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Kidz Kloz
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by Maureen
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LARRY DERFNER ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT
S
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Orchard Lake Rd.
North of Maple
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West Bloomfield
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Applegate Square
Northwestern Highway, Southfield
355-9420
BIRMINGHAM LOCATION ONLY
ENTIRE STORE
40 - 70 % OFF
Now through the Holidays
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Are Israelis
Anti-Arab Racists?
Two surveys find evidence of racist hatred of
Arabs, but some Israelis say this is an inevitabl
reaction to Arab hatred of Israel.
OPEN SUNDAYS NOON to 4 PM
THRU THE HOLIDAYS
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hortly after I im-
migrated to Israel in
1985, cousins of mine,
a married couple, took
me on a day trip through the
north. They were educated,
middle-class people in their
mid-30s, with two young
daughters. They were good
people— friendly, generous
and obviously loving
parents.
We drove into the Arab
city of Nazareth and parked
the car in an alley. I flung
open my door to get out — I
tend to throw open car doors
quite forcefully — just as an
Arab man was passing close
by. The door hit him right in
the ribs. He doubled over
and staggered to the car
parked in front of us, and
leaned over the hood holding
his side.
I went over to him and
asked, "Are you all right?"
He didn't budge, or say
anything. I said, "I'm sorry;
it was an accident; I didn't
see you," and he still didn't
respond. After a few more
seconds, the man finally
straightened up, gestured
that he was okay, smiled as
best he could — as if to say
he realized I hadn't meant to
hurt him — and went on his
way. The man appeared
about 50, but an old 50; un-
shaven, shabbily dressed, a
meek man who looked like
he hadn't had an easy life.
I went back to my cousins'
car, feeling lousy. My
cousins were smiling. "Why
didn't you kill him?" asked
the husband. "What are you
upset about? We were
laughing," said the wife. I
didn't say anything; I'm not
proud to admit that.
I tell this story because
there is a controversy in
Israel now over whether an-
ti-Arab racism is a problem
among the Jews here. On
Dec. 10, International
Human Rights Day, Avrum
Burg, a dovish Laborite and
chairman of the Knesset
Education Committee,
released the results of poll
he commissioned, which he
said showed that "there is
racism and xenophobia in
Israel similar to what is go-
ing on in Germany and
France."
Of 501 adult Israeli Jews
questioned in the poll, 39
percent were in favor of vig-
ilante-style violence against
Arabs in response to Arab
terror, and 28 percent"
favored pressuring Arabs t
leave the country.
Mr. Burg was criticized
sharply by professional
pollsters for coming to such
an inflammatory conclusion
on the basis of what war-
called very thin evidence
The poll wasn't scientific,
they said, merely a few ques-
tions tacked on, at Mr.
Burg's request, to another
opinion survey.
Moreover, Dori Shadmon,
head of Telseker, which con-
ducted the poll, said th
unlike Mr. Burg, he saw th
glass as mostly full, rather
than mostly empty. "In my
opinion, there is evidence in
40 percent of
Israeli Jewish high
school students
told pollsters they
hate all or most
Arabs.
this poll of the existence of a
solid majority for democ
racy."
Right-wing voices strongly
attacked Mr. Burg. Knesset
members, mainly from the
Likud and National Re-
ligious Party (NRP), calle
him a "self-hating Jew" wh
dared compare his own peo-
ple to skinheads, and an
"extreme leftist" who made
common cause with Arab
propagandists.
The right-wing argumen
was essentially that there i
no racism among Israeli
Jews. What there is, they
said, is understandable Jew-
ish hostility toward Arabs
after having lived with their
terror and war for so long.