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== Discrimination against persons of North African and Middle Eastern descent==
== Discrimination against persons of North African and Middle Eastern descent==
Israeli society has been described as harboring racist views towards persons of North African descent and, more generally, towards [[Mizrahi]] Jews which includes Jews descended from Middle Eastern ancestry.<ref>Smooha, Sammy, "Jewish Ethnicity in Israel: Symbolic or Real?", in ''Jews in Israel: contemporary social and cultural patterns'', Uzi Rebhun (Ed.), UPNE, 2004, p 60-74</ref><ref>Khazzoom, Loolwa, ''The flying camel: essays on identity by women of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish heritage'', Seal Press, 2003, p 69</ref><ref>Sharoni, Simona, "Feminist Reflections on the Interplay of Sexism and Racism in Israel", in ''Challenging racism and sexism: alternatives to genetic explanations'', Ethel Tobach, Betty Rosoff (Eds), Feminist Press, 1994, p 309-331</ref>
Israeli society has been described as harboring racist views towards persons of North African descent and, more generally, towards [[Mizrahi]] Jews which includes Jews descended from Middle Eastern ancestry.<ref>Smooha, Sammy, "Jewish Ethnicity in Israel: Symbolic or Real?", in ''Jews in Israel: contemporary social and cultural patterns'', Uzi Rebhun (Ed.), UPNE, 2004, p 60-74</ref><ref>Khazzoom, Loolwa, ''The flying camel: essays on identity by women of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish heritage'', Seal Press, 2003, p 69</ref><ref>Sharoni, Simona, "Feminist Reflections on the Interplay of Sexism and Racism in Israel", in ''Challenging racism and sexism: alternatives to genetic explanations'', Ethel Tobach, Betty Rosoff (Eds), Feminist Press, 1994, p 309-331</ref>
==European or German ancestry seen as superior==
Israelis of European or German ancestry have been described as viewing themselves as superior to Israelis of other ancestries.<ref>Torstrick, Rebecca L., ''The limits of coexistence: identity politics in Israel'', University of Michigan Press, 2000, p 32</ref>


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 19:36, 7 August 2010

Israel is a state with a Jewish majority that was the result of a series of Jewish migrations in the early 20th century and the exodus of between 600,000 to 800,000 Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Today, the Arab minority constitutes about 20% of its population within the state.

Discrimination against Arabs

Although the 1948 Israeli Declaration of Independence[1] guarantees equality of political and social rights for all its citizens, irrespective of their race, religion, or sex, the Declaration also contains multiple references to the Jewish nature of the state.[2] In particular, the jus sanguinis law of the right of return which, despite Israel's otherwise restrictive immigration policies, grant every Jew in the world the right to settle in Israel. This is especially agitating[original research?] for the many Palestinian refugees, who (or whose ancestors) used to live in the territory that is modern Israel, but are denied their wish to return, which they deem a right.[3] Supporters of the law maintain that allowing a hostile majority that were adversaries in a war for Israel's independence to return would be tantamount to the political, demographic destruction of the Jewish character of Israel, and would endanger the Jewish population living there.[4]

The Article 11 of the UNGA Resolution 194, upon which the Palestinian refugees usually base their claim of a "right of return," "[r]esolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property..." without naming Israel and specifying either Palestinian or Jewish refugees.

According to the June 2007 Democracy Index of the Israel Democracy Institute, only half the public believes that Jews and Arabs must have full equal rights. Among Jewish respondents, 55 percent support the idea that the state should encourage Arab emigration from Israel and 78 percent oppose the inclusion of Arab political parties in the government. According to a Haifa University study, 74 percent of Jewish youths in Israel think that Arabs are "unclean."[5]

Marriage

Civil marriage is banned in Israel, meaning that in the small number of cases where Jews and Arabs want to wed, they can do so only by leaving the country for a ceremony abroad. The marriage is recognised on the couple’s return.[6] In 2009, it was reported that the Israeli government had launched a US$800,000 television and internet advertising campaign urging Israelis to inform on Jewish friends and relatives abroad who may be in danger of marrying non-Jews.[7]

Israel's Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law has been described as discriminatory against Arabs because it - in effect - prevents Arab citizens of Israel from marrying many other Arabs.[8][9]

Discrimination against blacks

Israeli society, particularly the Ashkenazi majority, has been accused of racism against blacks of Ethiopian origin.[10] Racism was alleged regarding delays in admitting black Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) to Israel under the right of return.[11]

Historian Taylor Branch in his 1992 essay "Blacks and Jews: The Uncivil War", asserts the Jews have been "perpetrators of racial hate", citing the example where three thousand members of a sect of Black Jews from Chicago were denied citizenship under the Israeli law of return because of anti-Black sentiment among Israeli Jews.[12][13]

Discrimination against persons of Indian descent

Authorities in Israel have been accused of racism in relation to Jews of Indian ancestry - the Bene Israel - particularly as a result of a 1962 ruling by the Chief Rabbi of Israel that allegedly discouraged marriage between Indian Jews and Jews of European descent.[14][15]

Discrimination against persons of North African and Middle Eastern descent

Israeli society has been described as harboring racist views towards persons of North African descent and, more generally, towards Mizrahi Jews which includes Jews descended from Middle Eastern ancestry.[16][17][18]

European or German ancestry seen as superior

Israelis of European or German ancestry have been described as viewing themselves as superior to Israelis of other ancestries.[19]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The Avalon Project : Declaration of Israel's Independence 1948
  2. ^ Adalah: Historical Background
  3. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3629923.stm
  4. ^ Our Jerusalem.com
  5. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/news/civil-rights-group-israel-has-reached-new-heights-of-racism-1.234831
  6. ^ http://www.jkcook.net/Articles3/0426.htm
  7. ^ http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090907/FOREIGN/709069840/1002
  8. ^ Amnesty International, The Amnesty International report, Amnesty International Publications, 2005, p. 142
  9. ^ Human Rights Watch World Report 2008, Seven Stories Press, 2008, p. 487
  10. ^ Kemp, Adriana, Israelis in conflict: hegemonies, identities and challenges, Sussex Academic Press, 2004, p 155
  11. ^ Rebhun, Uzi, Jews in Israel: contemporary social and cultural patterns, UPNE, 2004, p. 140
  12. ^ Forman, Seth, Blacks in the Jewish Mind: A Crisis of Liberalism, p. 14-15
  13. ^ Branch, Taylor "Blacks and Jews: The Uncivil War", in Bridges and Boundaries: African Americans and American Jews (Salzman, Ed), 1992
  14. ^ Abramov, S. Zalman, Perpetual dilemma: Jewish religion in the Jewish State, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1976, p. 277
  15. ^ Smooha, Sammy, Israel: pluralism and conflict, University of California Press, 1978, p. 400-401
  16. ^ Smooha, Sammy, "Jewish Ethnicity in Israel: Symbolic or Real?", in Jews in Israel: contemporary social and cultural patterns, Uzi Rebhun (Ed.), UPNE, 2004, p 60-74
  17. ^ Khazzoom, Loolwa, The flying camel: essays on identity by women of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish heritage, Seal Press, 2003, p 69
  18. ^ Sharoni, Simona, "Feminist Reflections on the Interplay of Sexism and Racism in Israel", in Challenging racism and sexism: alternatives to genetic explanations, Ethel Tobach, Betty Rosoff (Eds), Feminist Press, 1994, p 309-331
  19. ^ Torstrick, Rebecca L., The limits of coexistence: identity politics in Israel, University of Michigan Press, 2000, p 32
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