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{{POV|date=July 2010}}
{{POV|date=July 2010}}
Racism has been documented in [[Israel]], most often directed at [[Arabs]], but also at Jewish minorities such as Jews from Yemen, India, North Africa, Ethiopia, or the Middle East. '''Racism in Israel''' has been reported by organizations such as [[Amnesty International]], the [[Association for Civil Rights in Israel]] , and the United States [[Department of State]]. Instances of racism have been observed in Israel's laws, education system, and media. Some analysts describe Israel as a class-based society with [[Ashkenazi]] Jews occupying the elite class, and other ethnicities in the lower classes.
Racism has been documented in [[Israel]], most often directed at [[Arabs]], but also at Jewish minorities such as Jews from Yemen, India, North Africa, Ethiopia, or the Middle East. Racism is also directed at Jews by the Arab minority. '''Racism in Israel''' has been reported by organizations such as [[Amnesty International]], the [[Association for Civil Rights in Israel]] , and the United States [[Department of State]]. Instances of racism have been observed in Israel's laws, education system, and media. Some analysts describe Israel as a class-based society with [[Ashkenazi]] Jews occupying the elite class, and other ethnicities in the lower classes.


==Racism in institutions and society==
==Racism in institutions and society==

Revision as of 19:50, 9 August 2010

Racism has been documented in Israel, most often directed at Arabs, but also at Jewish minorities such as Jews from Yemen, India, North Africa, Ethiopia, or the Middle East. Racism is also directed at Jews by the Arab minority. Racism in Israel has been reported by organizations such as Amnesty International, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel , and the United States Department of State. Instances of racism have been observed in Israel's laws, education system, and media. Some analysts describe Israel as a class-based society with Ashkenazi Jews occupying the elite class, and other ethnicities in the lower classes.

Racism in institutions and society

Organizations such as Amnesty International, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel , and the United States Department of State[1] have published reports documenting racial discrimination in Israel.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) published reports documenting racism in Israel, and the 2007 report suggested that racism in the country was increasing.[2] One analysis of the report summarized it: "Over two-thirds Israeli teen 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."[3] The 2008 report from ACRI says the trend of increasing racism is continuing.[4]

Racism in Israeli Media

The Israeli media has been described as racist, due to its portrayals of Arabs and Palestinians.[5][6][7][8]

Racism in education system

Israel's education system has been described as biased or prejudiced against Arabs[9] and against Jewish minorities from North Africa and the Middle East.[10] One researcher suggests that "ethnic prejudice in Israel is a relatively general phenomenon, not limited to the schooling process".[10]

In 2001, Human Rights Watch issued a report that stated: "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."[11] The report found striking differences in virtually every aspect of the education system.[12][13]

School children of Ethiopian ancestry were denied admission into public schools in the town of Petah Tikva, allegedly for racist reasons.[14] An Israeli government official said "for years, racism has developed here [Petah Tikvah] undeterred".[15]

Funding for schooling has been reported as discriminatory against Arab students: a 2009 study from the Hebrew University's School of Education demonstrated that the Israeli Education Ministry's budget for assistance to poor students severely discriminated against Arabs. It also showed that the average per-student allocation at Arab junior high schools was one-fifth the average at Jewish ones.[16]

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.[17]

Racism in laws and policy

Law of return

See also: Law of return § Controversy

Israel's Law of return is claimed to be racist because it discriminates against persons not of Jewish ethnicity.[18]

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.[19] 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.[20]

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.

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.[21] 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.[22]

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 with the same freedom as Jewish citizens.[23][24] The law has been condemned by Amnesty International as "racial discrimination".[25]

Zionism

Many anti-zionist critics of Israel equate Zionism (the political movement to create the state of Israel) with racism, or describe zionism as racist or discriminatory.[26][27][28][29]

Racism against particular ethnic groups

Arabs

Main article: Anti-Arabism in Israel

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."[30]

Some Israeli politicians and leaders have used negative language when discussing Arabs and Palestinians. In 2004, Yehiel Hazan, a member of the Knesset, declared at the Knesset that "The Arabs are worms. You find them everywhere like worms, underground as well as above." and went on to describe them as "murderers" and "terrorists".[31][32]

Often Israeli-Arab soccer players face chants from the crowd when they play such as "no Arabs, no terrorism".[33]

Abbas Zakour, an Arab Member of the Knesset, was stabbed by an immigrant gang speaking Russian-accented Hebrew who shouted anti-Arab chants. The attack was part of a "stabbing rampage" and was described as a "hate crime".[34]

In 2006, a research institute poll reported that 41% of Israelis were in favour of Arab-Israeli segregation, 40% believed "the state needs to support the emigration of Arab citizens", and 63% believed Arabs to be a "security and demographic threat" to Israel. The data went on to report more than two thirds would not want to live in the same building as an Arab, 36% believed Arab culture to be inferior, and 18% felt hatred when they heard Arabic spoken..[35]

In 2007, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel released a report stating that the expression of anti-Arab views had doubled, and anti-Arab racist incidents had increased by 26%.[36] The report quoted polls that suggested 50% of Jewish Israelis do not believe Arab citizens of Israel should have equal rights, 50% said they wanted the government to encourage Arab emigration from Israel, and 75% of Jewish youths said Arabs were less intelligent and less clean than Jews.

The Arab Association for Human Rights reported in 2008 that several parents removed their children from a daycare centre in Israel after they found out that a 16 month old boy was an Arab.[37]

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 incidents. The report blames 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."[38]

In June 2009, Haaretz reported on the widespread phenomenon of Israeli Border Police forcing Palestinians to humiliate themselves on camera and then publishing the video on YouTube. The police forced the Palestinians to sing anti-Arab songs with lyrics such as "Let every Arab mother know that the fate of her children is in the hands of the Company". The YouTube videos are popular in Israel and have attracted many anti-Arab comments written in Hebrew such as "Stinking Arab".[39]

Blacks

Israeli society, particularly the Ashkenazi majority, has been accused of racism against blacks of Ethiopian origin.[40] Racism was alleged regarding delays in admitting black Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) to Israel under the Law of return.[41]

In his 1992 essay "Blacks and Jews: The Uncivil War", historian Taylor Branch 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.[42][43]

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.[44][45]

North African and Middle Eastern descent

Israeli society has been described as harboring racist views towards persons of North African descent and Middle Eastern descent, knows as Mizrahi Jews (or "oriental Jews").[46][47][48][49]

Accusations of kidnapping Yemenite babies

Israelis of European descent were accused of collaborating in the disappearance of babies of Yemeni Jews, and racist motives were alleged. In 1950s, the Israeli government as well as other organizations in Israel were accused of kidnapping of between 2,400 and 10,000 children from their recently arrived Yemeni families. 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.[50][51]

Spanish and Portuguese descent (Sephardi Jews)

Other ethnic groups and foreign workers

Motivations and causes

Jews as the Chosen People

Racism against non-Jewish ethnicities in Israel is sometimes rationalized by the religious precept that Jews are the chosen people.[52][53][54]

European Jews as an elite class

Israelis of European or German (Ashkenazi) ancestry are described as viewing themselves as superior to Israelis of other ancestries, and maintaining an elite position in Israel society.[55][56]

Racism by Israeli-Arabs

Towards Jews

In a 2009 PEW poll showing 90% of the middle east viewing Jews unfavorably. Overwhelmingly negative attitudes toward Jews in Arab & Islamic countries. with more than 90% of Egyptians, Jordanians, Lebanese and Palestinians expressing unfavorable views toward Jews. However, "only" 35 percent of Israeli Arabs said they disliked Jews. [57][58]

From a 2007 Poll: 76% Of Israeli Arabs Call Zionism Racist, 48% Support Hezbollah's Attacks On Israel, 28% Deny Holocaust. [59]

In 2009, professor of University of Haifa's poll showed Holocaust denial widespread among Israeli Arabs & it's on the rise.[60] 40 Percent of Israel's Arab Citizens Deny Holocaust, Only 41 percent of the Arab citizens of Israel recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish and as a democratic state, down from 65.6 percent from a previous poll.[61]

The head of the Islamic Movement in Israel's Northern Branch, was charged with incitement to racism and to violence. The Magistrate's Court, prosecution said that Salah made his inflammotory remarks "with the objective of inciting racism."[62][63]

Towards Blacks

The groups of black people living in the Negev and as refugees in Gaza today, are actually the descendants of slaves of the Bedouin. Researchers explore blacks' history among local Arabs, Negev Bedouins owned slaves, many of whom were of African origin. slaves used to be branded like animals, there were no papers concerning ownership or origins. When Israel was created in 1948 some of these people of African origin became refugees in Gaza, while others remained in the Negev and became Israeli citizens. The deragetory racist terminology of ethnicity and identity used by local Arab has been explored, and it reveals a consciousness of difference and rejection of the label abed or slave/black. person.[64] The issue of the origins, identity and terminology used to describe people of African origin is highly sensitive. white local Arabs' persisting in calling people of African origin 'abed, perpetuates discrimination. The African Palestinians living in Jerusalem told the writer that they would fight with anybody who referred to them as 'abed'. [65]

An Arab Bus driver was charged with racism as he said to an Ethiopian: "Drink milk and you'll be white." his remark cost him his job.[66]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Israel and the occupied territories". State.gov. 2005-02-28. Retrieved 2010-07-22.
  2. ^ "Israeli anti-Arab racism 'rises'", BBC, 10 Dec 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7136068.stm
  3. ^ Synopsis of the report, from "Racism in Israel on the rise", Aviram Zino, Ynet News, 12 Aug 2007, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3480345,00.html
  4. ^ "Reflections on October 2000 - Eight years later, discrimination and racism against Israel's Arab citizens have only increased" - news release from ACRI, http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=556
  5. ^ Espanioly, Nabilia, "Nightmare", in Women and the politics of military confrontation: Palestinian and Israeli gendered narratives of dislocation, Nahla Abdo-Zubi, Ronit Lenṭin (Eds), Berghahn Books, 2002, pp 108-109
  6. ^ Hirst, David, The gun and the olive branch: the roots of violence in the Middle East, Nation Books, 2003, p. 91
  7. ^ See also, regarding media and Yemeni Jews: Madmoni-Gerber, Shoshana, Israeli media and the framing of internal conflict: the Yemenite babies affair, Macmillan, 2009
  8. ^ Emmet, Ayala H., Our sisters' promised land: women, politics, and Israeli-Palestinian coexistence, University of Michigan Press, 2003, p 68
  9. ^ Bar-Tal, Daniel, "The Arab Image in Hebrew School Textbooks", in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, Hillel Schenker, Abu Zayyad Ziad, Ziad Abu Zayyad (Eds), Markus Wiener Publishers, 2006, pp 135-152
  10. ^ a b Yuchtman-Yaar, Ephraim, "Ethnic Inequality in Israeli Schools and Sports: An Expectation-States Approach", in The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 85, No. 3 (Nov., 1979), pp. 576-590, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2778584
  11. ^ Israeli Schools Separate, Not Equal (Human Rights Watch, 5-12-2001)
  12. ^ Human Rights Watch: Second Class: Discrimination Against Palestinian Arab Children in Israel's Schools - Summary
  13. ^ Second Class - Discrimination Against Palestinian Arab Children in Israel's Schools, Human Rights Watch.
  14. ^ "Ethiopian students affair shows prevalent racism in Israel", 3 Sep 2009, Haaretz.com, http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/ethiopian-students-affair-shows-prevalent-racism-in-israel-1.8578
  15. ^ "Deal reached on Petah Tikva Ethiopian olim", Jerusalem Post, 31 Aug 2009. http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=153392
  16. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1106955.html Haaretz. Israel aids its needy Jewish students more than Arab counterparts by Or Kashti. Last accessed: 12 August 2009.
  17. ^ "Arab Sector: NIF Grantees Fight Discrimination in Arab Education". New Israel Fund. 2005-09-13. Archived from the original on 2007-08-07.
  18. ^ Matas, David, Aftershock: anti-zionism and anti-semitism,Dundurn Press Ltd., 2005, p 56-59
  19. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3629923.stm
  20. ^ Our Jerusalem.com
  21. ^ http://www.jkcook.net/Articles3/0426.htm
  22. ^ http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090907/FOREIGN/709069840/1002
  23. ^ Amnesty International, The Amnesty International report, Amnesty International Publications, 2005, p. 142
  24. ^ Human Rights Watch World Report 2008, Seven Stories Press, 2008, p. 487
  25. ^ "Israel/Occupied Territories: High Court decision institutionalizes racial discrimination", Amnesty International news release, 16 May 2006, http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGMDE150422006
  26. ^ See United Nations Resolution 3379, stating in its conclusion that "Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination", passed in November 1975
  27. ^ Zionism, imperialism, and race, Abdul Wahhab Kayyali, ʻAbd al-Wahhāb Kayyālī (Eds), Croom Helm, 1979
  28. ^ Gerson, Allan, "The United Nations and Racism: the Case of Zionism and Racism", in Israel Yearbook on Human Rights 1987, Volume 17; Volume 1987, Yoram Dinstein, Mala Tabory (Eds), Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1988, p 68
  29. ^ Hadawi, Sami, Bitter harvest: a modern history of Palestine, Interlink Books, 1991, p 183
  30. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/news/civil-rights-group-israel-has-reached-new-heights-of-racism-1.234831
  31. ^ Israeli MP: Arabs are worms
  32. ^ "ADL Dismayed At Offensive Remarks Made By Member of Israeli Knesset" (Press release). Anti-Defamation League. 2004-12-14.
  33. ^ "Israeli's World Cup hopes saved by ... Arabs". msnbc.com. Associated Press. 2005-04-01.
  34. ^ "Acre gang stabs, lightly wounds MK Abbas Zakur in hate crime". Haaretz. 2006-07-30.
  35. ^ McGreal, Chris (2006-03-04). "41% of Israel's Jews favour segregation". The Guardian. London.
  36. ^ "Israeli anti-Arab racism 'rises'". BBC. 2007-12-10. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
  37. ^ Abu-Hatoum, Saady (25 January 2007). "Discrimination Diary Series, No.1: Little Arafat". Arab Association for Human Rights.
  38. ^ "Racist attacks against Arabs increase tenfold - report". Y-Net News. 2009-03-21.
  39. ^ Blau, Uri (2009-06-19). "Israeli troops humiliate Palestinians - and put it on YouTube". Haaretz.
  40. ^ Kemp, Adriana, Israelis in conflict: hegemonies, identities and challenges, Sussex Academic Press, 2004, p 155
  41. ^ Rebhun, Uzi, Jews in Israel: contemporary social and cultural patterns, UPNE, 2004, p. 140
  42. ^ Forman, Seth, Blacks in the Jewish Mind: A Crisis of Liberalism, p. 14-15
  43. ^ Branch, Taylor "Blacks and Jews: The Uncivil War", in Bridges and Boundaries: African Americans and American Jews (Salzman, Ed), 1992
  44. ^ Abramov, S. Zalman, Perpetual dilemma: Jewish religion in the Jewish State, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1976, p. 277
  45. ^ Smooha, Sammy, Israel: pluralism and conflict, University of California Press, 1978, p. 400-401
  46. ^ 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
  47. ^ Khazzoom, Loolwa, The flying camel: essays on identity by women of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish heritage, Seal Press, 2003, p 69
  48. ^ 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
  49. ^ Hanieh, Adam, "The Reality Behind Israeli Socialism", in The Palestinian Struggle, Zionism and Anti-Semitism, Sean Malloy, Doug Lorimer, Doug Lorimer (Eds), Resistance Books, 2002, p 21-22
  50. ^ SOLVING THE MYSTERY OF MISSING YEMENI BABIES, ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, Forrest Sawyer and Linda Patillo Reporting, August 25, 1997]
  51. ^ Madmoni-Gerber, Shoshana, Israeli media and the framing of internal conflict: the Yemenite babies affair, Macmillan, 2009
  52. ^ Espanioly, Nabilia, "Nightmare", in Women and the politics of military confrontation: Palestinian and Israeli gendered narratives of dislocation, Nahla Abdo-Zubi, Berghahn Books, 2002, p 108
  53. ^ Sharoni, Simona, "Feminist Reflections on the Interplay between Racism and Sexism in Israel", in Challenging racism and sexism: alternatives to genetic explanations, Ethel Tobach, Betty Rosoff (Eds), Feminist Press, 1994, p 319
  54. ^ Beker, Avi, Chosen: the history of an idea, the anatomy of an obsession, Macmillan, 2008, p 131
  55. ^ Torstrick, Rebecca L., The limits of coexistence: identity politics in Israel, University of Michigan Press, 2000, p 32
  56. ^ Madmoni-Gerber, Shoshana, Israeli media and the framing of internal conflict: the Yemenite babies affair, Macmillan, 2009, p 54-56
  57. ^ http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/main/showNews/id/8958
  58. ^ http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1486/survey-muslim-nations-middle-east-political-leaders-hamas-hezbollah
  59. ^ http://www.zoa.org/sitedocuments/pressrelease_view.asp?pressreleaseID=407
  60. ^ http://newmedia-eng.haifa.ac.il/index.php?m=200905&paged=2
  61. ^ http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131404
  62. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/news/islamic-movement-head-charged-with-incitement-to-racism-violence-1.238209
  63. ^ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3500219,00.html
  64. ^ http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/afas/2007/00000006/00000003/art00006?crawler=true
  65. ^ Hidden history, secret present: The origins and status of African Palestinians by Dr. Susan Beckerleg [1] Reflections on Arab-led slavery of Africans, by K. K. Prah, 2005, p. 198 [2], Tinabantu: Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society, 2002, p. 17 [3]
  66. ^ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3673580,00.html
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