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essay
Israel could help inspire
loyalty among Israeli Arabs
by accelerating its promise of
raising their quality of life.
Israel Can’t Let Israeli Arab Inequality Linger
V
iolent Jew-haters among Israeli
Arabs foster fear among Israeli
Jews. But as a democracy, the
only authentic one in the embattled
Middle East, Israel must strive not to
tie its entire Arab community, which
accounts for a fifth of the total population,
to the sins of the terrorists within. To do
so is discriminatory and divisive.
Critics say Prime
Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has led the
campaign to sow hatred
toward Israeli Arabs.
Opposition political
leaders claim he fanned
hostility against Israeli
Arabs by linking a dead-
Benjamin
ly terror attack at a Tel
Netanyahu
Aviv bar to “wild incite-
ment” and “disloyalty”
in the Arab community, the Times of Israel
reported. Two Israelis were murdered
and six others were wounded in the Jan.
1 machine-gun attack. A taxi driver was
murdered soon after. Israeli security forces
tracked the suspect, Israeli Arab Nashat
Melhem, 31, to northern Israel and killed
him in a Jan. 8 shootout.
The night after the Jan. 1 attack,
Netanyahu ventured to the Tel Aviv site.
He blasted anti-Israel “incitement” by
Israeli Arabs and vowed to compel nation-
al loyalty from them. He also called for
tougher law enforcement in Israel’s Arab
population centers.
Netanyahu wasn’t wrong to
BALANCING ACT
address the festering problem
Many Israeli Arabs
of Jew-hatred in the Israeli Arab
know their standard of
community. Such hatred pulsates
living is unmatched by
from Palestinian Authority (P.A.)
Middle East standards.
mosques, official communica-
Israel can and must do
tions, TV shows and sports tour-
more, however, to equal-
naments. That’s despite a new
ize Arab and Jewish living condi-
Robert Sklar tions.
study funded by the U.S. State
Department finding a downturn Contributing
Compelling national loyalty, of
in anti-Zionist vitriol emanating Editor
course, is a pipedream. Sure, Arab
from Palestinian schoolbooks.
Knesset members should condemn
The P.A., which governs
the [Tel Aviv] murder “clearly
much of the West Bank and wants east
and unequivocally,” as Netanyahu urged.
Jerusalem to become the capital of a
“Murder is murder,” he said. “It must be
Palestinian state, labeled Melhem “one
condemned and acted against by all sides.”
of the dearest martyrs” — a shahid who
In contrast, Israel has been quick to con-
died for Allah, meaning with Allah’s
demn Jewish terrorists, especially West
blessing. The perception that Israeli
Bank settlers, who have preyed on inno-
Arabs are allied with Palestinian hate-
cent Palestinians.
mongers in the West Bank and the Gaza
Israel could help inspire loyalty among
Strip haunts Israel. So does President
Israeli Arabs by accelerating its promise of
Reuven Rivlin’s warning that a growing
raising their quality of life. Spurs include
number of Israeli Arabs are expressing
economic incentives, job creation, con-
support for the Islamic State.
struction equality, improved schools and
But more than 1.7 million Arabs live
better policing. Increasing the number
in Israel, nearly 21 percent of the 8.4
of police stations in Arab sectors and
million people who call it home, accord-
hiring more Arab officers to staff them
ing to Jewish Virtual Library. And not
certainly would be welcomed. So would a
all Israeli Arabs hate Israel, despite the
crackdown on arms trafficking and ille-
recurring drumbeat of hatred by Islamic
gal weapons in these areas — a concern
extremists. Even Netanyahu acknowl-
that Israeli Arab lawmakers maintain the
edged pockets of Israeli Arabs have
Netanyahu government has ignored.
lashed out against violence “and wish for
Netanyahu himself admitted law
full law enforcement in their communi-
enforcement in the Arab community has
ties.”
been lagging for the life of the state. The
editorial
Academic Scholars Opposing BDS Fight Back
I
t’s heartening that two groups of
American scholars voted within
days of each other against boycot-
ting Israeli academic institutions.
Freedom of expression allows such
boycotts, but when it comes to schol-
arly considerations, wisdom clearly
should prevail.
Political views that, by extension,
restrict the ability of scholars in a par-
ticular country from working with fel-
low academics in other countries are
an anathema. They violate the fun-
damental principle of academic free-
dom, as the Association of American
Universities (AAU) asserts.
It’s wrong to stifle learning because
of politics. Political differences are
commonplace on university campuses.
On Jan. 10, the American Historical
It’s wrong to stifle
learning because
of politics.
Association (AHA) rebuffed a resolu-
tion condemning Israel — a strong
rebuke to the anti-Israel Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
movement. Four days later, the AAU
reaffirmed its 2013 opposition to boy-
cotts of Israeli academic institutions.
Those two votes helped to offset a
Nov. 21 pro-boycott vote by the aca-
demic group representing American
anthropologists. The American
Anthropological Association’s full
membership, 10,000 strong, will
consider the boycott resolution later
this year. The American Studies
Association and the Asian-American
Studies Association have passed simi-
lar resolutions.
AAU represents 62 major public and
private research universities, including
the University of Michigan, Michigan
State University, Brandeis, Harvard,
Yale, Princeton and Columbia.
In a thoughtful 2013 statement, AAU
argued the boycott of Israeli academic
institutions “violates the academic free-
dom not only of Israeli scholars, but
also of American scholars who might
be pressured to comply with it.”
AHA, with a membership of more
than 5,000 historians and history pro-
fessors, rejected a resolution proposed
by Historians Against the War, an inde-
pendent alliance.
continued on page 10
8 January 28 • 2016
“Arab community can police itself ” phi-
losophy long in place now pales against
the relentless forces of indoctrination
exerted by Islamic extremists toward
young, impressionable Israeli Arabs.
PLEDGE OF HOPE
Two days before the Tel Aviv attack, the
Netanyahu government announced a
five-year, $3.84 million plan to stimu-
late economic development in the Arab
community and tackle the inequality in
municipal allocations statewide. A new
poll by the Institute for National Security
Studies, an Israeli think tank, suggests
more than half of all Israeli Arabs con-
sider their relations with Jews “good,”
inspiring a glint of hope.
At his Jan. 10 cabinet meeting,
Netanyahu vowed to equalize the rights
and privileges of all Israelis — to “make
a very great effort to ensure that the State
of Israel has one law, applied uniformly
everywhere.”
He added, “This is the right thing for all
Israel’s citizens — Jews and Arabs as one.”
Hopeful as that sounds, a political
pledge that fails to bring sustained change
ultimately will ring hollow and do noth-
ing but breed ill will.
*