Only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country now.
By Maayan Lubell
Jerusalem, July 19, 2018 (Reuters via The Huffington Post) - Israel passed a law on Thursday to declare that only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country, something members of the Arab minority called racist and verging on apartheid.
The “nation-state” law, backed by the right-wing government, passed by a vote of 62-55 and two abstentions in the 120-member parliament after months of political argument. Some Arab lawmakers shouted and ripped up papers after the vote.
“This is a defining moment in the annals of Zionism and the history of the state of Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset after the vote.
Largely symbolic, the law was enacted just after the 70th anniversary of the birth of the state of Israel. It stipulates that “Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it.”
The bill also strips Arabic of its designation as an official language alongside Hebrew, downgrading it to a “special status” that enables its continued use within Israeli institutions.
Israel’s Arabs number some 1.8 million, about 20 percent of the 9 million population.
Early drafts of the legislation went further in what critics at home and abroad saw as discrimination towards Israel’s Arabs, who have long said they are treated as second-class citizens.
Clauses that were dropped in last-minute political wrangling - and after objections by Israel’s president and attorney-general - would have enshrined in law the establishment of Jewish-only communities, and instructed courts to rule according to Jewish ritual law when there were no relevant legal precedents.
Instead, a more vaguely-worded version was approved, which says: “The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment.”
Even after the changes, critics said the new law will deepen a sense of alienation within the Arab minority.
“I announce with shock and sorrow the death of democracy,” Ahmed Tibi, an Arab lawmaker, told reporters.
Netanyahu has defended the law. “We will keep ensuring civil rights in Israel’s democracy but the majority also has rights and the majority decides,” he said last week.
“An absolute majority wants to ensure our state’s Jewish character for generations to come.”
Israel’s Arab population is comprised mainly of descendants of the Palestinians who remained on their land during the conflict between Arabs and Jews that culminated in the war of 1948 surrounding the creation of the modern state of Israel. Hundreds of thousands were forced to leave their homes or fled.
Those who remained have full equal rights under the law but say they face constant discrimination, citing inferior services and unfair allocations for education, health and housing.
In Ma’alot-Tarshiha, a municipality in northern Israel which was created by linking the Jewish town of Ma’alot and the Arab town of Tarshiha, there was anger among Arab residents.
“I think this is racist legislation by a radical right-wing government that is creating radical laws, and is planting the seeds to create an apartheid state,” said physician Bassam Bisharah, 71.
“The purpose of this law is discrimination. They want to get rid of the Arabs totally,” said Yousef Faraj, 53, from the nearby Druze village of Yanuh. “The Israelis want to destroy all the religions of the Arabs.”
Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, called the law a bid to advance “ethnic superiority by promoting racist policies.”
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Letter: “All democracies must do better by minorities”
The Berkshire Eagle, July 25, 2018
To the editor:
The July 20 Eagle had an article about a new law in Israel that describes Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. This new law may be redundant. Jews are 80 percent of the population of Israel, Hebrew is the primary national language and Jews run the government and most major public and private organizations. The law passed the Israeli parliament by only a slim majority. Some Israelis think this new law is necessary to re-affirm to the world that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people, forever.
Israeli Arabs vote Arabs into the Israeli parliament, are doctors in Israeli hospitals and have thousands of students in Israeli universities. Israeli Arabs have a higher standard of living and higher literacy than Arabs living in majority Arab lands. Yet, as a minority in Israel, they do suffer some aspects of second class citizenship.
Minorities in most Western democracies, including our U.S., are subject to some forms of discrimination. Let's all work to improve the workings of democracies for ALL people.
Martin Silver, Lenox
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credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
CELEBRITY
“Natalie Portman Slams Israel’s Nation-State Law As ‘Racist,’ ‘Wrong’”
It’s not the first time the Jewish actress has criticized the Israeli government.
By Sara Boboltz, The Huffington Post, December 13, 2018
Jerusalem-born actress Natalie Portman has only harsh words for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial “nation-state law” passed over the summer formally recognizing the country as a Jewish state despite its large population of non-Jewish Arabs.
“It’s racist and there’s nothing else to say about that,” Portman told the BBC in an interview posted online earlier this week.
“It’s wrong and I disagree with that [law],” the actress continued.
Called the “Basic Law,” the measure sets Hebrew as the national language and states that Israel’s Jews have a “unique” right to self-determination. It also defines Jerusalem as the “complete and united” capital of Israel, ignoring the fact that it’s occupied in part by Palestinians who wish to claim it as their capital.
Non-Jewish Arabs comprise around one-fifth of Israel’s population and the majority in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel has long stood accused of institutionalized discrimination and human rights abuses against non-Jews.
Portman told the BBC it’s “hard to be from a place” where laws like this are in place. “It’s like your family ― you love them the most and you also feel the most critical.”
Critics have likened the law to apartheid. Proponents say it marks a “defining moment” for Israel and have said criticism amounts to anti-Semitism.
Portman’s critique comes eight months after she backed out of a major Israeli award ceremony in Jerusalem where she was scheduled to receive a prestigious honor. The “Black Swan” actress explained in a statement that she did not want to appear to support Netanyahu, who would be at the event.
Her statement, released on Instagram, said, “Like many Israelis and Jews around the world, I can be critical of the leadership in Israel without wanting to boycott the entire nation.”
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Letter: “The cause of hostility toward Israel”
The Berkshire Eagle, August 22, 2019
To the editor:
Tom Friedman's recent commentary, titled "Trump is not a friend of Israel," referred to U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar's and Rashida Tlaib's hostile views toward Israel but did not explain why they have hostile views toward Israel.
A historical factor in Palestinians' hostile views toward Israel was the Israelis' military action in 1948 that killed or forcibly removed more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland. Zionism is a political ideology and its leaders called their military takeover of Palestine "Plan Delat." Palestinians call the takeover "Nakba," or the catastrophe, and others have called it ethnic cleansing. The Economist has called it Israel's original sin.
Readers may learn the scope of Plan Dalet and Nakba by Googling "Plan Dalet" and "Nakba."
Allan Gehring, Lenox
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May 14, 2022
Hello blogger Dan Valenti,
I request that you please write a blog posting on the news article below about a NYC Holocaust Museum's recent controversary with a conservative Jewish organization who wanted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to speak there at their Jewish Leadership Conference next month in June of 2022, but the Museum of Jewish Heritage does not want the very conservative Ron DeSantis to speak there due to the "Don't Say Gay" bill that he recently signed into state law, as well as the political nature of the event that violates the museum's charter.
The context of this conflict includes that New York City neighborhoods with a large population of Reform Jews voted decisively for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, while those with many ultra-Orthodox Jews overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump. The conservative Jewish organization is accusing the museum of engaging in cancel culture and speculated that its leaders may have been afraid of protests because “a lot of people dislike Mr. DeSantis.” They are saying that the museum that stands for inclusivity and tolerance has become exclusive and intolerant. The museum invited Ron DeSantis to visit the museum as a tourist. The museum stated, “No one was banned or canceled.” The museum director called the episode political bullying and duplicity.
My thoughts on this new story are that political cultural wars are disingenuous because the Ruling Elites don't care about the people who are put in the middle of them. I dislike religious cultural conflict as much as political cultural conflicts. All people and Peoples should respect the Golden Rule whereby people and Peoples are treated fairly, safely, and are protected by both Human Rights and Civil Rights under law and in society. Politicians should stop being polarized, but instead we should find common ground for the common good of government and society alike.
Cultural wars are always "Do as I say, NOT as I do" politics. Compound that with this age of conspiratorial politics, and our government and society will soon collapse onto itself. Throughout the good, the bad and the ugly of human history, religious and political leaders have always used "Divide & Conquer" to obtain and retain power and enrich themselves with the wealth by exploiting the Have Nots with cultural and social conflict. When the Haves have the Have Not people and Peoples in conflict(s), the Oligarchs rule them with absolute power.
The Jewish People in NYC are divided between Biden and Trump, while the NYC Holocaust Museum is caught in the middle. I hope that cultural conflict(s) in politics will someday be seen for what they are: Political division and polarization for the benefit of the Ruling Elites and their Financial and Corporate Elite campaign donors who all enrich themselves at the public trough while the Have Nots are needlessly ununited and fighting amongst themselves by the manipulative design of the wealthy and powerful Haves.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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"What Happened When a Conservative Jewish Group Invited DeSantis to Speak"
By Liam Stack, The New York Times, May 14, 2022
NEW YORK — The Tikvah Fund, a conservative Jewish organization, was all set to host a conference in June at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, when months of planning were suddenly derailed by its last-minute addition of a speaker who might have once been uncontroversial: the Republican governor of Florida.
The fund had invited Gov. Ron DeSantis to discuss the vibrancy of Jewish life in Florida, a topic the fund wrote about in the April issue of its magazine, one month after DeSantis had signed legislation that prohibits classroom instruction and discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in the early grades of elementary schools. Opponents have called the legislation the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Tikvah signed a contract and sent it to the museum before DeSantis was added to the lineup; the trouble began once the group updated its program to include the governor.
“Thanks for sharing this with me,” read an email to the fund from Trudy Chan, an official with the museum. Chan noted that providing security for the governor would not be a problem, but she added: “We would need to ascertain if there are any potential conflicts with your invited speakers. Please stand by.”
The next day, Chan asked the fund to “pause” its $11,500 deposit and requested a conversation with its leaders, according to emails. In subsequent phone calls, Eric Cohen, the CEO of Tikvah, was informed that an event with DeSantis could not be held at the museum, which describes itself as “a living memorial to the Holocaust,” because the “Don’t Say Gay” bill does not align with its values of inclusivity, Cohen told The New York Times.
The museum does not allow political speakers or events at its museum, Cohen said he was told, despite recent events featuring Democratic politicians like Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“The museum has implied that Tikvah wanted to host a partisan political event,” Cohen said. “Our event endorses no candidates and serves no political party. It is all about ideas, just like every prior conference we have held at the museum.”
The museum’s CEO, Jack Kliger, declined several requests to be interviewed for this article, but the museum has explained its actions in a series of public statements that expressed its concern with the political nature of the event and the amount of security the governor might need. A spokesperson for the Museum of Jewish Heritage emphasized that the museum had nothing to do with the event outside of discussing the rental of its space to the Tikvah Fund.
Politics have become increasingly challenging for Jewish institutions in recent years, as Americans have become divided over issues like LGBTQ policies and the results of the 2020 presidential election. New York City is no exception. Neighborhoods with a large population of Reform Jews voted decisively for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, while those with many ultra-Orthodox Jews overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump.
That has put institutions like the Museum of Jewish Heritage in a difficult position.
“As American domestic politics has become more and more ferociously polarized, and increasingly as people see conservatives not just as different but fundamentally anti-democratic or illiberal or authoritarian or racist, holding together this big tent is really, really difficult,” said Peter Beinart, a writer and editor-at-large for Jewish Currents, a progressive magazine, who also writes for the Times.
“Any institution that is built today on the need to serve both conservatives and progressives, whether it is the NFL or a Jewish museum or anything else, is finding that work harder and harder to do,” Beinart said.
The Tikvah Fund first made its complaints about the museum's actions in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal written by Cohen and Elliott Abrams, a national security official in several Republican presidential administrations and a special representative in the Trump administration.
In it, they accused the museum of engaging in cancel culture and speculated that its leaders may have been afraid of protests because “a lot of people dislike Mr. DeSantis.”
“In the name of inclusivity, a Jewish museum sent us a clear message: Some people are to be excluded,” they wrote. “In the name of fighting hate, the museum decided that the millions of Floridians who support Governor DeSantis — including many Jews — are so hateful that they don’t even merit a voice in the great American conversation. A museum of tolerance has become intolerant.”
After the opinion piece was published, the museum issued a public statement that said the article “contains many factual inaccuracies,” and described the decision as “simply a contractual and logistical decision.”
It invited DeSantis to visit the museum as a tourist and accused Tikvah of “trying to create a fight where none exists.”
“No one was banned or canceled,” the statement said. “The fact is that no contract with the Tikvah Fund was ever signed for this rental event to be held at the museum, and no deposit was ever made.”
The museum never signed the contract, but a negotiation between the two parties had been underway, according to the Tikvah Fund, which said that there had been a series of emails discussing the event and the museum’s $23,000 rental fee before it was announced that DeSantis would be joining the lineup.
In a letter to The Wall Street Journal, Kliger accused Tikvah of “political bullying” and duplicity, saying it signed the contract just so it could accuse the museum of canceling it.
He wrote that the situation arose in part because the fund had not promptly provided the museum with details about the conference, which seemed to have a political nature that violated the museum charter.
“When we declined to host the event, Tikvah resorted to threats, saying we had created an enemy,” Kliger wrote. “Tikvah knew that this was not about banning anyone from speaking but decided to make the false claim anyway.”
In a subsequent statement to the Times, Kliger emphasized yet another reason. “Late in discussions” with Tikvah, the museum realized the event “warranted significant additional security,” he wrote. “The intensity of those security requirements clearly implied a potential level of activity around the conference that was not standard practice for the museum.”
Kliger emphasized this point in his letter to The Wall Street Journal. “This was not about banning or canceling Gov. DeSantis,” he wrote. “The museum must consider the safety of visitors and staff.”
DeSantis declined to comment, although a statement from his office chastised the museum for what it described as the politicization of a sacred space. “A Holocaust memorial should never be politicized,” it said, adding that the governor is committed to keeping Florida “a safe and welcoming home for the Jewish people.”
The Tikvah Fund will still present the 2022 Jewish Leadership Conference. Appearing at Pier 60 in Manhattan this June alongside DeSantis will be a number of prominent speakers, including Mike Pompeo, secretary of state under Trump, and John Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary magazine.
Topics will include “How to Fight Back Against Wokeness: A Jewish View” — a conversation between Podhoretz and Bari Weiss, a former Times opinion writer — and “On Jewish Exceptionalism.”
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