Apartheid? Israeli Arabs reject Palestinian identity, overwhelmingly identify as Israelis and for good reason - by James Sinkinson

If the Palestinians are being left with ever-diminishing territory in Judea and Samaria, this is not apartheid, but the natural result of Palestinian leadership’s failure to seize the many generous opportunities history has presented to them.

James Sinkinson..
FLAME - Facts and Logic About the Middle East..
05 May '20..
Link: https://www.factsandlogic.org/israeli-arabs-reject-palestinian-identity-strongly-identify-as-israelis/





Dear Friend of FLAME:

An Israeli mother posts on her Facebook page a photo of Muslim-Israeli and Jewish-Israeli healthcare professionals dancing together at a Hadassah Hospital staff function and writes the caption, “How dare anyone call my country an apartheid state? If Jews are so horrible to Muslims, why do they work here, send their children to Israeli schools and dance with us? These Muslims are happy and thriving in Israel.”

Indeed, a new poll by the Jewish People Policy Institute provides proof that most non-Jewish Israelis identify with Israel—not the Palestinians—and are content living there. Here are some facts:

• A massive majority—85%—of non-Jews in Israel feel comfortable being themselves in Israel

• Fully 23% of non-Jews in Israel identify as Israeli (up from 5% in 2019), and 51% identify as Arab Israeli (up from 48% last year)—that’s 74% who have a positive Israeli identity.

• A paltry 7% of non-Jews in Israel identify as Palestinian —down from 18% just last year.

• Some 91% of non-Jews disagree that to be a “real Israeli,” you must be Jewish

If Arab Israelis are increasingly assuming an Israeli identity, how can proponents of BDS accuse Israel of being an apartheid state?

First, the Israel haters don’t say that the Arab Israelis are second-class citizens—because that’s indisputably false.

Rather, it’s because, strangely, instead of supporting the right (and responsibility) of the Palestinian people to determine their own destiny, the BDS crowd holds Israel responsible for Palestinian destiny.

The BDSers argue that Israel—and the Trump peace proposal—want to isolate the Palestinians into small areas, either disconnected from one another or linked only by narrow land bridges.

This argument is absurd, of course.

The United Nations, Israel and the U.S. have proposed a completely integrated Palestinian state in 97% of Judea-Samaria (the West Bank), plus Gaza—with a capital in Jerusalem—numerous times. However, the Palestinians have rejected this opportunity for sovereignty every single time.

As geopolitics have changed dramatically since Israel’s last peace proposal in 2008—with the growth of al Qaeda and ISIS, Hamas’ violent seizure of Gaza, the Syrian civil war, plus Iran’s takeover of the Lebanese terror group Hizbollah and its increased imperialism in the Middle East—Israel’s willingness to risk allowing yet another avowed enemy on its borders has understandingly vanished.

Proclaiming Israel to be an apartheid state is both racist and a lie - by Karen Harradine and Paul T Horgan

...And this is all why anyone who uses the term ‘apartheid state’ in association with Israel cannot be taken at all seriously. Firstly, they are being anti-Semitic by the standards of the IHRA. Secondly, it is a provably bogus comparison. Thirdly, it tacitly supports terrorism. The term should be banished from our media as much as any other racist epithet.

Karen Harradine/Paul T Horgan..
conservativewoman.co.uk..
16 July '19..

Sharing some of my many painful memories of growing up in apartheid South Africa with Paul, my co-writer of this post, one stood out in particular. On a hot summer’s day my mother had fetched me from school, as she always did. Driving up a steep hill on our way home she suddenly stopped the car, rolled down her window and asked a man on the street if he wanted a lift.

She had noticed the elderly black man, in dusty clothes, leaning heavily on a stick as he struggled to walk up this hill. As he got into the car he started to cry and pray, thanking my mother and praising her for having the courage to help a black person. That act, of helping a black person classified as an ‘inferior race’ by apartheid laws, was an aberration in our separate and unequal society.

This ailing black man was barred from whites’ only buses and hospitals, both amenities far better than anything black South Africans were permitted to use. His fragility, caused by decades of deprivation under successive apartheid governments, encapsulates the suffering of millions under the apartheid regime. Those who accuse Israel of being an apartheid state belittle this man’s suffering.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) defines any comparison between Nazi Germany and Israel as anti-Semitism. Anti-Semites attempt to bypass that by making false comparisons between apartheid South Africa and Israel. This rhetoric is designed to smear Israel as a ‘racist’ country and is yet another attempt to delegitimise the Jewish state.

But they fail to grasp that accusing Israel of being racist is not only wrong but also a form of anti-Semitism under the IHRA definition.

This libel stems from the hate-fest that was the 2001 UN ‘anti-racism’ conference, held in Durban. This conference birthed not only the insidious Boycott Disinvest Sanctions campaign but also the unholy concept that being anti-Israel is a requisite for proclaiming anti-racist credentials.

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Question. Which is the Apartheid State? - by Karen Harradine

...The Islamist war against Israel epitomises not only a physical battle but a spiritual one between good and evil. Christians should know better than to side with those who cheer when the blood of Jewish children, like that of Malki Roth, is spilt.

Malki Roth

Karen Harradine..
A Grain of Sand..
19 February '19..

In November 2017 Arnold Roth sat by his disabled daughter’s bedside in an Israeli hospital. His tweets from that time offer an informed repose to the Islamist slur that Israel is an apartheid state. Most of the medical staff who attended his daughter were Arab and so were a third of the patients.

The name Arnold Roth should be familiar. Hamas terrorists murdered his other daughter Malki while the 15 year old was eating pizza in a Jerusalem cafe almost 18 years ago.

One of the masterminds of this slaughter of innocents, Ahlam Tamimi, now lives in Jordan. She is a member of the notorious Tamimi clan who are lauded as ‘freedom fighters’ by the depraved mainstream media, which seemingly worship those who kill Jews.

But the media are not only the only culprits. Far too many clueless Westerners parrot the Islamist narrative that Israel is an ‘apartheid state’. However the evidence indicates otherwise. Israel is a place of safety not only Jews but for all religions.

Half the world’s Jewry – over 6.6 million – lives there. Muslim Arabs make up 18% of the population and Christians and Druze 2% each. The Baha’i, Circassians and Arameans also live within the sanctuary of Israel’s borders. The Baha’i are persecuted in Iran but are free to practice their faith in Israel and have their headquarters in Haifa. Equal rights for all religions and races are enshrined in Israeli law. Arabs serve in the Knesset.

Israel never features on Open Door’s worldwide watch list for the persecution of Christians. But the Palestinian Territories – Gaza and the West Bank – always do.

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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The real racists? People who claim "Palestine is a racial justice issue" - by Elder of Ziyon

The people who are calling "Palestine" a racial justice issue are not only liars - they are the only racists in this discussion.

Elder of Ziyon..
07 February '19..

I received an email from the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, about Angela Davis receiving a human rights award. In the email it says, "Palestine is a racial justice issue, and Dr. Davis’ insistence that the Palestinian people be included in that vision of justice qualifies her for the award all the more."

There is nothing remotely racial about the conflict between Israel and the Arab world, including Palestinians. After all, half of Israelis have some heritage from northern African and Middle Eastern communities and are indistinguishable from Arabs. (European Jews are genetically closer to Middle Eastern Jews than to other Europeans, as well.)

If skin pigmentation is your criterion, there are roughly 100,000 Israelis from Ethiopia who are darker than virtually any Palestinian Arab. Yet they are considered "white" by the bizarre logic of those who want to paint this as a racial justice issue.

Of course there is discrimination in Israel, just as there is in every other country on Earth. But the Palestinian Arabs aren't discriminated against based on race. It is a political, religious and cultural conflict but there is no racial component - half of Israelis are the same "color."

The people who want to call this a racial conflict are the racists. Against all visual and genetic evidence, they want the world to view Israelis as the evil "white" oppressors and the Palestinian Arabs as the victimized people of color. If racism is the idea that some people are better than others based on skin color, the anti-Israel racists are demanding that the world hate Israelis based on skin color that most don't even have!

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Israeli and Palestinian drivers celebrate game-changer new road, while critics (surprise) accuse Israel of ‘apartheid’ - by Josh Hasten

What critics of the project failed to mention is that the motorists themselves, both Jews and Arabs alike, are praising the new Eastern Ring road, Route 4370, as being a game-changer in alleviating the recurrent traffic jams in the area.

Josh Hasten..
JNS.org..
19 January '19..

Once again, Israel found itself under attack by international media, left-wing non-governmental organizations and the Palestinian Authority, but this time for a different reason—they simultaneously accused the Jewish state of carrying out a policy of apartheid against its Arab population.

The firestorm of allegations followed the opening of a new 5-kilometer (3.1 miles) stretch of highway to the east of Jerusalem, which contains separate lanes for Israeli citizen and non-citizen traffic divided by a concrete wall with a fence on top.

Motorists and Israeli officials, however, are praising the new Eastern Ring road, Route 4370, which bypasses an overtaxed entrance to Jerusalem, as a game-changer that is already alleviating the recurrent and maddening traffic jams in the area.

Jewish and Arab leaders participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier this month launching traffic on the new road.

In response to the rampant accusations that the segregated road represents a form of apartheid, Rachel Greenspan, senior advisor for foreign affairs and media to Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, told JNS that “this road represents the exact opposite of apartheid, by easing congestion and movement for the city’s Arab residents, especially those in the Shuafat Camp and in Issawiyya.”

She added that “this road will allow Arab and Jewish residents alike to move throughout the city more efficiently, improving day-to-day life for all.”

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Surprise!? UN Body Promotes Apartheid Libel - by Simon Plosker

Given that most of these states do not even recognize Israel, it’s hardly earth-shattering that this particular UN body would promote an anti-Israel agenda.

Simon Plosker..
Honest Reporting..
16 March '17..

A newly released UN report, “Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid,” says that “available evidence establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that Israel is guilty of policies and practices that constitute the crime of apartheid as legally defined in instruments of international law.”

This is believed to be the first time that an official UN document has used the word “apartheid” directly in order to smear Israel.

To be fair, most mainstream media, including the New York Times have reported the resulting stink that this report has caused and the fact that it has been virtually disavowed by the UN Secretary General.

To critique the contents of the 74-page report would simply lend it a credibility that it does not deserve. The apartheid libel is employed by Israel’s enemies precisely to delegitimize the country by associating it with the former racist South African regime.

Unfortunately, the mainstream media will only scrape the surface as to why this report cannot and should not be taken seriously.

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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The Apartheid Libel and Palestinian Opinion

...If Jebreal wants Israel to become a place where Arab-Jewish hostility is lessened, then she should address her complaints to her fellow Arabs who support Hamas and whose hostility ensures the seemingly indefinite perpetuation of the conflict. But by invoking the apartheid libel about Israel and not the settlements in the territories she is giving away her real intent. Not even a total withdrawal from the lands won in 1967 would satisfy her any more than it would Hamas. What she wants is an end to the Jewish state, not a civil-rights movement as she disingenuously claims. So long as this is what passes for informed Arab opinion, no one should be surprised that Israelis have given up on peace for the foreseeable future.

Bratislav Milenkovic
NYT

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary Magazine..
28 October '14..

The latest poll of Palestinian opinion provides another sobering dose of reality to those who think that Israeli actions are the sole obstacle to peace. Following on the heels of previous surveys taken in the aftermath of this past summer’s war, the poll from the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center again shows that most Palestinians think Hamas won the conflict. More importantly, support for the Islamist terror group and the idea of continuing a military struggle against Israel continues to go up while backing for the supposedly more moderate Fatah declines. This is important in understanding not just how remote the chances of convincing those Fatah moderates to negotiate even a favorable peace deal with Israel are, but also why Israeli attitudes toward Palestinians have changed.

The polls tell us that the same people who were being used as human shields by Hamas in Gaza as well as other Palestinians in the West Bank are still unwilling to rethink their backing for the group’s efforts to wage war and ultimately destroy Israel. This is puzzling to those in the West who bother to look at the numbers, since it makes no sense. Hamas’s campaign of “resistance” against Israeli “occupation”—the phrase by which they refer to pre-1967 Israel and not just the West Bank—has no prospect of success. All it brings the Palestinians is more devastation, suffering, and bloodshed.

And yet the majority of Palestinians remain so hostile to Israel’s existence and the Jewish presence on even the land it held before June 1967 that the struggle remains popular. From its beginnings in the early 20th century, Palestinian nationalism has always been inextricably linked with the war on Zionism. Reinforced by a constant drumbeat of incitement from both the official media of the Palestinian Authority and its leadership, the political culture of the Palestinians remains implacably hostile to Israel even if one takes Hamas out of the equation. That culture of denial of Israel’s legitimacy feeds the terrorism of Hamas in the form of missiles and terror tunnels, but also the Arab violence in the streets of Jerusalem against Israeli citizens that has created a steady toll of casualties in recent months.

It is also in that context that we should read the latest diatribe against Israel in the New York Times. An op-ed published today by Israeli Arab journalist Rula Jebreal is a compendium of charges all aimed to depict the country as fitting into the “apartheid state” libel. In her telling, every aspect of the country’s laws is geared toward discrimination against the Arab minority population. Israel is, like any democracy, imperfect and it would not be true to claim that Israeli Arabs have no cause for complaint. Some of what she writes about is true and some are distortions. But one doesn’t have to read too far between the lines to see that the purpose of her indictment is not redress of specific wrongs but the end of the Zionist project. The rights of national minorities should be protected in any society but the existence of that minority does not give them the right to thwart the basic purpose of the state.

Dear John, 'Apartheid' Isn't On Israel's Agenda

...But the notion that Israel must repeat its 2005 Gaza mistake in the West Bank in order to avoid being smeared as a new South Africa is unpersuasive. Any use of the apartheid canard to describe Israel, whether employed by Secretary of State John Kerry or by the BDS anti-Zionists, only serves to make a Palestinian decision to make peace less, rather than more, likely.

Jonathan Tobin..
Forward Thinking..
12 May '14..

Employing the term “apartheid” — a word that conjures up the evils of both colonialism and racism in South Africa — to describe Israel’s future if peace with the Palestinians isn’t reached is nothing but a canard.

Within the 1967 lines, Israel is a working democracy in which minorities have equal rights. But even when applied to the West Bank, it is a complete misnomer. So long as Gaza remains an independent Palestinian state in all but name, Jews will remain the majority between the Jordan and the Mediterranean for the foreseeable future. And that’s not even taking into account that the assumption that the Arab birthrate will always overwhelm that of the Jews is probably a mistake.

More to the point, the standoff over the West Bank that leaves most Arabs living under Israeli security but administered by the Palestinian Authority has nothing to do with an apartheid-style desire by a minority to rule a majority. After torpedoing the peace talks by making a deal with Hamas, Fatah has effectively turned down a fourth chance for independence to go along with its previous rejections in 2000, 2001 and 2008.
The continued Palestinian refusal to recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders are drawn is a product of a political culture that still links national identity to the war on Zionism. That creates an unfortunate stalemate that isn’t satisfactory to either side.

But the notion that Israel must repeat its 2005 Gaza mistake in the West Bank in order to avoid being smeared as a new South Africa is unpersuasive. Any use of the apartheid canard to describe Israel, whether employed by Secretary of State John Kerry or by the BDS anti-Zionists, only serves to make a Palestinian decision to make peace less, rather than more, likely.

Link: http://blogs.forward.com/forward-thinking/198036/no-kerry-apartheid-isnt-on-israels-agenda/?

Jonathan S. Tobin is the senior online editor and chief political blogger of Commentary magazine. Follow him on Twitter, @TobinCommentary.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Check-it out!
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