Israel has been at the forefront in seeking to have other nations boycott the Durban Review Conference due to start in Geneva on 20 April.
The US, Canada, the Netherlands and Australia, amongst others - to their shame - have fallen into line and won't be attending the Conference.
Interesting, then, to read this blog "Promised Land" by Noam Sheizaf, a journalist in Israel's “Maariv” daily paper.
He writes:
"I have often claimed here that the public atmosphere in Israel is becoming more and more racist towards Arabs. A good example of this can be found in the comments (“talkbacks”) on all major internet sites."
Read the posting, in full, here, for examples of strident racism alive and well in Israel.
Talk about people - Israel - in glass houses!
Update [21 April]: Predictably, the address by Iranian President Ahmadinijad to the Conference in Geneva has attracted criticism and mainly European delegates walking out on the speech. The President accused Israel of being a racist State.
What to make then of this report on YNet News [yes, an Israeli news service] "Racism on the rise in Israel" in December 2007?:
"The Association for Civil Rights in Israel's (ACRI) report on civil rights in Israel paints a bleak picture: Increasing racism, restriction of personal freedoms and discrimination even within the Knesset walls – and that's just scratching the surface.
Published Saturday, the report reveled that Israeli youths are bombarded with stereotypic, racist imagery, and their opinions have developed accordingly: 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."
Even more up to date, only last week, is this piece "Israel's Racist in Chief" by Chris Hedges [one-time NY Times Bureau Chief in Jerusalem] on truthdig.com:
"It was unthinkable, when I was based as a correspondent in Jerusalem two decades ago, that an Israeli politician who openly advocated ethnically cleansing the Palestinians from Israeli-controlled territory, as well as forcing Arabs in Israel to take loyalty oaths or be forcibly relocated to the West Bank, could sit on the Cabinet. The racist tirades of Jewish proto-fascists like Meir Kahane stood outside the law, were vigorously condemned by most Israelis and were prosecuted accordingly. Kahane’s repugnant Kach Party, labeled by the United States, Canada and the European Union as a terrorist organization, was outlawed by the Israeli government in 1988 for inciting racism.
Israel has changed. And the racist virus spread by Kahane, whose thugs were charged with the murders and beatings of dozens of unarmed Palestinians and whose members held rallies in Jerusalem where they chanted “Death to Arabs!” has returned to Israel in the figure of Israel’s powerful new foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman. Lieberman openly calls for an araberrein Israel—an Israel free of Arabs."
The US, Canada, the Netherlands and Australia, amongst others - to their shame - have fallen into line and won't be attending the Conference.
Interesting, then, to read this blog "Promised Land" by Noam Sheizaf, a journalist in Israel's “Maariv” daily paper.
He writes:
"I have often claimed here that the public atmosphere in Israel is becoming more and more racist towards Arabs. A good example of this can be found in the comments (“talkbacks”) on all major internet sites."
Read the posting, in full, here, for examples of strident racism alive and well in Israel.
Talk about people - Israel - in glass houses!
Update [21 April]: Predictably, the address by Iranian President Ahmadinijad to the Conference in Geneva has attracted criticism and mainly European delegates walking out on the speech. The President accused Israel of being a racist State.
What to make then of this report on YNet News [yes, an Israeli news service] "Racism on the rise in Israel" in December 2007?:
"The Association for Civil Rights in Israel's (ACRI) report on civil rights in Israel paints a bleak picture: Increasing racism, restriction of personal freedoms and discrimination even within the Knesset walls – and that's just scratching the surface.
Published Saturday, the report reveled that Israeli youths are bombarded with stereotypic, racist imagery, and their opinions have developed accordingly: 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."
Even more up to date, only last week, is this piece "Israel's Racist in Chief" by Chris Hedges [one-time NY Times Bureau Chief in Jerusalem] on truthdig.com:
"It was unthinkable, when I was based as a correspondent in Jerusalem two decades ago, that an Israeli politician who openly advocated ethnically cleansing the Palestinians from Israeli-controlled territory, as well as forcing Arabs in Israel to take loyalty oaths or be forcibly relocated to the West Bank, could sit on the Cabinet. The racist tirades of Jewish proto-fascists like Meir Kahane stood outside the law, were vigorously condemned by most Israelis and were prosecuted accordingly. Kahane’s repugnant Kach Party, labeled by the United States, Canada and the European Union as a terrorist organization, was outlawed by the Israeli government in 1988 for inciting racism.
Israel has changed. And the racist virus spread by Kahane, whose thugs were charged with the murders and beatings of dozens of unarmed Palestinians and whose members held rallies in Jerusalem where they chanted “Death to Arabs!” has returned to Israel in the figure of Israel’s powerful new foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman. Lieberman openly calls for an araberrein Israel—an Israel free of Arabs."
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