North District of Israel. At the end of 2007 it had a population of 40,800.Nazareth Illit was founded in the 1950s. Foundations were laid in 1954 and first residents moved in two years later...
, Lod
Lod
Lod is a city located on the Sharon Plain southeast of Tel Aviv in the Center District of Israel. At the end of 2010, it had a population of 70,000, roughly 75 percent Jewish and 25 percent Arab.The name is derived from the Biblical city of Lod...
, Rosh HaAyin
Rosh HaAyin
Rosh HaAyin is a city in the Center District of Israel. To the west of Rosh HaAyin is the fortress of Antipatris and the source of the Yarkon River. To the southeast is the fortress of Migdal Afek...
, Or Akiva and Jerusalem, throwing stones at and beating Arabs, vandalizing and torching Arab homes and property, attacking Arab traffic, and chanting "Death to the Arabs!". An Arab worker was stabbed on his way to work in Rosh HaAyin
Rosh HaAyin
Rosh HaAyin is a city in the Center District of Israel. To the west of Rosh HaAyin is the fortress of Antipatris and the source of the Yarkon River. To the southeast is the fortress of Migdal Afek...
. In Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
, a mosque was vandalized, and another was torched in Tiberias. In Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Arab restaurant workers were chased from a restaurant, and their cars set alight.
Throughout the course of the riots, Israeli Police shot and killed twelve Israeli-Arab rioters and a Palestinian demonstrator from Gaza. Sam Lehman-Wilzig, Political Communications Professor at Bar-Ilan University, said that rioting is rare and alien to Jewish political society. "The numbers (of riots) are so low because of our Jewish political culture which encourages protesting, but seriously discourages violent protest," he said. He argues that the riots were caused since Israelis felt threatened by the "pressure cooker syndrome" of fighting not just the Palestinians and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas, but also the Israeli Arab population.
In 2008, a series of riots broke out in Acre
Acre, Israel
Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
, after an Arab motorist and his teenage son drove into a predominantly Jewish neighborhood during Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
, the holiest day in the Jewish religion, to visit relatives. According to police, their car's windows were down and music was blaring. Police spokesperson Eran Shaked said that "this was a provocation... we believe he was intoxicated. This was a deliberate act". Their vehicle was pelted with stones, and they sought refuge in a relative's home. A Jewish mob chased them, then gathered around the building chanting "Death to the Arabs!", and attacked police who tried to intervene. An incorrect rumor spread among the Arab residents that the driver had been killed, prompting calls from local mosques to avenge his death. Arabs rioted in the city center, smashing shop windows, vandalizing vehicles, and throwing rocks at people going to or from Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
prayers, chanting Death to the Jews" and "If you come out of your homes, you will die". Israeli Police forcibly dispersed the rioters with tear gas and stun grenades. As soon as the Yom Kippur fast ended, about 200 Jewish residents rioted in Acre's Arab neighborhoods, torching homes, vandalizing property, and forcing dozens of families to flee. Riots and retaliations by both sides continued for four days. Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
editorialized that that year's "Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
will be infamous for the violent, racist outburst by Jews against Arabs within Israel".
During the course of monitoring elections in 2009, a Member of the Knesset (MK) replaced another Jewish election monitor at the Israeli-Arab town of Umm al-Fahm
Umm al-Fahm
Umm al-Fahm is a city in the Haifa District of Israel with a population of 43,300, nearly all of whom are Arab citizens of Israel. The city is situated on the Umm al-Fahm mountain ridge, the highest point of which is Mt. Iskander , overlooking Wadi Ara...
, who was prevented by police from entering the city because of threats by local Arabs on his life. As soon as the MK began to perform his duties, an Israeli-Arab mob rioted outside attacking the guards and shouts of “Death to the Jews” could be heard. Israeli Police arrested five rioters.
Between Jewish groups
Some Jewish Israelis of European or German ancestry (Ashkenazi) are described as viewing themselves as superior to Sefardim, and of maintaining an elite position in Israel society, and some describe the attitudes of Ashkenazi as racist or racism.Other authorities describe the discrimination by Ashkenazi as class-based, not race-based. For example, the differences between (Mizrahi) Sephardic Jews (N. Africans, Middle Easterners, Yemenites, etc.) are referred to as Adatiyut community-differences (resulting also in some traditional customary gaps).
Some sources claim that reports of inter-Jewish discrimination in Israel arise from propaganda published by Arab sources which ignores the normality and harmony between the communities.
Sephardi and Mizrahi (Middle Eastern)
Israeli society in general – and Ashkenazi Jews in particular – have been described as holding discriminatory attitudes towards Jews of Middle Eastern and North African descent, known as Mizrahi Jews, Sephardic Jews, and Oriental Jews. A variety of Mizrahi critics of Israeli policy have cited "past ill-treatment, including the maabarot, the squalid tent cities into which Mizrahim were placed upon arrival in Israel; the humiliation of Moroccan and other Mizrahi Jews when Israeli immigration authorities shaved their heads and sprayed their bodies with the pesticide DDT; the socialist elite's enforced secularization; the destruction of traditional family structure, and the reduced status of the patriarch by years of poverty and sporadic unemployment" as examples of mistreatment. In September 1997, Israeli Labor Party leader Ehud BarakEhud Barak
Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government....
made a high-profile apology to Oriental Jews in Netivot
Netivot
Netivot is a city in the Southern District of Israel in Israel. At the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 26,700. It was founded in 1956 as a development town along with Sderot to the north, and Ofakim to the south...
stating:
- We must admit to ourselves [that] the inner fabric of communal life was torn. Indeed, sometimes the intimate fabric of family life was torn. Much suffering was inflicted on the immigrants and that suffering was etched in their hearts, as well as in the hearts of their children and grandchildren. There was no malice on the part of those bringing the immigrants here—on the contrary, there was much goodwill—but pain was inflicted nevertheless. In acknowledgement of this suffering and pain, and out of identification with the sufferers and their descendants, I hereby ask forgiveness in my own name and in the name of the historical Labor movement.
Barak's address also said that during the 1950s, Mizrahi immigrants were "made to feel that their own traditions were inferior to those of the dominant Ashkenazi [European-origin] Israelis [Alex Weingrod's paraphrase]." Several prominent Labor party figures, including Teddy Kollek
Teddy Kollek
Theodor "Teddy" Kollek was mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993, and founder of the Jerusalem Foundation. Kollek was re-elected five times, in 1969, 1973, 1978, 1983 and 1989...
and Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
, distanced themselves from the apology while agreeing that mistakes were made during the immigration period.
The cultural differences between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews impacted the degree and rate of assimilation into Israeli society, and sometimes the divide between Eastern European and Middle Eastern Jews was quite sharp. Segregation, especially in the area of housing, limited integration possibilities over the years. Intermarriage between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim is increasingly common in Israel, and by the late 1990s 28% of all Israeli children had multi-ethnic parents (up from 14% in the 1950s). A 1983 research found that children of inter-ethnic marriages in Israel enjoyed improved socio-economic status.
Although social integration is constantly improving, disparities persist. A study conducted by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS), Mizrahi Jews are less likely to pursue academic studies than Ashkenazi Jews. Israeli-born Ashkenazi are up to twice more likely to study in a university than Israeli-born Mizrahim. Furthermore, the percentage of Mizrahim who seek a university education remains low compared to second-generation immigrant groups of Ashkenazi origin, such as Russians. According to a survey by the Adva Center, the average income of Ashkenazim was 36 percent higher than that of Mizrahim in 2004.
Some claim that the education system discriminates against Jewish minorities from North Africa and the Middle East, and one source suggests that "ethnic prejudice against Mizrahi Jews is a relatively general phenomenon, not limited to the schooling process".
There was a case in 2010, when a Haredi school system, where Sephardi and Mizrahi students were sometimes excluded or segregated. In 2010, the Israeli supreme court sent a strong message against discrimination in a case involving the Slonim
Slonim (Hasidic dynasty)
Slonim is a Hasidic dynasty originating in the town of Slonim, which is now in Belarus.Today, there are two Slonimer Rebbes, both in Israel: one resides in Jerusalem and the other in Bnei Brak...
Hassidic sect of the Ashkenazi, ruling that segregation between Ashkenazi and Sephardi students in a school is illegal. They argue that they seek "to maintain an equal level of religiosity, not from racism." Responding to the charges, the Slonim Haredim invited Sephardi girls to school, and added in a statement: “All along, we said it's not about race, but the High Court went out against our rabbis, and therefore we went to prison."
Yemenite children
In 1950s, 1,033 children of Yemenite immigrant families disappeared. In most instances, the parents claim that they were told their children were ill and required hospitalization. Upon later visiting the hospital, it is claimed that the parents were told that their children had died though no bodies were presented or graves which have later proven to be empty in many cases were shown to the parents. Those who believe the theory contend that the Israeli government as well as other organizations in Israel kidnapped the children and gave them for adoption. Secular Israeli Jews of European descent were accused of collaborating in the disappearance of babies of Yemeni Jews and anti religious motives and Anti-religious coercion were alleged, Some went further to accuse the Israeli authorities of conspiring to kidnap the Yemeni children due to "racist" motives.
In 2001 a seven-year public inquiry commission concluded that the accusations that Yemenite children were kidnapped are not true. The commission has unequivocally rejected claims of a plot to take children away from Yemenite immigrants. The report determined that documentation exists for 972 of the 1,033 missing children. Five additional missing babies were found to be alive. The commission was unable to discover what happened in another 56 cases. With regard to these unresolved 56 cases, the commission deemed it "possible" that the children were handed over for adoption following decisions made by individual local social workers, but not as part of an official policy.
Bene Israel (Indian)
In 1962, authorities in Israel have been accused by articles in the Indian press of racism in relation to Jews of Indian ancestry (called Bene IsraelBene Israel
The Bene Israel are a group of Jews who migrated in the 19th century from villages in the Konkan area to the nearby Indian cities, primarily Mumbai, but also to Pune, and Ahmedabad. Prior to these waves of emigrations and to this day, the Bene Israel formed the largest sector of the subcontinent's...
). In the case that caused the controversy, the Chief Rabbi of Israel ruled that before registering a marriage between Indian Jews and Jews not belonging to that community, the registering rabbi should investigate the lineage of the Indian applicant for possible non-Jewish descent, and in case of doubt, require the applicant to perform conversion or immersion. The alleged discrimination may actually be related to the fact that some religious authorities believe that the Bene Israel
Bene Israel
The Bene Israel are a group of Jews who migrated in the 19th century from villages in the Konkan area to the nearby Indian cities, primarily Mumbai, but also to Pune, and Ahmedabad. Prior to these waves of emigrations and to this day, the Bene Israel formed the largest sector of the subcontinent's...
are not fully Jewish because of inter-marriage during their long separation.
In 1964 the government of Israel led by Levi Eshkol
Levi Eshkol
' served as the third Prime Minister of Israel from 1963 until his death from a heart attack in 1969. He was the first Israeli Prime Minister to die in office.-Biography:...
declared that it regards Bene Israel of India as Jews without exception, who are equal to other Jews in respect of all matters.
Beta Israel
Nearly all of the Ethiopian Beta Israel
Beta Israel
Beta Israel Israel, Ge'ez: ቤተ እስራኤል - Bēta 'Isrā'ēl, modern Bēte 'Isrā'ēl, EAE: "Betä Ǝsraʾel", "Community of Israel" also known as Ethiopian Jews , are the names of Jewish communities which lived in the area of Aksumite and Ethiopian Empires , nowadays divided between Amhara and Tigray...
community, a community of Black Jews, resides in Israel. The Israeli government has mounted rescue operations, most notably during Operation Moses
Operation Moses
Operation Moses refers to the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan during a famine in 1984...
(1984) and Operation Solomon
Operation Solomon
Operation Solomon was a 1991 covert Israeli military operation to take Ethiopian Jews to Israel.In 1991, the sitting Ethiopian government of Mengistu Haile Mariam was close to being toppled with the recent military successes of Eritrean and Tigrean rebels, threatening Ethiopia with dangerous...
(1991), for their migration when civil war and famine threatened populations within Ethiopia. Today 81,000 Israelis were born in Ethiopia, while 38,500 or 32% of the community are native born Israelis.
The absorption of the Ethiopians into Israeli society marks a unique attempt to incorporate a nonwhite group as equal citizens with full rights as part of a Western predominantly white country. As such, according to the sociologist Prof. Uzi Rebhun, it represents an ambitious attempt to deny the significance of race Israeli authorities, aware of the situation of most African diaspora communities in other Western countries, hosted programs to avoid setting in patterns of discrimination. The Ethiopian Jewish community's internal challenges have been complicated by limited but real racist attitudes on the part of some elements of Israeli society and the official establishment. Nevertheless racism was commonly cited as explanation for policies and programs who failed to meet expectations. Racism was alleged regarding delays in admitting black Ethiopian Jews to Israel under the Law of return
Law of Return
The Law of Return is Israeli legislation, passed on 5 July 1950, that gives Jews the right of return and settlement in Israel and gain citizenship...
. The delays in admitting Ethiopians may be attributed to religious motivations rather than racism, since there was debate whether or not Falasha Jews' (Beta Israel
Beta Israel
Beta Israel Israel, Ge'ez: ቤተ እስራኤል - Bēta 'Isrā'ēl, modern Bēte 'Isrā'ēl, EAE: "Betä Ǝsraʾel", "Community of Israel" also known as Ethiopian Jews , are the names of Jewish communities which lived in the area of Aksumite and Ethiopian Empires , nowadays divided between Amhara and Tigray...
) were Jewish.
Racism was also alleged in 2009, in a case where school children of Ethiopian ancestry were denied admission into three semi-private religious schools in the town of Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv.According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2009, the city's population stood at 209,600. The population density is approximately...
. An Israeli government official criticised the Petah Tikva Municipality and the semi-private Haredi schools, saying "This concerns not only the three schools that have, for a long time, been deceiving the entire educational system. For years, racism has developed here undeterred". Shas
Shas
Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ...
spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef
Ovadia Yosef
Ovadia Yosef is the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, a recognised Talmudic scholar and foremost halakhic authority.He currently serves as the spiritual leader of the Shas political party in the Israeli parliament...
threatened to fire any school principal from Shas's school system who refused to receive Ethiopian students. The Israeli Education Ministry decided to pull the funding from the Lamerhav, Da'at Mevinim and Darkei Noam schools, the three semi-private institutions that refused to accept the students. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
spoke out against the rejection of Ethiopian children, calling it "a moral terror attack."
The ADL
ADL
Adl is an Arabic word meaning justice.The abbreviation ADL may refer to:*Activities of daily living, a term used in medicine and nursing, especially in the care of the elderly...
also states that Ethiopian Jews are not experiencing racism: "Whatever Israel's mistakes towards its Ethiopian Jewish community, the cause is not racism." It explains that "what causes the distress is bureaucratic ineptitude and a cultural gap between a traditional community and a modern, technologically-advanced, highly-competitive nation."
Depo Provera prescription controversy
In 2010, certain members of the feminist movement accused Israel of a "sterilization policy" aimed towards Ethiopian Jews, for allowing the prescription of contraceptive drugs like Depo-Provera to the community. They stated that the Israeli government deliberately gives to female Ethiopian Jews long-lasting contraceptive drugs like Depo-Provera. Jewish agencies involved in immigration, said that Ethiopian women were offered different types of contraceptives and that "all of them participated voluntarily in family planning". Dr. Yee-fat Bitton, a member of the Israeli Anti-Discrimination Legal Center “Tmura” said that 60 percent of the women receiving this contraceptive are Ethiopian Jews, while Ethiopians made up only 1 percent of population and "the gap here is just impossible to reconcile in any logical manner that would somehow resist the claims of racism". Professor Zvi Bentwich, an immunologist and human rights activist from Tel-Aviv, rejected the claim and said there's no ground to suspect a negative official policy towards Ethiopian Jews. Israel also denied this claim.Prof. Sadredin Moosavi of UMass Dartmouth criticized the allegations, and said that Depo Provera remains sanctioned by the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
. He said that the allegations were spread by The National
The National (Abu Dhabi)
The National is a government-owned English-language daily newspaper published in Abu Dhabi. The editor-in-chief since June 8, 2009 has been Hassan Fattah. Prior to this, and from the launch of the newspaper Martin Newland was editor-in-chief. Mubadala Development Company, an investment company...
, an Arab newspaper based in the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
which he claimed is biased against Israel. He added, "Why would a racist Israeli state go the effort to airlift Ethiopian Jews, clearly black and unable to stroll across the border without help, to Israel in the 1990s and only THEN attempt to exterminate them with Depo Provera?"
Black Hebrew Israelite immigration
Black Hebrew Israelites
Black Hebrew Israelites are groups of people mostly of Black African ancestry situated mainly in the United States who believe they are descendants of the ancient Israelites. Black Hebrews adhere in varying degrees to the religious beliefs and practices of mainstream Judaism...
are groups of people mostly of Black African
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
ancestry who believe they are descendants of the ancient Israelite
Israelite
According to the Bible the Israelites were a Hebrew-speaking people of the Ancient Near East who inhabited the Land of Canaan during the monarchic period .The word "Israelite" derives from the Biblical Hebrew ישראל...
s. They are generally not accepted as Jews by the greater Jewish community. Many choose to self-identify as Hebrew Israelites or Black Hebrews rather than as Jews.
When the first Black Hebrews arrived in Israel in 1969, they claimed citizenship under the Law of Return
Law of Return
The Law of Return is Israeli legislation, passed on 5 July 1950, that gives Jews the right of return and settlement in Israel and gain citizenship...
, which gives eligible Jews immediate citizenship. The Israeli government ruled in 1973 that the group did not qualify for automatic citizenship, and the Black Hebrews were denied work permit
Work permit
Work permit is a generic term for a legal authorization which allows a person to take employment.It is most often used in reference to instances where a person is given permission to work in a country where one does not hold citizenship, but is also used in reference to minors, who in some...
s and state benefits. The group responded by accusing the Israeli government of racist discrimination
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
.
In 1981, a group of American civil rights activist led by Bayard Rustin
Bayard Rustin
Bayard Rustin was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, pacifism and non-violence, and gay rights.In the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation , Rustin practiced nonviolence...
investigated and concluded that racism was not the cause of Black Hebrews' situation. In 1990, Illinois legislators helped negotiate an agreement that resolved the Black Hebrews' legal status in Israel. Members of the group are permitted to work and have access to housing and social services. In 2003 the agreement was revised, and the Black Hebrews were granted permanent resident
Permanent residency
Permanent residency refers to a person's visa status: the person is allowed to reside indefinitely within a country of which he or she is not a citizen. A person with such status is known as a permanent resident....
status.
In his 1992 essay "Blacks and Jews: The Uncivil War", historian Taylor Branch
Taylor Branch
Taylor Branch is an American author and historian best known for his award-winning trilogy of books chronicling the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and some of the history of the American civil rights movement...
wrote that Black Hebrews were initially denied citizenship due to anti-black sentiment among Israeli Jews (according to mainstream Jewish religious authorities, members of the Black Hebrew Israelite group are not Jewish). According to historian Dr. Seth Forman the claims that the Black Hebrew Israelites were denied citizenship because they were black seem baseless, particularly in light of Israel's airlift of thousands of black Ethiopian Jews in the early 1990s.
Efforts against racism and discrimination
Israel has a law that prohibits incitement to racism.According to the State Department, Israel's anti-discrimination law "prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, marital status, or sexual orientation. The law also prohibits discrimination by both government and nongovernment entities on the basis of race, religion, political beliefs, and age."
Israel is a signatory of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination treaty since 1966, and has ratified the treaty in 1979. The treaty forbids any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.
The Anti Defamation League states: "There is no Israeli ideology, policy or plan to segregate, persecute or mistreat its Israeli Arab citizens, nor Palestinian Arabs," it goes on in saying that Israel is a democracy which encourages vibrant debate, which has a flourishing free press and which shares with other liberal democracies a core value: the equality of all its citizens before the law.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that "Arab Israelis are citizens of Israel with equal rights" and states that "The only legal distinction between Arab and Jewish citizens is not one of rights, but rather of civic duty. Since Israel's establishment, Arab citizens have been exempted from compulsory service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)."
Affirmative Action
In response to inequality between the Jewish and Arab populations, the Israeli government established a committee to consider, among other issues, policies of affirmative actionAffirmative action
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
for housing Arab citizens. According to Israel advocacy group, Stand With Us, the city of Jerusalem gives Arab residents free professional advice to assist with the housing permit process and structural regulations, advice which is not available to Jewish residents on the same terms.
Segregation and pluralism
A report written by the Israeli Foreign Ministry describes Israel as a multi-ethnic, multicultural, multi-religious, and multi-lingual society, which has a high level of informal segregation patterns. The report states that groups are not separated by official policy, but that Israel has a number of different sectors within the society are somewhat segregated and maintain their strong cultural, religious, ideological, and/or ethnic identity. The report maintains that in spite of the existing social cleavages and economic disparities, the political systems and the courts represent strict legal and civic equality. The Israeli Foreign Ministry describes the country as "Not a melting pot society, but rather more of a mosaic made up of different population groups coexisting in the framework of a democratic state"Reports addressing racism in Israel
- Amnesty InternationalAmnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
annual reports on Israel – 2010 report, 2009 report, 2008 report, 2007 report
- Association for Civil Rights in IsraelAssociation for Civil Rights in IsraelThe Association for Civil Rights in Israel was created as an independent non-partisan organization to protect human rights and civil rights in Israel and the territories under its control....
(ACRI) annual reports – 2009 report, 2008 report, 2007 report
- United States Department of State annual Human Rights reports on Israel – 2009 report, 2008 report, 2007 report, 2006 report, 2005 report, 2004 report
- United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
CERD – 2007 CERD report, unedited version of 2007 report
- Or CommissionOr CommissionThe Or Commission was a panel of inquiry appointed by the Israeli government to investigate the events of October 2000 at the beginning of the Second Intifada in which 12 Arab citizens of Israel and one Palestinian were killed by Israeli police amidst several demonstrations...
– The Official Summation of the Or Commission Report"
See also
- Criticism of Israel
- Human rights in IsraelHuman rights in IsraelHuman rights in Israel have been evaluated by various human rights treaty bodies, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and individuals, often in relation to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict which forms part of the wider Arab-Israeli conflict and Israel internal...
- Israel and the apartheid analogy
- Neo-Nazism in Israel
- Racism in the Palestinian territoriesRacism in the Palestinian territoriesRacism in the Palestinian territories refers mainly to campaigns of discrimination and intolerance. According to many observers, racism and ethnic discrimination against Jews, Palestinians, Christians and blacks, have existed in the Palestinian territories, or in Palestine, from the mid-19th...