IIsrael’s Arab Knesset members and, I imagine, those they represent, are all in uproar over news that most Israeli Jews are not very fond of their Arab countrymen.
According to a poll whose findings were published Wednesday, 50 percent of Israelis don’t want Arab Israelis to visit their homes, and 40 percent would like to see those Arabs leave the land.
“Racists!” screamed MK Ahmad Tibi.
“The Jews are morally bankrupt,” cried MK Taleb el-Sana.
“It’s because of the official discrimination policy of Israel’s governments,” bellowed MK Mohammad Barakeh.
Baloney.
This has nothing to do with racism, (even if a strong case can be made to justify prejudice against the Arab umma. You see, I’m not afraid of being labeled “politically incorrect” for telling the truth.)
But in this situation it is not racism. It’s mistrust.
And what do these Arabs expect? I mean:
- Would you be fond of people who support the destruction of your homeland?
- Would you be fond of people who dance and sing when terrorists kill members of your family or your community?
- Would you be fond of people who abuse the civil rights they enjoy in your country, using the political system they have full access to to undermine the very foundations and raison d’être of the state?
- Would you be fond of those who, while enjoying the same rights and privileges you do, and whose standard of living (thanks in no small part to your enterprising efforts and hard work) far outstrips that of their brethren in all the Arab states, are not trustworthy enough to be allowed to shoulder the responsibility of also defending your country in uniform as you do?
Israeli Arabs students wave PLO flags on Israeli university campuses. (Imagine German-speaking American students waving Nazi swastikas on US campuses during World War II.)
Israeli Arabs support the Islamic Movement that has openly sworn fealty to the Hamas terrorist organization that two months ago swept to power on the other side of the Green Line. (Imagine Arabic-speaking Americans marching through US cities waving banners in support of Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.)
Israeli Arabs drive their “Palestinian” friends into Jewish population centers in order to blow themselves up with bombs.
Israeli Arabs kidnap and killed Israeli soldiers, stealing their weapons and giving them to “Palestinians” who will use them to kill more Jews.
Tibi, El-Sana and Barakeh stand on the floor of the Knesset and call for the nullification of the Jewish state.
Israeli Arab MKs travel to Beirut and Damascus, there to share the stage with Hamas and Hizballah leaders and make fiery speeches supporting the goals of those people.
No, Israel’s Jews should and can tell those screaming “racism” to shut up. It’s not an issue of racism. It’s a question of loyalty – or the lack of it.
The onus is on Israel’s Arabs to prove their loyalty to “their” state. Some have. A small number have even being willing to pay the ultimate price, the price paid by so many Jewish Israelis in defense of their homeland.
Most, however, eschew patriotism, unless it is patriotism towards Palestine.
If I could send a message to Tibi, El-Sana and Barakeh it would be: Stop talking nonsense. Stop making hysterical pronouncements that have no grounding in fact. Take a look at the countries all around Israel that discriminate against “their” Jews. Acknowledge the racism that exists in every Muslim Arab state, where Christians and Jews (if there are any) are relegated to dhimmi (second-class) status.
Instead of being given a hearing for their “grievances” these Arab politicians – along with their constituents – should be offered the choice of either swearing allegiance to the Star of David and taking up arms to defend the flag of the Jewish state, or packing up and leaving the country on the next plane out. The Land of Israel never was an Arab land.
I’d also like to send a message to the Israeli government and Jewish Israelis: You have plenty of enemies. Why welcome any of them to live among you? By contrast there are millions of Christians who love you, who given the chance would defend to the death your right to your Jewish homeland, and who, like Ruth the Moabitess, long to join themselves to you.
We would be good, loyal and grateful citizens of the State of Israel. Why don’t you invite us to stay?