By Moshe Feiglin
Tishrei 5769
October, '09
This article is translated from the Makor Rishon newspaper.
Which super idealists in Judea and Samaria would be willing to trade places with the Jews living in one of Israel's mixed Jewish/Arab cities? I'm not just talking about Akko, Nazareth, Lod or Yafo. I'm also talking about up and coming Israeli cities like Arad and Carmiel. How many idealistic settlers who have to put up with Arab violence on the roads of Judea and Samaria would be willing to be their neighbors in the same apartment building in one of the mixed cities on Israel's periphery ?
Nobody talks about the creeping Arab conquest inside the Green Line. The people who determine our national agenda live in Israel's center. They do not feel the harassment of the Bedouins in the Negev or the Arabs in Israel's Triangle and Galilee. The news editors do not have to guard their sheep at night; the MKs do not have Arabs living across the hall and the judges' daughter have no problem going out at night. For all practical purposes, the people who determine what we are allowed or forbidden to talk about live on a different planet.
It is an open secret that the Arabs have been using the time-proven method of block-busting to take over Jewish neighborhoods. The first apartment in a Jewish neighborhood in Ramle or Nahariyah will be bought by an Arab at an astronomic price - and a Jewish seller will always be found. After that, the Jews flee, selling their apartments at any price. The only Jews left are the elderly and those Jews who cannot afford to move elsewhere. And then I receive their letters; the old woman in Yafo whose front yard has become the local garbage dump for the neighborhood Arabs; the Jew whose car was blocked by an Arab in the middle of Yafo - and when he complained to a policeman, almost got himself arrested. After all, we all know that the Arabs are the masters of the Land. This and more are daily occurrences in Yafo, just three minutes from Tel Aviv - the planet where the elites determine what we are allowed to talk about and what is forbidden.
A number of months ago, the Druze in Peki'in burned the homes of the Jews living in the village and violently chased them from their homes. Did you hear much about that in Israel's media? Was an official Commission of Inquiry convened? They took a policewoman hostage. Was anybody arrested? Of course not. In response to the pogrom in Peki'in, Israel's police force sent its soccer team to play a friendly game against the Peki'in soccer team.
We established a state so that we could stop being different and start being normal. If only Jews can be Israelis, then we will never be normal. That is why the Israeli needs the Arab. He needs him to help him forget that he is a Jew.
It took a bit of time, but the Arabs eventually realized that they have an insurance policy worth gold. They understood that they hold the key to the Israeli dream of normalcy. They realized that because of their internal psychosis, the Israelis need them. They understand that a pogrom of the 1929 variety is still unacceptable. But other than that - just about anything goes.
In Tel Aviv, they continue to dream the normalcy dream and to accuse anybody who dares to say that there is a problem of racism and incitement. No MK, not even from the Right, dares to broach the subject. And so, quietly and undisturbed, over 60% of Israel's sovereign territory has already been transferred to Arab hands - inside the Green Line! More than half the social security funds are transferred to pad the Arab population, whose hero was caught helping the Hizbollah target Israeli cities - and was of course released to Jordan. This population pays little taxes. Who wants to risk their lives to collect taxes? They build wherever they please, pollute wherever they please, burn whatever they please and of course, they vote for the Knesset and have access to top government positions. We are busy fighting for Yesha, and refuse to recognize the more dangerous front against the fifth column inside Israel.
The reaction of Akko's Jews to the pogrom may not look very good on television, but it prevented similar riots from breaking out throughout Israel. But no need to fret. Israel's media will hurry to remind the Arabs that the future of this land belongs to them. The people in the periphery will continue to pay the price, while the people on planet Tel Aviv will continue to condemn the racists and inciters.
The fundamental solution is leadership that is not looking for normalcy. The solution is leadership that emphasizes our Jewish identity. Paradoxically, it is only when the Arabs understand that the Israelis do not need them to help them forget that they are Jews - will we be able to live here in peace with non-Jews who unequivocally accept the fact that Israel is a Jewish state.
1 comment:
Black Americans receive a large portion of the vestiges of the United States welfare system, just as the Israeli Arabs mentioned in this Op-Ed. This doesn't mean that they are not second class citizens. And while some can argue that they have an equal opportunity for social mobility these days, it was only after the establishment of equal rights legislation.
Israeli Arabs will never acquiesce to the idea that Israel is an exclusively Jewish state, as this piece implores of them. And as far as why they should, the author fails to cite any incentive. Israeli Arabs aren't immigrants, but since they are not considered as indigenous inhabitants by Israelis, it's the only comparison that will work. To wit: immigrants who have been victims of destitution who find themselves in a host country typically bristle at the idea of assimilation. On the contrary, immigrants who happily settled in a host country typically have fewer problems. My parents are Iranians who came to the United States because they wanted to. I, as a result, am just as American as anyone. But the royalist Iranians in Los Angeles who were basically chased out of their country basically act like LA is Iran, do not assimilate and have their own enclaves within that city.
Israeli Arabs saw the creation of the Jewish state happen around them. It's unlikely that a group of people who say their surroundings change around them, who suddenly found themselves in a foreign country within even having moved are unlikely to forget their legacy within 60~80 years. And like their second class counter parts in the United States, are unlikely to forget it in the century to come. Even with the opportunities for social mobility black Americans now enjoy, even with their undeniable influence on the country's culture, even with equal rights legislation, black and white Americans do not interact.
Finally, the author was very on point in his depiction of Israeli Arabs taking over city blocks. Black Americans occupy the lion's share of United States city housing. As black Americans moved into the cities, whites moved away. And unlike the United States, the Arabs in Israel are actually BUYING and OWNING the property they now have. I see an even lesser incentive for them to assimilate in light of this.
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