Israel's Arabs: The enemy from within?

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Israel’s Arabs: The enemy from within?

By Samson

Middle East • April 2011 • Views: 943

Arab Israelis trying to destroy Jewish state, no solution in sight, says leading researcher.

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6 comments

theye1 Thu, Apr 21, 2011 10:09:20pm

Dan Schueftan is an admitted racist who advocates for the ethnic cleansing of Israel’s Arab Citizens.

lobengula Thu, Apr 21, 2011 10:14:51pm

what a ridiculously racist story, akin to 1930s propaganda about jews conspiring to bring down the third reich from within. An increasing number of jewish israelis would like to see their “arab” counterparts forcibly expelled from their (the arabs’) ancestral homeland; after reading scare stories like this one, it’s not hard to imagine why.
How jews of all people fail to see the parallel with nazi germany is beyond me. And if attitudes like yours are anything to go by, I’m glad that the US has a diminishing sphere of influence in the ME.

freetoken Thu, Apr 21, 2011 10:22:13pm

Sounds like Schueftan is to Israeli commentary as Pat Buchanan is to US politics.

Gus Thu, Apr 21, 2011 10:26:39pm

Weird. Last time I checked there were Arab Israelis serving in the IDF. This sounds like far right propaganda. This isn’t news. It’s OPINION. Any questions?

Samson Thu, Apr 21, 2011 11:17:49pm

re: #4 Gus 802

Yes, although this is technically a news article describing Dan Schueftan’s book and interviewing the author, both the author and to some extent the article are expressing an opinion. It should be noted that this is an opinion not necessarily or fully shared by most Israelis (or myself). The article does, nonetheless, raise for discussion the issue of how the Arab minority in Israel - which is in many cases explicitly hostile to Israel as a Jewish state - can or cannot be fully integrated going forward.

In case there is any doubt about the hostility of many Israeli Arabs to the state of Israel, all one need do is read any anything written or said by Israeli Arab MK Hanin Zoabi about the subject (e.g., “MK Zoabi: I hope Arabs launch Intifada” - ynetnews.com She and her fellow party members consistently support the enemies of Israel, while at the same time benefiting from their positions as freely elected members of Israel’s parliament. They make no bones about the fact that they would like to see the state of Israel as it is constituted destroyed, which - whether you agree with them or not - is an explicitly treasonous point of view.

But those critical of this article have a point - not all Arab citizens of Israel are overtly hostile to the state, while in fact there are more than a few Jewish citizens who are. On the other hand, military service for Arabs is not compulsory, and only a small percentage do serve in the Israeli army. The notable exception, of course, are the Druze, who for the most part consider themselves as loyal citizens of Israel and are generally viewed as such.

The inevitable comparison to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany is wrong as usual, and shameful as well. Jews in pre-war Germany generally considered themselves loyal citizens - Germans first - and were mostly highly assimilated. There is no record that I know about of any Jewish group or individual calling for the destruction of the German state prior to Hitler’s rise to power, and none afterward either, albeit for different reasons. The Jews of Germany who could or would not escape went to their deaths often unable to comprehend why they were being persecuted and ultimately murdered. Many had served in the German in WWI, and even those who had medals to prove their loyalty went to their deaths, all the while considering themselves loyal Germans. In fact, even those who had converted to Christianity were murdered as Jews, so please lets drop this point altogether.

For a well-informed but different take on the subject of Israeli Arabs, this essay by the always outstanding Khaled Abu Toameh is worth reading (“Israeli Arabs: Not “Fifth Column”” -hudson-ny.org I’m not totally convinced by all of his points either, but Toameh is an Israeli Arab who is a staunch supporter of the State of Israel and a scrupulously honest journalist whose opinion is always worth taking seriously. In other words, highly recommended.

Bob Levin Fri, Apr 22, 2011 2:54:29am

re: #5 Samson

It’s even more complicated than you describe. Unfortunately, the only way to really know how people feel (not necessarily only in Israel), is to be next to them as they get drunk.

The fact is that both Hamas and Fatah are dangerous, bully cultures who have no qualms about killing even those who are sympathetic to them. Therefore, it’s impossible to derive any meaning from public statements, especially MKs.

Ironically, for all of the talk about borders, Israel really doesn’t have any borders. There are Arabs living in Israel proper who are working against the State of Israel. But there are Jews working against the State of Israel too. And there are Arabs working against Hamas and Fatah, who live in Gaza and the West Bank.

More irony. It’s possible that a Palestinian state might be created just when their ‘cause’ has the least amount of sympathy among world governments—who just want to be done with the whole affair, realizing they’ve been forced into taking an active (financial and diplomatic) side in a war they don’t want to be in.

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