February 2008
What if an Arab was elected Prime Minister of Israel?
by Nadia Matar
Denial is a well-known psychological mechanism. A threatening problem is created. The individual denies the problem for a certain amount of time, but it eventually explodes in his face.
The people of Israel are in total denial regarding the problem of Israeli Arabs. After watching a video recording of a demonstration by Israeli Arabs in Haifa, I decided that the time has come to raise this issue, knowing full well that this is a subject that many people are afraid to touch.
The video recording, that appears on the "Netnet" web site, shows a recent demonstration in Haifa.(See link to the video at the end of the article).We see in the video scores of Arabs waving flags of Palestine and chanting anti-Israel slogans. Here are a few quotes from the report by Boaz Golan that accompanies the recording:
"The Jews who live in the German Colony in Haifa are in shock. Their ears do not want to hear, and woe to the eyes that see ... Here in Haifa, under the Bahai gardens, right next to the Haifa Municipality's Tourist Association - here, in our home, in a state that is talking about its 60th [anniversary] celebrations, right here, we live as if in a prison. Here, in our home, the Arabs are raising their heads ... This infuriating demonstration lasted for days. A Palestinian demonstration against the state, against the public at large, against the Jewish people. Against me and against you. Flags of Palestine fly in the face of passersby. Gaza is here in Haifa, in our very home! Jewish drivers pass by, honk their horns, and call out to them: "Go to Gaza," but scores of Arabs continue to chant their slogans against the state, and are not afraid to shout out loud: "Beirut," "Damascus," "Palestine"! ... This is how the State of Israel is ... in a country in which corruption runs wild and Arabism flourishes."
The demonstration in Haifa is, of course, only one of the many examples of the dramatic rise in the nationalistic extremism of Israeli Arabs, that is expressed not only in chanting anti-Israel slogans, but also in acts and in violence against Jews. Naturally, in all these instances, the "Israeli law enforcement" system, does not lift a finger.
In Akko and in Jaffa Israeli Arabs attack Jews. No one says anything, True, a few Members of Knesset came to show their shock before the cameras. Dozens of young couples have moved to these cities, in order to strengthen the Jewish residents. This positive initiative is to be applauded, but, at the present time, there can be no doubt that this act is like giving aspirin to a cancer patient.
Recently we hear of stone throwing at Jewish vehicles by Israeli Arabs in Galilee. This hardly makes the headlines. Just imagine what the media would have done if Jews had thrown stones at Arabs! Jewish girls walking about in malls in the north where there is an Arab majority suffer sexual harassment, and take their lives in their hands if they just go shopping. Does this bother anyone? Is anyone willing to say, right out loud: "In Israel in 2008, Israeli Arabs are attacking Jews"? No, everyone remains silent and denies the problem.
Last year, dozens of Jews celebrated Yom ha-Atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) in the forest of Megiddo. A group of Israeli Arabs arrived, with flags of Palestine, riding on horses, and forced the Jews to flee from the city. Except for the Arutz 7 web site, did anyone cover this subject? Not to mention that the police did not arrest even a single Arab rioter.
And what about the quiet and nonviolent Arab conquest that is being conducted in many places in Israel? Anyone who visits the Hadassah-Mount Scopus and Hadassah-Ein Karem hospitals could mistakenly think that he was in Ramallah. There are countless Arab doctors, and hundreds of Arab patients and Arab clans in the corridors. The situation is the same in the universities, the courts, and so on...
Jewish children no longer play in the Liberty Bell Garden, between the Inbal Hotel and the King David Hotel. It has been "conquered" by hundreds of Arab families, and Jewish mothers fear to bring their children there. Make no mistake. Unlike other countries, in which minorities act with respect and submission to the host country, a considerable portion of the Israeli Arabs act as if they were the lords of the land, while we Jews seem to them as causal visitors who bother them!
I ask: is this the "Jewish State" of which its founders dreamed?
The government of Israel relates to this issue from a quite interesting direction. A few days age we were informed that Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit is acting to establish a new Arab city, apparently in the Galilee. "No New Arab City Has Been Established Since the Establishment of the State," cry out the newspaper headlines in favor of a new Arab city. Truly, there is no better way to portray the Israeli government that is celebrating 60 years since the establishment of the Jewish state: a government that freezes all Jewish construction in Judea, Samaria, and even in the capital Jerusalem, and instead of this channels its resources and money into the establishment of an Arab city. I don't know whether to cry or laugh bitterly.
The left and the Arab street, of course, are full of joy and elation. But why does the national camp remain silent? Where is the outcry? Where are the rabbis who are supposed to remind us that, on account of "show them no quarter" (Deuteronomy 7:2), we must not allow non-Jews to encamp in Israel? This means: it is forbidden to sell them a house, it is forbidden to rent them a house. And it certainly is forbidden to build them a city.
And just what is the meaning of an "Arab city"? Will they put a sign at the entrance to the city: "No Entry for Jews"? Is there actually any "Jewish city" in the State of Israel? Israeli Arabs can live in any city in Israel. Arabs live in Haifa, Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Jerusalem, and after the anti-Zionist ruling by Aharon Barak, Arabs also moved to Katzir and Harish.
If Jews, in contrast, would dare to buy in Umm el-Fahm, Daliyat al-Karmil, Baka el-Garbiye, or any other Arab village in Galilee or the Negev, it is clear to all that they would be subject to a pogrom, just as the Druze did to make the city of Peki'in free of Jews a few months ago.
As you remember, in late October 2007, Druze used the pretext of a new cellular antenna to riot against the Jewish families in the town. Jewish houses and cars were torched down; tens of Israeli policemen were wounded; one policewoman was held hostage.The end result: all Jewish families left Pekiin and have not returned yet. (see links to articles about Pekiin riots at the end of the article).
And if we continue to be silent about this topic, what will happen in another twenty years? Will anyone relate to these questions? The left tells us that we must "separate ourselves" from Judea and Samaria in order to preserve Israel as a Jewish state. This, however, is the false propaganda of the anti-Jewish left, that dreams of the destruction of the Jewish settlement in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, for no reason other than hatred for the settlers, and that attempts to advance its dream by spreading empty slogans. The Arabs of Judea and Samaria do not constitute a threat to the State of Israel. They are not citizens. It is specifically Israeli Arabs who threaten Israel as a Jewish state. Why is no one in our camp willing to propose a solution to the issue of Israeli Arabs in a country that wants to be a Jewish state? Rabbi Benny Elon's Israel Initiative relates to the Arabs of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, while Avigdor Leiberman's "exchange of territories" idea should be categorically rejected, since it speaks of handing over parts of the land of Israel to Arabs.
The only one who dared to broach this subject was Rabbi Meir Kahane of blessed memory, may G-d avenge his blood. In 1980, when he was in the Ramle prison, he wrote a book entitled They Must Go (the Hebrew title means "Stings in Your Eyes," from the verse in the book of Numbers [33:55]: "But if you do not dispossess the inhabitants of the land, those whom you allow to remain shall be stings in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land in which you live").
Based on the Jewish halakhah, and supported by dozens of historical examples of other peoples who struggled with hostile minorities that lived in their midst, Rabbi Kahane proposed that we separate ourselves from the Arabs. Only in this way will Israel be able to survive as a Jewish state. The details of the plan and the ways to implement them are set forth in his book. Despite its having been written in 1980, it is still extremely relevant.
We can either accept or reject what Rabbi Kahane wrote, but one thing is clear: we cannot continue to ignore this question. If we continue to bury our heads in the sand, one day we will wake up after elections and hear the broadcaster announce in the news: It's an upheaval! After Arab mayors were elected in Haifa, Beersheva, and Jerusalem a few years ago, today an Arab Prime Minister has been elected in Israel!
Mabruk and Salaam Aleikum!" And what will we do then?
True, many people are afraid to touch the issue, for fear of being accused of "racism." But we cannot lose the Jewish state out of "fear of racism."If an Israeli government minister is not accused of racism for establishing an Arab city free of Jews, and if all the members of the Sharon government, who expelled our brethren from Gush Katif and northern Samaria just because they were Jews, were not accused of racism, then I an certain that the charge of racism will not be raised against those who propose deposing the present government and replacing it with a government that will advance the idea of a truly Jewish state - which means: Jewish sovereignty over all of Eretz Israel and Jewish control of its future. Since the hostile Arab minority will not be pleased by this, everyone will eventually understand that separation is the only solution:
The Jews in Eretz Israel, and the Arabs in the Arab countries.
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link to the video about the Arab demonstration in Haifa
(the text is in Hebrew but one does need to speak Hebrew to understand what is going on on the video)
http://www.netnet.co.il/showart.php?art_id=853
Ynet article: Last Jewish family leaves Pekiin after riots
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3478336,00.html
Ynet article: Druze vandalize Jewish property
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3466794,00.html
Ynet article: Policewoman recounts "hell" in Pekiin
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