See other Editorial Articles
Title: Diversity in Israel: Lessons for the United States
Source:
The Brookings Institution
URL Source: http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2002/winter_middleeast_litan.aspx
Published: Dec 1, 2002
Author: Robert E. Litan
Post Date: 2008-12-06 10:51:33 by Googolplex
Keywords: Diversity, Israel, jewish, US
Views: 940
Comments: 65
As the United States copes with large immigration flows and increasing diversity in these highly uncertain times, it may want to look to an unusual model country—Israel—for some fresh ideas about taking full advantage of diversity. In Israel, the majority of the population, or their parents, were born in other countries. Though most Israeli immigrants are Jewish, they are extraordinarily disparate in their origins and cultures. Not all Israelis are immigrants. Roughly one million people, many of whom are Arabs of Muslim faith, come from families who lived in Israel before it was formally declared a state in 1948. Learning to live with, accommodate, and respect the deep divides among them has been a challenge to Israel's people. The nation's experiment in "Jewish pluralism" has been remarkably successful, particularly given the extraordinary challenges facing the nation from outside its borders. Its parallel experiment in Arab-Jewish pluralism has been notably less successful. Nonetheless, Israel has managed to develop, at least among its highly diverse Jewish majority, a thriving, pluralistic democracy and a strong economy. And it has achieved a relatively high standard of living for most of its people—even for Israeli Arabs, if one compares them with their Palestinian, Egyptian, and Jordanian neighbors. Its success should therefore attract interest from other pluralistic societies that also confront challenges to continued social cohesion. Israel's Divisions One set of divisions within Israel is that between segments of the Jewish majority&151;between longer-term residents and more recent arrivals, between secular and religious Jews, between Jews of vastly different cultural and national backgrounds. Although Israel was founded as a homeland for Jews and although key features of Israeli civil law—marriage, divorce, and burial—are governed by religious norms, most Jewish Israelis are not religious in the sense of regularly observing Jewish rituals. Many of the nation's one million Russian immigrants are not Jewish at all. At the other extreme, some 10 percent of Israel's people, the Haredi group, are deeply religious. The ritually observant Haredim wear distinctive clothing, and Haredi men often do not work, instead studying religious texts throughout the week. They are also exempt from military service. Tensions between the Haredi and secular Jews sometimes run high.The Shinui Party, headed for extinction not long ago, picked up an impressive six seats in the Knesset in 1999 elections largely on the basis of its campaign slogan, "Keep the Haredi from taking over the country." Another divide in Israel is that between Ashkenazi Jews (those of European and American heritage) and Sephardi Jews (those of Asian-African background). For much of the state's existence, the wealthier, better educated Ashkenazim have dominated its economic and political institutions through the Labour party. The Ashkenazi hold on the country has been weakening, however, as disaffected Sephardim allied themselves first with the Likud party in 1977 and more recently with the Sephardi-Haredi party, Shas. During the 1950s, the two groups had rough numerical parity. By the 1960s, higher birth rates among Sephardim tilted the balance in their favor. Recent immigration from the former Soviet Union has restored rough equilibrium between the two ethnic groups. Israel's second, more pressing challenge regarding diversity is to give Arab citizens sufficient stake in the society that they will not revolt and find common cause with Israel's external enemies or aggravate tensions, already at hair-trigger level, with the Palestinians. Israel's Arab minority has lived apart from and in an uneasy truce with Israel's other citizens. Though Israel has not treated its Arab minority as fairly or as equitably as it might have, even here Israel's experience may provide a beacon of hope to countries with much less pressing challenges. After all, security issues aside—for Arab citizens have strong and understandable emotional ties with the Arab countries surrounding Israel—Israeli authorities have made at least some attempt to integrate Israeli Arabs into the wider society. Until 1966, Arab citizens lived under military rule in their own separate towns, which they could not leave without special permits. When the military administration was abolished, Arabs began moving out of farming and into jobs in manufacturing and construction, allowing the two peoples to begin to mix in commercial activity, though they remained very much apart in social and cultural affairs. The economic position of the Arab population has improved, but it still falls well short of that of Jewish citizens. Arab political parties have gained influence in the Knesset and are now critical voting blocs in the continuing struggle for power between Likud and Labour. Immigrant Absorption Programs Unlike immigrants to other developed countries, who must apply separately for citizenship, immigrants to Israel automatically become citizens. Israel thus has every incentive to integrate them socially, culturally, and linguistically. And it does just that. Upon their arrival in Israel, immigrants are offered language training, housing, job search assistance, and, for their first several months, economic support. From its founding as a state, Israel has also required military service—not just for the young or for men only (though women serve for a shorter time and largely in noncombat positions). The primary goal is national security, but the collateral benefits have been considerable. The military has become the central means of imparting Israeli values and culture, as well as the Hebrew language, to Jewish immigrants who pour into the country. So strong are the ties formed in the Army that those who do not serve or are exempted from serving (in the case of Israeli Arabs, for example) are in most cases effectively locked out of the upper reaches of Israeli business and society. A recent weakening in the military service requirement has entailed a loss of some social "glue." Today less than 60 percent of Israeli men are drafted. As more citizens are exempted from service, those who serve bear a growing resentment toward those who do not, especially the Haredi sector. Lessons for the United States The surge of immigration to the United States over the past several decades may offer unprecedented challenges to America's traditional respect for pluralism and tolerance. Although the September terrorist attacks have generated a strong wave of national unity and patriotism, neither the public nor political leaders should take such cohesion for granted indefinitely. If one lesson stands out from Israeli immigration policy, it is this: nations that are serious about wanting more immigrants but nonetheless worried about their socioeconomic ability to absorb them can minimize potential tensions though comprehensive immigrant absorption programs. The U.S. government may hesitate to adopt such policies to avoid the charge that it is unfairly favoring new arrivals over natives with low living standards. Nevertheless, as the United States takes in more immigrants—which it will continue to do notwithstanding the events of September—it may want to consider moving toward more comprehensive absorption policies. At a minimum, government could give more effort to ensuring that immigrants learn English. Language instruction, funded by Washington, could be delivered directly by state and local governments or indirectly by private groups through vouchers. Learning English should not be viewed as punishment, but instead as acquiring an essential tool for functioning in a new society. For a nation receiving immigrants from all over the globe, teaching all students in English would appear to be critical to assuring that as they become adults, all citizens have a minimum of shared experience and knowledge to continue functioning in a cohesive, but pluralistic, society. And because being able to speak and write in English is essential for all but low-skilled jobs, English training would help improve the living standards of many low-income immigrants. Immigrants seeking citizenship should know more than just their new home country's language. They must understand its social mores, its history, its government. Nations now generally require applicants for citizenship to pass a rudimentary test of such knowledge, but here too, more instruction could be offered. If nations want their new arrivals to become better integrated with their societies, they must give them a core of knowledge to do that. In the United States immigrants are left to acquire such information on their own. There is little government support for teaching it, except for the children of illegal immigrants, who are entitled to attend primary and secondary school, but not to attend college here without a student or work visa. Just as with language instruction, the government could provide the rough equivalent of high school civics courses, either directly or indirectly, to all immigrants who seek citizenship. Special night programs could be offered to immigrants who are busy earning a living each day—as well as to natives already in the work force who also want to upgrade their skills by returning to school. Compulsory Service Israel's experience also illustrates the value of a service requirement for all residents approaching maturity. Other developed countries, such as Switzerland and Germany, also require their male high school graduates to serve for a time in the military. The terrorist attack on September 11 may make mandatory service more politically palatable to Americans than it would otherwise have been. Compulsory service brings together people from all walks of life during crucial formative years and puts them in a common environment where they have no choice but to get along with each other. It also helps instill a sense of obligation to the larger society. Compulsory service need not mean military service. It can also take the form of community service (assisting the disadvantaged, serving as teacher's aides, and the like) in a much expanded version of the AmeriCorps program. U.S. society has already made some movement in this direction. Many high schools now require all students to perform "community service" during their years in high school. A national universal service requirement would be considerably more demanding. It would involve something like a year of service and would take place in a group setting. Those serving in the civilian program would live away from home, in dormitory settings, much like those who now serve in the military. Moreover, unlike many current community service programs in which students from moderate and higher income families deliver services to local residents of the same socioeconomic status, the program should aim to deliver benefits to more disadvantaged populations. For many people, their year in compulsory service may be the only time in their lives where they mix for an extended time and on an equal footing with others from very different backgrounds. Although nonmilitary service may be less intense than serving in the armed forces, it could help young Americans develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for others at a time in their lives—just after high school (or college or graduate school) graduation—when their adult personalities are forming and their future career choices may be made. Indeed, the relative lack of diversity in many American public schools strengthens the case for compulsory service. Inner-city public schools in many large metropolitan areas are populated predominantly by African-American and other minority students, while suburban schools enroll students from upper middle-class and, often, white families. Even in colleges where students may come from many different backgrounds, young people do not necessarily rub shoulders with others different from themselves. In any event, the college environment tends to be competitive and to reward individual performance rather than group or cooperative endeavors. Mandatory service would surely arouse strong opposition. Some would criticize its large potential for make-work, others its curtailment of individual freedom. Organized labor may object that those serving in the program would perform functions now undertaken by paid workers. Furthermore, service would involve public costs—roughly $25 billion annually (some 2.5 million high school graduates a year times $10,000 in annual support costs), according to one estimate. The young men and women in service would also incur costs by delaying for one year their entry either into college or into the labor force, which would reduce (modestly) their lifetime incomes. Accordingly, a more politically palatable alternative may be a substantial expansion of the AmeriCorps program, as Senator John McCain has proposed. Initially an opponent of AmeriCorps, McCain has since praised its successes and suggested that the nation build on them. His proposal contemplates an expanded program in which volunteers from various socio-economic backgrounds live together in dormitories to build esprit de corps. Looking Ahead The demographic changes that lie ahead for the United States will pose a stiff test to the nation's commitment to pluralism and social cohesion. As we look for ways to meet this challenge, political leaders and voters could profit from learning how other societies have confronted similar challenges. Israel's experience, perhaps surprisingly, may offer exactly the kind of wisdom we may all be seeking.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Googolplex (#0)
America used to do this, but it is now considered racist and ethnocentric and not in compliance with the goal of a multicultural society.
It is now time for Atlas to shrug.
Compulsory service brings together people from all walks of life during crucial formative years and puts them in a common environment where they have no choice but to get along with each other. It also helps instill a sense of obligation to the larger society. Here it comes!! Bend over!! I told you so! "SOCIAL ENGINEERING: Israel and Sweden do it! It's GOOD for you, too!! And it's why WE NEED the DRAFT back!! " What a load of pigeon s*&^. First, they cause the problem. Then they seek to solve it on the backs of American kids instead of shutting off the pipeline of immigrants in the first place and deporting them all. Their psyops is getting so damned obvious, a 6th grader can see it. I told you this s&^% cart was about to be unloaded.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP Partition and genocide?
trafficked women "I had a nervous breakdown. I wanted to escape from this place and asked a client to help me. He turned out to be one of them and I was beaten up by the owners. There was nowhere to run — there were bars on the windows and bodyguards all the time, day and night." — Testimony of a woman trafficked from Moldova The Israeli government is failing to protect the human rights of women and girls who are trafficked from countries of the former Soviet Union to work in Israel's sex industry, Amnesty International said today in a new report. "Many of these women and girls become 'commodities', literally bought and sold for thousands of dollars or held in debt bondage. They are locked up in apartments and have their passports and travel tickets confiscated. Many women are subjected to violence, including rape. Yet most of the people who commit such human rights abuses are never brought to justice by the Israeli government," the organization said. Anna, a 31-year-old physics teacher from the Russian Federation was lured to Israel by the promise of a job in the sex industry earning 20 times her Russian salary. When she arrived, her passport was taken from her and she was locked in an apartment with bars on the windows along with six other women from former Soviet Union countries. She was auctioned twice, on the second occasion for US$10,000. The women were rarely allowed to leave the apartment and never allowed out alone. Much of the money they earned was extorted from them by their pimps. The worldwide phenomenon of trafficking in human beings has attracted increased attention in recent years from governments and intergovernmental organizations. But governments have tended to ignore the human rights abuses to which trafficked persons are subjected, instead viewing trafficking primarily as an issue of organized crime and illegal immigration. Rather than taking action against human rights abuses experienced by the women, Israeli governmental agencies in effect treat them as criminals, by holding women in detention for extended periods, for example. In 1998, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed its regret that "women brought to Israel for the purposes of prostitution … are not protected as victims of trafficking but are likely to bear the penalties of their illegal presence in Israel by deportation." Many trafficked women end up in detention in a police lock-up or Neve Tirza prison following raids on brothels and massage parlours by the police and they are rarely released on bail pending deportation. Others may be detained for longer, sometimes because the Ministry of Justice has issued an order preventing the woman from leaving the country until she has testified in a criminal case. Israeli officials maintain that it is difficult to bring to justice persons who commit human rights abuses against women in sex work who are illegally in the country. However, various Israeli laws and policies, in particular the strict enforcement of immigration laws against these women, actually make prosecutions difficult. Moreover, many women are afraid to file complaints with the Israel Police or testify in court because they fear they will be imprisoned, deported or be subjected to further human rights abuses in Israel or abroad. Despite these realistic fears, the government officials tend to blame the women for not cooperating with the police and the criminal justice system. As a result of lobbying by local non-governmental organizations, Israel has taken some steps that would help combat human rights abuses against women in these circumstances, particularly in the field of legislation. In March 2000 the Knesset (Israel's Parliament) passed the Equality of Women Law, which states that every woman is entitled to protection from violence, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and trafficking in her person. The Ministry of Justice is said to be drafting a provision to criminalize the buying and selling of persons. Amnesty International believes that the steps taken by Israel are insufficient and it is urging the Israeli government to respect its obligations under international law to ensure the human rights of all who are in its territory. Amnesty International is recommending that the Israeli government should develop a strategy to ensure there is coordinated and effective action by key government agencies, such as the Ministry of the Interior, the Israel Police, the Israel Prisons Service and the Office of the State Attorney, to ensure the protection of these rights. NGOs should be consulted and invited to contribute to developing effective policies. The organization is also calling for increased international cooperation between Israel and the governments of former Soviet Union countries and transit states to combat these human rights abuses. "Both the government and the traffickers are treating these women as if they do not have human rights. The authorities have a responsibility to take action to protect the against enslavement, deprivation of liberty and violence," Amnesty International said. Background The human rights abuses experienced by women trafficked into Israel's sex industry include enslavement, including debt bondage; deprivation of liberty, for example by confiscating women's passports and other travel documents or threatening them with violence if they escape; violations of the right to bodily integrity, including subjection to violence including rape and other forms of coerced sexual activity; denial of health services and other risks to health rights such as exposure to HIV/AIDS because of coercive work conditions and denial of condom use. Many sex workers who have not been trafficked are subjected to human rights abuses. Amnesty International notes that although this report focuses on human rights abuses committed against women from the former Soviet Union working in the sex industry, women also face human rights abuses when they are trafficked for other purposes including domestic work, bonded labour and servile forms of marriage. www.walnet.org/csis/papers/amnesty-000518.html The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) publishes annual reports on the state of human rights in Israel and occupied Palestine. This article is based on its latest year end 2007 one. Human rights violations directly result from government policies, actions and inactions, and ACRI's report is gloomy. It found the Israeli government derelict for having allowed the "blanket" of rights it's supposed to ensure for Arabs and Jews to erode. As a result, rights violations grow, more people are affected, and those harmed most are on society's fringes. ACRI's evidence is disturbing and compelling, yet it's appalled by the Israeli public's indifference. It aims to change this by publicizing its findings so those in government, the media and general population know them and will react to reverse an ugly and damaging trend. Growing numbers of people worldwide know how Israel harms Palestinians. ACRI's report shows that Jews are also impacted. The Destabilization of Democracy The Israeli Democracy Institute (IDI) surveyed Israeli citizens, published its "Democracy Index" in June 2007, and included some disturbing findings in it. Its survey showed: -- less than half of respondents believe public speakers have the right to criticize the government; -- only 54% favor freedom of religion and a bare 50% feel Arabs and Jews should have equal rights; -- 87% rate Jewish-Arab relations poor or very poor; -- 78% oppose having Arab parties or ministers join Israel's government; -- 43% believe Arabs aren't intelligent; -- 55% feel the government should encourage Arab emigration; and -- 75% think Arabs favor violence. Overall, the results showed democratic values eroding since the IDI 2003 survey. It doesn't happen in a vacuum. It's part of the cultural environment: from the home, within families, at school, through the media and other social contexts from which attitudes develop. It's also gotten from the law, the way Israeli courts interpret it, particularly the High Court of Justice, and subsequent legislative efforts to bypass Court rulings and trample on human rights. The problem is pervasive and worsening as Israel becomes a very hostile place, much like America. And it doesn't just affect Israeli Arabs who get no justice. ACRI cites the role of Daniel Friedman since he became Israel's Justice Minister in February 2007. He's since proposed a number of initiatives and "reforms" that threaten to undermine the legal system and High Court in particular. One proposal was to change how justices are chosen in a way that would curtail their independence and politicize the entire process. In August, he then prepared a draft bill to limit public petitioner rights to the High Court, especially for human rights organizations. ACRI ends its lengthy and disturbing report as follows: History shows that "parliaments tend to violate human rights in times of crisis. It is precisely at these moments, however, that (it's vital) to preserve the judiciary's role in the system of checks and balances." Israel claims to be a democracy. It has an odd way of showing it, and when it comes to its Arab citizens, it's nowhere in sight. More at the link. www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8492 Unholy sanctuary The shelter is in one of the poorest parts of Tel Aviv, an area of run-down strip joints, cheap cafes and patrolling police cars. There is no sign on the door but the overcrowded four-storey building is now home to at least 200 African asylum seekers, their numbers growing by the day in a new and sudden rush of migrants pouring into Israel. Occasionally they are rounded up by police and jailed, only to be released again weeks, sometimes months later. Some are lucky enough to secure short-term work permits, though with heavy restrictions; very few ever get the official refugee status they seek and which some among them doubtless deserve. Yohannes Lemma Bayu is one of the few whose application for asylum succeeded, although it took him five months of campaigning and a 23-day hunger strike. He now he lives legally in Israel on a temporary but renewable residence permit. He arrived 10 years ago from his native Ethiopia seeking asylum from political persecution - his father had been a minister in a previous government and their family was now under threat from the regime. But rather than leave to join the rest of his family in the United States, Bayu, 35, stayed and established this first shelter in Tel Aviv for the flood of new arrivals. "I considered Israel a developed and democratic country and I believed Israel is respecting the rule of law. That's why I came here," he said. Like many others, he was also drawn as a Christian to the sites and history of the Holy Land. In the past five years the number of people crossing on foot through the desert from Egypt into southern Israel has increased dramatically: from several hundred in 2006, to more than 5,000 last year and already at least 2,200 in the first three months of this year alone. At first most were from Sudan, some from Darfur but many more from the south of the country where they also faced political persecution and human rights violations. Many had already spent months or years seeking asylum elsewhere, particularly in Egypt. But then the Egyptian authorities began a crackdown - including one notorious incident in December 2005, when police killed 27 Sudanese migrants in an attack on a makeshift camp in Cairo. That in turn encouraged thousands of others to escape and take the risk of crossing through the desert and into Israel. Today they continue to come, the numbers now including many Eritreans, again escaping political persecution at home. Some of the migrants are Muslims, many more are Christians. For Israel, a country built largely on the wave of Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust, this issue has sparked a particularly intense debate. The Israeli military has stepped up patrols along the Egyptian border and the government has begun planning a costly border fence. The prime minister, Ehud Olmert, reportedly told a meeting of senior ministers in March: "This is a tsunami that can only get worse. We must do everything we can to stop it." In the shelter, many sleep on the floor and all rely on donations for food and clothes. Notices are pinned to the walls: rotas to share cleaning duties in the shelter next to advice about legal rights and healthcare facilities. One Eritrean, who gave his name only as Fisehaye, arrived in Israel seven months ago with his epileptic son Simon, 14. He had fled military service at home, then spent months in camps first in Sudan and then Egypt, before walking over the border into Israel. "We thought it would be better than the other places we've been," he said. They were arrested by the Israeli military but then dropped off on the streets of Beer Sheva, in southern Israel. He made his way to Tel Aviv where he has shuttled between hospital visits and the shelter ever since. "I'm stuck here," he said. "The living conditions are horrible but I can't go back to my country either." Along the corridor was another Eritrean, a 30-year-old woman named Teje. After five years in Sudan, she crossed into Egypt and then two months ago into Israel with her husband and their four children. Her husband was later arrested is still in jail. She had an appointment scheduled with the local office of the UN high commissioner for refugees and hoped it might produce a temporary work permit. "It feels like I've been a refugee all my life," she said. "We can't continue like this for ever," said Bayu, the shelter's director. "We're doing the government's job." Israeli officials claim that many of those arriving are coming to seek work, not to escape genuine political persecution. "I think there is a common assessment inside the government that we have not adequately yet met this challenge," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Olmert. "But only a very small percentage of these people are refugees. Israel succeeded in building this country to be like a modern, European economy and we are maybe the only such country with a land border with Africa. "The overwhelming majority of people coming into Israel are people seeking to work illegally." But critics say the government's response has been haphazard and has fallen short of the requirements of the international convention on refugees. Anat Ben-Dor is a lawyer who helps run a legal clinic at Tel Aviv University where for the past five years law students and lawyers have given free support to those seeking asylum. They have so much work now they have to turn people away. She argues that many of those coming do have genuine cause for refugee status, which needs to be properly assessed. "I'm not underestimating the problem but I think Israel needs to build a refugee status determination system," she said. "Everything they have done has failed. They are trying everything in their power to get rid of refugees and to try and make their lives as difficult as possible." When the Sudanese first began arriving they were arrested because they came from what is still regarded as an "enemy" country in Israel's on-going conflict with the Arab world. Later they were released in their hundreds and allowed to work, particularly in resorts like Eilat, but only under stringent conditions. Then there was an outcry last year when 48 migrants, mostly Sudanese, were deported to Egypt where some were arrested and went missing, and others were sent back to Sudan. The policy was promptly dropped and instead temporary residency was given to around 600 Darfurians, an acknowledgement of the horror of the genocide they had escaped. Around 2,000 Eritreans have also received six-month work permits in another apparent concession. But further crackdowns are expected. "This isn't the way the refugee convention is to be implemented," said Ben-Dor. "Every single person asking for asylum should be individually screened and assessed, not be dealt with by group-based decisions. It's not something that's impossible to achieve but I think there's a resistance to accepting the way the refugee convention works." www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/02/israel Ministry plans universal immigration law to ban Arabs from residency rights in Israel
Surely (I'm not calling you Shirley) by now you realize that Israeli Diversity is considered legitimate only amongst fellow Judaics? Israeli diversity is jewish diversity, exclusively. An Israeli can be any race, color, or even creed, except christian, and still be accepted as a jewish citizen of Israel. As long as one of the 3 branches of rabbinical Judaism certifies a person as jewish, they are a citizen of Israel. Diversity is victim cultism, the cleaving of a society into first-class (victim) and second-class (oppressor) citizens. The only group that is legally recognized inside Israel as a victim, a first class citizen, is jewish people. Israel has no public laws that prohibit hate speech, discrimination, or hate crime perpetrated by jews against gentiles. Perhaps you should visit a holocaust museum for remedial study. A holocaust museum or holocaust shrine is available in every major American city. Most American holocaust shrines are taxpayer funded. Celebrate Diversity (jewish-american victim cultism)!!!...cause you're paying for it in more ways than you can imagine.
Ashkenazim discriminate against many non-European Jews in Israel. Ask the Sephardics or others. Israel is almost always one of the worst countries on the U.S. State Department's Human Rights list. Discrimination runs Rampant in Israel even today. See more articles from United Press International STATE DEPARTMENT BLASTS ISRAEL IN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-42376845.html www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/...tions-gaza-students?print www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61690.htm www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27929.htm www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/...estrictions-gaza-students DIMONA, Israel - In Chicago, kindergarten teacher Samaheyah Bat-Yisrael says her life was "desolation." But in this hardscrabble Negev desert town, she says she has found her "salvation." Resplendent in a blue African-style headdress, a flowing outfit to match and gold earrings, the beaming 44-year-old Samaheyah - whose Hebrew name means "She who will make God happy" - is adamant about never returning to the crime- and drug-ridden South Side where she grew up. "We were slaves there. Here I know I'm safe." Feeling safe may seem like an odd concept in conflict-driven Israel. It may seem especially odd in Dimona - a town of about 30,000 people created in 1955 to accommodate new immigrants - which is now home to Israel's only nuclear reactor. But for the 2,000-strong vegetarian and polygamous black Hebrew community, as they are widely known here, living in Israel is the fulfillment of a scriptural promise to create what they call the "Kingdom of Yah," or God on earth. Calling themselves the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, their origins are rooted in their charismatic leader, Ben Ammi Ben Israel. Ben Ammi, who was a foundry worker named Ben Carter in Chicago, had a vision in 1966 that his African ancestors were descended from one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel. Since 30 disciples followed him to Israel in 1969, the community has established many celebrated professional gospel choirs and R&B singing troupes, sent their Hebrew-speaking offspring to Israeli universities and even represented the country in the annual European-wide Eurovision Song Contest. But last Jan. 17, their connection to Israel took a tragic turn when the first black Hebrew born on Israeli soil was killed by a Palestinian gunman. Singer Aharon Ben-Yisrael Alis, 32, was gunned down as he performed at a bar mitzvah in the northern city of Hadera. Nonetheless, after 33 years of living and now dying alongside Israelis, the black Hebrews are still fighting to achieve a crucial long-standing goal - full Israeli citizenship, giving them such rights as voting and serving in the army. "Our identity is here in Israel. We are Hebrew Israelites, not Americans, and I think the Israeli government hasn't known what to do with us," said 44-year-old Yaffa Bat-Gavriel, who was known as Freda Waller when she arrived here in 1976. ". . . This is our home. We don't have any other." Israeli authorities, however, disagree. On several occasions, they have tried to expel the group, which has fought back by enlisting the help of prominent African American politicians and going on hunger strikes. Israeli authorities reject the claims that the black Hebrews are authentic Jews, and have insisted in vain that they convert to Judaism so they can be recognized as full citizens. The native-born members are as stateless as their immigrant parents and the grandchildren of the original founders might not even be eligible for U.S. citizenship. The black Hebrews share many aspects of Judaism, including observing the Sabbath and rites of circumcision, instructing their children in Hebrew, celebrating Jewish holidays and studying the Torah, the book of Jewish laws. But most Israelis find some of their other practices to be odd and contend they are a cult subservient to the whims of the 63-year-old Ben Ammi. "Just because you live by certain rules, it does not mean you are a cult," Bat-Gavriel said.
Have you got any evidence that any of the Israeli rabbinates have certified black Hebrews as authentically jewish? If they're not certified as jews by a offcially recognized rabbinate, they're gentiles as far as Israeli law is concerned. So-called black hebrews are gentiles, the same as a christian zionist. Regardless of that idea, nothing you have cut-and-pasted invalidates anything I have stated previously. I'm absolutely certain that Israel has public laws that punish certified jews for crimes committed against certified judaics. If a judaic discriminates against another judaic, there are Israeli public laws that protect the minority jewish faction. I'm also certain that Israel has no specific public laws that punish judaics for discriminating or commiting crimes against gentiles, especially non-citizen gentiles. What little protections that might exist for gentile Israeli citizens are enforced at the discretion of some local jewish authority. What is it you don't understand or disagree with about anything I have written? Here are the facts..... Certified Judaics are first-class citizens in the state of Israel. All gentiles are second class citizens in Israel. The Israeli ideology that rationalizes this injustice is called Diversity, a jewish secular victim cult. Diversity is NOT a coalition, it's a cult. Diversity has been cultivated pro-actively, similar to how a weed is cultivated. The US has also adopted a Diversity cult. The Diversity cult in the US includes: Judaics (top-banana) Women Blacks Alternate Lifestyle Disabled Hispanics & Latinos Asians Native Americans www.mindexchange.com/diversity. htm Diversity members are the vast majority of voters, both in the US and Israel. The US and Israel are both totalitarian democracies, politically dominated by a Diversity cult majority. Judaics are recognizable Diversity members, both in the US and Israel. Israel is an extreme implementation of the ideology of Diversity. Israel has no public laws protecting it's designated oppressor subclass, the non-jews (gentiles). In the US version of Diversity, there are token protections (BoR) for the designated oppressor subclass, the so-called white supremacist. In the US, the BoR is creatively interpreted, so the BoR is effectively no protection for so-called white supremacists.
In the US, the BoR is creatively interpreted, so the BoR is effectively no protection for so-called white supremacists. Let me expound on this idea a little. For example, let's look at the 1st amendment. The 1st amendment states "Congress shall make no law"....... The obvious reality is that the US congress has made innumerable laws that infringe on speech, religion, and freedom of assembly. Predictably, some scum- sucking US-trained lawyer or judge will condescendingly explain to us that there is no such thing as legal absolutes, and everything must be balanced, for the good of society. Meanwhile, the same scum-sucking lawyers will pocket monies they get to litigate the supposed nuanced meaning of the first amendment. Diversity elects congressman, senators, and the president, and indirectly selects federal judges too. Why is anyone surprised that government policies never change no matter who gets elected? The organized majority love Diversity, but Diversity people are the last people to take any responsibility when Diversity does bad things too, such as invade Iraq, Iran, or Yugoslavia. By the way, Bush II is a bi-sexual, not a moonie. Bush was an idiot frat-boy, and college frats and sororities are a bi-sexual breeding ground for college kids. Bush is a member of Diversity too....does that come as some kind of a surprise for you?
bush is a moonie. FACT He and his father are close with Moon and several of the bush family members including bush sr have travelled with him giving speeches saying what a wonderful Christian he is. They even agreed with him when he said churches should pull the Cross down and put up his crown instead because he is the "new messiah" And second, Israel since its founding in 1948 has constantly discriminated against non-Ashkenazim Jews as well as all others.
Hell, I thought about becoming a Jew. That would mean I would have one day a year that I would have to fast and repent and then could sin like hell the other 364 days and there would be "no worries mate". Unfortunately, a substantial part of modern Judaism has become a collection of cults consisting of mostly Zionist type individuals. Kabbalah, Hasidic, Diaspora cults, some Sephardim cults, Geiger/Krochmal influenced cults (modern Ashkenazim, Zionists), reformists, reconstructionists etc.
Can you please quote the Israeli public law that relegates Sephardic judaics, or any non-Ashkenazi judaics, to have the equivalent political status of an Israeli gentile? Bush may be a Moonie, and a lot of other things too, but he is definitely a bi- sexual. Obama is a bi-sexual too the same as Bush. Their stereotype is to marry women and have children in order to gain enhanced political respectability. Most frat-boys are bi-sexual. College frat-boys are so G-D stupid, some of them refer to true straight guys as queers. As for your failed personal journey in converting to Judaism, you may want to consider the old axiom that says, any exclusive club that would have yourself as a member is probably not worth joining.
You should realize by now that illegal hispanic (mexican) immigration and subsequent blanket amnesty is designed to further inflate the voter population of Diversity. Hispanics and latinos are enumerated members of Diversity, the American secular victim cult. www.mindexchange.com/diversity. htm An illegal immigrant absorption program would be costly, and Diversity mavens really only care that illegal immigrants reliably trade their vote for legal privileges that are advertised in their mass media outlets. As far as Diversity mavens are concerned, a good citizen should vote for Diversity people and policies, obey federal laws, pay taxes, and sign-up for selective service.
There is more to it than just that....
It is now time for Atlas to shrug.
The ruling class is Diversity, both in the US and Israel. Diversity leaders stay in power specifically because of their symbiotic relationship with the majority of voters. Diversity leaders gets what they want from the relationship, which is access to tax money, unlimited law-making power, and undue control of powerful military and police forces. Diversity rank-and-file (illegal aliens, etc...) get what they want from the relationship, which is undue legal privileges guaranteed by big government. Blanket amnesty is just one of the undue legal privileges bestowed on hispanics from Mexico. The unskilled workers from Mexico don't substantially build the US economy. The world market is high technology, and tomato pickers don't have the skills to make high value products. Illegal aliens are reduced to performing labor that would be better performed by high technology automated machinery. The US would be using more high technology machinery too, if illegal and unskilled alien labor wasn't so cheap and plentiful. Germany and Japan are superior to the US when it comes to exploiting automation. They are superior not because their people are smarter, but because they are not nearly as overwhelmed and consumed by the politics of Diversity (secular victim cultism). Diversity dominates both the US and Israel. <
What 'class' is 'Diversity'?
It is now time for Atlas to shrug.
Diversity is the victim class. Victim-Oppressed-Disadvantaged-Underprivileged...same thing, different names. www.mindexchange.com/diversity. htm Diversity people are the vast majority of voters, both in the US and Israel. The oppressor class, the antagonist of the victim class, is related to the victim class in the following way.... Victim Class are oppressed by the Oppressor Class women are oppressed by men jewish are oppressed by gentile alternate lifestyle are oppressed by straight african american are oppressed by white asian are oppressed by occidental disabled are oppressed by able bodied native american are oppressed by settler hispanic & latino are oppressed by gringo When all of the oppressor subclass attributes are combined into a single embodiment, a detailed description of the so-called white supremacist is uncovered... male-gentile-straight-white-occidental-able bodied-settler-gringo In the past, i've repeated these facts ad nauseum, and you are the first person here who has asked an intelligent question about this subject. You are a rare bird. Congratulations! Learn more about Diversity from your local corporate or government Diversity focal point.
So, what you are saying is that everyone is a victim, that the 'oppressor' is naught but a myth and we're all living in a fantasy-land, right?
It is now time for Atlas to shrug.
I'm curious. How did you draw the conclusion that Diversity in the US.... www.mindexchange.com/diversity. htm (attention: click link with mouse pointer for important info) where US Diversity = {women + african americans + judaics + GLBT + hispanics + latinos + disabled + native americans + asians} is "everyone" in the US? Is this some kind of new math taught in public schools? Why do you believe so-called white supremacists don't exist inside the US? How did you draw the conclusion that Diversity in Israel.... where Israeli Diversity = {judaics} is "everyone" in Israel? Why do you believe gentiles don't exist inside Israel? Why don't you believe that so-called white supremacist exist in the US, and that gentiles exist in Israel, and are real people too? Are you claiming that white supremacists don't oppress Diversity people in the US? Why? Are you claiming that gentiles don't oppress judaics in Israel? Why? A bonus question: Who is the primary beneficiary of US federal sexual harrrassment law, federal abortion law, affirmative action, federal Title X law, federal title IX law, male-only selective service registration, AIDS funding & research, dead-beat father law, divorce law, social security, medicare, public housing, AFDC, universal health care, etc? Here's a hint...they're the majority faction of the US Diversity cult.
Here is your answer: In everyone's background there is an Oppressed People. Think about it for a moment.
It is now time for Atlas to shrug.
In everyone's background there is an Oppressed People. Think about it for a moment. American-style Diversity noticably attacks the freedom of so-called white supremacists. Israeli-style Diversity noticeably attacks the freedom of gentiles. In fact, the so-called white supremacist inside the US is the political equivalent of a gentile inside Israel. We all know how well Israel dis-respects gentiles in Israel, so that trend doesn't bode well for so-called white supremacists inside the US. How does the Diversity scheme of exclusion and demonization of so-called white supremacists in the US, and gentiles in Israel, necessarily include "everyone", as you claim? The correct answer is Diversity doesn't respect everyone, but that doesn't stop you from claiming it. In fact, Diversity requires something to demonize, in order to make it appear superficially rational. Your US-style cult ideology pre-judges all white-male-straight-non-hispanic- able bodied-gentiles to be evil, and relegates them to enforced slavery and servitude to your cult ideology. Their enslavement and servitude is true freedom for you and your fellow cult members, right? Perhaps you should consider taking responsibility for the consequences of your peculiar cult ideology, hmmmm? Your cult ideology leads to big government policies, such as totalitarian democracy, and government policies that grant undue legal favors serving a peculiar fantasy inside the head of a peculiar group of cowardly people. Your ideology leads not only to domestic empire building, but also foreign empire building, and a compelling need to impose your big government ideology on other nations. That's the nature of big government fantasies such as your peculiar cult ideology; they always seek and require greater dominance. Your good buddy, George W Bush, is a bonafide member of your peculiar cult, and yet your cult plays magician tricks when it comes to taking responsibility for his cult-favoring policies. Nation building is a very, very real cult policy. To avoid resonsibility, your cult media mouthpieces point to idiotic christian zionists as the clueless culprits pushing policies to democratize and secularize regimes that are hostile to cult leaders. I know better who is the real culprit. You should know better too, but recognizing that wouldn't serve your finely cultivated victim neurosis, would it?
Israel is going to end up destroying itself, just as it always has in the past.
Republicans believe in abortion -- they just wait until they're born and then call them 'collateral damage'.
Good riddance to worldwide bad rubbish.
Who?
Who? American-Israeli Diversity cult leaders. Here's a good exercise... What do you suppose is the political-spoils pecking order of the various subgroups of US-style Diversity? What do you suppose is the political-spoils pecking order of the various subgroups of Israeli-style Diversity? For reference, click the link below.
I have enough exercises, thank you.
You make a false claim that I'm a diversity worshipper. What I am doing is analyzing it and noting that it fails as a philosophy because the majority of white people in the US have "minority and victim blood" in them. How many white people can claim an American Indian or Jewish ancestor? How about an Irish ancestor? Potato Famine anyone? Most of them. Ponder that for a while.
It is now time for Atlas to shrug.
(raises hand) Indian/Scotch/Irish/English/German/French. I'm an American mutt!!!
I've read the Old Testament, and 3000 years ago Jews had the characteristics they have today: cowardice, lying, backstabbing, stealing, treason, sexual perversion. They've done themselves in over and over for thousands of years. The next time they do it, I hope no one helps them.
Republicans believe in abortion -- they just wait until they're born and then call them 'collateral damage'.
Israel is going to end up destroying itself, just as it always has HUNDREDS OF TIMES in the past.
They call it the AMERIKAN DREAM because you have to be asleep (and you are) to believe it !
What I am doing is analyzing it and noting that it fails as a philosophy because the majority of white people in the US have "minority and victim blood" in them. How many white people can claim an American Indian or Jewish ancestor? How about an Irish ancestor? Potato Famine anyone? Most of them. Ponder that for a while. The thread title is about Diversity. The subject is Diversity, a dominant political pressure group, both in the US and Israel. The thread is not about how all ethnic groups or racial groups, or how both genders are bonafide victims. The thread is NOT about who or what has been victimized throughout history. Diversity is VERY, VERY, VERY specific about what groups are officially recognized victims in a society. Diversity is not a fuzzy-wuzzy concept, as you appear to conceive it. Diversity status of an individual is defined in legal terminology, with objective standards and processes for certification. White Irish ARE NOT officially recognized victims in the US or Israel. When I say official, I mean big government, codified in big government laws. A jewish ancestor does not make someone a judaic. A certified judaic is someone that is formally recognized by one of the 3 major rabbinates(orthodox, conservative, reformed). A person with native american ancestry is not necesarily an American indian according to the federal government. Indian tribes apportion tribal royalties based on the percentage of indian blood lineage. The link below explains some of the standards that the federales impose on businesses to certify official Diversity status..... www.mwbe.com/cert/certificatio n.htm By inference, Diversity identifies the so-called white supremacist as the evil adversary of Diversity people in the US, and the gentile as the evil adversary of Diversity people in Israel. Diversity does not include everyone, as you appear to have previously claimed. In fact, Diversity REQUIRES a demonized group for success, to make it appear superficially rational. The demonized group in the US is the so-called white supremacist. The demonized group in Israel is the gentile.
By the way, you should take notice of some of the people on the forums who use the term "white supremacist" as a lame-ass demonization tool. People who use the term "white supremacist" as a demonization tool are usually operators and beneficaries of the establishment, the ruling class in the US. People that use this terminology are self-declared enemies of the people, local government empowerment, and the principles of classical liberalism. Unsurprisingly, you will find many professional, US-trained lawyers using the perjorative term of "white supremacist".
Here's another link that explains the objective process to gain official Diversity certification status in the US, for business purposes.
Here's yet another link, to another Diversity certification process. www.thegsba.org/business_...suppliercertification.php As you should realize by now, not everyone is considered a victim by Uncle Sugar. Someone has to be the bad guy. I can't make this stuff up.
Here's another Diversity certification bureaucracy....
And yet that is how it is used. Funny that, isn't it?
It is now time for Atlas to shrug.
If everyone is a victim, as you continue to claim, how can there ever be a bad guy, an oppressor? The reality of Diversity, a reality which you have a hard time admitting, is that Diversity REQUIRES a bad-guy, a non-victim, an oppressor, a demon, a source of evil, etc. The US bad-guy is the so-called white supremacist....never presumed to be a victim, always presumed to be an oppressor of Diversity. Diversity is always presumed to be a victim of the white supremacist. The Israeli bad-guy is the gentile ...never presumed to be a victim, always presumed to be an oppressor of judaics. Judaics are always presumed to be a victim of gentiles. In Israeli politics, the Israeli gentile is respected the same as a farmer respects an animal. The governmental policies of Israel will eventually migrate to the US, a reality that many cannot seem to comprehend. Policy migration from Israel to the US means that the so-called white supremacist in the US will get or eventually get all of the BS treatment that Israel reserves for its gentile population....unwarranted detentions & incarcerations, targeted assassinations, discrimination, torture, ghetto- ization, slavery, etc. Randy Weaver learned about this fact the hard way. Diversity is the philosphical source of all the US-led wars after it was informally implemented as a national policy by FDR. Diversity was formalized as a national policy by JFK. The state of Israel implemented Diversity policy at its inception, from the beginning of its existence.
As funny as it may be for you, in what way are you personally a user of Diversity?
That's the funny part of it. There really isn't; its a bogeyman that is held up through use of propaganda.
It is now time for Atlas to shrug.
I must adhere to Federal and State Law when it comes to hiring, firing, and management practices.
It is now time for Atlas to shrug.
Do you vote for Diversity people and policies? Basically, anyone that is a member in good standing with the US 2-party system is a default Diversity advocate. I'll admit, voting will never make Diversity corruption go away. Diversity depends on the majority of voters being cult members, and insures that it will always be the voting majority by selective legal and illegal immigration policies and legislation.
Comments (41 - 65) not displayed.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latestcomprehensive immigrant absorption programs
#2. To: Googolplex, jethro tull, old friend, cynicom, rotara, psusa, noone222, formerlurker, christine (#0)
(Edited)
Israel's experience also illustrates the value of a service requirement for all residents approaching maturity. Other developed countries, such as Switzerland and Germany, also require their male high school graduates to serve for a time in the military. The terrorist attack on September 11 may make mandatory service more politically palatable to Americans than it would otherwise have been.
"Corporation: An entity created for the legal protection of its human parasites, whose sole purpose is profit and self-perpetuation." ~~ IndieTx
#3. To: Googolplex (#0)
As we look for ways to meet this challenge, political leaders and voters could profit from learning how other societies have confronted similar challenges.
#4. To: Googolplex (#0)
#5. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#4)
(Edited)
#6. To: Googolplex (#5)
#7. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#6)
(Edited)
#8. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#6)
#9. To: Googolplex (#8)
#10. To: Googolplex (#7)
#11. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#9)
And second, Israel since its founding in 1948 has constantly discriminated against non-Ashkenazim Jews as well as all others.
#12. To: mirage (#1)
#13. To: Googolplex (#12)
You should realize by now that illegal hispanic (mexican) immigration and subsequent blanket amnesty is designed to further inflate the voter population of Diversity.
#14. To: mirage (#13)
(Edited)
There is more to it than just that....
#15. To: Googolplex (#14)
The ruling class is Diversity, both in the US and Israel.
#16. To: mirage (#15)
(Edited)
What 'class' is 'Diversity'?
#17. To: Googolplex (#16)
#18. To: mirage (#17)
(Edited)
#19. To: Googolplex (#18)
#20. To: mirage (#19)
(Edited)
Here is your answer:
#21. To: Googolplex (#0)
#22. To: Turtle (#21)
#23. To: Googolplex (#20)
I know better who is the real culprit.
#24. To: angle (#23)
(Edited)
I know better who is the real culprit.
#25. To: Googolplex (#24)
#26. To: Googolplex (#20)
#27. To: mirage (#26)
(Edited)
How many white people can claim an American Indian or Jewish ancestor? How about an Irish ancestor
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#28. To: Cynicom (#22)
Good riddance to worldwide bad rubbish.
#29. To: Turtle (#21)
Israel is going to end up destroying itself, just as it always has in the past.
#30. To: mirage (#26)
(Edited)
You make a false claim that I'm a diversity worshipper.
#31. To: mirage (#26)
#32. To: mirage (#26)
(Edited)
#33. To: mirage (#26)
(Edited)
#34. To: mirage (#26)
#35. To: Googolplex (#30)
The thread is NOT about who or what has been victimized throughout history.
#36. To: mirage (#35)
(Edited)
And yet that is how it is used. Funny that, isn't it?
#37. To: mirage (#35)
(Edited)
And yet that is how it is used. Funny that, isn't it?
#38. To: Googolplex (#36)
If everyone is a victim, as you continue to claim, how can there ever be a bad guy, an oppressor?
#39. To: Googolplex (#37)
As funny as it may be for you, in what way are you personally a user of Diversity?
#40. To: mirage (#39)
.
.
.